Owner	Pose
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana did indeed place the bottle once belonging to Theresa with her things, the little shrine to Illy that occupies one section of the living room, and deposited the blue twinkies into a cupboard with other such snacks... most of them a little healthier, but everything has a place. After cleaning up a little, she goes to the bedroom and pulls a box about the size of baseball from out of a shadow beneath the bed... it's set down on the kitchen table beside a vase of black roses and a card leaning up against the base that has a caligraphied ''Betsy'' written across it with the unmistakable water marks of a quill pen. Then she sits down to wait, still wearing her gown, makeup, but without her crown of horns (KeK) or claw rings, both deposited into the closet in the bedroom. The whole while she's smiling softly to herself while watching some television program that she's not really paying attention to.
Psylocke	It was a little tougher getting home without the usual portal that Betsy gets to enjoy after a night out, but she made it. She's still clad in her mermaid costume, a purple suede jacket thrown over her shoulders to give her a little more modesty beyond a pair of seashells over her breasts while walking the street. There is the brief rattle of keys at the door before it swings open and she steps inside, putting down some of the gifts she brought home with her and pausing to look at Illyana. She sticks her lip out a little, a sad yet grateful look on her face. She extends her arms to the Limbo Queen, taking a few quick but shuffling steps to leans over her on the chair and embrace it. "I'm so sorry. I'm an idiot."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana glances over to the door when she hears the keys rattling beyond it. Pale blue eyes focused on the portal as it swings open and emits a Betsy back into the quasi-darkness of an apartment they more or less share.. at least in those points where Illyana is on Earth.. which is far more than she's not anymore. Everyone kept urging her to spend less time in Limbo, right? She does not look at all upset to see the mermaid, time is relative to her anyways, so it could be two hours or it could be twenty years.. the fact she seems to get a little older everytime she returns from the realm where she rules is testiment to the abstract nature to which she exists within the flow of measurable time. When the telepath crosses over to her and leans in to embrace her over the back of the couch, Illyana reaches up to wrap her thin arms around Butterfly mermaid's neck. Turning a little to kiss the underside of her jaw. "Not idioit... why do you say this?"
Psylocke	"Your bracelet," Betsy says, her eyes welling slightly with emotion now that it's only the pair of them, "The bangle. I - I should have known Theresa wasn't drinking. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't paying close enough attention." The telepath steps around the couch, slumping down into it and shrugging off the coat to leave her looking like a deflated, defeated mermaid. She picks idly at the modesty seashells she wears, head lulling over to one side to rest on Illyana's shoulder.
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana furrows her brow, looping her arm around Betsy's shoulder when the telepath settles beside her. She turns a little to regard her with a forward bend of her neck to see around the cloak of purple hair, "You do not ever having to apologize for this, to me. I liked the bracelet-" She is rarely known for treading these situations carefully, The Queen of Limbo plots a course straight to the heart of it, "-But you were being placed in situation where you needed me... and I was there. Objects do not matter, not between you and me." She isn't going to try and change her mind about whether it was or was not a good gift idea. She hardly knows Theresa and the woman seemed eager enough to jump into that bottle from her observation. "Gift to her was thoughtful.." It was, even if it wasn't ''precisely'' what Theresa needed or wanted. Changes nothing as far as Illyana is concerned. "Look at me."
Psylocke	Betsy's eyes are a little red, ringed with the evidence of tears. It's unlike her, but then she's a few flutes of champagne in and it has loosened up the waterworks a little. She reaches up to brush her hair out of the way, plucking loose a spiral shell and peering at it curiously before tossing it away to clatter on the floor. Her violet eyes blink owlishly at Illyana. "I know. You're right. Still, I wanted you to have it ... "
Illyana Rasputina	A demon crawls out from beneath the shadows to grab the discarded shadow. In truth, as soon as it became clear the Demon Queen was taking residence here, so too did a host of small black figures that seemed to always keep things tidy... where they took them is anyone's guest, but they never make themselves readily known... so.. Illyana brushes Betsy's hair back away from her face with the tips of her black pained nails, combing her hair away from her red rimmed eyes, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss to each of them in turn. "I have you. I also have something /for/ you." Illyana slides off the couch, brushing her fingers along the telepath, from shoulder, straight across her seashells, to the other shoulder on her path over to the table where she'd laid out the birthday presents. The vase, card, and small box are brought back over. Vase held out first, "I grow them myself. I know they are not your color, but..." Her smile flickers a little, kneeling... or just dropping really.. into a squat infront of Betsy with the black box held up in a tripod of fingers. "I will explain after you are opening."
Psylocke	Betsy blinks a few times as she looks at the gifts. She seems for the moment appeased that Illyana's bangle has gone astray and they're stuck with a bottle of whisky that neither of them will likely drink anytime soon. They're much more of a vodka household. When the vase is offered first she takes it and looks at it, smiling gratefully and setting it aside. She already knows where she'll put it. Then the box, which she looks at curiously for a second and sets about opening, speaking as she does so. "What is it?"
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana watches as Betsy takes the box and pulls the purple ribbon off from around it. As the lid comes off it becomes apparent that the light weight gift is, in fact, quite empty. Within the black box with the little purple ribbon there is absolutely nothing. 'I love you' The sound doesn't come from Illyana. Point of fact... she doesn't ''say'' the words. She opens her pale blue eyes to watch Betsy's reaction, searching her expression with slowly moving those small orbs over every little detail of the esquisite face that has become as much a part of her everyday as her own reflection.
Psylocke	Betsy peers into the empty box for a moment, her brow furrowing curiously. When she hears the words, however, her head jerks up immediately to lock eyes with the blond Russian. She knows exactly what the sensation of telepathic communication is like, and for a moment she seems almost stunned. She looks at the box, trying to figure out just what it is before she asks. Except when she asks, her own words are telepathic: <Illyana? But ... how?"> She reaches out to take her hands in her own, bringing them up to her lips to kiss her knuckles affectionately, "I love you, too."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana seems to like the reaction by the way her smile curls upwards on either end of a black pained mouth, reaching up to slide her fingers back from just below Betsy's left ear, to the point of her chin, <It is not easy... always ... better> The words are jumbled and broken, but the fact that she ''has'' said anything is more than they could do a month ago. As the connection slowly begins to fade behind the iron brabble trap of her mental shields, the Queen sighs quietly and looks down. Smiling despite the overt look of disappointment that temporarily takes her when she's not able to sustain it indefinitely. Both her hands blossom out around the sides of the telepaths face after the affectionate kiss to her knuckles. But hearing her words repeated back? Her eyes flick up to Betsy, lifting her head up with a smile returned, "I... figure it out... now we can both figure out how to make link stronger. Soon you will be only person who can hear me.. here.." Extending a black nail to rub a small circle around the telepaths temple.
Psylocke	"I haven't had to do it with so much ... interference before," Betsy admits, gesturing at the air around Illyana's head as though there were some invisible wall or static field there, "But we've got that tether now. We can work on it. I can build on it. But take it slowly, okay? You're strong, but no matter who you are physically the mind can be a soft thing and I don't have a very delicate touch as far as telepathy goes. We'll just make what little in roads we can. We'll get there." She sags back into the couch, pulling Illyana to draw her up onto the couch with her so she can tuck her mermaid-tail underneath her and lay her head in Illyana's lap. Once there, she turns her head to look up at the Russian with violet eyes. "That's the best gift I've had tonight."
Illyana Rasputina	"Always very slow, da." Illyana promises, she doesn't get into in how long it took her to open herself to Betsy for just those two sentences. For one part, it would probably concern her and that's if she believed her at all. Time is different in Limbo, as they're both keenly aware from recent memory. So rather than get into it, she simply smiles in that dark way of hers and slips up from her kneeling position to kiss the crown of the mermaids head and settle onto the couch to provide a cushion satin pillow upon which violet hair can rest. Black nails run slowly down through that hair, one arm draped across the other woman's chest to grip her shoulder near Illy's knees, looking straight down with her own pale blue gaze into violet eyes direct up at her. "You are most important person to me... it is very important you have something very special today."
Psylocke	"Well, you knocked it out of the bloody park," Betsy says up to Illyana, closing her eyes peacefully as she sinks down into the couch cushions to relax, "I was getting a bit agitated not being able to have conversations with you that no one else could hear even if they were standing right next to us. This gets us a little closer to that." She sighs, blinking violet eyes and staring up at the ceiling, "I meant what I said, by the way. The love stuff. When you said it at the Club I already knew I felt the same way but, I don't know, it didn't feel like the right time and place to say it. It felt like it should be us. Together like this. Like the first time."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana continues to stroke her fingers down into Betsy's hair, "This was intention of mine." Nodding briskly, smiling darkly, but genuinely down at the violet eyes looking back at her. They search through the expression she's being given quietly afterwards. At least as long to listen to what the telepath has to say about the business of love, "You are not having to tell me. I say what I feel when I am feeling it. I am sorry if this put you in acquire position during your party." Everything she says is true, thumb moving back to run along the purple hairline, "Maybe I should work on that." She murmurs quietly, looking... well it's not down, but away for a second. "Should have been special moment. Like when I am thinking to you.. this would have been perfect, like in movies we watching where they are doing stupid things meant to be humorous.." She takes a breath and shrugs, "Cannot change what I said. I meant it then, I mean it now. Even if you did not.. for me it has been a lot longer than it has been for you."
Psylocke	"It was sweet," Betsy says, shaking her head slightly and reaching up to take Illyana's hand in her own, "I appreciate it. I'm always going to remember it, too. And I'm going to remember how I kind of smiled at you like a nitwit and took hours to come home and say it back." She keeps the hand in her own, holding it against her stomach and turning her head to look at the television silently for a moment. "I bought Peter and Kitty tickets to Paris," she says out of nowhere, "I really do want them to be happy. Do you think that was too ... I don't know, meddlesome? I don't want them to feel like I feature in their personal lives. I just wanted to do something nice for them they probably don't have the money to do for each other."
Illyana Rasputina	"Maybe." Illyana says of it being sweet, temporarily caught in some thought that is once more locked behind layers of shielding she's no more control to lower than Betsy is to breech. "Sometimes I think is better if you can hear my thoughts too. I did not expect for you to saying back.. this is not why..." Her expression furrows, not really angry or sad, just pensive and thoughtful. "Did you take hours to come home and tell me on purpose?" The answer will play no part other than satisfying curiosity. Illyana is a lot of things, but, at least where this one woman is concerned, she's extremely patient and understanding. Regardless, that creepy little smile has returned and her fingers are again sliding back through purple hair, brushing it away from the telepaths ear when the other woman turns towards the television. "Do you feel meddlesome?" She wonders curiously, glancing up at whatever it was that had been playing absently in the background. She'd not paid it much mind.
Psylocke	Betsy shakes her head, the dress that looks like a mermaid's tail now propped up on the edge of the couch as she stretches her legs out, "No, it was just as soon as I can get away. I kept thinking I'd just come and make a quick little visit, but then someone would want to talk or give me something, then I'd have to give them something. Believe me, I wasn't dragging my feet - when you've got someone like you at home, you don't faff about." The second question prompts her brow to furrow a little, shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know. Maybe a little? I don't ''miss' what I had with him, but it's ... I don't know. It's confronting to find out you failed at something, you know? I'm happier now, with you, than I've ever been before but there's still that nagging little thought asking what I did wrong? Where did I fail?" She sits up a little, propping herself on her hands to bring herself up to eye-level with Illyana, "I'm telling you this because I trust you. You can't read my thoughts yet, so I'm putting them out here on the table for you."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana never seems like she thought the reverse was true, sliding her palm lightly agaisnt Betsy's cheek, with her thumb brushing beneath her right eye. "Then maybe this is not good part of story to remember." She says with a little elevation of one shoulder, the one away from the telepath. "I will remember smile and struck look, I am thinking. This memory will always make me very happy." In so far as she ever really looks happy. At least one person, of all people, knows that she is. It's a while before she speaks again, but she's once more lost track of the television in favor of the mermaid's face, her jaw, the curve of her throat, she's letting her pale blue eyes slide along features she already knows as if she's seeing them again for the first time. "I am thinking this is probably natural. Peter was your fiance.. you were going to be marrying him." She muses without a shred of jealousy to her tone or the adoring way she, even now, looks down at the other woman. "How callous would you being if... even for a moment... you do not think ''what if'' seeing that he is with someone happy with someone else? Someone you know... A friend." She's not digging her heels in to try and make the wound worse, she speaks softly and tries to be careful of her english where it sometimes loses bits of the conversation in translation. Usually when trying to speak to quickly. "Maybe you are not doing anything wrong at all. Maybe what you see as failure is greater success... like breaking egg is to baking cake?" She runs her thumb slowly across Betsy's hair line, down across her cheek and then back up in a half moon, "If you are not nearly marrying this man, he does not become teacher at school, da? If he is not teacher at school... he does not meet Kitty and they are not now dating." Mental note to ask MORE about the pendant and Kitty's tear filled response to it is unspoken. "Then what is becoming of us if you are not coming out of relationship? Do you find someone else, perhaps later than with Peter.. Perhaps you are not in pool that day and do not nudge a Demon Queens thigh." Illy shrugs fragmentally, never breaking eye contact, "I think everything happens for reasons we may not know yet. If you are happy and they are happy... how is anything failed?"
Psylocke	Betsy listens to Illyana's words, remaining silent. From time to time she worries her lower lip with her teeth, nodding her head slightly as the only sign that she's properly paying attention to what is said. When she finishes, the telepaths features break into a bright smile. "You're right," she brings up a hand to rub some of the remnant tears away from the corners of her eyes, "Of course, you're right. I'm counting myself lucky I was in the pool that day. Everything happened for a reason." She lapses into silence for a moment, brow furrowing as she considers something carefully before adding, "Illyana, I've changed my mind about marriage. Maybe not today or next week or whatever but ... maybe it's an option for us after all? Some day, at least. When things, I don't know, when the things that need to happen for ''that'' reason have all happened."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana chuckles near silently at the way Betsy worries her lip, putting a thumb to her chin to pull it free of them before the other woman begins to speak, "I am only saying what I think is true." She muses, leaning down to kiss the appex of the mermaids forehead, then resumes stroking her hair lightly. "Maybe you are just meddlesome and I should kill this Peter." This is the nature of an Illyana joke. Smiling, in her sinister way, likely only relieves one person that she's truly joking. As the other continues, however, her smile faulters. Eyes looking quickly over the woman who's head reside in her lap, "You wou-... with me?" Her head cants slightly, slowly to one side as if she's trying to put together exactly what the implications of that statement are. "I... with me?"
Psylocke	"Yes, with you," Betsy says, pulling a face and slapping Illyana's hand, "Who else? I don't have any other Demon Queens wandering around in here. I think you'd probably be able to sense one another if I ''did''." But then she sits up, taking on a more serious tone as she presses her forehead against the blonde's and speaks quietly, "I don't want to put a box around this. I want to let it go naturally and see what happens. We lead rather interesting lives. But if one day, down the road, we look at each other and we decide the time's right? Then yes. You and me, little devil."
Illyana Rasputina	Illyana's eyes are wide as saucers as she watches Betsy clear up the confusion that only seems to make her a little more confused, "Da, I would have already destroyed her. Cannot share one apartment with two Queens. This is one two many Queens.. add in princess of sea.." Motioning at the telepaths attire, "You have a royal pain in ass." ... She takes a breath and blows it out. "Da, I understand what you are meaning." This does not sweep away her confusion though, even if she is starting to grin far less sinister as if she'd just been handed something beautiful that only exists once and only for a second. A wonderful idea that she can hold against her chest and feel. "You and me." She repeats, nodding once, trying to control her expression to varying degrees of success. "What is changed? Am I different?" Glancing down at her arms, the gown she's still wearing, "Is it gown? I knowing that it looks good... or that I am looking good in it.. but this is.." Both hands come up to lay on either side of the Butterflies face, framing it and leans forward to kiss her. "This is usually place where cable television cuts to commericial break for implied sexual intercourse."
Psylocke	"No," Betsy shakes her head, faint smile on her purple-painted lips, "I think I'm different one. I put a big part of my past to bed tonight, Illyana. I finally realised that it doesn't define me anymore, and I'm free to be what I want to be. Whoever it is that I want to be." "And what I want to be," she continues, wiggling up a little to sit in Illyana's lap, returning the kiss and grinning devilishly as they part, "Is cutting to a commercial break. Right now."