Skiing

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Erika Conner (Bellefonte)

Elsa opened the door to the room, making sure to have timed her entrance perfectly. She gave Erika enough time to actually sleep while still making sure to catch the other girl before she'd gotten going. After all, it wasn't as though Elsa didn't have a psychic connections to her twin or anything like that. So she poked her head in and looked.

"We're hitting the slopes today," said Elsa, tossing a ski pass onto Erika's bed. "So get dressed and ready. I'll be waiting with a cup of espresso in the living room." Elsa nodded and then headed to the room herself. She'd already prepared one cup, as well as herself. Already Elsa wore a pair of ski-pants and a sweater over a pair of long underwear. There happened to be a ski jacket, hat, goggles, and other such materials sitting near the exit of their impressive room.

So for now, Elsa took a sip of her drink, smiling, certain that she and her sister would soon be on the slopes, no doubt competing with one another and forgetting, if for a moment, that they were being rocketed into adulthood far, far faster than either of them could have possibly imagined.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Groaning at the familiar sound of her sister's voice, Erika opened one eye and tried looking through her still sleepy haze. She couldn't keep the smile off of her face though; she had been looking forward to spending more time with her sister, and well, this trip was just the place for that. "Alright, alright." They weren't confined to the business of the academy and all the work that followed, and they actually got to act like the eighteen year old girls they really were.

Pushing herself up and out of bed, Erika tugged at the ski pass as she walked straight for her closet. Pulling out warm clothes, she quickly pulled them on and walked over to the mirror. Running her fingers through her curly mess, Erika pursed her lips before grabbing her ski-gear and headed towards the room Elsa was in.

"You don't waste a second, do you?" Erika said with a smirk as she entered the room. She cast a glance towards the exit, smiling a little as her eyes fell upon her snowboard, standing leaned against the wall near the door. "I could get used to all of this," she added, gesturing to the room. She really liked this place.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa smiled at Erika's comments, and kept the smile as she headed into their little kitcheneette, sipping at her espresso. Elsa had made certain that several of the rooms, including theirs, had an espresso machine. She figured that if she was going to lay back and enjoy herself, she might as well do so in the most decadent, lavish way possible. She was taking another sip as Erika came back, and swallowed before responding.

"I prefer not to," she agreed. Elsa gestured at the machine, where a coffee cup sat nearby, just waiting for Erika to pick it up and play it. She took another slight sip, nodding at the comment.

"You mean the place that's lavishly done just for our personal enjoyment and there are no people about who would pester us with questions or other such duties and we can just enjoy ourselves skiing? I don't know, I just can't see the appeal," Elsa took another sip, smiling around it. She then turned, moving to a covered platter and picking it up, revealing a tray of decadent pastries. "Amazing room service too," she said, giving her sister a wink before plucking a pastry up for her own.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Chuckling softly, Erika nodded slightly. "It makes me feel as we can just be eighteen." Honestly, it was no secret that although doing a fair job, Erika didn't enjoy her new found position. Nothing about this job made her feel fulfilled or even remotely happy. Sure, she understood why they had to, but at the end of the day, it wasn't what she wanted, and Erika had a feeling Elsa felt the same. Reaching out her hand, Erika grabbed one of the pastries for herself. "I could do without the room service if every day could be like this," she mused, turning to look out the window.

Ah well; it was a nice thought, but neither of them could very well abandon their post. At least, not at this moment. There was too much at stake, too much unfinished business. This trip was a nice escape regardless.

Finishing her pastie and coffee, Erika licked her fingers clean and walked over to the door way and pulled her snowboard gear down from the hangers. Pulling on the light brown snowboard pants and the white jacket, Erika offered Elsa a smile. "Have you seen if the slopes are busy today?" With that, Erika put on the helmet and goggles as she pulled on her shoes as well. Leaning against the doorway, Erika closed her eyes.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa smiled and nodded, definitely in agreement with her sister's assessment. It really was good to just sit back and enjoy themselves. she took another sip of her drink, another nibble of her pastry, and dealt with both in the manner in which they were meant to be enjoyed. Elsa kept sipping even as Erika went and got her gear together.

"Actually," she said, smiling coyly, "they're moderately busy, however," she held up a finger, wagging it, "Frank is spending the day with other Franck, and he doesn't ski. Ellen has booked a spa day. My bodyguard wanted to sweep the area for the Snow Wars. And the cat promised to report any wrongdoings at the end of the day. So you know what that means."

Elsa leaned back and took another sip. It meant that Elsa had not only cleared their schedule, but somehow managed to arrange it so nearly everyone who would potentially disturb them was busy and distracted. Elsa took another sip, looking almost like the cat she'd mentioned a few seconds ago.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"See, I told you hiring the cat was smart," she said, grinning from ear to ear as she looked at Elsa. Sure, Erika's thoughts behind hiring anyone (at all) wasn't nearly as well planned and thought out as Elsa, but come on. She had practically shot the sitting duck when hiring that cat. Yeah, he was creepy, reminded her of a pedophile and probably batshit crazy, but he still did quite the good job, and that had to count for...something, right?

Pressing the rest of the pastie into her mouth, Erika walked over to her sister and placed one hand on her cup and the other around her wrist. Taking the cup from her sister's hand, she placed it on the counter and started yanking Elsa towards the door, a childlike gleam forming in the brunette's eyes. "Alright, enough talk." She grinned. "Time to go do what we came here for. Come on, come on, come on!"

If anyone looked at the two twins, they would never expect Erika to be the older one. Even though it was just by a few minutes, Elsa had always acted like the overprotective older sister, whereas Erika had been the loofy second. It was also amazing that with their different personalities, they still managed to stay as good friends. "Big sister wubs youuuuu~"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa just raised a brow as Erika insisted that hiring Humphries had been a smart move, adding a quick: "Don't push it," before taking one last sip of her espresso. She could read Erika fairly well, and she realized that the other girl was getting more and more worked up.

Yep, there went the drink cup. Elsa nearly rolled her eyes as she looked to Erika, letting herself get dragged along. Only Erika could get away with doing this to Elsa, even if the latter had been the one to initiate things by waking her up and arranging things. That didn't mean that just anyone could have done this, no, it had to be Erika.

"Alright, alright," said Elsa, chuckling. she was tempted to outright resist and go back to pour the espresso into a travel mug. Instead she moved over and began working to gather up her things, only to pause at Erika's baby talk. "I'm still not convinced that's entirely true," she drawled. She moved to tug on coat and adjust gloves. "Are we both going to ski or were you going to attempt to use that awful snowboard again? Though Elsa couldn't quite recall how good Erika actually was at using said thing; she wanted to say "decent" but she could be misremembering.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Erika's grin widened at her sister's words and the chuckle. Erika was rather thankful she got to see Elsa's... Less hostile side. It felt special in a way, that Elsa's cheerful mood was reserved only for her, as was their weaknesses. There was nothing Erika felt she couldn't share with her twin, and she was more than thankful for their relationship. Without Elsa, Erika would have ceased to exist a long time ago, and not only because of their twin link causing herself, and the other students to get saved.

"Well, then I just have to try harder to convince you," Erika replied cheekily, offering her sister a wink. Her thoughts were momentarily derailed at the mention of her snowboard and Erika's eyes dropped to the board, furrowing for a moment. "Well, I can't ski for the life of me, so this will have to do." After all, Erika was fairly good on the board. Not championship material, but she knew the ins and out. Finishing getting dressed, Erika lifted the board and held it against her chest as the glove covered hand ran on its backside.

"As much fun as it would be for you to watch me completely fail with the skis, I'm going for the safe option this time around. Besides, it's more fun for me to ride the board as opposed to.." She looked at the skis and made a grimace. A less than pleased grimace.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa rolled her eyes. "We got the lessons together," she pointed out, "but I suppose that you probably weren't paying that much attention at the time,' she smirked a little, remembering that their mother had purposefully set them up with her personal ski instructor, who'd happened to e rather on the handsome side of things. That had been an interesting experience, to say the least. Elsa also knew that Erika had almost immediately gone to the snowboard, claiming it was "cooler." At least she'd matured since then.

"Honestly, what are the students going to say," she said, gesturing toward the board while she picked up her own gear. "Their headmistress is snowboarding. It's almost like you're trying to be cool or something,' she gave her sister another smile before lugging the gear all together. Elsa headed out, trusting that Erika would follow. they wouldn't have long to get to the lifts, and it would only be a short ride from there to the top. Elsa imagined that they'd probably race a time or two (or three, as it was nearly always out of three, and that wasn't counting warmup runs...

of course, she was also betting that Erika wasn't planning any of this, probably opting to be "spontaneous" instead.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Laughing, Erika shrugged, "True; but you know how that went." Ah yes; the damned ski-instructor. Erika was fairly certain that was part of the reason why she had been so distracted and never really learned how to ski. At least she could give their mother that much; she did have very good taste when it came to men. It seemed to be something both her daughters had inherited, because only a fool would find their row of exes and men to be anything but handsome.

"I am cool," Erika replied, winking at her sister. "Besides, I think it'll only show them that's okay to be different." Honestly, Erika found it a lot more fun too. Sure, it might have started out with thinking that it was cooler, but she had quickly come to find that it was a lot more fun as well. It had a whole different feel to it. A different technique. With that, Erika made sure she had everything she needed and followed after her younger twin sister.

And had she known, Erika would have agreed in a heartbeat; Sure, she was one for planning things and all -- or rather, had been. Lately, the past year, Erika had grown to become a lot more unpredictable and spontaneous, and she hadn't looked back. Sure, it often proved to be... Well, a disaster, but she was still glad. "I'm glad we decided to do this." or rather; she was glad Elsa forced her. "Feels like we haven't been hanging out for a while."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa smiled as Erika insisted she was cool, smiled, nodded, and just let it sit at that. They both knew full well which one of them was the cool sibling, after all, and Elsa wasn't even going to pretend it was her. You only had to look at the contact lists on their phones to see the difference there. The different comment though: "Because clearly a group of mutant teenagers need their bold headmistress to show them how it's okay to be different," she drawled, adding another arched brow. Yes, it sounded ludicrous, which was precisely why Elsa said it aloud.

Though she was still out the door. It would be a relatively short walk to the lift, or, more accurately, to a trolley that would take them to the lift, and a little warm-up wouldn't be too bad at the moment. It gave them time to talk.

And agree: "Yes," admitted Elsa, smiling, "you have Everett and the wedding to deal with. There's always some sort of crisis, someone being shot, Frank or Jack or Frank and Jack doing something insane..." Elsa sighed, letting her breath out slowly. "And I have... work," which was apparently all she was now. Just thinking it made Elsa wince but, well, what other choice did she have, really? Her personality didn't exactly attract many friends, and her last attempt at a relationship didn't work. She wasn't about to play vulture around Riley and Vera either: that was beneath her. So it was just... venture forward.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

Grinning, Erika leaned in to place a peck on her sister's cheek before pulling back, snickering. "Precisely!" she beamed with as much positivism as she could possibly muster. No, Erika cherished in the difference between them and every other members of the school. She loved to think that one day, everyone would be congratulated for being themselves and daring to stand out, but she didn't voice it. She didn't need to. Elsa already knew Erika was a dreamer, always believing -- or rather, hoping -- that the world one day would come to accept them all.

A warm smile spread across Erika's lips at the mention of the wedding. She was looking forward to it. A lot, actually. She was also nervous, but she decided to push that thought away. This moment wasn't about her, or her future as "Mrs. King". "You're such a ray of sunshine," Erika mused, tilting her head to the side as she studied her sister's face before sighing. "You're more than that, Elsa. You just gotta let the world see it." Erika had no doubt that people would come to love her sister just as much as she did. And see her from Erika's eyes as well, because in reality, Elsa was the better of them, even if Elsa didn't believe so herself.

Sure, Erika was biased, but that hardly changed the fact that Elsa was amazing. She had little faith in herself when it came to that and it took her some time to warm up to people, unlike Erika, who was by far the most naive of the two. "And if worst comes to worst, I'm always going to be there."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Ah, that positivism. It made Elsa smile, and though she may not have empathy as a power, she still picked up on her sister's good vibes. And why shouldn't she? They were twins, they were going to enjoy themselves in a few moments, even the weather seemed to be to their benefit. And yes, Elsa noticed that Erika perked up at the wedding. Elsa couldn't help but be happy for her sister there: so long as Everett kept Erika feeling like this, thinking like this, Elsa would be his biggest advocate.

"Yes, yes," she said as her sister insisted that there was more to her. She added a waving hand. "I know: I'm a precious little snowflake with plenty of people who care a great deal about me," she sounded practically distracted, though part of her still doubted those words. Take away her position, and would she even have those friends? She'd met Vera because she'd volunteered to guide newcomers. She'd met Riley because it was her job to enforce rules. She'd met Roxana because of her family name. Stretch back, and who had Elsa really met on her own, without her position or her family to support her?

"Better get our passes ready," she said, tugging into her coat and pulling hers out (tactfully leaving the spare she'd grabbed for her sister). She waved it up for Erika as a reminder, before heading toward the actual lift.

[Erika Conner (Bellefonte)]

"The best kind of snowflake," Erika said, correcting her with a smile. "And if you just stopped around to look, you'd see that." Erika was well aware of her sister's self doubts, and although she rarely pointed them out, she still wanted to reassure her, at least every now and then. But she also knew that it was often in vain, because Elsa wasn't the girl to drop everything to believe the words of the people around her. Erika often found herself thinking that Elsa believed that actions meant more than words, and she couldn't really blame her for that, but she truly wanted her sister to be happy.

Nodding, Erika grabbed the pass her sister had left for her -- because she could always count on Elsa having everything planned and ready. "Coming!" she called after her sister, hanging the pass around her neck as she made her way, jogging after Elsa.

Once she finally caught up to her, Erika wrapped her arm around Elsa's waist and hugged her close. "So, what have I missed?" she asked, pursing her lips. "And keep the snark to a minimum, will you?" she added, arching her brow as she looked at her sister. "I ask because I want to know, not because I want to her your voice drip from sarcasm."

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa rolled her eyes at Erika's correction. Yes, more of what she'd heard before, most often from Erika but occasionally from other sources as well. The repetition proved to be somewhat tiresome, though Elsa certainly appreciated it a good deal more than the insistent questions asking about her emotional well-being. At the same time, she wondered what it was about her that made people continually offer one or the other.

They arrived at the lift, the passes were shown, and soon they'd be getting to actual lift part of the lift. Which meant at least a few moments of talking as they headed up to the hill: talking without any means for escape or avoiding any potentially awkward subjects.

And Erika was already hugging. Elsa tried to act like it annoyed her, even though she smiled. "What you missed?" she repeated, arching a brow. "Is that some sort of attempt at prying into my personal life? There's nothing there to say, really. It's been... complicated since Felix left," Elsa shrugged, looking away for a moment. At least that was opening up, and now they were on the lift. No escape.

Just when Elsa essentially told her sister she had "problems."

Well. Fuck.