InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Why is the world spinning?"

Elisabeth "Betsy" Braddock (comeonbetsy) wrote in devolve,
@ 2011-02-05 16:49:00

Entry tags:

betsy_braddock, raven_darkhoelme

Characters: Raven and Betsy
NPCs: n/a
Location: Xavier’s
Timeline: Backdated to Thursday, midday.
Description: They train, they talk, they make lunch. Just getting to know each other!
Rating: PGish? Mild mild violence.

For all that she could stop hits telekinetically (sometimes) she had to be able to see them coming to do that, and Raven was just too fast for her. Betsy was still struggling to develop skills that seemed so completely ingrained for Raven, and she wasn’t really any match for the woman in close combat, even with powers.

Without, though, she felt little more than useless, and she only barely managed not to grunt as Raven floored her for what felt like the hundredth time. She took a deep breath and then picked herself up off the floor. She was always just a split second too late, it seemed like. Or sometimes more. Or sometimes, even if she wasn’t a too late, her technique was off and she lost anyway. Still, that was why she was trying to learn, and she did feel like she was learning. She was getting better with ever lesson, and she wasn’t about to give up. Betsy was determined, and when she set her mind to something -- whether it was getting out of the UK or becoming someone completely new or acing university or learning to defend herself -- she intended to follow through.

So she tried to stay positive as she shook it off and faced Raven again. “All right, so what did I do wrong that time?”

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comeonbetsy
2011-02-07 08:16 am UTC (link)

“Yes, he was,” Betsy answered, but didn’t specify beyond that. Though she’d brought him up, it was still painful to speak of him. “We got separated by an attack somewhere in southern Quebec. We were headed north.”

Harsher conditions and less densely populated areas would be safer, they’d thought. Betsy had gone along with it even though she hadn’t wanted to just run and hide and survive. She’d wanted to be part of the solution. Like she was now.

“Do you think Dr. McCoy will find a way to cure it?” Betsy asked then, changing the subject for a number of reasons. It was hard to talk about the man she’d lost, for one, and she didn’t want to hear any logic on the situation. He was probably dead, sure, but there was still a chance. A small... sliver of a chance. She could still hope.

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blue_bitch
2011-02-07 08:17 am UTC (link)

Raven wasn’t sure if Betsy had even really registered the use of past tense to describe the boyfriend, but the fact that she’d used it was at least a step toward admitting that the man was almost guaranteed to be dead. He had more of a chance being a mutant, but that wasn’t always enough to save you. The idea of heading North wasn’t one that Raven herself would have gone with... sure, they were less likely to encounter infected individuals, but there was a reason for those places being deserted. The weather was awful and there weren’t many resources. It wasn’t the type of place Raven would have been comfortable in.

Of course, not everyone had fully stocked, defendable safe houses in major metropolitan areas, so that maybe limited options just a little bit. Not that Raven was using her safe house just then. It seemed like Betsy was done discussing her dead boyfriend, and Raven turned her head to look at her, shrugging.

“I think...” Frowning, Raven shook her head. “I think that big blue has a good chance. Better than most. But you can’t count on it being a definite success.” McCoy was smart and had resources in the mansion that many other scientists didn’t have. If someone did find a cure, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was Henry, but sitting around hoping for it and counting on it was just a waste of time and brain power. There was one thing that she was confident in, though, and she nodded. “Someone will find a cure.”

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comeonbetsy
2011-02-07 08:20 am UTC (link)

Betsy just nodded. She wasn’t waiting on it, not really. It would be nice to find a way to bring them back, but she wasn’t sure that was a realistic hope. Maybe those that were infected were already a lost cause. Still, it was nice to imagine it could happen, since the other option was killing them all, and she wasn’t sure the remaining uninfected populace would be able to re-establish much of anything in her lifetime, even in a best case scenario. It was disappointing, to say the least. She’d always imagined her life a certain way, and this was not it.

Of course, there was nothing but wasted energy and despondent thoughts in wishing things were different than they were.

“I just I wish there was more I could do. All that time I spent learning about business seems useless now,” Betsy said. She knew they needed all sorts now, and her gifts were uniquely helpful when it came to doing many small busy tasks at once -- such as preparing a large meal for a great number of people; she could do the prep work of four or five people all at once, after all -- but she was largely useless when it came to actually finding a solution. Or a cure.

Of course, if she just worked on her telekinesis a little, and her nerves, perhaps all that multi-tasking could be put to use liquefying the brains of, say, an entire horde all at once. Maybe she could even do that now. She was hesitant to turn herself into a weapon of mass destruction, however. She thought it was more... humane somehow, to focus on defense.

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blue_bitch
2011-02-07 08:22 am UTC (link)

Generally speaking, Raven wouldn’t have wasted her time or energy on truly trusting that there was some big light at the end of the tunnel. The world was fairly desolate, and the people who were there... the majority were young, and she imagined that few could be counted as mentally stable at that point. With everything that had happened, the world had completely changed, as had the remaining people in it. People were a variable that you couldn’t always trust to perform as they had in the past even when times were good. But she had it from a reliable source that the world would pull through, one way or another, and even though a part of her knew that it very well could have just been Irene saying so to keep her from going off the deep end, she chose to believe that the woman was being sincere. It wasn’t like she could ask her about it anyway.

“If and when all of this comes to an end, they’ll need people who know business,” she pointed out as they walked into the kitchen... which was thankfully empty. “Until then, you’re learning things that will be more helpful for the time being. It’s all you can do.”

“Staying alive is more important than anything else. The most important thing to me is that I’m alive. The most important thing to you should be that you are.” In the end, it all boiled down to that. Somewhere along the line, Raven had dropped the romantic notion of blindly putting others before herself... for the most part. There were exceptions to the rule, and she wasn’t entirely happy knowing that there were people she would take a bullet for. “You do what you have to to keep it that way. You adapt, as you’re doing now.”

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