Just Another Day
Why she had even been downstairs, she didn't know. She had planned on heading to the kitchen to get a grape juice box—the ones that Jamie would horde and hide from everyone, claiming he needed them all so all his clones could drink—and a small snack before heading back into her room. It was already pretty late at night and she knew that Rogue would turn off all the lights in their room and fall asleep whether she was in there or not, and the last time that happened she had tripped over a pile of clothes and phased through the floor, landing on the kitchen table while Logan just looked at her in sheer confusion. So, why she had decided that she would walk over to the front door in order to answer it—while she was just wearing her short shorts and night shirt that she used to sleep in—she didn't know. Why she didn't wonder who in their right mind would even be at their front door at 11 o'clock at night was also a mystery to her, but then again, hindsight is 20/20.
So surprised by the three individuals in front of her, Kitty Pryde could only blink at them, trying to formulate what to do.
The three Acolytes did nothing more than blink back and shift on their feet awkwardly. Piotr looked embarrassed and stared over Kitty's head, more than likely at the fact that she was dressed with a small amount of clothes. John was fiddling with the lighter in his hands nervously and shooting glances over to his fellow Acolytes, while Remy was the only one who maintained eye-contact the entire time, as if trying to size up what it was the Shadowcat was going to do. "Bonsoir, Chaton," Remy spoke up after around a minute of awkward silence. Kitty brought the juice box up to her lips and sipped at it, making a slurping noise as she continued to stare at them. Slowly the hand holding the door started to move as she tried to close the door, hoping they wouldn't notice until it was completely closed and locked. "We can see ya movin' the door, Chaton."
Kitty sighed and took a bite of the cookie she had in her hand, nibbling at it nervously. "Can you like, just wait until I at least get changed first? All my other pj's are supposed to be washed tomorrow, so I really don't want you to destroy these. Or better yet, can we like have a rain check? I'm so not energized enough to fight."
"We mean you no harm," Piotr assured, looking at her face instead of over her head as he had been a few seconds prior. "We wish to join the X-Men."
John nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah! Totally! We ain't here to fight and we jus' wanna fight the good fight!"
"So… you're not here to try and destroy us?" Kitty asked as a confused pout found its way onto her face. At the men shaking their heads to confirm that they were truly not going to spontaneously attack her, she gave them all a half smile. "Well that's a relief. I'm too tired to fight anyway! So, you guys really want to be X-Men?"
"Da," Piotr responded for the group.
Kitty nodded her head and smiled wider. "Cool, so let me just call Logan, he can bring you to the Professor."
The faces of the three men paled at the mentioning of the fearsome Wolverine. Remy shook his head. "Wait, Chaton, maybe you should just—"
"LOGAN! THE ACOLYTES ARE HERE!" Kitty hollered, before Remy could convince her not to call the feral man. Almost immediately a snarl ripped through the air as well as the sound of several banging doors and a stomping of feet on the floor. Logan showed up on the staircase first, his claws out and a particularly menacing look on his face. When he saw Kitty standing at the door within such a close proximity to the three men he growled. Scott, Jean, Rogue, Kurt, and Bobby were the next ones to fill in on the stairs, everyone ready to fight, while some of the New Mutants peered around their fellow X-Men to get a look at the scene.
"Get away from them Half-Pint!" Logan snarled, as he leaped down the stairs and started to head in their direction.
"Shiela, save us!" John whispered-hissed to Kitty, as he tried to maneuver his way behind the small brunette for some form of protection. Remy shifter closer to Piotr and wondered if they should just all run.
Kitty, realizing what was going on, blinked and smiled at Logan, stepping into his path and holding her hands up. "Wait, they're not here to attack! Promise! I already asked them that and they totally didn't kill me!" Kitty assured, causing Logan to stop his advance. He looked at Kitty for a few seconds, prompting her to explain. "They want to speak with the Professor to see if they can actually join up with us!"
"You three want to join us?" Scott asked from his spot on the stairs.
"Da petite ain't lyin'. We want to join," Remy repeated, his confidence making a return as he crossed his arms casually and leaned against the doorjamb. "We thought dat ya could use some talent, instead of havin' to deal with Captain Stick-Up-The–Ass all day," Remy said with a smirk, earning a small laugh from Bobby, Kitty, and some of the New Mutants. Rogue cracked a small smile.
"What makes you think we'll let you join?" Logan challenged, grabbing Kitty's arm and maneuvering her so she was behind him and out of the way should he want to lunge at the three Acolytes.
"Come now Logan, we should at the very least hear them out," Professor Xavier's voice spoke up. Everyone turned to see him entering the room with Storm pushing his wheelchair. He smiled to the Acolytes at the door before looking towards Kitty. "Could you show our guests to the living room so that we may speak with them? The rest of you, feel free to go back to sleep," Xavier spoke up in a soothing yet authoritative tone that caused everyone to disperse and do what they were told.
"Um, just follow me!" Kitty said, with forced enthusiasm as she noticed that Logan had neither moved from his spot in front of her nor sheathed his claws. As soon as the Acolytes started to follow the short brunette, Logan had started to follow behind them, growling lowly despite the looks Xavier was sending his way.
"I'm startin' to rethink our idea to come here…" John muttered to Piotr while tossing a look back at Logan who still held a malicious look on his face. Piotr followed John's line of sight and nodded, but said nothing, lest he somehow anger the feral man.
Kitty led the entire group to the living room and gestured for them to sit down on the couch while she stood awkwardly with Logan, trying to figure out if she should just leave or stay there. When Xavier and Storm entered the room, she looked to them as if they would tell her if she had to be there or not. Xavier, having sensed her thoughts, shook his head. Logan caught the exchange and sheathed his claws so he could jerk his thumb over his shoulder, towards the door. "Go on and get yourself another juice box, Half-Pint."
Kitty, thankfully for the excuse to leave, smiled and nodded. She turned back to look at the Acolytes—who all looked extremely distraught at the fact that they wouldn't have her there for some sort of protection—and gave them a grin. "Good luck!" And with that she phased out of the room, leaving the three men with the feral man, the telepath, and the weather witch.
The room was plunged into an awkward silence as the two groups of people just stared at one another. Xavier looked mildly amused before he cleared his throat. "So, perhaps you should explain your reasoning as to why you wish to join us now?"
"Well…" Remy started off, looking back at his two friends for some sort of support. "After the incident with Apocalypse, Mags disappeared, so we decided ta take care of the blackmail material he had on us. We're outta our contracts and now we can do what we want."
"What blackmail material?" Storm asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"We weren't with Mags for the kicks," John retorted with a shrug. "He had dirt on all of us. Some job Remy pulled that went slightly awry, I burnt down a city—totally accidental, by the way—and Piotr's sister was sick or somethin' and Mags paid for the treatment for her to get better."
"So you were being blackmailed into helping him this entire time?" Logan asked with a quirked eyebrow and a skeptical
"Da," Piotr spoke up, nodding sullenly. "Had we had our choice, we would never have worked with him."
"Mags is bat-shit crazy when he doesn't get what he wants, and ole Vic ain't a walk in the park either," Remy pointed out.
"Why should we trust you?" Logan challenged.
"We ain't got nothin' to lose," Remy shrugged.
Xavier, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation, tented his fingers in front of his face and looked at the three men, an unreadable expression on his face. Everyone's attention had turned to the man, as they waited his decision. After around a minute of Xavier staring, he placed his hands in his lap and a smile found its way onto his face. "I can see the three of you are telling the truth and that you are genuine in your wanting to join us. I don't see why we can't allow them to stay with us on a probationary period until some of the other students are 100% sure of their intentions." Logan looked like he wanted to argue, but Storm caught his eyes and shook her head. The feral men growled and crossed his arms over his chest, but said nothing. "We are receiving two new mutants tomorrow so you will start your training with them. While we know you are very capable, we must do the mandatory training as with all new recruits. Piotr and Remy, you may share a room and Pyro you'll share a room with one of the new students arriving tomorrow. Kitty will be able to show you each to your rooms and you may use your uniforms for training and your Danger Room sessions. Try to get along as best you can, and I do hope you enjoy your stay here."
"I thought dat Xavier said dat da chaton would be showing us to our rooms…" Remy muttered under his breath as he stared at the back of the Wolverine, who looked anything but pleased to be acting as a tour guide for any length of time no matter how short.
"Kitty's off to sleep. And you really think I'd leave her alone to escort you three?" Logan shot back without turning to look at any of them. He stopped at one door on the right side of the hallway and pointed towards it. "Tin-Man and Gumbo, that's your room." He then turned to point to the door right across from it. "Matchstick, your room is that one. You share with the new kid tomorrow," Logan said as he glared at the three. "There are a couple rules. 1) No blowing shit up, cause I'm not gonna deal with it. 2) No beating anyone up, cause I'll be forced to deal with it. 3) Go into the girls' wing at night for any reason and you'll be maimed. 4) Go into any of the girls' rooms at night and you will find yourself skewered on my claws. 5) Don't bother me. Now if you can handle all that, get into your rooms and get to sleep so I don't have to deal with you."
With that Logan stalked off down the hallway to head towards his room.
The three men stood in the hallway for a minute before John spoke up. "Do you think it's too late to try and become male strippers?"
"Far too late homme."