Hope & Betsy

[xp_sylocke]

Hope quickly looked through her bag, checking if she had her credit card and a sufficient supply of cash with her. Shrugging on her cashmere pea coat, she smiled when she caught sight of the purple haired woman coming from the direction of the kitchen. "Good morning Betsy. I hope you are well today?”

Weeks of poor sleep were starting to take their toll, so it took Betsy a few moments to connect the cheerful greeting to a name but when she did her smile was genuine. “Oh, hello Hope. I am quite alright, thank you for asking. What about yourself, about to go out I presume?”, she inquired, taking in the other woman’s attire.

"I am. With the cold weather really setting in, I found I lack some necessary things for my wardrobe. So a shopping expedition is in order." Hope frowned a little. "How about you? Did you bring everything you need from the UK?”

Betsy lowered her head to hide her embarrassment. “I didn’t actually have the chance to bring that much with me since I came here directly from Muir… My brother had some of my things shipped and bought me some necessities but as much as I love Brian a sense of style is not one of his virtues. Here, let me show you what I mean,” she said, leading Hope to the coat rack in the front hall. She pulled a short pastel pink coat from the rack and held it up for inspection. “He got me this. I mean, it all fits perfectly, but… Well.”

"It's a lovely coat, but I have to agree it's not quite... you." Hope agreed. "So you require a new coat the very least. What else do you require? I might have some suggestion where we can find gifts to your liking."

“You can have it if you want, or if you know someone who might appreciate it they are welcome to it,” Betsy offered. “I wouldn’t want to impose on your plans, but I could do with a couple of warm jumpers and such. It’s chillier here than I was expecting, and that’s saying something after spending time living on the Scottish isles,” the telepath smirked.

"Oh, do not worry about that, Betsy. I love company with shopping. What kind of sweaters do you prefer? I know of a small boutique with cashmere sweaters in a few different models and quite a variety of colors it that is something you like." Hope suggested.

“That sounds ideal, actually. Cashmere should be nice and warm and is usually quite chic, at least as long as I avoid the places Brian would shop in. I would love to tag along if you’re sure you won’t mind. Were you planning on taking one of the cars? I would offer to drive but I haven’t gotten the hang of staying on the wrong side of the road yet.” Giving it one last look of distaste, Betsy put on the pink coat she had been holding. “I must insist that you let me treat you to lunch later though."

"I have already parked it out front. And lunch would be lovely. I bet I know a spot or two you would be interested in as well." Hope explained as they passed through the front door and made their way to the car. "So except for sweaters and a more fitting coat, anything else you do need? Maybe some early Christmas gift shopping?”

It took Betsy a moment to recall that the passenger door was on the opposite side from what she was accustomed to, but she managed to disguise her hesitation as stopping to admire the vehicle. “Nice car. Is it your own or one of the mansion’s?” She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and tugged it lightly. “As for presents, I usually just get something small for my brothers, but to be honest at this point I’d take any excuse to spend a little bit longer out of the mansion. What did you have in mind?”

"It's just one of the mansion cars. Honestly, I don't use one often enough for myself." Hope said as they left the gate. "And as for your brothers, do they have specific thing they like? I mean, I plan on hitting a jewelry store or two, a rare bookstore and a few clothing boutiques. But they don't seem like very useful places for your brother's gifts...”

“A shop selling rare books may very well have something for Brian, he is getting his doctorate in physics and is very interested in history. A nice first edition could be right up his alley. As for Jamie…” Betsy leaned further back on her seat and sighed. “He is always more difficult to shop for. Maybe a nice scarf or similar. He likes sitting in the garden and often doesn’t notice the cold.” She gave Hope a sad half-smile. “My dear older brother is a paranoid schizophrenic, non-responsive to medication.”

"I am so sorry to hear that." Hope quietly sympathized as she drove off. "It is a little out of the way of where I was planning to go, but I do know of a small shop which sells beautifully handwoven items. Maybe one in his favorite colors or patterns? Or a blanket even?”

“You are already helping so much, I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way. Besides, Christmas is a while away yet, so there will be time to let inspiration strike. Do you have plans for the holidays?” In other circumstances Betsy would have assumed the other woman would be spending Christmas with her family, but during the short time she had been at the mansion she’d learned that wasn’t an option for many of the residents. She was reminded of her first winter at the school after Jamie had gotten ill, when she was one of the few boarders who didn’t get to go home for the winter holidays and didn’t want to accidentally raise any bad memories for Hope.

"My father and grandmother will probably be in town between Christmas and New Year's day and we'll spend some time together, but otherwise I am staying at the mansion. How about you? Will you be returning to England to visit your brothers?”

“I think so. We haven’t really talked about it yet but we don’t have any other family and Jamie can’t really travel so I imagine I will be going back,” Betsy confirmed. “Besides, it’ll give me an excuse to force Brian to actually take some time off. That boy works far too much at times.” She watched the autumn colors blurring together as they went past. “I wish I can convince him to come visit me here at some point though. It’s prettier here than I was expecting and it will do him good to get away for a bit."

"What is it that Brian does? Is he still in college?" Hope asked curiously.

“He’s a grad student, and, well, it’s rather convoluted, but he’s still trying to regain full control of our parents’ company. Courtney - she was our guardian and a friend of my parents - was in charge for a long time and Brian is trying to undo the damage, but there’s a lot of people on the board who are quite happy with the way things are and in no rush to make changes. And his position is rather precarious, especially with me and Jamie being the way we are.” There was a trace of bitterness in Betsy’s voice. “The slightest hint of instability and they will be on him like rats if he’s not careful."

"Whoa, that sounds like quite a mess." Hope sympathized. "Hopefully for you and your family he will be able deal with all of this soon. It sounds like we should find a book that would be a pleasant diversion? Or does he prefer to swallowed by the book and not surface once it's finished? "

The telepath’s smile was fond. “His main interest is King Arthur, and pre-Medieval British history in general. He is more interested in historical texts and their interpretations than modern re-tellings, which he made quite clear when I tried to get him to read Mists of Avalon one year. However as much as he likes to build up his scholarly ambitions he's secretly a romantic at heart and Malory is still his favourite."

Hope's eyebrow rose: "So a closet-hearted romantic knight who is also fighting in the hard world of business? It is quite a picture you paint there." Her voice made clear she was only kidding a small bit.

That earned her a grin from Betsy. “I’ll make sure to introduce you if he ever does make it to this side of the pond. But yeah, he’s definitely the best of us.”

"And how do you figure in the story? Are you going to be Morgaine?" Hope made certain to reference the novel where the role of Morgana was far more nuanced then in the general myths.

“Oh I certainly hope not,” Betsy snorted. “Brian can keep his knights, I much prefer living in a time where I am treated as a person without having to be, you know, a pagan priestess. Although telepathy may have become useful in that role… I wonder how much of ancient magic was really caused by some hapless mutant child manifesting.”

"Who knows.There is still a lot of debate going on when the first mutants were supposed to have manifested and I know stories of miracles, gods and other things are often discussed in that context." Hope shook her head. "They might be, but once you stay in the mansion longer you'll learn that there might be truth to those stories.”

“Oh? That sounds like you have a story of your own to tell?” Her manners would stop the other woman from prodding too much, but Betsy’s curiosity was definitely piqued by Hope’s words.

Hope quickly considered various storied and those of her friends, her lips quirking as she finally settled on something fairly innocuous. "One thing I can tell is that magic is real. You should ask Topaz once about the chess pieces she animated and what happened afterwards. I can tell you one thing... it was a bit of a pandemonium.”

“I did hear rumors about magic class when I first got here,” Betsy agreed easily. She could tell that there was more to the story, but decided not to push. “At least chess pieces are relatively small?"

"Maybe Amanda will be running her magic 101 class later next year again since we have had a couple of new faces. They will explain a lot there." Hope explained. "And the living chess pieces was a quite funny event if you look back on it." She shook her head ruefully.

“Presumably you have to have some natural affinity to magic to take part in the class? Or can you just attend to learn about the basics?” It couldn’t be more difficult than the Latin she’d had to read in boarding school, and would probably end up being a lot more useful, Betsy mused. "It’s weird, how varied our powers are, really… Even the similar ones seem to manifest in so many different ways. I just hope I’ll be able to do something worthwhile with mine, after all the trouble it’s caused me in the past."

"It is not really about learning to use magic yourself... you need so kind of talent or training for that. But it gives you information on the basics, what to do and not to when encountering and other issues like that. Something like a gun safety class?" Hope explained.

“That should be both useful and by the sounds of it, quite interesting. I’m rather keen to get on with my training - it feels like currently I’m not doing much more than aimlessly bouncing around the mansion,” Betsy sighed. “You’ve attended this course before I take?"

"I have. And who have you been working with in regards to training so far?" Hope took a turn to where she knew an few small boutiques to be.

“I’m due to work with Dr Grey, Ms Frost, and a Mr Haller, but we haven’t really gotten started yet. Dr Xavier has great things to say about all of them but unfortunately they seem to be rather busy at the moment.” The telepath was scanning their surroundings curiously. “This area certainly looks like promising for shopping."

"You're working with Emma? That must be interesting sometimes." Hope raised an eyebrow at her. "The boutique with cashmere sweaters is nearby, the rare bookstore a few blocks further.”

“I haven’t yet, but Dr Grey said she would be one of my teachers. Have you worked with her before?” Though gossiping about her future tutors may not be the politest thing to do, Betsy was keen to hear more. “And since you have so kindly allowed me to tag along I think you should get to decide where to start."

"She has not done any powers training, but I have assisted her with a few small matters." Hope swung the car into the parking lot, neatly cutting of a large landrover. "And if we are going to start, let's get you a new coat. I imagine you do not want to walk around in the pink one any longer then you need too?"

“Too bloody right I don’t!” Betsy laughed. “Alright, but after that you must let me treat you to that lunch I promised. I bet you know all the best places around here and if you are willing to share I would love to hear more about your adventures with the illustrious Ms Frost.” Grinning at Hope over her shoulder, she stepped out of the car onto the parking lot. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day.