Betsy, Jeanne-Marie and Wanda, March 24th
Mar. 24th, 2013 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainTwin Sisters Anonymous has its inaugural meeting.
After finding out from Brian about his scumbag of a roommate Betsy thought now was a very important time for Wanda and her to follow through on their plans to bond with Jeanne-Marie. Strength in numbers, and strength in powerful allies, since both Wanda and Betsy could severely fuck Anders up if Jeanne-Marie needed a friendly hand. Betsy reached out to Wanda to reach out to Jeanne-Marie. A girls night of a sort was entirely called for.
Wanda, in turn, had called Jeanne-Marie almost instantly, though she was careful to couch it as just a friendly invite. None of the three of them really knew each other quite well enough to push for anything, but a good chance to talk never went amiss.
"What do you think?" She asked once all three of them were gathered in the front lobby. "Go into town, or?"
"That's not a bad idea." Jeanne-Marie tapped one finger off her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Sometimes there is someone performing at the coffee shop in town on evenings. Or we could get dessert somewhere?
"Though being in town means we have to be more careful what we say--or at least find a quiet corner."
Betsy considered. "I could use the exercise," she said. "Let's find a quiet corner, and I'll try to make sure no one can overhear us even if they try. I like this dessert idea. We should include this."
"Cakes it is," Wanda said with a slight smile and braced herself to head outside into the chill.
"There is a place in town," Jeanne-Marie said, zipping up her jacket and starting toward the garage; she assumed one of them could drive, anyhow. Exercise could come after cake. "Jean-Paul and I went there to celebrate punching Anders, last week. I had the most amazing apple strudel."
Naturally, she left Noriko out of the story, as she had been to everyone but her very closest confidantes. She had no doubt that Betsy knew of her involvement, since Brian did, and she was sure Wanda could be trusted, but she knew Nori wouldn't like it being talked about, so she didn't.
"I meant to offer," Betsy said, once Jeann-Marie brought up the subject. "Do you mind if I keep an eye out for compulsions on you? I'm keeping vigilant watch on Brian since he lives with the sonofabitch. I figure I can do quick checks now and then on any friends."
"Do you think he'd try something like it again?" Wanda asked with a frown as she headed over to sign out one of the school cars. "I would hope that the punching would be a good abject lesson otherwise."
"And it's not over--several people have promised to torture him in various ways." Jeanne-Marie wasn't quite as smug about it as she could've been, though. "But I would appreciate it, Betsy. Every time I see him speak to someone now I will assume he's filling their head with lies--though I hope you're right." She glanced significantly at Wanda, there.
"He's going to learn very quickly that his powers are no longer as fun to abuse. He's living telepaths and people who can quite honestly break him in half. If he doesn't learn to tread respectfully, he'll instead learn that some of us have much scarier powers than he does, and it's not fun when anyone abuses those powers." Betsy said this all very politely, which left a fine edge to her words as sharp as a blade. She smiled to try and disperse the effect. "But I hope one idiot doesn't ruin everything for long."
Wanda just huffed a laugh -- she heard worse from Pietro on a fairly regular basis. "Fear can be a wonderful motivator," she agreed a little dryly and lead them both over to the car. "Though I suppose keeping a wary eye out couldn't hurt," she nodded in Betsy's direction.
Jeanne-Marie was wholly satisfied with the sudden ferocity in Betsy--that had been almost exactly what she'd said to Anders after throwing him at Noriko, in fact. She nodded her approval. "He started it, with the fear. I don't think he will like his own medicine."
But there was dessert to be had, and so as she opened the back door of the car Wanda had signed out, she added, "I am happy to get out of the house for a while, though. Ever since it's seemed a little confining."
Well, that and she needed to talk to Brian... and had no idea what to say. It was too bad that she had the perfect person to ask what would truly be right--who would know better than his sister--right here... but couldn't. It would be so... awkward.
"Wanda made a good point that we should do more girls nights out," Betsy said. "Especially since the three of us have way too much in common--mainly in the overprotective brother department."
"Overprotective is one word for it," Wanda snorted, more than happy to let the subject change for the moment. Doubtless it would come up later, but it was probably the sort of thing that went down easier accompanied by cake. She shook her head a little as she slid into the drivers' seat and waited for Betsy to settle herself as well. "Not to mention that they're all idiots. Well, mine and Jeanne-Marie's are," she amended, eyes cutting briefly to Betsy. "I don't know yours well enough to comment."
Jeanne-Marie was pulling the seatbelt over herself in the back, and she laughed a little. She caught Betsy's gaze in the rearview and smiled; obviously she didn't think that Brian was an idiot at all, but, well, they were different with their sisters, and that was the point. She and Wanda had already established that theirs needed their heads knocked together.
"Brian means so well," Betsy said, clearly agreeing with Wanda. "I think that his problem is he understands books more than people." She glanced at Jeanne-Marie in the mirror and smiled back. "I'm not allowed to trash talk him too epically, unless of course you feel like knowing embarrassing stories about my brother may somehow endear him more. I do have a number of embarrassing stories. I could be convinced to share many of them."
"That's not the point of this whole trip?" Wanda gave both of them a teasing smile before focusing her attention on the road and taking them down the driveway.
* * *
By the time they had their desserts (which they were certainly going to have to walk off after), Jeanne-Marie's face hurt from laughing. After washing down a bite of divine German chocolate cake with a sip of latte, she had to admit, "The mental image of a miniature version of Pietro hiding in your mother's closet with your copy of Pride & Prejudice will never leave me."
"When is your birthday?" Besty asked. "I think I need to discretely get him a copy of that movie version with Colin Firth." She grinned.
"I'm fairly sure he already has one. Tucked under his bed like porn," Wanda said with a laugh that shifted into a downright wicked grin. "But it's November 19th. Do feel free."
Jeanne-Marie had been trying to swallow another gulp of coffee; it took all her self-control not to choke. "Good God," was all she had to say.
Betsy laughed warmly. "Oh, I would not be surprised."
Wanda just snickered into her cup of tea, finally glancing in Jeanne-Marie's direction when she had herself back under control. "Anyway, I think it's your turn again."
"I wish I had something from childhood to tell you," Jeanne-Marie said, but with a laugh; she was truly having fun, and not at all sorry for herself, though of course she wished she'd had what they had with their brothers growing up. She loved the stories. She had already told them about Jean-Paul's propensity for flying into trees--or their dual training sessions somehow ending up with him in a shrubbery, so that he came out looking like a wood elf with twigs in his hair.
She thought hard and said, "But. Just last week, I flew up to his window--that is how we visit each other, you know. And it ended up that we had a dance party to a Tiffany song. With Josh--and Simon as an audience. Jean-Paul can dance surprisingly well to terrible pop music, for someone who pretends to hate teenage parties."
Betsy grinned. "Maybe his heart just cries out for better music. That's adorable."
"Tiffany," Wanda agreed, teasingly mournful about it in the way only someone related to a music snob could be. "I shudder to think. We'll have to remember to put some on for him at the next party."
Jeanne-Marie clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing embarrassingly loudly in a public place. "We have to!" Then she cast a quick look at Betsy, wondering if she had one more for them all...
Betsy had one to go with that. "If we're on the subject of interesting music tastes, you can take requests from Brian. He was forced to master the violin, but musical creativity is surprisingly not his forte. He tried to figure out how to play techno music with the violin--needless to say it was awful. Perhaps some pop music would be a bit easier."
"Oh god," Wanda choked out, finally giving in to the giggles she'd been trying to hold back. "I can only imagine. Perhaps i f we teach him some Tiffany we'll have all of our bases covered."
"We'd better!" Jeanne-Marie ran one finger beneath her left eye; she was laughing so hard (but still silently) that her eyes were watering. "I can just imagine him deciding he would make it work, too. He probably kept at it for days. Weeks!"
"It's very hard convincing a perfectionist to give up all hope."
"Well, that's the point of this meeting, isn't it?" Wanda glanced at both of them, eyes glittering with badly suppressed hilarity. "We can all gang up on one of them if needed. For future music disasters."
"It is some kind of sisterly duty, isn't it? Saving brothers from musical disasters? And social ones." She paused, tapping her fork against her bottom lip in an overwrought approximation of thought. "Though sometimes that is a lost cause."
"You know," Betsy commented. "I can't imagine our brothers ever having this nice of a night out together."
"Considering that Jean-Paul and Pietro can't stand each other?" Wanda huffed a laugh and shook her head. "That's putting it mildly."
"I'm convinced it makes as much sense to us as it does to them, at this point. Which is to say none at all." Jeanne-Marie rolled her eyes. "At least Brian gets along with them--though he is probably too polite not to, even if he wanted. It is really something, though, seeing as we've been dating, and Jean-Paul still hasn't managed to threaten him somehow."
This was said in only half-seriousness; Jean-Paul wouldn't threaten anyone unless she actually seemed upset. Heand Roberto had clashed in very minor ways, but that was more their personalities than her. At least, Jeanne-Marie thought as much... or Brian wasn't telling her something, which, considering their situation at the moment (she flushed a little, thinking of it), was entirely possible. She added with a little laugh, "That I know of."
"I believe he hasn't," Betsy confirmed. "They've been pretty polite. Much safer that way."
"I'm fairly sure that Pietro doesn't know what politeness is," Wanda put in dryly, "so maybe that's part of the problem." She just shook her head with a sigh, amused as it was. "We'll probably still have to manage them all, regardless. Or continue to, as the case may be."
Jeanne-Marie laughed some more. That was certainly part of the problem; Jean-Paul having no regard for politeness was probably the other part. At least they were honest! "I feel like I am taking lessons, tonight. I really need them, too."
"Jean-Paul had too much time to build up a resistance. Eventually you'll wear him down to proper behavior."
"And we'll help you where we can," Wanda agreed with a smile.
"Oh, thank God," was all Jeanne-Marie could think. "But actually, Wanda, I think it is your turn, not mine. Do you have another one, or should we spare them?"
After finding out from Brian about his scumbag of a roommate Betsy thought now was a very important time for Wanda and her to follow through on their plans to bond with Jeanne-Marie. Strength in numbers, and strength in powerful allies, since both Wanda and Betsy could severely fuck Anders up if Jeanne-Marie needed a friendly hand. Betsy reached out to Wanda to reach out to Jeanne-Marie. A girls night of a sort was entirely called for.
Wanda, in turn, had called Jeanne-Marie almost instantly, though she was careful to couch it as just a friendly invite. None of the three of them really knew each other quite well enough to push for anything, but a good chance to talk never went amiss.
"What do you think?" She asked once all three of them were gathered in the front lobby. "Go into town, or?"
"That's not a bad idea." Jeanne-Marie tapped one finger off her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Sometimes there is someone performing at the coffee shop in town on evenings. Or we could get dessert somewhere?
"Though being in town means we have to be more careful what we say--or at least find a quiet corner."
Betsy considered. "I could use the exercise," she said. "Let's find a quiet corner, and I'll try to make sure no one can overhear us even if they try. I like this dessert idea. We should include this."
"Cakes it is," Wanda said with a slight smile and braced herself to head outside into the chill.
"There is a place in town," Jeanne-Marie said, zipping up her jacket and starting toward the garage; she assumed one of them could drive, anyhow. Exercise could come after cake. "Jean-Paul and I went there to celebrate punching Anders, last week. I had the most amazing apple strudel."
Naturally, she left Noriko out of the story, as she had been to everyone but her very closest confidantes. She had no doubt that Betsy knew of her involvement, since Brian did, and she was sure Wanda could be trusted, but she knew Nori wouldn't like it being talked about, so she didn't.
"I meant to offer," Betsy said, once Jeann-Marie brought up the subject. "Do you mind if I keep an eye out for compulsions on you? I'm keeping vigilant watch on Brian since he lives with the sonofabitch. I figure I can do quick checks now and then on any friends."
"Do you think he'd try something like it again?" Wanda asked with a frown as she headed over to sign out one of the school cars. "I would hope that the punching would be a good abject lesson otherwise."
"And it's not over--several people have promised to torture him in various ways." Jeanne-Marie wasn't quite as smug about it as she could've been, though. "But I would appreciate it, Betsy. Every time I see him speak to someone now I will assume he's filling their head with lies--though I hope you're right." She glanced significantly at Wanda, there.
"He's going to learn very quickly that his powers are no longer as fun to abuse. He's living telepaths and people who can quite honestly break him in half. If he doesn't learn to tread respectfully, he'll instead learn that some of us have much scarier powers than he does, and it's not fun when anyone abuses those powers." Betsy said this all very politely, which left a fine edge to her words as sharp as a blade. She smiled to try and disperse the effect. "But I hope one idiot doesn't ruin everything for long."
Wanda just huffed a laugh -- she heard worse from Pietro on a fairly regular basis. "Fear can be a wonderful motivator," she agreed a little dryly and lead them both over to the car. "Though I suppose keeping a wary eye out couldn't hurt," she nodded in Betsy's direction.
Jeanne-Marie was wholly satisfied with the sudden ferocity in Betsy--that had been almost exactly what she'd said to Anders after throwing him at Noriko, in fact. She nodded her approval. "He started it, with the fear. I don't think he will like his own medicine."
But there was dessert to be had, and so as she opened the back door of the car Wanda had signed out, she added, "I am happy to get out of the house for a while, though. Ever since it's seemed a little confining."
Well, that and she needed to talk to Brian... and had no idea what to say. It was too bad that she had the perfect person to ask what would truly be right--who would know better than his sister--right here... but couldn't. It would be so... awkward.
"Wanda made a good point that we should do more girls nights out," Betsy said. "Especially since the three of us have way too much in common--mainly in the overprotective brother department."
"Overprotective is one word for it," Wanda snorted, more than happy to let the subject change for the moment. Doubtless it would come up later, but it was probably the sort of thing that went down easier accompanied by cake. She shook her head a little as she slid into the drivers' seat and waited for Betsy to settle herself as well. "Not to mention that they're all idiots. Well, mine and Jeanne-Marie's are," she amended, eyes cutting briefly to Betsy. "I don't know yours well enough to comment."
Jeanne-Marie was pulling the seatbelt over herself in the back, and she laughed a little. She caught Betsy's gaze in the rearview and smiled; obviously she didn't think that Brian was an idiot at all, but, well, they were different with their sisters, and that was the point. She and Wanda had already established that theirs needed their heads knocked together.
"Brian means so well," Betsy said, clearly agreeing with Wanda. "I think that his problem is he understands books more than people." She glanced at Jeanne-Marie in the mirror and smiled back. "I'm not allowed to trash talk him too epically, unless of course you feel like knowing embarrassing stories about my brother may somehow endear him more. I do have a number of embarrassing stories. I could be convinced to share many of them."
"That's not the point of this whole trip?" Wanda gave both of them a teasing smile before focusing her attention on the road and taking them down the driveway.
By the time they had their desserts (which they were certainly going to have to walk off after), Jeanne-Marie's face hurt from laughing. After washing down a bite of divine German chocolate cake with a sip of latte, she had to admit, "The mental image of a miniature version of Pietro hiding in your mother's closet with your copy of Pride & Prejudice will never leave me."
"When is your birthday?" Besty asked. "I think I need to discretely get him a copy of that movie version with Colin Firth." She grinned.
"I'm fairly sure he already has one. Tucked under his bed like porn," Wanda said with a laugh that shifted into a downright wicked grin. "But it's November 19th. Do feel free."
Jeanne-Marie had been trying to swallow another gulp of coffee; it took all her self-control not to choke. "Good God," was all she had to say.
Betsy laughed warmly. "Oh, I would not be surprised."
Wanda just snickered into her cup of tea, finally glancing in Jeanne-Marie's direction when she had herself back under control. "Anyway, I think it's your turn again."
"I wish I had something from childhood to tell you," Jeanne-Marie said, but with a laugh; she was truly having fun, and not at all sorry for herself, though of course she wished she'd had what they had with their brothers growing up. She loved the stories. She had already told them about Jean-Paul's propensity for flying into trees--or their dual training sessions somehow ending up with him in a shrubbery, so that he came out looking like a wood elf with twigs in his hair.
She thought hard and said, "But. Just last week, I flew up to his window--that is how we visit each other, you know. And it ended up that we had a dance party to a Tiffany song. With Josh--and Simon as an audience. Jean-Paul can dance surprisingly well to terrible pop music, for someone who pretends to hate teenage parties."
Betsy grinned. "Maybe his heart just cries out for better music. That's adorable."
"Tiffany," Wanda agreed, teasingly mournful about it in the way only someone related to a music snob could be. "I shudder to think. We'll have to remember to put some on for him at the next party."
Jeanne-Marie clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing embarrassingly loudly in a public place. "We have to!" Then she cast a quick look at Betsy, wondering if she had one more for them all...
Betsy had one to go with that. "If we're on the subject of interesting music tastes, you can take requests from Brian. He was forced to master the violin, but musical creativity is surprisingly not his forte. He tried to figure out how to play techno music with the violin--needless to say it was awful. Perhaps some pop music would be a bit easier."
"Oh god," Wanda choked out, finally giving in to the giggles she'd been trying to hold back. "I can only imagine. Perhaps i f we teach him some Tiffany we'll have all of our bases covered."
"We'd better!" Jeanne-Marie ran one finger beneath her left eye; she was laughing so hard (but still silently) that her eyes were watering. "I can just imagine him deciding he would make it work, too. He probably kept at it for days. Weeks!"
"It's very hard convincing a perfectionist to give up all hope."
"Well, that's the point of this meeting, isn't it?" Wanda glanced at both of them, eyes glittering with badly suppressed hilarity. "We can all gang up on one of them if needed. For future music disasters."
"It is some kind of sisterly duty, isn't it? Saving brothers from musical disasters? And social ones." She paused, tapping her fork against her bottom lip in an overwrought approximation of thought. "Though sometimes that is a lost cause."
"You know," Betsy commented. "I can't imagine our brothers ever having this nice of a night out together."
"Considering that Jean-Paul and Pietro can't stand each other?" Wanda huffed a laugh and shook her head. "That's putting it mildly."
"I'm convinced it makes as much sense to us as it does to them, at this point. Which is to say none at all." Jeanne-Marie rolled her eyes. "At least Brian gets along with them--though he is probably too polite not to, even if he wanted. It is really something, though, seeing as we've been dating, and Jean-Paul still hasn't managed to threaten him somehow."
This was said in only half-seriousness; Jean-Paul wouldn't threaten anyone unless she actually seemed upset. Heand Roberto had clashed in very minor ways, but that was more their personalities than her. At least, Jeanne-Marie thought as much... or Brian wasn't telling her something, which, considering their situation at the moment (she flushed a little, thinking of it), was entirely possible. She added with a little laugh, "That I know of."
"I believe he hasn't," Betsy confirmed. "They've been pretty polite. Much safer that way."
"I'm fairly sure that Pietro doesn't know what politeness is," Wanda put in dryly, "so maybe that's part of the problem." She just shook her head with a sigh, amused as it was. "We'll probably still have to manage them all, regardless. Or continue to, as the case may be."
Jeanne-Marie laughed some more. That was certainly part of the problem; Jean-Paul having no regard for politeness was probably the other part. At least they were honest! "I feel like I am taking lessons, tonight. I really need them, too."
"Jean-Paul had too much time to build up a resistance. Eventually you'll wear him down to proper behavior."
"And we'll help you where we can," Wanda agreed with a smile.
"Oh, thank God," was all Jeanne-Marie could think. "But actually, Wanda, I think it is your turn, not mine. Do you have another one, or should we spare them?"
