19344/Luck be a lady tonight!

Luck be a lady tonight!
Date of Scene:	21 October 2024
Location:	The Coffee Bean
Synopsis:	Jen begs a trade from Emma Frost - luck in exchange for financial resources. The White Queen acquires another pawn.
Cast of Characters:	Jennifer Stavros, Emma Frost

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Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jen was in her old stomping grounds, the Coffee Bean. When she wasn't clubbing, anyway. She was looking _good_, short skirt and a bit of a heel and a top that served to hint rather than just show off the goods. Her hair was styled just so, her warpaint applied on face and nails both. She'd taken the biggest luckbomb she could make without risking a lucksnap and was supposed to meet one of those blue-eyed six-five finance guys that TikTok liked to talk about. But Finance Grad Student was running late and Jen had some time to kill. A good thing today was going to be her lucky day!

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost normally didn't come to places like this (which in her mind counted for 'slumming it up') but she had picked up a familiar mind while making her way around. So, she would head over in to the Coffee Bean, taking a moment to suppress her psionic presence, making herself blend in over in the background and not stand out. Going to watch the rather smug Jennifer to see what was up.

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jennifer's luck tugged at Emma, psionic but not. So Jen looked over, despite Emma's quite good skill at blending in and remaining unseen. Smiling, Jen waved Emma over and made some room for the older woman to sit down if she was so inclined to. She also took a moment to focus what she had that passed for psi-screening, which was entirely mid to be honest. There was a sense of anticipation, an eagerness, but underneath it all was a steadily growing sense of barely-suppressed panic. She was good enough to keep from shouting it at the top of her psychic lungs, but not good enough to hide its existence entirely.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would glance over at Jennifer and move to just smile at her and speak psionically <<I'm not interrupting, am I? Please do continue, I don't want to get in the way>> Emma actually isn't doing anything to intervene here, but there is an undeniable edge of smugness to her mental voice. She's not trying to read Jennifer's mind nor to force it to do anything.

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jen knew damned well that if Emma wanted to make her howl like a dog, flash the coffee bar, and dance topless on the tables she could do that and there's not a damned thing Jen could do to stop her. But he hadn't done anything to earn Emma's ire other than leach on one of her properties with Marie and Mary. Which, in a flash of inspiration, this could be the time to fix!

Jen's mindvoice sounded exactly like her physical one, just louder. Psi-subtlety was not one of her particular set of skills and when she got exited or angry she tended to psychically shout. ~EMMA!~ she mindcalled. ~Get a coffee, come sit down and slum it for a bit! I'd kinda like to ask you something...~ she mindcast clumsily.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would go to fold her arms over <<I'm glad that your work on etiquette has paid off so much, Jennifer>> She would tsk ever so casually and in amusement. Yes, Jennifer had been extremely annoyed with the blonde in their last meeting, but it was the house of Mary and Marie-Ange, so they ere permitted to take on roommates. I twasn't like the deed was in Emma's name.

<<You do seem like you're enjoying yourself. And I'll get myself some coffee. Why, are you going to put on a show or something?>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Fuck. That's right. Last time they spoke Jen got all up in Emma's bidness. She was kinda hoping she'd forgotten about that but telepaths tended to have memories like elephants. ~Yeah, well, that was then. No show, I promise to behave. I've got something I wanted to ask you.~ she thought, then reached for her coffee and then realized she'd already killed it. Damn.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would fold her hands together and gesture over at Jennifer <<Do continue. You do seem to have something going on already here, so if you prefer we can wait for you to finish them if they won't take long? I don't want to mess with a plan you already have going after all>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jen shook her head. ~Finance bro is late so unfuck him.~ she thought. ~Much rather talk to you, since you're here.~ she said, mentally cursing at how much bloody fucking effort it took (still!) for her to have a purely psionic conversation. ~I kinda need a job. I'm willing to sell you or one of your people good luck.~ she said. ~In exchange, I just need my bills handled.~ she thought.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would fold her hands together over and muse thoughtfully to herself and think <<Well then, I'll have a few preconditions of my own first.>> Emma would do the mental equivalent of holding up her fingers, even as her hands would rest on her lap in the physical world. <<First, what trouble -have- youg otten into?>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jen blushed. ~Nothing! Yet.~ she thought. ~Been getting by on lotto winnings but I'm running out of bodegas to buy scratchers from and the state gaming commission is gonna figure shit out eventually.~ she thought. ~And Hellfire told me I was a loose cannon, dangerous to others, unsuited to be relied on.~ she said with a hot mental stab of irritation and shame. ~AndtheremightbesomedickbagsinGothamthatreallydislikehavingtheircasinosplundered.~ she thought in a blur.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would pick out the words then and go to continue to look calm <<I see. So are you asking me in turn for protection from them and a bit of a clean slate? And you have just been denied membership in the Club, you haven't openly antagonized them?>> Even Emma could not hold off the club if they truly wanted to see Jennifer pay. Not without turning deals on the side which she would be loathe to make.

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
~I can take care of myself. Don't worry about the Gotham dickbags.~ she thought. ~All I'm really proposing is a trade - be my sugar momma and in return you or one person of your choosing gets to be really, really lucky for a time.~ she thought. She wasn't aiming the thought at Emma but she was pretty adamant about not causing lucksnaps, where the universe got tetchy about being bent in certain directions and snapped back into place catastrophically.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would muse over then and go to fold her fingers together <<Very well. We'll work on the specifics later. In turn I will be keeping tabs on you. I expect you to not try and /avoid/ my observations. I will consider that a potential violation of our agreement if I find you doing so. Do you find that agreeable?>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
Jen flushed in the real world. ~Let me keep some basic privacy and okay.~ she thought. Not that she was avoiding Emma - I mean, she _was_, but anyone sane would carefully consider if it was worth their time to draw the White Queen's attention. Jen just hoped she wasn't agreeing to give away any semblance of privacy she might have wanted to have. A party girl had to party, after all.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would nod lightly <<Of course you shall have it. I merely want to ensure that I'm not going to have to clean up after you when it comes to anything if you antagonize someone out of your league>> Roulette hadn't -quite- showcased the consistent ability to plan ahead and watch out for herself after all.

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
~Look. You run the bustier and thigh-highs and thongs set. I don't want to put a costume on and fight crime or whatever. I'm just trying to have a life that's mine, enjoy myself, maybe settle down later. I'm not gonna try to caress Magneto's metal balls or join the Brotherhood or anything stupid like that.~ she thought, annoyed at the very idea. ~Injustice comes for me, I'm gonna give it a bad day and get the fuck away.~ she said firmly. ~That's all.~

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would fold her arms <<Of course darling. I do, however, want to make sure that if you do something to annoy the League of Assassins that I'm at least aware of it. I'm not going to stop you, of course, I just want to keep ahead of any trouble that could spring up and I don't want surprises. You will be aware of when I do check in and I expect you to not evade it when I do. THat is all>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
~Yes, Emma.~ she thought in her driest, most annoyed tone - which wasn't really. Psi-expression was another one of those skills she was firmly mid at. ~I've made dumb decisions before, got involved with some really bad people.~ she said with a mental and physical shudder. ~Doing my best to stay far, far away from them.~ she said with a firm physical/mental nod, which looked odd out in the real world. ~So far so good but if they do find me, if they do come after me, believe me. I'll come screaming to you.~ she admitted.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would let out a sigh <Darling, you've already teamed up with Deadpool. I do feel like I have some justificatio in the matter> Even Jennifer might have to concede that point. <<But, you're agreeable, I'll ensure that you receive a reasonable stipend in turn and if you need it bail money>>

Jennifer Stavros has posed:
~Look, I already said bad decisions, right? That's one of them.~ she thought with a sigh. Not aimed at Emma but she was really hoping this wasn't going to turn into a Beat Up On Jen For Being Dumb thing. She had something now, she wasn't doing stupid shit for the lulz anymore. Or for the money, not with this deal. ~You're getting something nobody else can give you. I hope your definition of _reasonable_ can accomodate that.~ she thought with a grin.

Oh, look. Finance bro had finally showed up. Six-five, her barely-clad ass! Six-two, _tops_. Clothes looked rich so maybe he had money after all. This could still go her way.        She was, after all, lucky.