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It's getting closer to the time of year when many religions celebrate their major holidays. Ororo has noticed the addition of a tree and some other decorations around Xavier's mansion, though they are not from any holiday she's familiar with. Still, considering it seems to be the polite thing to do, she's been contemplating how to make or purchase gifts, at least for Charles and Ms. Amanda from the varda. Problem: She has no source of income currently.
Walking slowly through the mansion's grounds while contemplating, Ororo's progress can be tracked by where the December winds are milder, and where the occasional bit of snowfall seems to be avoiding.
Psylocked had arrived by taxi this morning and she'd met with Xavier briefly whom had told her to familiarize herself with the school grounds. So she was doing just that. Dressed in a dark purple coat that went down to mid-thigh, black pants and black boots, the Asian woman with dark purple hair roamed the hallways and ended up on the back patio area. She walked up to one of the stone walls and placed her black-leather-gloved hands upon its top. She looked around, spotting Ororo but she was of course unfamilar with who that was. She breathed in the cool Westchester air and quietly observed the lovely school.
Unaware of the new arrival, Ororo keeps walking at a clearly sedate pace. She pauses at one point, and then it's even more obvious that the variation in the weather patterns are following her around the school grounds.
Standing in the clearing, Ororo debates her options. She could… make the weather as mild and peaceful as possible for the holiday season, or she could perhaps make sure the pond on the school grounds is frozen solidly enough to allow for people to skate on it. Those are both things that won't require any funds.
Betsy observes the woman and it does not take her long to see that she is controlling the weather. She had seen other mutation powers from some of the students within the school, but this woman appeared to be the strongest she had seen yet. Psylocke placed her hands into her pockets again and she made her way toward Ororo.
"You are a weather wizard?" She asked in a hybrid accent of British and Japanese, her head tilted in curiosity at Ororo. "That is very impressive. How much control do you possess over this?" She was a curious person by nature, if a bit socially awkward.
Having apparently stayed in one place long enough for Psylocke to catch up to her, Ororo is slightly startled with the woman approaches her and asks those questions so forthrightly. "I… have some measure of control. Though amongst my village, the term 'weather witch' was considered derogatory." Her own accent places her as North African, possibly from somewhere around or near Wakanda. Despite the mildness of the weather around her, she's rather snugly bundled, her threadbare knee-length coat closed tightly over no less than two brightly colored scarves.
Psylocke stared at the woman, impressed by her demeanor and curious by her accent. "I did not mean to offend you." She said to her, even though she had said wizard and not witch. "I am simply… impressed. I guess." She tried to show a smile, but it seemed like a foreign gesture to her. "I am Betsy." She said then, pulling her right gloved hand out of her coat and offering it to Ororo. "Though I prefer the moniker of Psylocke. I am here to meet with Professor Xavier regarding my own mutation, among… other issues."
Ororo readily shakes Psylocke's hand. "No offense taken. And thank you. I am Ororo." Simply that, nothing else. "Are you newly arrived here?" She's been here a few weeks already, and she can't remember having seen the purple-haired woman here before. She tucks her hand back into her coat pocket to try and conserve warmth, because even with her abilities it's upstate New York in December. And cold.
"Yes." Psylocke responded to her. "And it is a pleasure to meet you, Ororo. I would wish to have you follow me around to keep it forever seventy degrees near me, but I know that asking such a thing is… unwise." She said this small joke with a little smirk and then glanced back to the school. "This is a beautiful place. I am quite interested in how things operate here, but I do not wish to get in the way. I arrived this morning, but I will find shelter off-grounds for tonight and the future. I simply need… guideance from the Professor, when he is able to afford me a moment or two."
Ororo's expression almost never visibly changes, but her amusement is clear. "Yes, that would be very unwise." She learned the hard way to not mess with the weather overmuch. When Betsy says she'll likely be staying off-grounds, she shakes her head. "That should not be necessary. I am certain that accomodations can be found for you here." They were for her, after all. "Should we return to the school and inquire?"
Betsy's purple eyes looked back toward the school at this question and she seemed to mull it over within her mind for a moment. Truth is, she was nervous around new people… she was nervous around old people for that matter. But she was especially unsure about being near children. She took in a deep breath and returned her eyes to Ororo, cracked a soft smile. "Perhaps. I simply do not with to impose. I can pay for my space, however. I am sure that this facility goes through quite a lot in finances. Feeding an entire boarding school must be a tremendous hit on funds." She had a job lined up in New York, but it wasn't until Tuesday so she had a lot of time to burn between now and then.
"Then you are already doing better than I am. I have yet to find employment, and have been staying here solely on Professor Xavier's good graces." Well, and a strong recommendation from T'Challa. She turns and leads the way back toward the building, again walking at the meandering pace of someone who greatly enjoys being outdoors.
"Truly?" Psylocke said as they walked together, glancing over at the other. "I am in the modeling industry. I am not talent scout, but I would believe you could be as well. I believe it is, afterall, 'who you know' more than 'what you know'." She said all of this very matter-of-factly. "Should you wish to join me on Tuesday, I could introduce you to some of my employers. They might be quite interested in you. It is high time that more African women break into the field. At least, that is how I feel. But I might be biased about such things." She said that last part, of course, due to her Asian heritage.
Ororo? Model? That's … something she never wuld have considered on her own. "I … am not certain that that is the wisest course for me. However, as I have no other propects currently," well, besides working as part of Xavier's housekeeping staff, "I think I shall accompany you. Thank you for the offer and opportunity."
This seemed to please Betsy as a smile showed upon her lips and she dipped her chin a single time. "It is a not necessarily an easy line of work. It may seem like it is on the outside, but it is long hours. However, should you take to it, it has the ability to give you the funds that you can use to accomplish a lot. Plus… you meet many people who are capable of opening a great many doors for you. My shoot on Tuesday is for a magazine due out in a few weeks. It is simple attire modeling, still geared toward Winter clothing. However, Spring fashion shoots are just around the corner." Betsy continued with her up twoard the school once more. "And if it is not for you, you can easily separate yourself from it. In the mean time, I can take you to the parties to get to know more people as well. That is how you truly break-in. When there is liquor involved." She showed a faint grin then. For a girl who was barely even 21, it might be surprising to hear her speak like this. Of course, she's battling with two personalities, and Kwannon was a little older than just 21.
Ororo's expression falls just a little at the mention of liquor. "I do not imbibe. Will that be a problem?" It's a choice she made a while back, mostly because if she gets tipsy it makes her clautrophobia about eight million times worse. "If that is a problem…"
"Heavens no." Psylocke said to the other and smiled faintly again. "Most models do not drink. Drinking can make it difficult to maintain one's figure afterall. What I meant, more so, is that those who are in-charge… drink… and it is our duty to manipulate them when they do so." She showed a sinister grin then. "I am just teasing though. Truly, Ororo it is just 'playing the game' so to speak. A career such as this is like a game of chess… turned into social interaction. To win, we must make the right moves in the social circles. I am probably making this sound worse than it actually is…" She had been apart of it for a little over a year now and was still learning a lot herself. I do not even enjoy large social gatherings. But I do enjoy winning…. I do enjoy being paid what I believe I deserve."
"
Okay, now Ororo is liking the sound of this less and less. It sounds like her worst nightmare… if she were stuck in a small room at the same time. Having her abilities linked to her emotions means she's exceedingly cautious of going into situations where she might lose control. "Perhaps I should not attempt modelling, then. That does not sound like anything I would do well with." And almost as if to punctuate her unease, a wind picks up for a moment, cutting past the two women with a flurry of kicked up leaves and already fallen snow.
Betsy looks over at Ororo and grinned faintly. "I knew that I was selling it poorly to you." She said quietly, unaware of Ororo's fear of closed spaces, her telepathy wasn't quite like Charles' or Jeans, she had to activated it to use it and she chose not to do that most of the time. "You should not write it off without at least experiencing it for a short while, Miss Ororo. We are not on this world for a very long time… it is good to try new things, at least once, before we decide they are not for us." She showed another light smile and then brushed her dark hair back out of her face when that gust of wind rushed over them. "But I would not wish to push it upon you. I do not want to be a 'weirdo' as they say around here."
Ororo is clearly considering. "If I were to avoid those parties you mentioned, perhaps the photography aspect would be acceptable?" SHe knows there are people in her home village that finds photographs to be disturbing on many levels, but she learned a lot about the modern world from T'Challa, and knows there is nothing to fear from having her image recorded.
Betsy nodded her head gently two times to the other. "It might limit how much exposure you get to new agencies looking for models for their work. And honestly, I think you might be on the cusp of being a hot commodity. There is a major shift in the industry brewing… at least that is what my agent tells me." She flashed a very faint grin. "Minorities are on a rise in European trends, and generally that means it will come to the American shores soon there-after. So the more you put yourself out there, the more money would slide into your bank account." Betsy had high aspirations, but she was young and foolhardy. She enjoyed this job because it took her mind off of, well… everything wrong with her mind, let along her strange abilities.
"I will consider it. That is the most I can promise currently." Ororo did already say she'd go with her to the photo shoot on Tuesday, so that she will do, but she's beginning to suspect that she won't be going back.
Maybe Amanda will have some form of employment prospect for her.
They've reached the school mansion proper, and Ororo leads the way inside. "Would you care for some hot tea? I suspect we can find something available in the kitchen."
Betsy nodded her head softly and smiled a little. She kept her hands in her coat pockets and regarded the woman. "It would be nice. To work the chill out of the bones. I am just… not a fan of cold weather." She said, lifting her shoulders up and visibly shaking herself a little. "I am sure the children here enjoy it though, especially when it snows on that lake. I used to skate on the lake near my parents place when I was young. Back then the cold did not seem to matter to me. I am not sure I even thought about it."
Really. Well then. Ororo resolves to make sure the ice on the pond nearby is more than thick enough to skate on as her gift to everyone in the mansion. She sheds her coat and scarves, revealing a very not-New York-like caftan dress and a frumpy black sweater, while she moves to hang up her coat et all by the door. "I had never experienced cold this severe before. And yet I find myself not minding it at all. It's bracing and peaceful at the same time."
Psylocke did not yet feel comfortable in this place, so she elected to keep her coat on. But she pulled her hands from her pockets and pulled her gloves off, then laid them gently folded into one of said coat pockets. "Do you feel the cold?" She asked then. "Which I mean to say, does your abilities allow you to… effect that? Were you to be exposed to a dangerous temperature, for example. Could you survive it?" She was quite curious by this because Betsy had a love for the outdoors and she wanted to climb mountains someday soon, but the only thing that worried her was the weather, and… dying from it.
"Honestly, I do not know how much protection I would have from extremes. I do feel the cold, yes, but I think I am slightly more tolerant of it than average, especially considering that until I came to the United States I lived in a region that was …" Ororo pauses as she tries to think of the English word. "… equatorial? Is that correct?" After her coat is put up she leads the way to the kicthen, where she promptly starts a kettle on the stove heating for tea.
Betsy slowly nodded her head in understanding of what the other was explaining. "Fascinating." She said with a small smile and a sincerity to her voice. "Well, when I purchase my trip to scale Everest, I know who I will chose as my climbing partner." She said this, punctuating it with a slight grin as they stepped into the fine kitchen and she let her dark purple eyes look around the interior of it. "Lovely." She said. "This entire building reminds me of the architecture of back home." Assumedly she was refering to her British heritage and not that of Kwannon's own. "I suppose that is not surprising since we are in the deep east of the States. Much of the architecture comes from my homeland yet still." She walked slowly around the kitchen, observing elements of it. "Darn these pesky Colonials and their dumping of fine teas." She said with a sinisher grin.
Ororo can't help but be amused by Becky's enthusiasm, even if she is not entirely sure what's so special about a place called Everest. "So this mansion is like where you grew up? Nothing here resembles any place I lived in growing up." That's as close as she gets to admitting that her upbringing was considerably less … well-to-do. She gets a teapot prepared, with the slight hesitations of someone who is still not entirely comfortable with the space or the utensils. "I still keep expecting someone to tell me that none of this is real."
Betsy continued to look around the expansive kitchen and she listened to the other's words as she made her way around the central island of countertops. "Yes, this place is remarkably similar to my childhood home. Subtle differences, of course. But if I knew architecture better I might boldly question whether this was designed by the same person." She grinned a little, more of her proper English accent showing through than the Japanese tones for most of her words there. She paused and stared at Ororo. "I will leave the physicists to decide what is and is not real." She grinned more then. "I am glad you are here then. It sounds as though this is uncomfortably new for you, in a good way." She paused then and leaned against the counter on her right hip. "Why. Are you here… if I might be so bold to ask?"
You paged Guest-1 with 'Sounds like an amuasing role then.'
Guest-1 pages: I do rather enjoy playing jerkfaces.
You paged Guest-1 with 'I'm new to Psylocke, so my version of her is likely quite unusual.'
"Well, I came to the United States to study and learn. But when I arrived in New York, my opportunities were extremely limited." Ororo doesn't have to say aloud because of the color of her skin, it's heavily implied. "Then the flat where I was residing in Manhattan was relet to a different couple, and I had no place to turn. My friend from back home contacted Professor Xavier on my behalf, and he graciously invited me to stay here." And… she's not seen him since. Busy man.
Betsy listened closely to all of this and she put one hand on the counter she was leaned upon and the other rest halfway tucked into her dark purple wool coat pocket. "Oh. I see." She said softly upon hearing the story. "Then I guess that does not bode well for me when it comes to having audience with the good Professor." She flashed another vague grin. A deep inhale of oxygen was had then and Betsy's dark eyes went toward one of the windows along the wall of the kitchen. "I had hoped this place would be a solution to my problems. But I suppose that is the hope that every individual residing within these hallowed halls has held in their hearts." She looked back to Ororo then. "I had not considered the idea that they might be understaffed here, for all of our life's many issues." <accidental telepathy useage>
Ororo looks at Psylocke oddly for a moment before the kettle starts whistling and she moves to take it off of the stove. "I do have to admit that I spend as much time as possible out on the gounds." She doesn't outright say why, though. It's … kind of a touchy subject. The tea is set to steeping, and steps into the larder briefly to come back with some bread rolls and a bell of butter.
Betsy looked toward the windows once more and she smiled a litle. "Yes well. I can see why. It was the same for me when I was young. I used to think that there was adventure around every tree's trunk. Treasure beneath every rock's mossy underbelly." She grinned lightly and looked back to the woman preparing the food and tea. "I thought I would grow up to be a world reknown archaeologist, rather than a woman who poses for photo shoots in clothing that does not belong to her. But. So be it. Such is the way of things. We end up in places we did not expect… and I imagine you could agree with that. It feels as though you certainly did not expect to end up here."
"True. I did not expect to end up here." She expected to be dead before she turned eight, an then twelve, and then sixteen… Ororo sets out the rolls and butter and then pours the tea. "This is very certainly not like anything I could have imagined." Even though she brought out the milk and sugar for the tea, she doesn't actually use either herself. Perhaps it was just something she's seen done so mimicked it?
Betsy watched her prepare the tea and she nodded. "I will take sugar and milk." She said, choosing both extra additives. She then tilted her head gently while staring at Ororo. "Where did you imagine yourself at this age then?" She asked. "You appear to be the same age as me… perhaps slightly older. Twenty two?" She inquired. "If you had the ability to choose where you would like to be right now, where would that be?" She was curious, and she didn't really know why to be honest. Was it Betsy who was curious or Kwannon? She couldn't answer that either.
Ororo takes a sip of her tea while she considers that question. "Where I would like to be. I honestly cannot say. Before I came to the United States my answer would very quickly have been my home village or Wakanda." Perhaps splitting her time between the two. "Now… I truly do not know." She shakes her head slightly and looks at Becky. "And you? Where would you choose to be?"
Betsy also sipped at her tea and she mmm'd at the lovely taste. She heard the question and a grin showed on her lips. "On a yacht someone on the French Riviera." She partially jested. "But no, honestly… I am where I want to be. If I did not wish to be here then I would leave. My career brought me here, the rumors of this school offering aide to people like me… has made me come here… and now I share this kitchen with yourself. A fine tea creator. So I am happy with where my life is. Some things have gone, to odd places, but… I am alive, healthy and content." She smiled again and then sipped her tea once more.
END