Hope and Marie-Ange

[x-trance.livejournal.com]

Hope might just gain another potential mentor.

Hope firmly knocked on the door, still a little confused why both Doug ánd Wade wanted her to talk to Ms. Colbert. Questions to both of them had not clarified much, only that she would discover that for herself. So here she was.

Whatever Hope had expected, it was probably not a stack of small gnarled looking imps opening the door. The topmost imp tumbled off the shoulders of the next one down and pushed the door open silently, and then the entire group disappeared, leaving behind a small wisp of mist.  

Marie-Ange was behind her desk, holding a phone to her ear and made a gesture at the door that said "Give me a moment" before scowling, and then snapping the flip-phone shut and tossing it into a plastic basket on the floor.  "My apologies. I knew you were due to arrive, but... "  She spread her hands.  "Bureaucrats. Always talking talking talking, never listening or justbeing quiet and accepting a nice bribe."

Hope tilted her head a little and replied: "I thought that was their job? Talking and writing a lot in a language no one truly can decipher?" Taking a seat in front of the desk, she folded her hands to keep herself from fidgeting. "I have to admit I am curious, Ms. Colbert. Doug and Wade only told me you wished to see me, but nothing much about why..."  

"Oh, good job, boys, I had worried they might actually tell you."  Marie-Ange's smile managed to be both warm and sly at the same time.  "But then, it might have taken a while because there is a list. Not a long list, but, a few reasons. Some questions, a few lessons I am better able to teach than either of them."  Well. Wade could possibly handle one of them but using himself as a test subject was messy.  "I think first the questions, yes? What are you trying to accomplish with all of this?"  Her hands swept to include the office but it was clear - she meant all the lessons with Doug, Wade, whoever else Hope had started Criminal Activity 101 with.

Studying the red haired woman in front of her, Hope replied frankly: "It's really very simple, Ms. Colbert. Because I am tired of being a pawn, of being used. First by my mother, then the Archduke... I cannot be like Mr. Logan or Mr. Summers, but I can build my own set of skills to make sure it does happen again."

"Yes, but to what end?" And if Marie-Ange heard the faintest echo of a harsh laugh, and a cajun-accented voice calling her 'chere', she ignored it.  "Ms. Abbott.  Hope. The things you are learning, they take you down roads that you do not often get to leave. You could make your own path without this, without any of these skills. Smart, talented women can make their own fate without learning any of this."

Marie-Ange reached for a pile of tarot cards that were stacked on the corner of her desk. "You always have choices, Hope. You've chosen to learn to steal and lie and cheat already, where does that take you? Why are these the skills you need to keep yourself safe?"

"Because they not only teach me skills, they teach me to be smart and sneaky... and that are my weapons if I need those. A lock pick can open a jewelry box, but also a door of a room you are locked up in. Lying, cheating and reading a person can get someone to lower their guard around you so you can get away or avert a confrontation." Hope explained, her mind going back to her situation in Ksavia. "I am building my arsenal in the best way that I can."  

"That only explains half of it. The social skills, I applaud those, but hot wiring cars? Picking locks?"  Marie-Ange peeled a card off the top of her deck and set it down.  "Deception and deceit. If you keep taking on these skills, the moon will follow you throughout your life. Nothing will be black and white anymore, even when it most seems to be."  She quirked a half-smile.  "Your teachers are both men. There is a long list of skills that neither of them can help you refine. But all of this is a path you cannot step off once you are on it. It may not lead you here..."  She gestured at her office.  "But the places you will go, Ms. Abbott, they are not places you leave easily."

"Things have not been black and white a long time. Not since I first came to the mansion, how much I'd liked to deny this back then. If I have to survive... no... live in a world of shades of grey, I want to have the tools to do that. It is as simple as that." She met Ms. Colbert's gaze steadily. "And of what skills do you speak?" A twinkle of interest shimmered in her eyes.  

"Has Doug taught you the basics of seduction yet?"  It seemed a change of subject, but it was very much not.  Marie-Ange smiled, and raised her chin in the direction of Doug's server room and little office.  "Perhaps not, I think. Flirting, certainly, but not seduction."  She eyed the last of the little imps that had opened the door for Hope - it had remained seated on the floor, and it gently pushed the door shut. "And I know neither of Doug or Wade has taught you how dangerous your stunt with the sedatives really was."

"Mostly flirting and simply being comfortable being flirted with. Seduction..." Hope admitted, a faint blush coloring her face. "None of that yet. And what I did to Shieldo and Shielda... no, that is one thing we never really discussed. Do you mean I could easily have overdosed them?"

"I should send you to a strip club until you learn to stop blushing."  Marie-Ange said, dryly. Not adding that the most expedient way to stop that blush would be to send Hope there as a waitress. She would not do that - not to someone who was not working for X-Force.  "Sedatives doses are based on body size, and a person's history of previous sedative use, but more so, with other mutants, reactions are unpredictable. I used to know someone who could not take aspirin, it would stop his heart. I did sedate someone, when I was a bit younger than you, and if I had given him a slightly different pill, he would have died."

"I know it was dangerous." Hope objected. "I just had to make due with what I had and what I remembered from what my mom taught me. I was lucky I managed to get my hands on something I could use to have Shieldo and Shielda lower the shield."

Letting out a sigh, she bowed her head a little. "But I do see what you mean. I am just not sure what else I could have done different in those circumstances.

Marie-Ange turned the tarot card on her desk to face Hope - The Moon. Deception and deceit, sleep, dreams and an entirely appropriate card for Ms. Hope Abbott, given her powers and choices.  "Nothing. Which is the other lesson you probably need to learn. Sometimes, you do what you need to, and walk away from it knowing you made the best possible decision you could have. If they had died, you would have needed to accept that and adjust your plan from there."

"I was lucky... But I also know, if there is a next time, I might not be as lucky." Hope spoke hesitantly at first, then her voice firmed as she continued. "From what you have said... you sound like you have quite a bit of experience with this... would you be willing to teach me, so that if I have to make this choice again, I have more to go on then half remembered memories?"

"I intended to, so that none of us would have to clean up a mess behind you the next time."  Marie-Ange said.  "As well as you did, the next time you may not be so lucky. How is your stomach? Would you vomit at the sight of a dead body?" The question came out of nowhere, but - made a certain sense if you knew Marie-Ange's background.

"Honestly, I do not know." Hope bit her lip. "I would like to think I would be able to... I did manage to keep it together when I had this man almost dying under me during that art fair. But that is not exactly the same."

"Well."  The expression on Marie-Ange's face was indescribably amused.  "Let us let that be the first thing we determine. How many autopsies of people who have died from overdose can Hope Abbott observe before she needs to find a trash can."  She tapped out a quick text on her phone.  "As it turns out, despite the frankenberry cat, my very favorite medical examiner still works for the city, and still does...  creative editing of death records for a group of people I once worked for, and I am certain he would be happy to give you a few tours."

Hope paled, but she kept a straight face. "That should prove to be interesting..."  

"After that, that blush reaction. I am sure Gabriel could tell me a dozen places to cure you of that."