InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Great Scott!"

Katherine Pryde (set_to_stun) wrote in devolve,
@ 2011-02-22 12:28:00

Entry tags:

betsy_braddock, kitty_pryde

Who: Kitty and Betsy
What: Early morning tea time
When: Seven thirty
Where: Kitchen
Rating: ~mysterious

Good moods had become a fixture of Kitty's life now that Pete had all but moved into her room. She was willing to attribute it, one hundred percent, to getting laid regularly. Well, that and also how satisfying she found it to work with guns. Perverse, really, that she'd always had such a distaste for them only to now take to weapons training like a fish to water. The idea that she had the potential to be useful in the field had never seemed terribly significant to her, but seeing Pete with the Cruz family put it into perspective. The training would let her do something positive outside of the mansion grounds, something that was becoming more and more important to her.

After training, as was their custom for several mornings a week, Kitty waited for Betsy in the kitchen. She'd already made a pot of tea--strong and black--and had started humming absently, thinking of dance as she stirred a single scoop of sugar into her cup of tea.

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comeonbetsy
2011-02-22 10:44 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah," Betsy agreed, the word more an exhale of breath. She looked at Kitty then, and decided maybe to give sharing a try. Normal people, normal friends, talked about their problems, right? Betsy shifted, sliding one foot under her butt so she could pick at the seam of her pants as a distraction as she spoke.

"You're not kidding. I even skipped my work out this morning to try and get a few extra minutes. I haven't done that since I started them the first week I was here, I think," she said. "I had my first session in the Danger Room yesterday. With Raven. I did pretty good until she -- added someone I used to know as one of the infected. It's just got me a bit unsettled."

There. That was a more reasonable way to bring it up, Betsy thought. Less shocking, but still honest. It was at least an explanation for why she felt like crawling out of her skin today.

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set_to_stun
2011-02-23 03:05 am UTC (link)

Kitty's empathetic expression grew troubled and a spark of irritation lit in her eyes, "Are you serious? Did you punch her? Did you punch her in the face with telekinesis?"

Toning down the anger--especially since it was hard not to see that Raven's intention had perhaps been a good one (Kitty remained willing to give people the benefit of the doubt)--she continued, "Are you okay? I can't imagine what that would be like--without warning you or anything in advance? That was a cheap shot."

Kitty had reconciled herself to the possibility of her father and grandmother being infected, but then again it had never seemed possible she'd run into them as such. She'd never put any old friends into the Danger Room because it felt cruel to program their faces that way, like it was a poor way of honoring their memory. Her one bow to preparedness had been to test her ability to take out a zombie versions of her friends. And despite the nightmares for a few days afterwards, she'd done it. It had helped, she was sure, that she'd known they were alive and would probably, according to her worldview, stay that way.

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comeonbetsy
2011-02-23 09:20 pm UTC (link)

"Of course I didn't punch her," Betsy answered, shrugging a little awkwardly. She didn't want Kitty to react too dramatically. Betsy hadn't even managed to convince herself it wasn't a big deal yet, and she was workign on that. She couldn't do that if Kitty was making a big thing of it.

She sipped her tea and then said softly, "I'm fine. It was just... it was upsetting. But Raven calmed me down. And she was... trying to help, really."

It had been upsetting, though, to be sure, and though Betsy did indeed understand that Raven had been trying to get her to realize that he was gone, it had been a very jarring way to go about it. But... well, regardless, she hadn't meant to complain abotu it to Kitty, exactly. She didn't want to cause bad blood between anyone, and certainly not on her behalf.

"I'm not mad at her for it. I'm just shaken up," Betsy added, looking at Kitty, a little unsure now as to whether she should have said anything at all.

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set_to_stun
2011-02-23 10:51 pm UTC (link)

Betsy was obviously more upset than Kitty had originally perceived. Plus, not everyone took the fight or flight thing straight to fight, as did several of her friends.

"Yeah," Kitty agreed, thoughtful now, "Raven's way of helping is definitely unique."

She smiled at Betsy, a bit ruefully, "I didn't mean to startle you. I don't even--I don't even really know what to say that would be helpful at all. If she'd done it for me, I would have been a mess."

Kitty tended to underestimate her ability to cope with things, but it was all part of her 'I'm average' self image.

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comeonbetsy
2011-02-27 08:05 pm UTC (link)

Shrugging, Betsy just said, "You don't really have to say anything. It's okay."

Much as Betsy had been upset with Raven at first, the woman had shared her own loss with her, and Betsy had appreciated that. It had really helped her to realize that Raven had been trying to help Betsy face the facts. It had indeed helped. It wasn't Raven's fault that the facts Betsy had faced had been difficult ones.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to bring you down. So. Your training and guns and stuff," Betsy started, managing a little smile as she used her expression and tone to suggest she didn't for a moment believe Kitty's good mood was quite that innocent. If she'd rather use euphemisms, though, that was okay with Betsy. "It's all going well then?"

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