Hotel Room *handwavy*, Monday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hadn't expected much from Emma after their run-in with Adrienne. He'd stayed with her, taken her shopping, talked of nothing. He assumed she'd tell him more about her sister when she felt like it, or never.

His curiosity about the Frosts was itching at him. Sometimes, even when it was important, it was hard for him not to treat people he cared for as potential witnesses.

Perhaps especially when it was important.

She'd stayed in his hotel room that night, and now it was morning. He stroked her hair, trying to decide if they should go off the island again today.

"Are you awake?"

[OOC: For one, NFB.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

"As if I'm ever unwilling to indulge you," Jack said, though he didn't entirely mean it. There were, after all, lectures to get to and a Sebastien to check in with. But for the moment, he was hers.

"I'm sure someone at the hotel could send something up," he suggested. "Or I could run into town. Or you could go to class as you are."

[icecoldfrost]

No, he didn't entirely mean it, but he wanted to, and that was good enough for today.

"Go to class in your shirt and my pants? Jack, what will people think?" The smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but it tried. "I have tactics first period, but perhaps we can fit in a nice lunch somewhere off-island before you have to flee for class."

[bitten_notshy]

"I can manage lunch," Jack answered, reaching softly for her hands. "How are you feeling this morning?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Tired," she admitted, averting her eyes slightly. "It was a very busy weekend."

[bitten_notshy]

"Adrienne seems like she'd be exhausting," Jack said sympathetically. "I hope you left a bruise."

[icecoldfrost]

"I can't believe I did that," Emma said, her tone still slightly disbelieving. "I can't... I mean, she totally had it coming at that point, but I can't believe I did that."

[bitten_notshy]

"No doubt it's the influence of the ill-bred members of your social circle rubbing off on you," Jack said, sounding and feeling utterly disgusted. "We're all terribly violent."

He had no doubt but that Adrienne would agree, and it made him hate her even more.

"Alex is trash, by the way. She was quite free with that opinion."

[icecoldfrost]

"I hate her." Emma clenched her hands, feeling utterly helpless and hating it. "I can't believe I sunk to her level and actually hit her." Even if had been self-defense of her sanity at that point.

She sighed and squeezed her eyes closed. "What other hateful things was she spewing?"

[bitten_notshy]

"You don't want to know," Jack said, rubbing circles on her back. "I think she called me scum, she said nasty things about your social life -- don't worry about it, Emma. She was just spewing hate."

[icecoldfrost]

"Jack, I can't hear her," she confessed, leaning back into his touch. "At all. There's just a blankness where she should be, and I don't know why."

"So I need to know what she said, in case there's some hint of what she's got up her sleeve. And so I know who I need to go apologize to."

[bitten_notshy]

"I don't think you need to hear it," Jack said stubbornly. "You trust me. If she'd given some hint about a plan, I'd tell you -- but she didn't. It was just ugliness and bad assumptions. It's not anything I'd want poisoning my head."

[icecoldfrost]

"You shouldn't have had to hear it in the first place," she said bitterly. "I'm sorry."

[bitten_notshy]

"I can take it," Jack said dismissively. "Besides, I got off easy. You grew up with the woman."

[icecoldfrost]

"I should have gotten Raven to teleport her off the end of the Causeway the moment I knew she was here," Emma grumbled. "I don't even know how she found me!"

[bitten_notshy]

"Could she be like you?" Jack asked, seriously. "She knew things about me that I very much had not told her, but it didn't --" He frowned. "This is daft, but it didn't feel the way it does when you're looking."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma shook her head. "She seems convinced I'm still crazy little Emma," she said bitterly. "That was perfectly clear. If she was a telepath, I doubt she'd think I was insane."

[bitten_notshy]

"Then she has spies," Jack decided. "Or something. She -- knew about Sebastien and Effy. It sounded like she wanted to throw that at you."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was too mentally exhausted to hide her wince at that news. "Spies," she bit off. "I'm not surprised. I've gotten lazy."

[bitten_notshy]

"You had no reason to expect it," Jack answered, with compassion. "You're just trying to live your life. You shouldn't have to dye your hair and change your name to do that."

He leaned back against the headboard. "Do you have any idea who might be tipping her off?"

[icecoldfrost]

"The squirrels?" she suggested, at a loss for any other ideas. "Adrienne mastered the art of bribery by the time she was six, if not sooner."

But reclining Jacks were made to be leaned upon, and Emma moved over, placing her head on his shoulder for support. "I did cut my hair off when I first ran away," she shared. "I did it myself with an old pair of scissors; it wasn't my most flattering look." Which had rather been the point, actually.

"She's going to tell Winston where I am."

[bitten_notshy]

"The squirrels wouldn't have known about Sebastien, though," Jack said, running his hands through her locks. "... I can't imagine you without your hair."

[icecoldfrost]

"I looked like an absolute urchin," she replied, offering him the mental picture of her with ragged short hair. "I let it grow out again, later, but it made me feel safer to look different. It sounds silly now, but I was so angry about everything that it was almost therapeutic."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack managed not to laugh at the incongruity of the picture. "Poor bedraggled little Emma," he said. His hands weren't leaving her hair. "You're right, you were the perfect urchin. Funny to imagine it."

He was still bothered by how Adrienne knew what she knew, but it was a problem he'd mull privately for the moment.

[icecoldfrost]

"I can hear you," Emma reminded him, amusement lurking under her tone. "You're trying not to laugh at me."

[bitten_notshy]

"Can you blame me?" Jack asked. "It's not as if I don't tell you you're pretty often enough, when you have your hair."