At her embarrassing mention of her head-over-heels crush, Marcq seemed to brighten up a bit. She hoped it meant their conversation could continue and he could relax enough to let it. His answer to the question didn't include the movie they'd just watched but she didn't mind; her head was already back to fawning about him as Marcq compared him to Spiderman. She looked up at her taller dark-haired friend and smiled excitedly. She'd never made the connection to Spiderman but the more she thought about it, the more comparisons she could make. She wondered if her partner had thought about how much like Spiderman he was. She was glad at least the media wasn't anywhere near as bad for him as it was for the fictional webhead.
When Adrianna started to open her mouth and voice her thoughts, fully ready to engage in a conversation of shared interest in a certain spotted superhero, she found that in her dreamy state she'd missed Marcq turning his attention to some guy talking to Alec a little behind them. So she turned too and listened, smiling at what he had to say. She was sure it meant a lot for Alec to hear such praise about his blog getting recognized as real journalism. However, just as everyone started to get excited about Alec's possible new opportunity, Alec stopped midsentence with a suddenly suspicious look on his face.
"I know you; you're Raoul Skeeter, Paris' infamous false journalist."
Adrianna's smile faded as he said the name out loud, trying to remember exactly why it triggered a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach...Skeeter...the name sounded familiar...
She remembered who the man was and why she'd never known his face when he suddenly shoved her friend and he stumbled back with Nina at his side. A flare of rage and instinct to protect erupted in her chest and she stepped forward to get between the guys, but Marcq seemed one step ahead of her, quieting the squabble before Alec could let his temper win out. She almost wished he had been able to and she glared viciously as she walked away last, restraining herself from clawing Skeeter's eyes out. Plagg stirred in her purse and she imagined it was because he was so ready to let her grow claws and do so immediately.
Her friends had more sense, but they also pay attention, especially Alec. Once the gang was out of Skeeter's sight, green eyes snapped up to the other three, all asking questions about her..family. The word tensed her shoulders and she visibly and verbally clammed up. She wished she could find a suitable segue like most other times she can avoid talking about home life in public, but they all waited on an explanation.
"Uh..Yeah" The blonde averted her eyes and bit her lip, trying to think up something new talk about. "Father had it taken down as soon as he'd read it, but not before I could. It was...rotten, what he wrote. You couldn't even call it journalism," she mumbled.
Said article had been published online soon after the time Stoneheart had first showed up and she became Cat Noir. And it couldn't have come at a better time considering her need for freedom trying to go to school that day, then the costume proved an amazing outlet for her emotions.
And boy had she been emotional when she read it, saw the pictures and instantly knew why her father got it deleted so quickly. That bastard Skeeter wrote about her mom posing scantily, and though Adrianna had scrolled through countless pictures of her mom that she could tell it was her face photoshopped on other naked women, she was initially terrified about the other contents of the piece. She could remember one line all to clearly:
"For all we know, Little-Miss-Perfect Agreste got herself too caught up in the porn industry and landed in a risky sex trafficking ring. Which would explain why she never returned and probably never will." The worst thing was that she had no idea it wasn't true at first. How could she know who Skeeter was back in her sheltered mansion bubble? She had to look up what
porn was that day because how would she know?! How could she know that there isn't some truth to it to this day?
Adrianna grit her teeth and shook her bangs out of her face to reveal a simply annoyed eye roll, refusing to let it get to her in the middle of a movie theater lobby. Besides it had been a long time since the first weeks of school. Perhaps Skeeter was only just starting to get articles published again. She was a little shocked that it only took him months rather than years to recover from the legal issues Father had thrown his way.
"Alec, on the other hand, is going to be an amazing, honest journalist one day and if the grand writer Cesaire will allow me the chance, I'll read his newest blog post in his best friend's bakery with a nice latte in my other hand." Adri smirked and placed one hand on her hip, a convincingly confident pose if the cameras were looking.
But it was Nina and the boys who were watching and the former could tell the blonde was desperate to let the subject drop, even if her best friend wished she knew the details. "Right, we wanted to totally go for the cafe after the movie. You guys ready to head out?" The brunette stepped forward toward the doors expectantly with Adrianna by her side.
