7591/Can't leave things alone for one second.

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Can't leave things alone for one second.
Date of Scene: 23 May 2019
Location: Frontyard - Xavier's School
Synopsis: Psylocke steals Logan's axe and gets up to no good.
Cast of Characters: Psylocke, Wolverine




Psylocke has posed:
Let it never be said that Betsy doesn't do her load of work around the school. Certainly she had been a great English teacher. No, a good one. After all, they didn't need to learn English. They needed to learn American. Which led to her opting not to teach that and moving to Phys Ed. That was more her speed and she was a bit of a nightmare to the students.

This pleased her.

Yet, there were other chores to be done around the school and one of them was something a certain Canadian liked to do himself. Yet, here was Betsy needing to work off a bit of an emotional upheaval and what better than physical activity?

Thus Betsy was walking out of the mansion with an ax slung over her shoulder. She was dressed in jeans, boots and a tank top with a loose flannel shirt over the top. The fact it was a brand new flannel shirt and one that had probably never been worn didn't matter. She had dressed the role and she was going to chop down a tree!

Wolverine has posed:
    As for Logan he'd been stepping out of the garage, closing the door behind him and scowling for a bit. With the shooting of Professor Xavier the elder X-Man hadn't been around for a bit. He was fine after all, healing up well and being taken care of, but still no leads on who did it and why. Which had Wolverine sniffing around the scene of the crime.
    To no avail.
    The truth of the matter can be seen on his face when he strolls back across the driveway and towards the mansion. Only to see the sight of a British gal playing at lumberjack. It's enough to cause a small smirk to flicker onto his lips and he lifts his voice as he draws closer, taking a dovetail approach to falling in step with her as she saunters on out.
    "So, you even know which one needs choppin' or you goin out there cuttin' things down all willy nilly?"

Psylocke has posed:
As he approaches, he will see she has earbuds in and she seems to be bobbing her head in time to something. When he gets about twenty feet away, she turns her head that way and reaches into her pocket to pull out her phone. She flicks the screen, pausing the song and pulling out the earbuds so she can hear what he has to say.

That earns a smirk in return as she gives a shrug. "In my experience, cutting things down willy nilly is effective," she counters. She nods toward the woods but keeps focused on him. "I presume it should be a size that I can handle carrying the pieces back and that it should be made of wood. Is there more to it?"

Wolverine has posed:
    "Yeah, a bit." His lip twitches as he extends a hand for the axe but half expects her to deny him it. Either way he'll fall into step once they get back underway, heading towards the treeline for the forest that encircles the mansion. "First best if it's not living. Or sick."
    He stuffs a hand in his pocket and gestures with a nod of his head, "Then take it down, and cut off the limbs, stack it up. Bring back the bits you wanna split. Then split 'em."
    Sounds simple.
    He does say though, off-handedly. "Was tryin' ta find out what I could about the Professor's shooter. Came up empty."

Psylocke has posed:
He is denied. It's her ax. Psylocke shifts it to the shoulder on the opposite side from him pointedly. "I'm doing this. You can be my Yoda." She looks up at his height. "Perhaps that isn't a good choice. Obi-Wan."

She does fall into step with him as they head for the treeline again. Her own expression turns into a frown at his words. "It's been a horrible week. If you can't track whoever did it and Jean can't, not sure what I could even begin to offer." Perhaps that is what has sent her out wanting to get in some physical exercise but not her usual Danger Room versions. Or there might be more to it. Not that she's sharing.

Wolverine has posed:
    he Canadian mutant rolls his eyes a bit at being compared to the lil green guy, but he at least has the wherewithal to take it. Both hands now in his pockets he glances to the side and murmurs, "Thing is... this thing is sorta being framed as typical dumbass prejudiced freako takes a pot shot at Chuck. People taking credit for it on social media. But if it was one of those people they're tryin' ta pin it on..."
    He looks downt he way and squints a bit, "Then there'd be more of a trail. More people talkin' about it that'd be at first afraid ta talk to me about it, but then would." She knows how that sort of thing goes.
    "But yeah, nothin' so far. Mebbe I just need to pound the pavement more." But then that line of conversation dies off when he stops at the tree line and then lightly thumps the trunk of a smallish tree some ten feet tall but it'd serve for some firewood for a bonfire or the like.
    "This'll do."

Psylocke has posed:
"It's awful small," Betsy mutters as she looks up at the tree. Then she shrugs. Honestly, it doesn't really matter. This isn't about needing wood. They have plenty. It is just about being out doing something that makes her think while being physical in nature. Martial arts against ninjas? Second nature. Cutting down a tree? Not so much.

"So you think the people claiming responsibility are lying. Which leaves us with a whole lot of nothing to go on. Jean would be more effective at searching the minds of those in the area. If she is willing to go that far." The way she says that points out that Betsy would be, but she doesn't have that level of power unlike her teammate.

Then she takes the cover off the ax blade, slipping the cover into her back pocket. She puts both hands on the handle, getting a good grip then considers. "Why this tree?"

Wolverine has posed:
    "Cuz of yer noodle arms?" Logan says with a straight face, but then lightly kicks at some of the dirt around the base of the tree and murmurs. "See those lil like ant hils in the ground around the thing? Beetles. A bunch of them musta moved in." He steps around it a little more, letting his fingers glide over the bark and then he pulls off a chunk revealing a pale inner wood color. "It's on its last legs."
    That said he tosses the bark behind them onto the forest floor where it makes a faint skittering sound upon the fallen leaves. He then steps back and leans against the trunk of a much larger tree, propping one boot up on it and crosses his arms over his broad chest.
    "Take yer time, square up, give it a few wacks, if it gives way a lil too easy aim a bit higher."

Psylocke has posed:
"Noodle arms? I've kicked your backside a few times that I recall," Betsy points out as she looks at her toned arms, flexing to make a little bicep bump. Compared to him, yes, she has noodle arms. Yet she is still quite well put together thankyouverymuch.

She does as she was going to which, coincidentally and having nothing to do with his instruction, is what he had suggested. She gets a good grip on the handle and raises the ax, making a swing at the tree. And somehow manages to turn the ax a bit on impact. She glares at Logan, almost daring him to say something, as she lines up again. The second swing strikes true. As does the third. Then she pauses and seems to be assessing.

Wolverine has posed:
    Logan knows those times when it's best to keep his trap shut. And this is one of those times. Though it doesn't stop him from smirking to himself as he stays there leaning in place. He does, however, give some semblance of being distracated by taking an overly long time to dig around in his pockets for his cigar and once he finds it he takes an equally long time lighting it. But once that's done he'll take a few puffs, exhale a bit, enjoy it...
    And then he makes a comment.
    "Beetles work from the bottom up usually." He takes another puff and eyes her sidelong, squinting with one eye. "And you wanna control which way it falls. So get the angle, get some heft behind it. Then go to town."

Psylocke has posed:
A nod of the head and Betsy lines up again, this time a little higher. When she hits it strikes hard and true. More resistance. So that's good from what her teacher is saying.

She goes for about three more whacks, putting her back into it and starting to see the appeal of this for excercise. Then she pauses again to look at him then the small wedge she is starting to make in the side of the tree.

"Control the angle...how?" It would appear that she knows how to pilot. How to kill a man thirteen different ways with a bobby pin. How to move silently when she chooses. The idea of making the tree land where she wants instead of it being random? Lost on her.

Wolverine has posed:
    Pushing off of the tree, Logan takes another puff and strolls across the small distance, leaves crunching under his feet. He rests a hand on the trunk of the tree above where she cut and then says, "Physics?" As if that solved the problem.
    But then he smirks and says, "Things bare, most of the branches have grown this way and the trunk leans this way. So make sure you're not under it. It's not much of a fall but still might crunch yer toe if you're not paying attention."
    He steps back and makes an 'after you' gesture towards her, "And where would that get us? Two of us on medical leave, Chuck with the bullet, and you with the hurt tootsie."

Psylocke has posed:
"I am quite certain I would not go on medical leave for a 'hurt tootsie'," Betsy replies as she takes a walk around the tree, looking at the points he had made. She had never really thought about trees much. How they grow, the angles, their health. She put her hand on the trunk then looked others nearby, making notes of the things she's been shown by Logan. "Huh."

She takes up a different position from before since, curse it, he was right and it would've fallen right toward her. She gives him a quick glance then really goes to work on the tree. No hesitation. Getting into the rhythm of the movements. "Remind me." Whack. "To do this." Whack. "More often."

Wolverine has posed:
    "Yeah," Logan says and leaves it at that for a time, arms folded as he stands just off to the side, eyes distanced for a bit as he watches her swing that axe and get some stress out on top of the bargain. His brow knits after a moment, then his features twist slightly into a scowl. A scowl that's short-lived but he loses it after she gets into a good rhythm.
    "Last time I was out here." He stuffs his hands back into the pockets of his jeans, then looks back towards the mansion. "One of the sproglings asked me why I didn't just use my claws ta cut the tree down, since it'd be faster, and get all the choppin' done and all that."
    He shakes his head and then eyes her sidelong, "They didn't understand that sometimes the reason behind the work is ta get yer mind off things and you don't want it to go by too fast."

Psylocke has posed:
Betsy pauses, the tree on that brink where a few more good hits will bring it down. She eyes it a moment then looks over at Logan, expression serious. There is a hint of sadness in her violet eyes.

"Precisely. Sometimes it is a way to focus on something outside of oneself. To step away from things and focus on movement, energy, motion." She lowers the ax to rest it by her foot, glancing up at the tree.

"I am going to ask a question, one that probably shouldn't be asked." She looks Logan square in the eye. "Do you ever have regrets about your nature? About being who you are?"

Wolverine has posed:
    The older man's tone is calm, steady as he replies to her, as if it was just any old day. "Everyone has things they'd probably like ta change about themselves." He rests a hand on the side of the tree and then holds up a hand, one blade slicing forwards from his knuckle with a low /shing/ of metal sliding along metal. It gleams for a moment as he holds it up, then makes a quick slash to the side, finishing that last little bit of chopping needed with the stroke and then guiding the tree's sloooow fall with one hand on its side just in case. Not a big tree by any measure, but still.
    The blade slips back between his knuckles with a quick /snakt/ and he rests his hands on his hips as the tree makes a small crumplecrash as it hits the ground, branches impacting the ground and sending some of the leaves fluttering about.
    "Everyone has regrets. But it comes down ta if you can respect who you are. Or who you think you are... or are trying to be." He then looks over at Betsy, "Lose your self-respect and in our business yer done." Not exactly what she asked, but close.

Psylocke has posed:
As the tree crashes, Betsy finds herself equating it to other things. It was not that old of a tree really. She looked to the soft earth around the base. Yet, it had grown in a place where the foundation became corrupted. It wasn't a good place, the right place. Unlike the trees nearby that were healthy.

Sighing faintly, she gave a nod and moved to start taking branches off the fallen tree. "Sometimes it isn't about one person though. Yet compromise is impossible without losing one's self at times. So a choice has to be made. A decision." She glances to him then nods to the tree.

"Make sure I'm doing this right. I don't want to hurt a tootsie."