Winter Wonderland

[Beau LaRoux]

Christmas time meant gifts and gifts definitely required some extra money. When you just happened to be dating someone very seriously, you needed even more money. Which was why Beau was currently out in the streets of Kalispell, bundled up against the cold. Fingerless gloves covered his hands, just leaving enough for him to work the strings of the guitar strung across his neck. They moved across the strings with some dexterity, coaxing music out into the air.

As it just happened to be the season, there was really only one kind of music that Beau felt he should be playing about then. He tapped the strings, alternating between strumming and slapping along the guitar:

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland."

All of which he sang with a smile on his face and a twang in his voice. The open guitar case sat in front of him, asking for donations for presents (hey, he figured a little honesty couldn't hurt). A little wreath with a bow hung on it, making the whole thing look just that much more festive, while Beau kept right on humming and strumming.

[Cassidy Laramie]

For Cassidy, Christmas had come early. His parents had sent him what they usually referred to as "pre-Christmas" gifts. He was a bit surprised at receiving separate gifts from his parents, but decided not to dwell on it too much. Maybe they just couldn't agree on what to give him or something?His father's gift was rather unwelcome; a fake-loving sounding, not to mention long and overly eloquent, letter which probably "accidentally" found its way to the media, and a large sum of cash. Feeling very much like his father was trying to pay him to stay out of sight, he viciously tore up the letter, almost shredding the money along with it before deciding he could put it to better use. His mother's gift, which was much more welcome, came with a short note, saying she knew how much he loved buying people gifts, and that he'd probably need her gift to go shopping in Kalispell. He found she'd sent him a nice pair of Ray-Bans, which were tinted to hide his color-changing eyes, and a warm, grey winter jacket along with various other pieces of matching winter wear. The jacket was lined with bright orange fur that was, much to Cassidy's relief, not real.

Armed with warm clothes, an adequate cover for his mutation, and plenty of cash tucked away in his ever-present laptop case, he wandered down to Kalispell to look for potential gifts. His list of people to give gifts for was steadily growing, much to Cassidy's delight, but he really wasn't sure what he wanted to buy. He wasn't even sure what he could buy in the shops, as this was his first trip into the town.  He ended up wandering around Kalispell randomly, hoping he didn't seem too out of place wearing sunglasses in winter. Cassidy was suddenly sidetracked from his gift searching by the sound of music drifting down the street. As he really didn't have much better to do, he followed it to the lone street performer, singing and playing his guitar.

Cassidy stopped and watched the performer, entranced by the music. He'd listened to plenty of music, but he'd never really had much opportunity to hear live music performed, especially in such a natural atmosphere. Memories of times when he'd been hurried past "common people" begging and being scolded by his father for trying to help them rose unbidden from his mind. He was grateful of the dark glasses covering his eyes, preventing the general public from seeing his eyes change to red and blue before he could force the thoughts from his mind. He focused on the music instead, rather fond of the natural tones of the performer's voice and the seemingly odd way of playing the guitar. He glanced over the boy's aura, finding that he seemed rather happy, although Cassidy was not as thrilled with how the tinted glasses altered the color of his surroundings, including the auras.

After a few moments, he reluctantly went to move on with his day. He considered stopping the performer to chat, but he seemed busy working and Cassidy thought it would be rude to interrupt him. Before he left, though, his eyes were drawn to the open guitar case with a donation sign. He smiled at the sign; giving presents was the best reason of all to want some money! He quickly dug through his bag for the cash, pulling out two bills and depositing them in the guitar case before starting to continue down the street.

Nestled into the case, the two bills corners were just visible to the performer. But rather than the expected 1 in their corners, the two bills each boasted a bold 100, as serene and oblivious as their previous owner.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau really wasn't one of those performers who got totally lost in his music. Oh, he certainly could, and he often found himself sliding into the melodies and the harmonies without thinking overmuch about it. But Beau was first and foremost a performer, someone who knew how to read a crowd and react in accordance with the ebbs and flows of their mood and actions. That was part of why he was doing fairly successful at the whole busking thing. He'd add little flourishes, smile at people, that sort of thing. He certainly noticed as another mutant came forth and dropped a few bills into the case. Beau could sort of feel the power sliding over him, and he almost immediately began to get a sensation of how the guy was feeling. Empathy then, probably, which had been the giveaway.

Beau had glanced down as he'd readied his thanks. At first he thought his eyes were failing or something. His fingers slipped on the guitar and he quickly ducked down. He picked up the bills, then shifted them, his eyes going wide. Holy... Beau looked up, peering through the crowd. He located the guy quick enough and started after him, not caring about the case of smaller change he'd left behind: Beau trusted that the locals wouldn't do anything with it, especially not as his initials were engraved and most locals knew who he was.

"Hey, hey!" he called, waving the money. "Hey, you, guy there," he jogged a little faster, coming around to stop in front of the guy. "Ya dropped some money in my case back there," Beau gestured and nodded, then held up the bills, "an' it looks like ya dropped the wrong bills in." Because surely even the rich people that the school often attracted wouldn't drop money like that into a street performer's case.

Surely.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy strolled along aimlessly down the street, taking in the sights of Kalispell and quietly humming Winter Wonderland. All kinds of people wandered the streets on their errands, their auras seeming calm and happy. It seemed strange that the town could be so peaceful, so normal, considering its close proximity to Bellefonte. As Cassidy watched the people go by through his tinted lenses, he wondered how many of them were mutants like him, and how many were blissfully unaware of the secret world hiding under their noses.

Deep in his odd reverie, Cassidy almost ran right into the person who stopped in front of him. As he started to apologize for almost running into them, he was startled to find that he was facing the street musician from moments ago. The musician's aura was almost invisible, as the silver blended into the snow and the orange color was muddled by Cassidy's sunglasses. It took him a moment to figure out what was going on as he slowly processed the older boy's words. Hidden behind his glasses, his eyes gained a silver tint as his own confusion grew. Did he give too much? Was it not enough? He didn't see how he could have put the wrong bills in; all he had on him was the obnoxiously large amount of one-hundred dollar bills from his father.

Cassidy tilted his head slightly in confusion and addressed the person in front of him. "Mmm, nope! I don't think so... Is something wrong?" he asked, now concerned. He recently realized that there were a lot of things he hadn't learned about the world, and seemed to constantly embarrass himself, half the time not even realizing it.

[Beau LaRoux]

Nope? Didn't think so? The words stunned Beau, who mostly goggled at the other guy, trying to figure him out. It was strange, but the longer Beau stared, the more he swore he saw some kind of shimmering color around the other guy. Probably had something to do with the whole ability thing or something. Beau didn't try to overthink stuff like that. Besides, he was still very much wrapped up in the whole hundred dollar bill and how that apparently wasn't an error.

"Well, uh," he finally managing, thus demonstrating the vocality that apparently warranted the big bills, "most people don't jus' drop anythin' this big. Fives are 'bout as big as I see an' all," as Beau finished, he fidgeted, looking down at the bills in his hand and back over his shoulder at the guitar. Nobody appeared to be making off with anything, which made sense and all. Beau looked back.

"Two Benjamins ain't exactly what I'd expect for a tune or two," he continued, holding them up, "maybe a private concert or somethin' like that, or at least a request," he didn't mind taking the money; Beau just wanted to make sure he'd done something to earn it first. Either that or he was going to just turn around and donate most of the money to some sort of charity.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy smiled sheepishly as the performer explained the situation. It made sense in a way, but it was still sad that someone who sat out in the completely bone-freezing, murderous cold didn't get more than a handful of change in return. Especially around Christmas, when it seemed the musician just wanted to spend it all on other people's gifts anyway. Cassidy laughed and rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Oh okay, I get what you mean. Don't worry about it," he said nonchalantly, trying to play off the whole thing as a trivial thing. He had way more where it came from, not like he particularly wanted to brag about it, and he figured giving it away to a random stranger was a good way to spread Christmas cheer or something. He did owe the guy some sort of explanation though, although he really didn't want to get into it. "It's kinda a long story, but... I don't want it. At all," his expression a bit less cheerful than before. Seriously, what was he supposed to do with a bag full of one hundred dollar bills? He already had pretty much everything practical he needed now, and quite a bit more that he didn't. The remarkably impersonal gift felt like an even bigger step back for his relationship with his dad, and Cassidy had a bad feeling that it was done on purpose.

Suddenly remembering he was talking to someone, he self-consciously continued smiling as if nothing was wrong, not wanting to drag this random singer into his troubles. "Besides, I'm just spending it all on gifts anyway; now there's one more person out gift giving!" he exclaimed. The more people there were giving gifts and spreading cheer, the better.


((Sorry about the long wait! Holidays are busy!))

[Beau LaRoux]

Yeah, guy was definitely one of those crazy rich kid sorts that seemed to be drawn to Bellefonte. Between the Bellefontes, the Banks girl, Frank Cox, Trevor Paige, and a half a dozen others running around, it was nearly easier to just assume that everyone had money to throw around. This guy kept shrugging it off, waving off the hundred dollar bills like he could literally light money on fire.

The last bit though... the bit about a long story, that had Beau frowning. People who talked like that generally had the sort of story that you could turn into a song, and Beau did that quite often himself. He could feel some part of him itching to go ahead and ask, though at the same time he knew better than to intrude on someone's privacy. Beau did wait patiently while the other guy worked through whatever was going on in his head though, figuring he could at least do that much.

"Yeah, I'm all for givin' gifts an' all," admitted Beau, nodding, "but I ain't really needin' this kinda gift," he held it up. "Don't got no objection to it or anythin' if I earned it, but if you're really wantin' to give money like this, you oughta find a church or somethin'..." though Beau looked at it, thinking about just what kind of jewelry he could buy Liz with something like that. that much could buy... well, it could go quite a ways toward a ring, now couldn't it...?

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy offered a small smile, trying to reassure him somehow. As the musician frowned, his aura changed somewhat, and Cassidy risked a glance over his sunglasses to see its real color. He momentarily revealed his swirling brown eyes, but at least he was able to clearly see the singer's light orange aura. His smile grew more genuine, and he even laughed a little at the barely restrained curiosity. "If you're really that curious, you could just ask," he said jokingly, and hoped that it didn't come out sounding like a brat or anything like that. Perhaps it was unwise to say such brazen things about what he was feeling to someone who might not even be a mutant, but at that point he didn't care. He wasn't particularly inclined to talk about his problems when most of the other students went through way worse, but if it made this guy keep the money he'd say just about anything.

Cassidy stared at him in disbelief as he tried to claim that he didn't deserve the money. He figured he could always donate the excess to a charity or something, but that felt like such an impersonal option, just throwing money at some random person as if they didn't matter as an individual, like... like... like his dad. He shook his head; just giving large amounts of money to people, even if it was someone in need, felt almost sickening. "You do deserve it, more than me anyway. You've got real talent; all I did was just... be born," he said, mentally wincing at how that came out. He really didn't want to come off as ungrateful, but it was true in any case. He didn't do anything to earn his money, it was just handed to him. He realized that money is a fickle thing; those who deserve it, need it, and those who don't, have it. And it felt like he was the only one trying to reverse it.

His mind was jerked from those depressing thoughts by another slight shift in the street musician's aura, and Cassidy risked another glance over the glasses to read it, finding a soft pink edging through it. He grinned, the very tops of his irises were visible over the glasses, and the brown eyes were now edged with gold. "Besides... I bet you have a special someone who needs a gift too, right?" he asked with a knowing smile. This guy really needed to get a grip, and that was coming from an emotionally-unstable mutant; not wanting to accept the money was humble and all, but not when there was a special girl involved!

[Beau LaRoux]

Yeah, Beau probably could just ask. He was actually still somewhat tempted to do just that, especially given the permission that had just been offered. Still didn't feel quite right though, so he held his tongue for the moment, watching.

Yeah, this guy definitely had some money, seemed like he got born in it too. That made Beau wince; he didn't exactly understand it, coming from a fairly poor family and all, but he got the broad-strokes. It sounded as though the guy didn't really see eye to eye with the family fortune and all.

Though before Beau could say anything about it, the guy caught him off guard. Beau chuckled and reached a hand behind his head to rub. "Yeah, kinda do, actually," he admitted. Beau let out a long breath and chuckled again. "Kinda got a serious special someone an' all," he met the other guy's gaze, "but she wouldn't be too pleased if she knew--" it was then that Beau heard movement behind him. he turned to see some people poking around his case.

"Oh heck, hold on a second," he said the latter part to Cassidy, holding up a finger for a moment before jogging back to where he'd left the case and the rest of his money. He'd have to hurry, as he could definitely see the guy taking advantage of the distraction and running off...

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy merely watched curiously behind the safety of his shades, wondering just what seemed to be bothering the guy. He'd assumed most people would just be happy about getting free stuff, but this definitely wasn't the case. It wasn't as if Cassidy was particularly sacrificing anything in giving him the money; in fact, he really wanted it gone. He smiled slightly as his prediction about a girl was true, the pink aura a total give away.

Before he could encourage the musician further to keep the money in the best interest of said girl, the guy's attention seemed to be suddenly diverted elsewhere mid-sentence. Cassidy had been guilty of this himself before, but this time it seemed like there was an actual legitimate reason behind it as he spotted the pilfering strangers. Cassidy nodded as the guy excused himself, and, to his credit, didn't even think about running off. It would have been a good option, except that the guy had cut himself off, and now Cassidy had to know what he was going to say. If he didn't, it was probably going to nag him for the rest of the week, wondering just what those last words were going to be. Besides, he was pretty sure the guy was going to just give away all the money at that point, and Cassidy was by then adamant that it was used for the benefit of the performer's special someone. The guy deserved it just by thinking he didn't.

Cassidy couldn't handle staying in one place for more than a few minutes, so instead he opted for wandering over in the direction of the guitar case. If anything, he could be of some sort of help if something happened, although unlikely. And, he decided he wasn't going to leave this guy alone until he was sure the money would be put to good use, even if that meant being a complete nuisance.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau managed to shoo most of the people away from the case. He did relent when a little girl asked him to do "Frosty the Snowman" though. Beau paused to look over at Cassidy, raising a hand to acknowledge that he noticed the other guy had come close and promised to get to him in time. That same hand went down to strum the strings as Beau deftly worked his way through the tune, his voice doing fair justice. He made certainly to do the "thumpity thump, thump" part the right way too, getting the girl to bounce along. Soon he was nodding and raising a hand to the small gathered group, before unslinging his guitar. He waved off the mother who stepped forward, insisting that it was just what anyone would do, then looked up at Cassidy again.

"Figured you'd have made off by now," he said, sliding the guitar into the case and rearranging. A few more people handed him money and he took it, nodding and sliding it into his pockets without complaint. "Thought you wanted me to jus' shut up an' take your money," Beau grinned and looked over at Cassidy, raising a brow almost in challenge now, as if calling the other guy out for his earlier words.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy paused at the edge of the small, dispersing crowd, not wanting to walk through all of those auras. He could wait; it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Besides, the guy had real talent, so it wasn't much of an inconvenience to sit there while he made some little girl's day. Oh, and of course, the performer had no qualms with taking everyone else's money for some odd reason. Cassidy couldn't help but roll his eyes despite its ineffectiveness at the moment. He just didn't get this guy at all.

Cassidy only smirked at the implied challenge, crossing his arms in defiance. "Nope! I'm not going anywhere until I know for sure that you're not just gonna give it away to some random stranger," he declared. If this was to be a test of wills, this guy clearly didn't know what he was getting into, challenging Cassidy. Many a tutor learned real fast not to mess with him as a child; when he said he wasn't going to do his French lesson today, he meant it, and there was no convincing him otherwise. Those who did tended not to stay in employment long.

Still, it shouldn't have to come to that. Why couldn't this guy just accept it, move on, and put the money to good use? It wasn't like he had nothing to spend it on, it was clear he knew what to use the money for, but refused to do so. It was completely baffling and Cassidy was determined to figure it out.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau met the smirk and crossed eyes with a slight smile of his own, then matched the comment with a short laugh. He reached back, rubbing at the back of his head for a moment, looking around. "Still think that you're crazy if you're thinkin' this is what you should be droppin' to a busker," he pointed out, reaching in to pull out the wad of bills again. Beau still had to stop and look at it though, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

All too easy to picture those bills morphing into a ring, and he definitely wanted to get one of those soon. He played with them for a moment, crinkling and frowning. "You sure you ain't fine with my doin' somethin' else for ya? I could write ya a song or do some kinda private show for ya or somethin'," Beau was tempted to point out that he should do at least something to actually earn the money that he had clenched in his fist.

Though now he could practically hear his family insisting that after a certain point, it was just rude not to take it. People handled money differently, and it wasn't always right to set a certain price for services if they wanted to pay something else. How many times had he done something for a lowered price, or for free? Heck, hadn't he just done it? Didn't stop him from standing there, working the bills and wondering.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy let out a short laugh at his comment about being crazy. "Heh, well, I am crazy, but that doesn't have anything to do with giving you money," he agreed, not caring how irrelevant and possibly confusing his little quip was. He smirked as the performer pondered the bills some more; he didn't even need his power to see how tempted he was to just take the money.

Cassidy pondered the question, wondering if perhaps there was something he could do to make the musician feel better about taking the money. He started to form an idea, especially considering how curious he had seemed about Cassidy's past. "Well... if you really wanted to do something, you could maybe listen to my comparatively insignificant problems," he suggested, a bit proud of those two big words he'd used. His life didn't exactly compare to some of the dark stuff he'd heard from other mutants at school, but it didn't make it suck any less; it just made it impossible to talk to anyone about it without coming across as ungrateful or whiny.

Just carrying around his father's "gift" was bringing everything up the surface, and he figured he could use someone to talk to about it anyway. This guy would probably judge him for it, but as long as he didn't judge out loud, Cassidy could handle it. "And maybe it would make you feel better about taking this, if you understood..." he said somewhat uncertainly. It was practically already a favor just to take the money off his hands, even if it was only a tiny fraction of what he still had stuffed into his laptop case.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau chuckled, nodding, knowing full well how people, especially people around here, could get all kinds of crazy. He still fiddled with the bills for a moment, alternating between looking at them and at the guy who'd handed them over. As Beau looked, he swore he saw some sort of strange colors coming off the guy, which probably just meant that he was a mutant and Beau was picking up some sort of weird power that he couldn't begin to understand. Probably empathy: empathy usually did the color thing, unless Beau was seeing thoughts or something weirder.

Cassidy continued, and Beau focused more on the words than the strange colors he saw now. Talk for a while? "Well, I ain't a bartender or a shrink," said Beau, adding a shrug, "but I reckon I can bend an ear for a while. Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone who ain't normally the one you'd be talkin' too," he pocketed the money, figuring it would work for the time being. Something told him that something deeper was going on here: the songwriter in him again coming to life.

"Name's Beau, by the way," he said, extending a hand, "seems we missed the whole introduction bit somewhere in there."