Acolytes on the Roof
Piotr let out a relaxed sigh as he watched the clouds slowly pass above him. He lay reclining in a well worn lawn chair positioned in a slightly shaded section of Acolyte base's roof. His thoughts were simple and calm as they floated on the very edge of his consciousness. Rolling waves...light at dark...happy bananas...broccoli in a pair of shoes...
"Hey Colossus!"
"Huh?" Piotr blinked and noticed Remy and Pyro standing next to him. "Oh, hello. What are you doing up here?"
"Base maintenance," Remy tapped the large metal air unit that was partially shading Piotr. "Mags sent us up to replace all the roof air filters."
"And boy are there a lot," Pyro dropped an armful of stacked air filters that was almost as tall as he was. He leaned on the air unit and glanced down at Piotr. "So, what are you doing up here?"
"Oh, not much," Piotr shrugged. "Just a little cloud watching."
"Cloud watching?" Remy frowned. "Why would you want to do that we have a TV?"
"It is not the same," Piotr said sitting up in his chair. "TV is so structured and hard on the senses. Cloud watching is gentler, kinder and more spontaneous."
"I hear ya, mate," Pyro agreed plopping down next to Piotr. "I sometimes come up here and hang out when I can't stand being cooped up in the base all day."
"More like hide out after you've finished playing a prank on Mags and Sabes," Remy scoffed.
"That too," Pyro didn't miss a beat.
"I like watching clouds. It helps with my creativity," Piotr sighed wistfully while leaning back in his chair once more. "I remember when I used to do so back home. On the few days when we did not have to work my sister and I would lie on the grass and point out all kinds of cloud shapes to each other."
"Sounds like fun," Pyro chirped. "Let me try!"
"Oh boy. Here we go," Remy groaned.
Pyro leaned back and studied the clouds for a moment. "There! I see a dragon's head in that one. And those look like a bale of turtles fleeing from a whale."
"Very good," Piotr smiled. "Isn't this exciting?"
"Yeah, thrilling," Remy rolled his eyes.
"And there's a legless coffee table," Pyro continued to call images out. "That cloud look like the back end of a racecar. The big one is a mass of tree roots trying to eat a mushroom. No wait! It's changing!"
"This is one of my favorite things about cloud watching," Piotr sighed contently while looking up. "The clouds move slowly and yet so subtlety that images shift and mutate all the time."
"Great. Now we have mutant clouds," Remy drawled sarcastically. "Maybe we should try and recruit them."
"Now it's a bald bloke eating a donut," Pyro grinned excitedly. "And the donut catches on fire. The fire spreads to the next cloud which is a bat stuck in a gumball machine. Now both clouds are on fire!"
"Oh dear," Piotr gulped as Pyro started to giggle insanely.
"Yep, we really should have seen this coming," Remy quipped.
"Uh, Pyro?" Piotr tried to get his attention. "Pyro!"
"Huh?" Pyro blinked and snapped out of his reverie. "What?"
"Um, you seem to have done enough cloud watching for today," Piotr said gently.
"Good idea," Pyro nodded in agreement. "Why bother making out images of fire when there are real fires to be made! Hahahahaha!"
"Way to go homme," Remy gave Piotr a look.
"Right," Piotr fidgeted nervously. "Can you do it later?"
"Okay," Pyro chirped.
"Thank goodness," Piotr sighed and leaned back once again. "You know, I always found the sky to be fascinating. Back home it was much bigger. Stretching in all directions. No buildings, no trees, no noise. And the air was much cleaner than it is here."
"Speaking of which," Remy pried open the air unit and began pulling out filters.
"The art of clouds is quite amazing," Piotr continued. "Simple colors but with wide contrasts of light and dark. Yet they blend and flow so well together in many varieties. Sometimes I feel like I can just reach up and touch them."
"Like at sunrise and sunset," Pyro piped up. "Watching and yearning to feel the very mixture of colors, of textures..."
"Yes, exactly," Piotr nodded in surprise.
"The bright, fiery rays of light as they turn an entire bank of clouds into a big, molten wall of flame!" Pyro began to cackle maniacally.
"Uh," Piotr blinked. "That is not exactly what I meant."
"You have to admit it is a lot more interesting," Remy commented. "At least sunsets draw the attention of femmes and provide a great background for getting better acquainted."
"Day clouds can provide a great background too," Piotr said.
"Yeah right," Remy snorted. "Which makes for a more dramatic painting? Some white clouds at noon or the streaked ones at sunset?"
"You have a point," Piotr admitted.
"Face it homme. The only things worth looking at in the sky are sunsets," Remy said.
"What about stargazing?" Piotr ventured. "Don't you like going out at night and looking at the stars?"
"Only if they are lovely femmes who enjoy good food and like to dance," Remy quipped.
"Huh?" Piotr looked at him in confusion. "Oh. No, not those kinds of stars. I mean real stars."
"They are real stars," Remy said. "Well, most of them are anyway."
"No. I mean the stars in the sky," Piotr clarified. "Haven't you ever just lied down on a clear night and watched the stars come out?"
"Nope. I prefer to engage in more...stimulating nocturnal activities," Remy wiggled his eyebrows.
"Too bad. It is very nice," Piotr shrugged. "My family used to watch the stars come out when we had time and were not too tired after a hard day's work. It was overwhelming and peaceful at the same time. We were always filled with wonder and awe."
"Aw," Remy cooed teasingly.
"What about you?" Piotr nudged Pyro who had finally stopped laughing. "Do you like watching the stars at night?"
"Eh, a little," Pyro scratched his head. "Though sometimes it makes me feel kinda funny."
"Funny?" Remy repeated amusingly. "How?"
"Oh, you know. The way it makes you think about things," Pyro shrugged. "Feeling small compared to the sheer vastness of it all. Marveling at the existence of planets and nebulas. Wondering if everything will suddenly fall into a black hole and kill us in less than a second."
"O-kay," Remy blinked at Pyro's unexpected thoughts.
"Thinking about the nature and meaning of life," Pyro continued with his voice gradually getting higher. "Why we bother to do anything if the whole universe is just going to die out anyway. Wondering what it would be like to be consciousness but without physical form. Spending eternity as consciousness but without physical form. Being conscious but not having any kind of sensory input whatsoever."
"Wow," Piotr shuddered nervously. "That is pretty scary."
"Yeah. It does tend to give me the willies," Pyro sighed. "But then I look at the stars and they make me feel all better inside."
"Because they represent hope, discovery and you like the way they twinkle?" Piotr suggested.
"No," Pyro corrected. "Because I'm reminded that they are all big, enormous balls of blazing gas burning at millions and millions of degrees irradiating everything in sight! And that there are billions and billions and billions of them! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Of course," Piotr groaned as Pyro continued to laugh maniacally.
"Well that was pretty expected," Remy said as he finished replacing the air filters and closed up the air unit. "Now he's going to be all wired and hyper for the rest of the day..." Remy trailed off as he noticed something moving on the other side of the roof. "Hey, there's Sabes."
"Oh," Piotr sat up. "Is he coming over here?"
"I don't think so," Remy reported. "Looks like he's heading for that old make-shift shipping container."
"The one we think houses a solar generator?" Piotr asked.
"Yeah. Wonder what he's doing with it," Remy said. "C'mon. Let's take a look."
"Okay," Piotr got up and followed him along with a still giggling Pyro.
"Have you ever been inside there?" Remy asked as they approached the long, block-like structure. Over half of it was covered with dark, tinted glass panels.
"No," Piotr replied. "Have you?"
"Nope. I don't think Pyro has either. Wonder what it looks like," Remy opened the door to the container and stepped inside.
"Hey!" Sabertooth snapped and glared at them while wearing a protective filter mask. "What are you doing in here?"
"Relax Sabes. We just wanted to...whoa," Remy blinked and looked around at the interior. Rough rows of shelves lined the walls, each filled with pots of leafy, herb-like plants. A large rain barrel stood in one corner.
"Oh my," Piotr gazed at the light coming through the ceiling. "Is this a greenhouse?"
"Yes," Sabertooth hissed. "Now get outta here!"
"Wow. What a setup, mate," Pyro had finally calmed down and poked at one of the plants. "What'cha growing?"
"None of your business!" Sabertooth growled slapping his hand away. "Now get lost!"
"Wait a second," Remy experimentally sniffed one of plants. "This stuff smells like...catnip."
"Catnip?" Piotr blinked at Sabertooth. "You are growing catnip in here?"
"Yes," Sabertooth grunted in admittance. "And some valerian too."
"Ho ho," Pyro grinned. "Does Mags know about this?"
"No. And he better not find out," Sabertooth glared at them dangerously. "Or else!"
"Easy Sabes," Remy held up his hands. "We won't tell him about your little herb garden up here."
"As long as we get a little compensation," Pyro rubbed his fingers together.
"How about I compensate your nervous system's ability to function?" Sabertooth bared his claws.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" Piotr interrupted. "Is anything in here poisonous?"
"No," Remy quickly came to a realization. "Sabes just doesn't want the catnip to affect him until he's safely back in his room."
"Oh," Piotr nodded.
"I have to admit Sabes, I'm impressed," Remy said. "I never would have taken this beat-up old hulk to be a greenhouse."
"Eh, it wasn't easy to set up," Sabertooth grunted. "I had to disguise it enough to fool the boss in case he ever came across it. And just getting stuff to grow is hard. Even with all the glass panels the plants never seem to get enough heat and light."
"You need more heat and light in here?" Pyro grinned. "I can fix that!" He whipped out his lighter.
"NO!" The other Acolytes yelled.
FA-WHOOOSSSHHH!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone except Pyro screamed as flames flew through the greenhouse. Remy and Piotr barely managed to get out before being set alight.
"So much for keeping Sabes' greenhouse a secret," Remy quipped as all the plants were consumed by the blaze.
"Hehehehehe!" Pyro skipped out while giggling happily.
"Gahhhhhh!" Sabertooth gasped as he staggered out while covered in soot. The burned remains of his filter mask hung limply around his neck.
"I just love bringing life to flames!" Pyro laughed giddily. "Let there be light!"
"YOU STUPID FIREBUG!" Sabertooth roared. "MY ENTIRE SUPPLY OF CATNIP HAS BEEN REDUCED TO NOTHING! NOW I'M GOING TO DO THE SAME TO YOU! DIE!"
"Oh dear. Here we go again," Piotr sighed as Sabertooth began to chase Pyro around the roof while fire billowed out of the greenhouse. "Can't we ever go one day without having something set on fire or blown up?"
"Do you really have to ask?" Remy looked at him.
Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution.