Ash's Room

[Ash]

When you walk in Ash's room you can see a bed on the let wall and a desk directly in fron of the door. The closet is positioned beside the door and there is a window above the desk.
Ash has no pictures or decorations in her room, because of the fact that she had no possesions when she arrived. Only a few things such as dead leaves turned red and orange from the fall, a small purfume bottle containing grey sand, and some dried flowers can be found in various places.

[Ash]

Ash stretched her arms as she woke. It took her a minute before she realized just how late she had slept in. Still it didn't matter much, it was Christmas break and she was pretty sure that no one was looking for her.

She took a flower from a vase and smelled it. She smiled at it's fragrance. Flower's always made her feel better. She pushed her covers down and got out of bed, dressing quickly into something warm. They weren't her clothes, well they were, but she hadn't bought them. Betsy had found them for her when she had come.

She thought again about Christmas, she didn't have any money to buy anyone anything, and she really did want to get something for Betsy, and now for Rogue. She hugged herself as she remembered yesterday and what Rogue had told her. She was glad she was here, and she was sure nothing would make her leave. They were her family now.

She decided that it was too late to eat now and instead of just hanging around her room she'd go sit in a corner somewhere. Which meant the Rec Room. She walked out her door and closed it, not bothering to lock it, she never did. Locked doors made her shiver, and remember the prison.

(Ash leaves for Rec Room)

[Psylocke]

After peeking in on Joseph quickly and noticing he was still sleeping, Betsy hurried to her room. A shower and change of clothes later, Betsy sent a faint but friendly wave through her telepathy into Ash's mind to let her know that she was there. It was better then knocking on the door and scaring Ash and it was something both were becoming used to. After the mental awareness, Betsy tapped lightly on the door calling out, “Ash, luv, are you awake yet?”

Betsy had no real plan, just wanted to spend time with the young red head. Things had become hectic in the last day or two and Betsy wanted to make it up to Ash. Even if all they did was sit in her room and talk, it would be enough for her.

[Ash]

Ash felt the mental touch on her mind. It pulled her out of her sleep. Opening her eyes she grinned and sat up. THat was such a wonderful way to wake up. Besty was here! Ash hadn't seen her much in the past few days and felt strangly lonely for it. Josephs offer of friendship had made up for it a little, but she didn't know him well enough yet for it to make up a lot.

It took only seconds before Betsy was at the door knocking. Ash slid out of the covers her barefeet barely touching the floor as she ran across the room. Ash flung the door open and hugged Besty tight. Ash's hair fell around her shoulders in a tangled mess.

" Besty! "

Ash might have pouted a little, but her joy at Besty coming washed any such thought from her mind. Besides Besty would probably just turn it around to say Ash should make some new friends. She grinned up at the older woman. Ash felt so different from yesterday. Yesterday she'd been gloomy and sad, but today she felt hyper and excited. She didn't know why.

[Psylocke]

Betsy smiled as she heard Ash run for the door. The girl flung it open and jumped into Betsy's arms. Wrapping her own arms around Ash, she looked down and chuckled. If Ash was showing this much emotion at being woken up, Betsy had high hopes for the day.

“I take it I didn't intrude on an important dream?” Betsy asked with a wide grin. Pulling away but taking Ash's hand, she walked into the room and led Ash to the edge of the bed. Sitting down, Betsy looked at her and said with a smile, “I have some time free and wanted to know if you'd like to spend it with me. Anything you want to do, I'm all yours.”

It made Betsy happy to watch Ash's usually tight emotions breaking free. If this was the sort of greeting she got for waking her up, Betsy would have to remember to do it more often.

[Ash]

" I take it I didn't intrude on an important dream?”

Ash smiled up at the woman, " You? Never!" It was a true statment, mainly for the fact that Ash didn't dream much, unless it was a bad dream. But it was also true because Besty was a much better reward than a dream was. Ash let Besty pull her back into the room and sat on the bed next to her. For a moment Ash thought Besty was going to tell her bad news, but it wasn't. Besty wanted to spend her free time with her. Not with anyone else, but with her. " Really? Anything?" Ash smiled and thought about all the possibilities. She had wanted to spend time with Besty, but now that she could she really didn't know what to do.

Ash sat for a moment and then something popped in her mind. She wanted to get a christmas present for Besty, but she couldn't get it WITH the woman. Besides what would Besty want? Ash stuffed that away in her mind to remember later. What could they do today?
Ash looked back at Besty and grinned happily, " I don't know, you pick."

[Psylocke]

Betsy watched Ash as she contemplated Betsy's offer. It was obvious that she had thought of something then changed her mind. Betsy wasn't about to pry to discover what it was but perhaps there was another way to find out. Laughing happily, Betsy shook her head and said, “No way do you get out of it that easily, dear.”

Reaching up to tuck a bit of Ash's hair behind her ear, Betsy continued with a smile, “How about you get dressed for the day and think about it a bit more. In the meantime, I'll go down and make you breakfast. As long as it can be toasted or microwaved, I can handle it.”

Then Betsy thought of something that may help. “I almost forgot to tell you. Before the Professor left yesterday, he left each of you some money to do some Christmas shopping with. I know I could always use a trip to the mall but then again, I'm a self professed shopaholic. If that's what you want to do, let me know and I'll get it for you,” she said with a grin. Betsy wasn't so sure how Ash would tolerate the hustle of Christmas shoppers but it would be a real test of the girl's control and if anything should go wrong, Betsy was the one person who could help control her power.

[Ash]

Ash looked at Besty in surprise. No? Ash hadn't been expecting that one. Still Besty was kind about it. It was obvious Besty was going out of her way to make sure ash was going to enjoy herself. Her suggestion sounded good. It would give her more time to think. She really didn't have anything right now, but by the time she got down to the kitchen she might. "Ok, and I'm not that hungry so you don't have to worry about making me anything."

Ash stood up her excitement for the day was growing. The possibilities were in the hundreds. Ash hadn't felt this happy in a long time. She was about to go to her closet when Besty spoke up again. Ash stopped abruptly, had Besty read her mind? No... Besty wasn't like that, and beside she hadn't felt Besty's touch on her mind. Maybe it was just coincidence. But why would the Professor leave money for them? She hadn't really seen the Professor that much, and didn't really think about him and assumed he didn't think about her. However it was a Godsend, now she could buy something! Her day was definantly looking up.

" Um... Yeah that sounds good!" She grinned and gave Besty a hug. She pulled her up off the bed and started to push her out of the room, " Come on, go go! The day is waning!"

[Psylocke]

Betsy had thrown Ash off guard a few times but the girl rolled with each twist, barely losing a beat. It was beautiful to watch and it made Betsy proud. Ash, while still having a lot of issues to work through, was beginning to behave like a normal teenager.

As she hugged Betsy, she laughed. It was such a delightful sound and was so contagious that Betsy couldn't help but laugh with her. Getting pulled up and pushed to the door by Ash, Betsy said, “Ok, ok, I'm leaving.” Pausing in the doorway, she added, “Don't take too long, luv, you are beautiful just the way you are. I'll see you in the Front Hall.”

On the way to the hall, Betsy knew she would have to let Sean in on her new plans. She hadn't actually meant to change them but Ash's excitement was too powerful and Betsy knew this was the opportunity for the girl that Betsy had been waiting for.

((Exit to Front Hall))

[Ash]

Ash shut the door behind Besty, still smiling over her last comment. It was nice to think someone thought that of her. She hugged herself tightly her excitement boiling over. Then she quickly through open her closet and grabbed a few cloths. Undressing quickly she pulled the other ones on over her too skinny figure. Then she grabbbed a brush and began on her tangled hair.

She couldn't wait to get started. She wondered just how much money the professor had left them. Would it be enough for something good? Even if it wasn't Besty would probably appreciate it any way. Besides the day would still be good even if she didn't buy anything. Ash pulled her hair up into a pony tail and let it fall down her back. She checked herself in the mirror grinned and flew out her door. She didn't lock it, she never did. She didn't have to worry about anything being stole because she didn't have anything worth stealing.

She was half way down the hall when she remembered her bed. Flying back to her room she made it quickly and then headed out.

(exits to front hall)

[Ash]

It took Ash three trips to get all of her bags from shopping to her room. Partly because she had to hide her presents under the cloths Aunt Besty had bought her. Once she had made the final trip she shut the door behind her. She was surprised at how early in the day it still was. She turned and looked at the pile in front of her. She hadn't had this much stuff in years. IT was one of the reasons she'd never locked her door at the mansion. She didn't have anything worth stealing.

It was amazing to her how much stuff you could buy in such a short amount of time, short being a relative term, they had acutally spent quite a while at the mall. She edged her way around the bags. She really had had fun this morning, despite the few mishaps the latest one still fresh in her mind. She brushed the thought off quickly, concentrating only on everything Aunt Besty and Ash had done that morning. She pulled the cloths Aunt Besty had bought for her from the bags and folded them setting them gently in the dresser next to the rest of her cloths. The new ones were much cuter and definantly her size.

She reached for the last bag and pulled out the Green Dress. It really was beautiful something any girl her age would be happy to have. So why were there tears filling her eyes? Ash tried to wipe them away, but they kept coming. She slid down to sit on the floor back to her bed. She was so happy for everything that she'd gotten and for the company. Tears of joy soon turned into tears of fear as she cried the scaredness she'd felt earlier out of her. She'd been holding it in and now she could let it out, she was alone, where no one could see. Still now it wouldn't matter. She would never have to be that scared again, well about that subject. Aunt Besty had said so, so why was she still crying?

Finally she wiped her eyes on her sweater and sniffled loudly. Sometimes a good cry is what you need. She remembered the envelope and reached for it pulling the ID from it. This time she studied it. The picture of her was a recent one, she wondered where they had gotten it from. It was even a good picture of her. It made her look... cute? No, mature. She wasn't smiling, but she looked content. Her eyes shifted to the name. That was definantly strange, Dani Heart. She'd had fake names before, but she'd never seen them on the same page as a picture of her, associating her with the name. Besides, she'd gotten used to being called Ash now. Again she felt that strange feeling of regret that Aunt Besty thought Ash was her real name. No one knew she wasn't Ash, that she was Alicia for real. Not Haley, not Joan, not even Ash, but Alicia. She shook her head. No, that was past. She was Ash now and she belonged to the X-men. That's what Aunt Besty had said. She had to leave her past behind or at least forget it. That way she could get control of her powers and not be scared of them. As long as she was scared of them she would remember and she couldn't do that! She needed to be Ash with no past but the x-men.

She stood abrubtly and put the envelope with the money card on her desk and the ID on top of it. Then she hung the dress carefully in her closet, pushing the others aside so as not to touch it. After that she put her green shoes beneath it and then shoved the other new shoes under her bed. Only to be shocked as she touched cloth. She pulled it out. It was her old prison uniform. She glared at it angrily. Just when she'd resolved to do something, her past came to haunt her. She ran to the closet and shoved it into a top far corner. and closed the door. She breathed heavily anger leaching from her as she tried to calm herself.

She took a few deliberate steps forward and looked at the presents on her floor. What was she going to do with them? Obviously she had to wrap them, but with what? She didn't know where to find paper, tape, or ribbon. Then she'd need something to put their names on the pakages. She hadn't managed to find something for everyone. Just most everyone. She hadn't however managed to find anything for the professor like she had wanted to. To be truthful she was afraid to, to shy of him. Perhaps she could just give him the money card back, she hadn't used nearly all of it. It had a few hundred dollars left on it.

[Ash]

Finally finished wrappingl, Ash wrote the names of the recipients and her name on the little card attached to each. That done she wondered just what she was going to do with them, she didn't want a whole bunch of presents sitting in her room, and she hadn't seen any place to put them. She contemplated it for a moment and then decided to just go and give them to people.

She'd spent the morning with Aunt Besty and was sure the woman had plans so Ash set her gift to the side along with Rogues, she hadn't seen her all morning either. That left a few of the mutant teens and some others. Josephs stuck out however. He would surely be here since he couldn't go out without people running in fear.

She picked up his gift and headed toward the door.

[ Exit's for Josephs room]