Adrienne and Sue spend some time working in the suite and Adrienne broaches the topic of Europe.

Sue huffed distractedly at the bang of blonde hair which had fallen into her face attempting to blow it out the the way to no avail as her eyes tracked across the screen in front of her reading through the latest contract which she'd been given to prepare. Tapping the keyboard the teenager finally reached the end of the document and saved the file before looking over at where Adrienne was working behind her desk.

"That's the last of them," she told her boss with a smile as she leaned back in her chair stretching her arms above her head before finally tucking away the offending bang of hair behind her ear. "Is there anything else I can do for you, get you?"

"Umm... I might need a cookie," Adrienne responded when she finally dragged her gaze away from her laptop and blinked owlishly at her assistant. "How many have I had today?" It was an assistant's job to keep track of those things, right?

Sue tapped a pen against her chin as she counted, "Lets see, there was one in the morning, then 2 as snacks so 3." the blonde noted, "I'd say you definitely deserve another. 3 is such an uneven number, 4 is much nicer, more rounded." Sue grinned at her boss, "Cookie logic."

"I can't argue with that math," Adrienne shrugged good-naturedly, forcing herself to sit back on the couch and take a mental break before diving back into the presentation she was preparing. "Uh oh. Do you know where the cat went?" She couldn't see it in the suite, and that was usually a bad sign.

The blonde's eyes opened slightly wider and she schooched her chair back and peered hurriedly under her desk, "Not here," she noted in relief, since she'd starting working for Adrienne the cat had displayed a tendency to just appear in the oddest places. "You know, you and Mr Kane really need to get a bell for him," she noted with a laugh, "stop him from just appearing and disappearing all the time."

"We need to get some cyanide for him," Adrienne muttered under her breath, hoisting herself off the couch and going to check the kitchen. "Ms. Sefton says he's magic, so I don't know if a bell would do any good," she called over her shoulder before going through the doorway. She let out a loud curse when she saw the fridge door open, a carton of milk spilled on the floor and the cat happily lapping up the beverage.

"Macavity," Sue breathed from behind Adrienne, "Although he isn't supposed to be here when we find the scene of the crime," she noted as she stepped past Adrienne to get to the kitchenroll. "You know you're doing this all wrong right?" she asked the cat seriously as she picked up the milk carton and replaced it with a wad of tissue. The girl reached out slowly to scratch the cat behind his ears before she stood up, "Did Ms Sefton really say he's magic?" she asked, "What can he do? Apart from appear out of thin air that is."

"She said he might be. Because of the thin air thing. And the defying locks thing. But she wasn't too sure. Also; what the hell is a Macavity? It sounds like something I'll create when I murder him," Adrienne muttered darkly.

"Macavity's a Mystery Cat," Sue quoted, "He's outta some poem and the the Cats musical. Apparently he can never be found and has 'broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity' besides, and you'll like this part," she told Adrienne, "For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity." Sue gestured at the cat who finding himself the centre of attention was looking up at the humans and happily licking his whiskers "Tada, Macavity." The blonde grinned at Adrienne. "Blame your ward, Tan somehow convinced me to watch the musical with her, movie recording of course."

"Well, I guess I should be happy you crazy kids are watching musicals instead of porn," Adrienne mused, looking at Sue with a wariness that suggested she was worried her assistant might suddenly catch on fire or something. "You don't happen to have, or have access to, a padlock with a really strong chain, do you?"

"It was just the one time," Sue protested, "And then Westside Story, and Hairspray but John Travolta..." the blonde's voice trailed away and she gave Adrienne a sheepish grin. "It's better than horror movies," she pointed out with a shudder, even after more than a year of movie nights Sue still didn't like horror movies.

"A padlock, I might," the teenager continued hesitantly, "Why?"

Adrienne reeled back as if struck, the thought of padlocking the fridge momentarily forgotten. "You did not just say that to me," she said, horrified. "Nothing is better than horror movies. Especially..." she made a face, "musicals. Uck."

"Oh god not you too, what is it with people at this mansion and horror movies?" the teenager asked in confusion. "I mean what's so fun about spending two hours watching a director trying to scare you to death?"

"I guess it's the fact that no matter how hard they try, it's not gonna work. There's something funny in that," Adrienne shrugged. "Or maybe something defiant. Something that makes you feel powerful because you know you're going to win by not dying by the end." It was possible that her reasoning was messed up, but it wasn't like that was anything new. "I mean, what do you get out of musicals? They can't give you that feeling of empowerment."

Sue wrinkled her forehead as she leaned against one of the cabinets, "Musicals are fun, lighthearted and the songs are catchy. It's just a way to have a good time and escape from the worries of your everyday life. Besides," The blonde pushed off the side of the cupboard and spread her arms wide to encompass the mansion, "We live in a horror story of our own everyday. We get kidnapped, tortured, posessed and beaten on an almost regular schedule. Why would I want to spend time watching that happen to other people?"

"That's a valid point," Adrienne agreed. "I hear you and Tandy aren't speaking?" she asked, crouching down to shoo the cat away from the fridge and getting headbutted in the knee by the exasperating creature. "What's up with that? I mean, I told her you're a smart girl. Too smart not to understand that what happened to her wasn't her fault. She's pretty broken up about fighting with you."

"I..." Sue's voice tailed off and she swallowed taking a moment to gather herself, "She doesn't think, I don't blame her at all. Why would I it was all those demons. I...I don't want to see how much she hates me now." the blonde replied brokenly as she looked over at Adrienne, "The whole thing was my fault, not hers. I attacked her and tried to kill her, I almost did." The blonde was pacing now, trying her best to burn of the nervous energy she felt. she hadn't talked to anyone about this yet. she hadn't even tried to verbalize it to herself. "If I hadn't then she would't have been captured in the first place. And then I let The Dweller walk away with her body. What could I say to her?" she appealed to Adrienne, "I'm sorry doesn't even begin to cut it."

It took everything Adrienne had not to start laughing. The idea of the two girls both being so worried about the other one hating them that they were avoiding each other over nothing seemed like something out of a movie. But then it dawned on her that Sue was saying she'd tried to kill Tandy, which sobered her up immediately. "How come you attacked her?" Tandy hadn't really gone into detail about that part.

"Umm, we were at the airport waiting for the plane ride back when she started insulting me so I insulted her back," Sue confessed her brow wrinkling in confusion as she looked at the floor trying to remember why she'd felt the need to verbally eviscerate her best friend. "She started to use her powers so I wrapped a forcefield around her hand, when she tried to punch me I pulled her forward and tripped her knowing we were in a crowded part of the airport but I didn't care." the blonde looked up at Adrienne, "I know that one of the demons was there, but who does that, think that about a friend?"

"Everybody," Adrienne answered with a goodnatured shrug, "at some time or another. Particularly teenage girls, if I recall correctly." She narrowed her eyes at Sue, trying to catch her gaze. "You're a smart girl," she repeated. "Tell me if you think this is feasible. Two really close friends who have never fought before and both freely admit that a demon was in their presence would rather blame themselves for fighting. Instead of a demon. A deeeeemon. They're both taking responsibility and letting a demon come across as the innocent party here. I mean, really? Does that seem logical to you?"

"I guess not," came the hesitant reply, "but it's not like it was mind control or anything, I saw the demon use its powers later, it just exaggerated already existing feelings." the teenager bit her lip, a worried look on her face, "But that means I really feel that way, and some of the things I said to her," she told Adrienne in a small voice as she stared down at the floor, "How can she forgive me in that case?"

Adrienne shot Sue another 'really? You're smarter than this' look. "It means you felt 'that way' in that moment," she clarified. "She'll forgive you. Because, again. Everyone feels unkindly and thinks unkind things and talks shit about people in their lives at some point or another. It's normal." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Look, people fight. They get angry sometimes. As someone who used to get knocked around a lot by her 'better' half, trust me. I know this shit," she assured Sue with a wan smile. "Some people are horrible people who think that being violent will win the argument or make them right. Some people get violent because they can't control themselves. You're not either of those people. You're a person who got angry and had a bitchy thought and talked some shit. Just like everyone does. Then a demon," she emphasized, "used those perfectly normal feelings and made you into a violent person. Temporarily. But you wouldn't have been that person if a demon hadn't turned you into that person. I know that. Tandy knows that," she shrugged.

"Almost everything about you is different from a normal person," she added with a slight smirk. "You're a really special kid. But in this case I'm happy to tell you that having bitchy feelings and saying bitchy things to someone is just like everyone else. It doesn't make you unforgiveable."

"I've never ever felt that way, not about Tandy or any of my friends..." Sue started before she hung her head, that wasn't true and Adrienne deserved better. "That's not true, I have," she admitted in a small voice, "Now and then, but I guess everyone does. It's just, I thought I was better at controlling myself than that. But my inner thoughts, the ones you think in the back of your mind, that little voice on your shoulder and they were out there slipping out of my mouth for the whole world." Sue wrapped her arms around herself, "She got into my head Adrienne, I know you're right, that there was a demon there manipulating us. I couldn't stop her, I know there was no way I could have but she was in my head." She swallowed, "It's always been what set me aside, and someone can just walk in and suddenly she's taken my control away." Sue scrubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, "I know you're right, that everyone has these thoughts, but you know," she returned Adrienne's wan smile, "I guess it's just a matter of the heart not quite following my head."

Stepping forward, Adrienne pulled Sue in for a hug. "Maybe it wasn't following, but at least it works pretty good," she replied, still smirking slightly. "You okay otherwise?" she asked. "No ritualistic carvings on you?"

Sue shook her head as she wrapped her arms around Adrienne "Just bruised and exhausted, Namor got cut up a little by the thing. It was a close call, it drained two policemen and almost got to us too." Sue pulled her head back and gave Adrienne a wan smile, "I really really hate demons."

"Tell me about it," Adrienne muttered, rolling her eyes. "Here I was hoping the worst you two would encounter in Europe would be hairy European men and those weird rules about putting used toilet paper in the garbage instead of flushing it. I should've known there would be some life-threatening situation."

"It's the fieldtrip curse, we went halfway around the world and we still couldn't get away from it," Sue sighed, "Next time I want to go anywhere, remind me to go alone. Anytime we go somewhere fun something has to go wrong." The blonde offered Adrienne a smile, "Wait, that's true? That would explain why the French Hostel guy was yelling at us."

"Well, alone only gets you so far in life," Adrienne murmured, since it sounded more mature than what she was thinking at that moment, which was somewhere along the lines of 'damn straight, being around people is the worst!' "But I get what you mean. Tandy, especially, seems like a magnet for chaos. Which, I'll admit, is fun most of the time," she shrugged. "Except when it's not. Don't tell her I said that." She straightened up and gave Sue a worried look. "Wait, someone in France did that? That's just wrong. France shouldn't be doing that. Greece, yes. France, no. Clearly I have to go back and whip them into shape over there."

"The chaos is a lot of fun, when you can watch it from a distance and not have it completely overwhelm you." Sue agreed, "Being friends with Tan...certainly makes life interesting, but then she's not the only one, Billy never lets it be boring and Topaz..." Sue gave Adrienne a teasing look, "There isn't some kind of super secret staff pact to go out and find the most interesting students is there? I totally wouldn't put it past you to have something like that going and it would explain oh so much." The blonde paused while she imagined Adrienne in Paris, "You absolutely need to go back to France and whip them into shape", Sue agreed giving Adrienne a genuine smile, "That'd be something to see, and I never got to spend enough time there before. We could make it like a field trip," she teased invoking the dreaded words with a cheeky grin at her boss.

"Ah, sadly, I don't think so," Adrienne answered, smirking back at Sue. "I don't have the best track record when it comes to taking students on field trips. I initiated the trip that led to Genosha, after all," she explained, since she wasn't sure if Sue knew much about Genosha and how it had come about. She frowned and put the guilt she still felt back in its box, moving on with a wave of her hand. "But yeah, there's definitely a scorecard in the staff room about who can bring in the most interesting student," she teased. "I think it helps that mutants tend to be much more interesting than normal people, too."

"It's ok, I have insanely bad luck when it comes to field trips too, it's probably for the best. Although it's a shame, I would have loved the chance to go spend some more time in Paris and really get to explore the city, and you know visit all the fashion houses. Maybe next time," the blonde noted with a smile. "I'd imagine Ms Sefton is doing pretty will on the score card, nothing ever seem to happen without Billy or Topaz, although Tan does seem to be just as much of a magnet."

"You'll definitely have a next time," Adrienne assured Sue with a nod. "And yeah, Topaz and Tandy are usually neck-and-neck in terms of causing drama, it seems." She grabbed a beer and offered a second bottle to Sue. "Which is the main reason you're my PA and not one of them. Your drama levels are less, but you're not boring, either."

"Why boss, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Sue replied with a grin as she took the offered beer and leaned back against the counter, "Sue Storm, not as dramatic as the other girl," she introduced herself with a laugh. "I know I'm competitive but you know, that's one competition I'm glad to be losing."