ic Grand Prix

[Gizmo]

Trevor gave Erin a flat, reproachful look as he tugged on his pants. "Strongly considering it." Looking out the small part in the window's curtains, he could easily imagine Erin carrying them down to the parking lot and their rented car. While viable, it seemed like a poor long term solution. "Know how you feel about talking to socialites? That's what talking to Janet Pryce-Hunter is like for them. ...or me. Sometimes." Waving the omission away with a minute gesture of his free hand he took another sip of coffee. It wasn't like every conversation with his mother was some sort of competition but she did have a way of making one feel out of their proverbial weight class. "Her expectations for my success wooing you were... pragmatic."

[Electra]

Erin considered this explanation as she finished the rest of her cinnamon roll. "So if I feel lost and behind the curve talking to socialites, and socialites feel lost and behind the curve talking to your mom... well, maybe she'll just lap me, and I'll be so completely lost I won't even notice if she insults me," she reasoned optimistically. "And what the hell, I think we've already reached the peak of possible awkwardness without Mark being involved." Walking up behind Trevor, she rested her chin on his shoulder and put her arms around his waist for a comforting squeeze. "Anyway, we just have to deal with her for a little bit. I'm sure she's busy with a million things, right? And then we can get back to doing whatever we want. We can make sure to watch the race from someplace she'd never think of going, just in case." 

[Gizmo]

Trevor cracked the faintest suggestion of a smile as Erin's arms wrapped around him, placing one of his hands atop hers. "Not sure it works that way. Won't insult you anyway." The assertion came equally from knowing how his mother was likely to behave and from knowing his own reaction should she cross any lines.

Closing his eyes briefly to center himself and focus on Erin's comforting presence against his back, he sighed almost imperceptibly. "Hrn. Shouldn't keep her waiting, anyway." Carefully untangling himself he selected a dress shirt from the clothes he'd packed and continued getting dressed. "Could try getting her to talk about herself."

[Electra]

"Yeah, that usually works," Erin agreed, going to her own suitcase on the other dresser. "Everybody likes talking about themselves. Is she still doing the thing with the company?" Erin had to admit she didn't exactly keep up with the comings and goings of Trevor's parents, even less than she kept up with the White family of Earth Prime. Blood relatives they might be, but they were very detached from the business of everyday life in Freedom City.

 

She picked up a pair of jeans, then glanced at Trevor's outfit and subbed in a pair of heather-colored slacks and a breezy spring top. Wearing a dress to have breakfast with Trevor's mom just seemed too weird. Two minutes to dry her hair, and she was more or less ready to go. "All right, guess we'll make a more put-together impression this time, anyway." 

[Gizmo]

Trevor shrugged in response, having no idea how his mother might have been keeping busy of late. Describing Janet Pryce-Hunter as a woman of varied interests and numerous skills was an exercise in the very definition of understatement. Tugging his cuffs into place, he took a brief moment to kiss Erin lightly on the cheek before opening the door to the hallway.

Janet had wedged the door to her room with open with a pump that looked like it probably cost a small fortune and was sitting at a table in view of the hallway with her newspaper and a tall, untouched glass of something bright and fruity. Seeing the young couple emerge she neatly folded the paper and set it down then rose elegantly to he feet and walked forward to meet them. "Ah, there you are. Tsk, no need to ask who designed your outfits. He's a dear man, but Frank hasn't exactly evolved his style over the years."

There was a visibly awkward moment as she reached them where neither she nor Trevor seemed entirely sure if they were supposed to hug or shake hands and ultimately decided on neither, nodding slightly instead. "Sorry to keep you waiting," the dark haired young man apologized.

The older woman waved it away. "Don't be absurd. I was eighteen once, too, you know," she informed the pair, placing one hand on her hip in a way that made the flow of her dress even more dramatic but gave no hint of affectation. "You're young, you're on vacation, you're both in excellent shape. I'd be more concerned if you weren't--"

"Twenty," Trevor interrupted hurriedly, gesturing down the hallway toward the elevator. His compact body language was tighter than usual but he offered his arm to Erin nonetheless. "It's twenty, now."

"I was twenty once, too," Janet confirmed without missing a beat.

[Electra]

Erin glanced at Trevor, resisting the urge to quirk an eyebrow at his mother's opening salvo. She was reassured, at least, that Janet's social game wasn't actually so advanced as to make her insults imperceptible. If Janet had been a regular socialite, Erin might have been tempted to lob one back, but she suspected she'd be sadly outclassed, and that it would just make things more uncomfortable for Trevor. He was already looking uncomfortable enough without her help. She slid her arm through his and gave his hand a quick squeeze as they walked to the elevator. "You'll have to catch us up on everything you've been doing," she told Janet as they waited for one of the glass elevators. "We had no idea you were going to be in Monaco this weekend." 

[Gizmo]

Janet shrugged modestly as she walked down the hallway with a grace that suggested natural poise and gymnastic training wasn't exclusive to one side of Trevor's family. "Oh, this and that, dear. A sculpture exhibit here, a political campaign there. Helping a few crowd-funding projects off the ground, throwing some weight around to keep a clinic open. You know how it is, I'm sure." For all it could have been taken as sly bragging, the raven haired woman seemed to be describing what she considered to be a fairly uneventful week.

"That brings you to Monaco?" Trevor attempted to probe a little further, shoulders relaxing slightly with Erin beside him. As they entered the elevator his stance subtly shifted to the one he adopted at high society events when he wanted to make sure he was noticed, back straight and posture just perceptibly aloof. It wasn't unlike the way he'd edged toward more taciturn and poker-faced when they'd met his father, an unconscious attempt to relate to a parent on their own terms.

"That brings me to Nice," Janet corrected breezily, "but when the Grand Prix is right next door, well. You know I'll go on and I'm much more interested in you, Erin. You're in school, I'd imagine?" The glass doors of the elevator silently closed behind them as they started downward.

[Electra]

"No, I'm not," Erin countered, sending half a glance Trevor's way as though to seek some reassurance for herself now. That wasn't exactly an easy topic, though she'd gotten it before and had a little patter. "I decided to start work immediately after I graduated high school, with a start-up technology company in Freedom City. It's called Halloman Advanced Experts, I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's doing very well. I figured that school could wait, but good opportunities don't come along that often, right?" She smiled a little. "And looking over some of Trevor's engineering coursework, I think I'm glad to have kicked that a few years down the road." Not exactly truthful, but not exactly lies either, and much more socially palatable than the "no, I skipped college to be a security guard" that was her original graceless answer. 

[Gizmo]

Surprisingly, Janet visibly brightened at Erin's response, tilting her head slightly as she gave the younger woman a reevaluating glance. "Good for you. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do a job you're qualified for just because someone else hasn't handed you a piece of paper saying so," she advised with a firm nod and a faint but encouraging smile.

Trevor stood in nonplussed silence for a moment before blinking slowly. "Definitely qualified," he agreed as the elevator doors opened up again and let them out onto the ground floor. "Extensive extracurriculars at Claremont; reputation among the other students."

His mother made a soft, musing sound as they began walking again. "I had my doubts about that school but it's clearly done a world of good."

[Electra]

Erin tried to conceal her surprise at Janet's reaction, though she suspected she didn't do a very good job of it. It was perhaps the last response she'd expected to get from someone who was apparently extremely at home in the status-obsessed set the Hunters traveled in, but maybe someone who tried as many new things as Janet did had learned the value of on the job training. It should've meant nothing, given that the source was Trevor's negligent and absentee mother and that it related to a decision more than a year in the past, but it was also the first time an actual adult had come right out and said she made the right choice in not going to college. Pretty much everyone else had disapproved, often overtly. Just having someone say she was right was oddly uplifting. She wasn't sure how she ought to feel about that, so she filed it away for later and turned her attention to the shift in topic. 

 

"Claremont is an excellent school," she was able to say with no dissembling as they walked into the main dining room. It was still early enough that many of the revelers from last night were still in their beds or taking room service, leaving them a choice of tables. She headed automatically to one that would put their backs to a wall, even if that meant avoiding some of the more scenic windowside tables. "It was the network of people I met there that let me get my job, plus a lot of extra training. And Trevor did even better than I did at school, he was near the top of our graduating class." Their success at school had been measured by much more than grades and networking, but Erin wasn't sure that Janet knew enough about the school to understand how literally they'd done "a world of good," so she kept quiet about that part. 

[Gizmo]

"Well, I would assume," Janet responded lightly as she followed Erin to the table and took a seat. The older woman immediately caught the eye of one of the waiters, who swerved abruptly to head right over with the urgency of some sort of inverted flight or fight response.

Trevor slid into the chair next to Erin and across from his mother, quietly ordering a coffee with a polite hint of a nod for the flustered staff member. "Happy to meet expectations."

"So sensitive," she chided, ordering a glass of wine for herself and giving Trevor's beverage choice a skeptical look. "When did you start drinking coffee?"

[Electra]

Erin, who ordered orange juice for herself, would've laughed, if the comment hadn't said so much about Janet's utter lack of awareness. She was his mother, how could she not know something so basic? How could she not realize how special and brilliant her own child was? "And Trevor's in an accelerated engineering program now," she continued brashly, suddenly determined that Janet should get some glimpse of what she was missing out on. "He practically built his own motorcycle from the ground up, and he can drive or fly anything with an engine. People are going to be begging him to work for them when he graduates, if he doesn't decide to go into business for himself."

[Gizmo]

Trevor quietly placed a placating hand on Erin's knee under the table. He appreciated the passionate defense, slight exaggerations and all but he wasn't surprised or particularly hurt by his mother's attitude.

For her part, Janet just gave Erin a thoughtful look. "I don't need to be convinced, dear. I know he's gifted and very nearly as focused as his father. I'm hardly going to feign surprise when he succeeds." The waiter returned with their drinks much more quickly than the service had been the previous afternoon, practically tripping over his own feet in spite of himself. "Praise is cheap enough as it is."

"And they say my father is the economist," Trevor commented dryly, leaning back slightly in his seat as he took a sip of his coffee. His mother her wine glass slightly in a sort of salute before turning her attention to the menu in front of her.

[Electra]

There was plenty more Erin could've said, but Trevor's signal was enough to make her let most of it go and just squeeze his hand instead. It was hard to understand why his mom's treatment didn't bother him, but he'd been living with it his whole life. "Maybe," Erin said carefully, "but I think it's better to say those nice things to people you care about whenever you can, so you never wind up regretting all the things you didn't say." She subsided then, studying her menu intently for all that most of it was incomprehensible. Omelette au fromage fit both her reading comprehension and her appetite, so she settled on that rather than risk another sugar-coated grapefruit like on the flight over. 

[Gizmo]

Janet watched Erin's face carefully as the younger woman made her best attempt at diplomacy. When she had finished the socialite's expression didn't soften exactly but displayed a certain understanding. "I can appreciate the conviction if nothing else, dear," she assured Erin with a shallow nod and faint smile. "At the risk of embarrassing him, it's nice to see someone a bit more assertive looking out for Trevor's interests."

"Have to somehow overcome mortification," Trevor spoke up flatly, although their was a trace of amusement undercutting his voice, the suggestion of a private joke.

[Electra]

The tacit agreement from Janet was enough to mollify Erin somewhat, along with the fact that somehow the older woman had managed to coax some speed out of the pokey waiters. She fiddled for a minute with her napkin to try and get it to stay on her lap where it was supposed to, then took another stab at polite conversation. "It looks like it's going to be nice again today," she observed. "Are you going to watch the race?" she asked Janet. Sure it was an obvious bit of small talk, but it was the same thing everybody else was talking about today. And given what Trevor had told her, she figured trying to be witty was wasted effort. 

[Gizmo]

"There's a race?" Janet inquired blankly, cutting into her breakfast with minute motions that seemed to cast the craftsmanship of the cutlery in the best possible light. Off of Trevor's silent, stricken expression the older woman made a faint sound that might have been the beginning of a laugh. "Good heavens, what a face. I'm joking, dear. Honestly." Turning back to Erin she elaborated, "I'll be putting in an appearance, yes, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to make a day of it. Shame; it's always good to observe the new talent."

Trevor had a disconcerting feeling that his mother wasn't talking about the drivers but he was occupied with smoothing his features and regaining his momentarily misplaced composure. "Hilarious." He focused on his coffee, draining the better part of his china cup before exhaling and returning his attention to the table at large.

[Electra]

Erin stifled a laugh by shoving a large piece of omelette into her mouth, nearly choking herself for her trouble. Janet was, a terrible mother, that was true, but at least spending time with her was less horrible than the emotionless cold-eyed ass that was legally Trevor's father. Erin was just glad that she had no plans to use any of her tucked away money anytime soon, because that meant she didn't have to have any dealings with him besides quarterly emails that she barely skimmed anyway. At least Janet appeared to have some feelings, and maybe even a distant sort of concern for Trevor. 

 

"We'll be heading out soon after breakfast, I think," Erin said, cutting a more judicious piece of omelette this time. "I've never been to a race like this, and we're going to see everything. Will you be in Freedom City anytime soon?" 

[Gizmo]

"Doubtful, dear," Janet replied, a note of polite amusement tinging her voice at the suggestion. "It's nice to occasionally make it through an entire meal without being interrupted by some buffoon's melodramatic spectacle." Tidily folding her napkin next to her plate and untouched drink, she offered the younger woman a small smile. "That said, should business take me that way, I'm sure I'll find time to check in."

"Would be nice." Trevor's voice was neutral, not cold but lacking any note of anticipation. It wasn't the first time his mother had expressed a similar sentiment but in practice something else always jumped to the top of her list of priorities. Amid worthy causes and ambitious projects, a simple social call couldn't compete.