17874/Blue and White

Blue and White
Date of Scene:	07 May 2024
Location:	East Side
Synopsis:	After a chance meeting, Emma makes Dominique in her civilian guise an offer which catches her interest.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Dominique Thiebaut

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Emma Frost has posed:
It's a dank and dreary day in Downtown Manhattan. Emma Frost has just come out from a rather vicious interview over with one of the high 'class' newspapers that operate in the city. So as she leaves the doors, casually brushin gher way past reporters and other members of the public in the way, the blonde struts arrogantly and heads out to the streets, almost an instinctive aura around her despite the crowded nature of the sidewalk to give her space.

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
The reporter (whose name Dominique has already forgotten, because it was such a weirdly archaic one; the name you'd expect of someone's grandparent) had been kind enough to accept a request from Dom's Ethics of Business class to allow a student to come along and film it for the class to study. Dominique had volunteered for the job: she could use the extra credit. So, she'd been there with one of the school's cameras, filming an interview that mostly served to convince her she was glad her major had nothing to do with a business curriculum.

Her thoughts throughout the interview had been surprisingly empty, a focus on reception of information rarely seen in a person who isn't emotionally damaged in some way. For the first half-hour, anyway. Toward the end, that void had been marred not by conscious thought--those remained skillfully repressed--but by the emotional colors of boredom and mild contempt for the proceedings. She'd been probably more glad than Emma had when the interview was over, and left slightly more quickly than was technically polite, claiming she needed to return the camera right away before she got charged to use it. A lie, but a useful one. She'd taken the stairs in the fire escape two at a time, faster than the elevator, and gotten out into the alley beside Emma's workplace rather ahead of the telepath, in time to breathe and try to calm the deepening irritation at the whole stupid affair...

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma was annoyed at the interviewer doing such pointed questions, though she'd answered them with irritation even when caught by surprise. Her answers had been solid and substantive rather than deflecting, but having someone push had been taken by her as an affront. But as anyone who had ever prepared for cross examination.. it was always best to be ready to have things to defend oneself with. And while the reporter was extremely thorugh..
    Emma was simply able to telepathically reach out to her staff and pull the answers from thier minds telepathically even if she couldn't recall them exactly, rattling off facts arrogantly and confrontationally.
    And Emma had picked up rather significantly on the evasiveness over in Dominique and how unsettled she was. So even as the girl went into the alleyway, Emma would head along towards her on an interception course. Teh telepath nudging anyone in her path out of the way, pressing aside any consciousness that might wonder why she was heading there to cut Dominique off.

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
As alleys in New York go, this one was probably one of the nicer ones. It got cleaned regularly so there was very little chance of slipping in a puddle of semi-congealed human body fluids; the dumpsters weren't crusted in filth; the path was wide enough that trucks could get through, so it didn't feel like being in one was the opening scene of a slasher movie. All very nice. Dominique could take relative comfort in it.

She heard Emma approaching, because of course she did. High heels and asphalt are a distinctive audio combination, especially when the heels are attached to a person who's exerting telepathic influence to be alone, though Dominique as yet has no idea about that part. She only knows she feels an alarm go off in her head, whose blare could be vocalized as a single word: *Isolated.*

She probably doesn't need to be ready to fight, but her philosophy has always been to prepare anyway. If you're wrong about needing to fight, then you feel stupid. If you're right about needing to fight, then you get to stay alive long enough to feel stupid the next time you're wrong.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would pick up on the girl's wariness rather easily, and go to announce herself with a light rap along the end of the alleyway. Adjusting it in the way that it would be made to indicate she was there, not trying to disorient the girl. Emma goes to once she's been acknowledged and her presence there to stride on forwards casually, purse slung over her arm.

"Are you all right? I saw you heading out immediately looking somewhat disoriented. Were you having a panic attack and needed to get away?" Blunt words, but also honest ones in a way. A stranger that cared enough to check up on her but also might have had the wrong idea as to what was going on. It's phrased that way as an opening by Emma.

If Dominique denies it, then it's an easy deflection and something to disengage over. But also an opening for casual conversation. Emma carefully phrases it in a way that both openings are possible without being rude.

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
*She surveilled me. There's no other way she could know my route out.* Of course Dominique is thinking of security cameras rather than telepathic scanning; and after a moment she lets her paranoia go. It could all be a coincidence, after all.

While those thoughts are flying through her head, she's already turning to face Ms. Frost with a polite smile. Her accent strives to match Emma's cultured New England cadence, and succeeds more than it fails, though no one would ever take her Bostonian as legitimate. "Oh, not at all. Just eager to be done with a chore I was not passionate about. Business is a required credit rather than anything I'd choose." This last is a literal lie; she'd had vague notions that if she understood business law, then she could find some weak point in Cyberdata. But as her hypothesis had been disproven by experience, it became an emotional truth. People are weird.

"I do apologize if I gave you cause to worry for me."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse over, "Well, if it's something you feel obligated on, I could give you somehting for extra credit." She goes to smoothly read the girl's expressions, keeping her own face passive and neutral. Just maki conversation. "You clearly have rather good instincts, as boring as you're finding the studies. And I can't fathom what teacher would consider a required course to put you in on some reporter's nickel. Jameson is a rabid dog with delusions of grandeur. They're wasting your learning opportunities by affixing you to such a profane thing." Jameson was an easy target, an easy foil. So all Emma had to do was make it seem like she was trying to get some form of retaliation on the chief editor to hopefully make sense as an 'alternative'.

Revenge made for quite an easy series of justifications. Even if Emma couldn't be bothered to take this as a sleight. Any publicity was good publicity after all.

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
Dominique Thiebaut allows her left shoulder to leave the cool concrete wall she'd been leaning against, and her polite smile gains a slightly ironic edge. "I don't know if I would go that far. Experience needn't be positive to be learned from, after all. We learn best from our failures, as I believe some famous dead person has probably said."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would smile, "Oh, far from it. I will agree however if you happen to call that institution a bit of one. And instruction is supposed to teach you broadly, not waste your time. I presume you're from NYU? You're getting quite a waste of your tuition dollars as well as whatever you're paying for textbooks and other inflated things to keep up with your instructor's ego."

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
Dominique Thiebaut chuckles. "I'm aware," she says drily, but leaves it at that, since the only alternative would be to go on a literal sermon about how school does nothing but prepare an American to be an obedient little consumer. "Still, with any luck, what I can command with my mighty future diploma will one day offset the debt I incur in pursuit of same."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse over and go to fold her hands together, "Well, there are other ways depending on what you're after. A diploma is one thing, practical experience another. Depending on if you're looking to get it purely for a fancy piece of paper to put on a wall and a resume or something to get attention."

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
Dominique Thiebaut raises her eyebrows politely. "What alternatives do you suggest, Ms. Frost?" She shifts her camera from one hand to the other, freeing one arm from its weight.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse, "I happen to have a few openings for internships depending on your interest. I pay full wage, will ensure that you're compensated for your time and be flexible to permit you to engage in your classes and studies appropriately."

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
Dominique Thiebaut's eyebrows raise slightly more than politely this time. "That's a very generous offer," she observes. "May I ask what I've done to deserve it?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would shrug, "You clearly have initiative and want to go forwards with your life. I can appreciate someone going through something they see with distaste out of spite."

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
Dominique Thiebaut is still for a moment, thinking. Her thoughts specifically are, *Quit pretending to think about a thing you don't have enough information to think about.*

Yes. Good advice.

"I'd at least be willing to speak with your HR department," she agrees, internally observing her own mistrust, wondering if it's paranoia. Well, there's one way to find out.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would nod, "But of course. I'll give you contact information and have an application sent to you to review, an dif you're interested you can follow up and send it in." Putting it on the terms of Dominique. "Or if you prefer you can simply go for it yourself." That leaves it all open to Dominique to make the decision and gives her power in it. Emma chooses her phrases carefully.

She's not asking for Dominique's contact information, or that she'll have HR get in touch. She puts it in a way that it's entirely the girl's decision to follow up on if at all and initiate.

Dominique Thiebaut has posed:
When there is no choice, hesitation is ever a fault. Dominique nods as pleasantly as she can, an aristocratic dip of the chin followed by a, "I wouldn't let such a chance pass me by. Please, lead the way, Ms. Frost."