7649/School's Out For Summer!

School's Out For Summer!
Date of Scene:	27 May 2019
Location:	Frontyard - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Betsy and Peter clear the air between them.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Man, Psylocke

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Spider-Man has posed:
School's out for ever!

Alright so maybe it's just a couple months, but it certainly feels like forever at the beginning. Still relatively nice out in late May, Peter is wearing a Hufflepuff t-shirt and a pair of jeans over sneakers. There's a backpack dangling off one shoulder as he heads up the drive towards the school with his attention buried in his phone, assuredly engaged in either incert trendy phone game here or social media.

Where Xavier's school is closed, Pete has to catch up some credits over the summer, so ultimately everything is relative. Disregarding a class here and there for the sake of wearing pajamas and swinging round New York is great... but here we see the biggest draw back: School's not really out.

Psylocke has posed:
The good news is most people don't have to make up Physical Education classes during the summer. A handful perhaps but that was simple enough. It wasn't like English. Every year, she'd had a full classroom of students needing to take the course over.

This was a very pleasant change.

Dressed in jeans and a tank top, she seems to have an ax slung over her shoulder as she is heading for the treeline. Her mind isn't on where she is or what she's doing although she does pick up on the mental presence of Peter before she actually walks into him.

She stops a few feet away, giving him a nod and a brief smile. "Peter. Didn't expect to see you today."

Spider-Man has posed:
Pete is clearly lost at whatever he was doing on his phone and there's a moment there where he very much appears like he's going to chuck the dang thing towards the lake. Self control gets the better of him and, while he does cock his arm back for a pump fake, he swings it around to shove it into the back pocket of his jeans with a pronounced grumble, "It's the comments that kill you..." To no one, he's unaware that Betsy is headed towards him, at least at first.

"Words hurt, guys..."

There's that familiar tingle. Pete shakes his head out of his inner monologue and glances up with shifting eyes towards Psylocke wielding an axe. His initial smile faulters only slightly, becomes forced, and leads to a double thumbs up. "I hope that's for firewood?" Beat pause... "Uh, yeah. I needed the library for paper revisions. Where you headed?"

Psylocke has posed:
"To kill a student who annoyed me," Betsy returns without pausing a beat. Then that familiar smirk appears, her violet eyes sparkling with amusement. "Yes. I'm going to cut down a tree. Not that we need firewood, but I have found the act of cutting down a tree to be quite cathartic."

She balances that ax up on her shoulder easily, nodding toward his waist and thus, in her mind, his back pocket. "The ten year olds being mean again?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Some might blanch at Betsy's cool delivery of such an casual promise of violence, but Peter knows better(ish). "hah.. Well, I hear tomato patches are good for that." He offers helpfully, even as her smirk appears. His own grin is easy and accompanied by fingers sliding back into his messy hair. "It's like I always say, Save a student, kill a semi-sentient photosynthesis oriented biological entity."

He's never said that.

"Yes..." In answer to the curious question regarding his frustrated depositing of said cellphone, "They're young, but they're cruel and their words cut me deep to my core. Like a knife... or an axe." Eyeing said axe, "Probably not nearly as efficiently as you, but still.."

Psylocke has posed:
"I don't know about that. Seems the people on those games can be particularly vicious. Make an ax murderer look positive," Betsy returns in her crisp British accent. She gives a shrug and the ax bobbles slightly but she keeps it under control.

And now things get awkward.

She drops her gaze a moment, glancing to the ground then off to the treeline. A nibble at her bottom lip for a second as the silence stretches for a moment then she asks. "Is Aunt May well?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Polite, even friendly, chatter is the easy part. That part always comes natural to Peter, in or out of costume, but the second the road is paved towards something serious? He bobs his head with is lips puffed slightly against his gums. "Little savages." He adds, just to stall the awkward another half a second.

It can't last.

At the mention of Aunt May, Pete jumps at the question, "Good! She's good.. She asked about you this weekend." Inadvertantly escalating the awkward. His gaze shifts off to the trees, then back to Betsy, "I.." Fingers slide back through his hair, eyes dow on the gravel as he starts and stops trying to interject more words into this new silence.

Psylocke has posed:
This is just not going well at all. Betsy realized her mistake in asking about Aunt May as soon as she did it. But she did care for the woman very much. Just as she cared for the man in front of her.

Yet, sometimes things just weren't meant to be. "I should call her or go visit. I mean, that will be okay right? Even though we..."

Her words trail off, impossible for her to say right now. Yet, she manages to keep that neutral mask in place, to hide her emotions as she has done so often in the past. Only, it usually wasn't with Peter. With him, she could let down those walls. In the past.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter takes in a slow breath and rubs at the back of his neck. At some point he must realize how that could look given her question and he quickly clarifies, "Oh, yeah of course. As if she'd let me say no to that, even if I wanted to... which I don't. Just because..." He motions between them, not yet really ready to say it either, "Doesn't mean Aunt May should lose you. You're the daughter she sometimes wishes I had been, I think." Comedy is easy, but it's not always an easy fit.

Then there's Betsy's neutral mask. That hurts more than he ever could have imagined it would be. For him as much as he can imagine how she must feel to lose that, "I want to say something, but I don't know how to say it. I feel like something's missing, Betsy... This blank line that use to have an answer written in it." His hand comes up to adjust his backpack strap, hoping a little to hike it up as he glances off towards the garden.

"Sorry, I.. shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. Aunt May would love to hear from you."

Psylocke has posed:
"I don't know how else to be right now," Betsy replies, dropping her gaze to the tips of her boots. They are a little too stylish to be worn in the woods while chopping down a tree but at least they don't have a heel. "If I let myself be open, as we were, I'll want it all back."

She takes a deep breath, forces her gaze up to him and looks him in the eye if he allows it. "I love you. I always will. But I know that I'm a person with ...parts of me that can never be accepted by you. And I can't continue to not be myself. If I had never been altered, never put into this..." She waves a hand down at her Japanese body. "Didn't have that other half of my gestalt self, then we probably would've been forever and always. Unfortunately, this is what I am. Who I am. Psylocke, not just Betsy anymore. I'm so sorry I can't be better than just me."

Spider-Man has posed:
There's not even a consideration, Peter meets her eyes easily and unflinchingly. Time does that, no matter how two people end up. There's too much emotion inherent in who they were for him to ever shy away like that. The jokes stop at that line too. Usually he'd hide behind humor when he gets uncomfortable, but some things have to be said out-loud. So he listens quietly, not looking away even when what she's saying starts to plunk at his heart like an ice pick.

"Betsy." The name is said quietly, just up from a whisper, and accompanied by a little frown.

"You don't owe me an apology or an explanation. I asked you to be someone you weren't and to bury the other half of yourself like some emotional thug. I was raised better than that and my Uncle would frown disapproving if, after I made so many mistakes where it came to you and me, I held it against you." He pauses there, but mostly to think of how to express whatever else he has to say.

"I love you. I wish that I had done things differently and we didn't have to stand here now awkwardly trying to figure out how to be ourselves without each other." His hand comes up as if he might reach for her's, but it stops and falls back to his side with his fingers wiggling. "Don't ever be anyone but yourself and please don't ever be apologetic for it. Not with me."

Psylocke has posed:
"You didn't do anything to apologize for either." She tells him but then nods at the rest of his words. "I understand that. On the surface," Betsy says, oddly relaxing more now that they are speaking instead of trying to Not speak. Her posture shifts slightly. there is still discomfort but it is more from the topic at hand than simply trying to fish around for how to interact with him.

"You are the person I wish I could be. Wish I was. But I know that I'm not. In here," she pauses, reaching up a hand to touch the side of her head. "I'm Kwannon and Betsy. And the two of us will do things that are not right, not okay. Things that I know are wrong yet at the same time..." She sighs and looks down, more from her own feelings at this. "They feel right. They are right. It's...confusing." He more than anyone will understand that since he's been dealing with her for so long. Even in one another's minds to an extent although she had always respected his privacy. "I just have to figure out how to balance things being...different."

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter takes a deep breath and releases it in a drawn out sigh, nodding along with her. A small smile slips on his face, but it's a beacon of light out of his awkward feelings... for both of them really. Having said what they felt, or at least touched on some of it, was relieving, but it comes with all new crestfalls.

"I get it." Surprising himself because he does. They shared a link that few could have, saw things about each other than neither would want anyone to know. How could he stand there now and pretend otherwise, "I mean, in theory. There's no way I can understand it completely, but..." He pauses when she taps his temple and looks down at the gravel for a half second. When he looks back up, his smile isn't nearly as awkward. "No matter what happens, first amongst all of what we were was friends. I'll always be here. Whatever you do, why you do it, you can /always/ come to me for nonjudgemental comfort circle."

"Or Aunt May's Mac and Cheese. Or both? We can do both."

Psylocke has posed:
That earns a laugh. It's a soft laugh, but it is far beyond the awkward they started with a few minutes ago. Betsy gives that smirk again and a nod. "I think the Mac and Cheese may edge out the comfort circle. By a smidge."

She does sober, the smile still in place now though as she continues. "We did start as friends. We will continue to be. I am glad that we ran into each other and could clear the air a bit, get an idea where we stand now. It may be awkward from time to time but I think we made the right decision. No more pretending, for either of us. You know that I'm always there for you as well, should you need me. We made pretty good partners on the skylines of New York."

Then the smile brightens. "And I understand congratulations are in order. They finally realized you should be more than a teaching assistant! Chemistry is it?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter pats his abdomen, which is flat as ever despite his baggy shirt, "Edge out my waist-line a little too, but Aunt May keeps telling me I should put on a few pounds." His own smile is easy and good natured. If there were anything he was inherently good at outside of his abilities, it's seeing a silver lining (or creating one when none exists).

"Yeah, I didn't realize how much I leaned on that until I got hit by a Prius' the other night." He's mostly joking, but not really. "They may be the car of the eco friendly generation, but they hurt almost as much as pre-teen insults." He might not actively say so, but he's glad they stumbled onto one another.

It felt wrong to harbor any awkward feelings with regards to Betsy. They'd been through too much.

"Yeaaah..." Congratulations, "You know that means I have one more thing I cannot possibly have time for." Even if he's joking, there has to be some truth to it? "I figure I can cut out sleep except every other Tuesday between Four and Four Thirty." Still bobbing his head, "Chemistry, yeah. Expanding young minds one beaker at a time."

Psylocke has posed:
When he mentions being hit by a Prius, a slight frown flashes across her face. She didn't know it had happened. Immediately, Betsy is looking him over as though to see if there is an injury, even though she knows that he is fine by his posture and stance through the entire conversation.

"If you need to take a night off, I'll take your patrol." Betsy knows better. She can make the offer but his overinflated sense of responsibility isn't likely to allow him to take a night off. It just isn't in Peter. If something were to happen on that night, he'd never forgive himself.

"Well, you were covering many of the science classes that Hank didn't. So it makes sense for you to get the position, and the salary that goes with it. Besides, the students love you. I'm sure you'll be able to teach them that love of science you have. Maybe inspire a few."

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter raises his hands so she can see that he's mostly intact. Who knew spiders healed so well? "It might have been a different story had it been a Buick." This really isn't a moment to joke, but joke he does. "It was only going like forty and threw me through a pane glass window." Nothing big, right?

When she offers to take his patrol he initially starts to out and out refuse, "How about you just come with me sometime?" It's as good as he's got. No way could he possibly let someone shoulder the responsibility for him. In that she has him pegged, he'd beat himself up if something happened to her or anyone if he weren't there. Even if he would have been completely incapable of doing anything different BY being there.

"I... yeah, I mean the salary is nice and full access to the library has helped endlessly with my paper." Again he adjusts the strap of his backpack, having forgot it was sitting there until mentioned his late homework. "You know what I want to see? Marie in a nuclear physics lab... I... I would literally die happy. I'm not even kidding-" His hand spreads across in an arc like upon a marque, "The Rogue Scientist.. It could happen."

Psylocke has posed:
Adamant headshaking is the response to that idea. "No, that is not a good idea. She probably would just start mixing things together to see what happened," Betsy protests, a faint giggle escaping at the idea. "Best case, pink foam fills the school. Worst, boom. So let's avoid this, shall we?"

She does notice the movement of the backpack and remembers he was on a mission. Speaking of, so was she. She shifts the ax from one shoulder to the next. "I should let you get to your studies. And me to my tree." She starts to take a step away then glances back at him. "I will join you sometime though. I would miss our races."

Spider-Man has posed:
Pete laughs along with Betsy's giggle and shakes his head, one hand running along the back of his neck as he clearly invision either or both of the aforementioned outcomes of said event. "We can just hope for the pink foam? Optomism..." He laughs again and shrugs helplessly, "Alright, but she's already getting into aquatic navigation... I should really find out how her race went." Mental note.

Speaking of races, Peter smirks and raises his hands palm up into a shrug, "You just like beating me." Said teasingly, one hand grabs hold of his packs strap and pulls up on his shoulder. "I'll be looking forward to it. Until then, don't go too easy on those trees? They might look innocent, but they can throw shade better than any ten year old on a mobile game."

He too takes a step to the side and towards the School. "It was good seeing you, Betsy. It always is."