"I still think you can afford to be a little bit more lady-like, Serenity," Ororo took great precautions as she watered her "babies". It was partly sunny, one of those toasty warm days when "the sun wasn't on it's period", as Serenity liked to say. With recent events that had just surpassed, this was no time to be smiling as if team members were not dead, and yet the weather goddess could not help herself. Her caramel skin glowed with the same warmth as the sun outside. Things would be harder from here on out, but, she knew she could count on her friend to help her keep things in balance. Ororo took a quick glance back at her.
A smug smirk pulled at her full lips. Ample breasts heaved and hoed gently as she took in small drags of air. Raven black hair spilled across the sofa. 'Ro had been a little more than uptight lately. Normally she'd give the woman her space and let her deal with it on her own, but she wasn't a fan of humid weather, so she put a smile on the weather wench's face. Women like Ororo needed a strong male influence, and with Charles out of the picture, Logan was the only compitent male left. heh, go figure. Part of her missed Logan. He was a character that was hard not to miss. No matter how hard she would try the woman in her ached for him almost every second, no matter how well she was at hiding it, from everyone except him. His nose could pick up things she could never dream of, and he always seemed to pick up that little tidbit. She bit her lower lip momentarily and sat up. "Well, 'Ro, don't count on me putting on any prom dresses anytime soon, I'll be back in a couple of hours."
Soft strands of virgin, snow, white hair whisked gently against her cheeks as she nodded. Serenity and Logan had so much in common and yet they didn't. Serenity gave proper good byes, Logan didn't. This was one of many examples. Althought she didn't like to use the word 'couple'and he spoke as alittle as a possible of it, the two were a warped, Bizzaro, Scott and Jean. Putting down the watering can, she wiped her hands against her apron which protected her floatly skirt and fitted white tee. The Egyptian Princess always dressed simply which complimented her beauty even more, right along with her grace and stature, not that she was competing in any beauty pagents or had.
Serenity licked at the stud that sat at the bottom of her lip. It was brand new. She'd gotten it last night. She'd grown tired ofher same old face and wanted to change up a few things. The ache was dull yet powerful. She was no masachist but that pain seemed to draw her to continue her tongue play with the piercing. She ran her fingers through her glossy ebony locks, making a useless attempt to comb out permanent waves and subtle curls. She wished her hair was naturally flat, she wished alot of things were different, which was odd because she'd grown accustomed of her body. A cool gust has floated by tickling her revealed mid section. Black, leather, low-rise jeans hugged her curvy hips. The chill in the air turned soft mounds stiff and seeing how she'd chosen not to wear a ra today, there was nothing she could do about the evidence. Her black thermal, henly exposed more clevage than she would like but as she couldn't button it up with out feeling some discomfort, she'd left it alone, it was after all her favorite shirt. When she'd bought it, her chest had been about two cups smaller. The shirt was a good two years old, hell, both elbow were exposed, but she loved this top too much, and she wasn't much of shopper. She wouldn't buy clothed unless they were ripped to shreds or she couldn't squeeze into them.
The black motorcycle roared up the freeway, weaving between cars easily and eliciting angry honks from many drivers. The man riding it didn't give them a second thought, keeping his blue eyes on the road and his mind on other things. He hadn't bothered to wear a helmet, but his black hair had been securely tied back under a red bandana. He wore a worn leather jacket and a pair of faded jeans, looking like a typical motorcycle punk, although frankly, he was far from it. Zooming past another motorist on his way back to Xavier's school, he caught the sound of another honk and promptly flipped the offending driver off.
Truthfully, Logan had travelled down to Jean Gray's childhood home on instructions from Ororo to look for any sign that Professor Xavier could still be alive. Things didn't look promising from the start; the house was scheduled for demolition, and Logan had to sneak on to get a decent look around. Aside from several pieces of broken furniture and many spiders, he saw nothing out of the ordinarly. He could still pick up lingering traces of scents from both Jean and the professor, but neither of them had been there since the incident had occured. Logan frowned slightly - Ororo wouldn't be happy.
A few minutes later, the motorcycle turned into the driveway of the school, past the large wrought-iron gates, kicking up dust as Logan pulled it to a halt in the garage. He stepped off, and shook himself, tugging the bandana off his head and tossing it over the handlebars. His black hair looked even messier now than it would have if he hadn't used the bandana on the drive back. Stepping inside the mansion, he glanced around - most of the kids would still be in classes at this time, so he wouldn't be bothered. Now, all he had to do was find Ororo and give her the bad news.
Scott and Charles were dead. Both of them. Because of her. Because she couldn't control herself and didn't warn Charles before it had gotten out of hand. Everyone else mourned for Miss. Jean Grey, feeling sorry for the "burden" she had to carry, acting a host for the entity known as the Pheonix. Jean Grey died the moment Pheonix too her over, and not a minute sooner. She blamed her for the thick mist of anguish in the house. Ororo lost two friends, and both women had lost a father.
There were so many emotion running through the household. Most of the teachers left were female. Ororo took it the hardest, but showed the most control. Bless her. It didn't take a genius to see that Serenity was pissed, royally. Magneto even offered her an opening with his Brotherhood so that she could put that anger to good use. She was still pondering the notion.
She needed to get out of that house. Everything she touched always turned to crap. All she was good for was to be a sorry shoulder for the windrider to cry on. They talked over other things but between those lines was the conversation of death and loss. Life was much more easy when you had nothing to lose.
"...'Roro? You here anywhere?" Logan peeked into an empty classroom, but found nothing. He wandered the downstairs hallways for a bit, then caught the familiar scent, trailing upstairs. Following it, he eventually arrived at the door to the woman's greenhouse, one of the higher places in the mansion, situated where the flowers could get the best sunlight. He never understood why people took up gardening. Flowers just died anyhow - if not with the onset of winter and frost, then with some tiny mistake in the part of their human caretakers. He thought it was ridiculous, and had told this to Ororo many times.
He could hear voices from in the room, and he caught another person's scent as well. Stepping up to the door, he rapped on it with his knuckles, then opened it and peered in through the narrow gap, spotting both Ororo and Serenity, "am I interrupting anythin'?"
The weatherwench's face lit up. "Logan! You are back so soon?" Her warm brown complexion beamed like the sun. She ran to the doorway and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. It wasn't that Ororo was cold, but losing a group of loved seemed to spread this habbit of appriciation and enlightenment. Ororo had never saw herself as a friend of Logan's, but she realized now he was more. He was family, atleast in her heart.
She stopped in her tracks at the sound of his voice and dropped her old cliché leather jacket onto Storm's tools. What could she say? Leather kept her warm. She watched as the weather godess hugged the walking enigma. What had he found? He was only gone for a few days, almost a week. did he need their help? She put her left hand on her left hip, minding her ribs. She'd had a little mess up in the danger room and bit it hard. She forgot that full power really meant full power.
Logan had gotten used to getting more suprise hugs from people around the mansion. It seemed with the death of Xavier, everyone was looking for more closeness, some way they could be a family again. Patting Ororo gently on the back in return, Logan smiled a little, "good ta see you too, 'Roro. And yeah...didn't take me long to find out what I needed to." He threw a wave in Serenity's direction, mostly because she was being standoffish, resting in the background with a hand on her hip. Oh, like she didn't live in the mansion too...Logan fought against rolling his eyes.
Stepping back from the white-haired woman, Logan stuck his hands in his pockets, trying not to look like the guilty bearer of bad news, "the house'll be gone in a week or so, so there's not much we can do about that. But honestly...I didn't find anything. Just the broken house." The look on his face was a mixture of frustration and sadness. Xavier had done a lot to help him, and he couldn't deny that he really wanted the old man alive again just so he could help him some more. But Xavier had been a leader to him too - giving him a cause when he had none.
After she finished squeezing him to pieces she backed away giving Serenity room. Though Logan had been gone for a few days, he and Serenity had been seperated for a few weeks. She'd had some.."personal" business to attend to. "So what do you propose we do now?" She had hoped like hell that house woul have a shred of something and now they were reaching in the dark. She sighed shaking her head. It was like there was no trace of her anymore but her name. Jean was gone, her lover was gone, and her house was soon to be gone. The thought made her want to cry.
Once there was an opening, she walked towards Logan and copied Storm's movements. His hair tickled her nose and she breathed him in. It was good to see him, even though she wasn't really good at showing it. She squeezed him fairly tight, once again forgetting that the chances of her breaking him were the same as Ororo's- it wasn't going to happen. Although her nose couldn't pick up the same things as his, she never thought she'd miss the smell of cigarette and city smoke. "Hey," What else could she say? Sorry the woman you love is dead? She wasn't jealous of what he and Jean had, or was it didn't have? She wasn't the jealous kind, but it did anger her that he was pretty close to being six feet under along Slim because he had a thing for the red head.
Logan winced a little at Serenity's tight hug, but more out of protocol than pain. He returned the gesture carefully, patting the other woman on the back as he had Ororo, not really knowing what else to do. "Good to see you too," he answered her, then lifted his head slightly, over Serenity's shoulder, to continue his conversation with the weathergirl.
"Nothin's left in the house...but we always got other places to look. Magneto's little base camp up in California, for one, and...well, Alcatraz too, though it might be harder getting there." Jean had come back to life when they all thought she'd died once before, right? He knew this time, though, he was getting his hopes up irrationally. He'd been the one to kill her, after all. It brought back unpleasant memories, just going over that. He tried to force himself to look at the situation objectively, but there was no possible way for him to keep his emotions out of it.
A dry groan echoed through her throat, at his pat. She bit her lower lip and pulled away. He said 'we', so that included her. Atleast she got to wear her costume. It was patented like all the others, but she personally felt it had a little class to it. This had been the outfit she'd lived in long before she crossed paths with the X-men. With those other places she was never off duty. iFly here and study his movements for a few months and then kill him and his family, and after that, get back on a plane and infiltrate the security systems of this royal family, blah, blah, blah./i She wanted so badly to see the look on her face when Charles had told her should couldn't walk around looking the way she did. That day was the first day she was introduced to the concept of women and wardrobes. Not that her outfit was flashy. No, hers was a nuns suit compared to some of the other team members. A simple cat suit with a plunging neck line that showed more torso than it did clevage, but that was another story meant for another time.
"You think she could still be alive?" She placed both hands on her hips. She hoped Jean was alive too. She wanted pay back. The Pheonix had exposed them all as weaklings. She'd tossed them around like rag dolls. She was a cold blooded killer. Atleast they both had one thing in common. She'd have to atleast try to kill Jean to avenge Charles...and Slim.
"Well I suppose that's just what we'll have to do, Logan." Ororo took off her apron and gloves.
Logan nodded to Serenity as she backed away from him. Unlike Ororo, she had no lingering smell of dirt and gardening - just her own personal scent hung in the air around her.
"She was alive last time we thought she died," he said, offering another small shrug and turning his gaze to the floor, "she could be now." Again, he tried to tell himself that he was hoping for the impossible and again he rejected the logic in it.
"How're we gonna get there, 'Roro?" he asked, leaning back against the closed door behind him, "I only got the motorcycle." Of course there was the jet, but that was needed here for emergencies - surely she wouldn't authorize something like that just for a little trek across the country.
Logan was right. What they needed was a van or something...hmm.."Leave the transportation to me," she said, the wheels in her head turning as usual. She raked her fingers through her hair plotting. Which place would she go to, to obtain the van? Bah, no matter, it was all childs play.
Ororo nodded at Serenity's remark understanding completely. "It's needless to say we'll need to bring our suits along to be safe," She saw Serenity nodd to her out of the corner of her eye. "Lets head up to the briefing room, seeing that Logan and I will join you to save time," she looked at Serenity.
"Alright, getting a ride will only take a second," she stroked her chin with the back of her fingers.
Logan raised an eyebrow at the cryptic gesture Serenity was making with her fingers against her chin, but he caught Ororo's eye and nodded. "Right, I'll go get my suit..." he muttered, scratching the back of his head, "anyone else we're inviting along that I should warn, or should I just worry 'bout myself?" Granted, he, Ororo, and Serenity were three of the more normal looking members of the X-Men, so they wouldn't stir up much interest, but if others wanted to come along, he wasn't about to tell them to stay at the mansion and keep teaching. But he had other matters on his mind too. If they were going to be driving cross-country in a van, he wanted the backseat and a pillow so he could sleep the whole way there.
"No, we need some staff to stay here and handle the children," the African goddess said as she slowly paced back and fourth. "If we told them they'd feel obligated to go, so we have to be incognito about this." Storm walked up to the door in front of Logan. "I'm going to my room to aquire a few things, I suggest you two gather yourselves as well." With that she moved past Logan and headed towards her room.
"Becareful, 'Ro, we're not going on vacation," she teased. When she left, it dawned on her the two were alone.
Logan almost felt like retaliating with a joke, but remembered the situation. He nodded as Ororo left the room, then turned back to Serenity. "Incognito, huh..." he muttered, scratching his chin in thought, "shouldn't be too much of a problem for you, eh?" Of course, if he just up and left, nobody would really miss him - he did it way too often.
"No,"she shook her head. "I don't break bodies into bars tables," she smirked. "I break bar stools against backs. But we're not going anywhere near a bar now are we?" She bent over to pick up her leather jacket. She turned and faced him again. She'd wanted to say this to him for months now. "I'm sorry abut Jean, Logan. I know how much she meant to you," She was even sorrier that she'd have to kill her if she was still aive.
Logan looked slightly suprised at her comment - it wasn't something he'd really expected to hear from her. But still, he didn't mind. Unecessary kindness, as it were - and he didn't get a lot of that.
"Thanks," he muttered, not smiling but looking slightly grateful, "I guess I'm just being..." a pause as he searched for the word, "...maybe a little too hopeful that she's still alive. But I'm gonna try." After a moment of silence, he turned to the door, "well...I should get going. See you in a few..." He opened the door and stepped outside, leaving it ajar for Serenity to follow.
iHe still loved her.../i The pain stung alot more than she expected it to, considering, well, she was expecting it. When she had become "involved" with the rabid wolverine she didn't want, nor did she try, to change him. They were both hurting over different things. She was hurting over Charles and he was hurting over 'Jeanie'. Once again she was chopped liver. She took a calming breath and headed for her room. Starting now she'd keep her distance of the smitten animal.
Logan heard Serenity leave the room behind him as he made his way to his own temporary space. He'd never stayed in the mansion for long enough to truly "occupy" the place, so it looked as plain as it usually did. Dragging out an old army-issue bag from under the bed, he began to randomly throw whatever clean clothes and items he needed into it. He was done and packed in less than five minutes, and headed to the outside of the mansion nonchalantly. Anyone who passed him in the hallway didn't give him a second glance, and he could have cared less.
A few shirts here, and a few jeans there, and of course, her second skin. Zipping up her bag she soon met Ororo out in the hall way. The brown skined beauty had only two suitcases with her. "Wow, 'Ro, that's pretty ligt for you," She smiled and retorted politely. "And as usual, you've managed to pack absolutly nothing, bringing that bag for show." Serenity grinned, laughing. "That's not true, it's filled the brim with my bras and knickers. Never can have too many of those," she winked at her friend. "I can see you're all set, Logan. Well, let us depart."
Logan raised an eyebrow at the ladies' joking, but said nothing of it, merely reshouldering his bag and glancing out towards the driveway leading away from the mansion.
"Thought you were the one who was responsible for the van," he said, nodding towards Serenity with a small bemused smile, "lead the way, then. Though, I don't see a van..." He was merely teasing. He'd never known Serenity to drop the ball on anything she assigned herself to do.
While she was in her room she had made a quick call. If th people she call had the impeccible service they claimed to, their ride would be comming up any second. She arched her brow at his comment but did nothing else to respond. She flipped her hair as she set her jacket over he bag, and her bag down a few feet in front of the large electric gates.
A sleek, black SUV was towed up by a faded, candy-red truck. Out of it stepped a rugged, middle-aged man. He tugged at his worn cap, slowly walking toward the trio.
"Wait here," Serenity said as she stepped forward, walking to man, putting some extra "oomf" with the sway of her hips. "Hello there," her voice was soft and velvety. "Are you the one who called ma'am?" She stood a few feet before him, her hands on her hips. "That I am," He looked at his notebook. "The upfront fee is $200.00 and because you didn't designate how long you'd be gone the fee for gas was subtracted from your total. You'll be charged $150.00 each day." She got that look in her eyes. Anybody who'd seen her powers to work knew that look. She held up her hand and puckered her lips blowing on her palm. A golden-pink dust arose in the air and circled the ma, entering his nostrils. "Are you sure there isn't some form of discount I could use?" she licked her lips.
Ororo rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. "Can you believe her?" She said quietly to Logan.
Logan smirked a little at Ororo's response, "hell, I'd do it if my personal mutation were more...friendly." Anything that made this cost less was fine in his book, as he had no money initially and didn't know how he was going to help pony up for whatever expenses they'd encounter.
"Maybe she can get us through the toolbooths or free food or something," Logan suggested, eyes narrowed in thought.
The man shook his head, his blood heating up. "Well...I..I could," "Lend me that truck for free?" His mouth agape, he shook his head. She approached him, reaching for the keys, his hands shot out and grabed her, dipping her. Caught of guard she blew more dust in his face, kicking him off her. " Yoiu have to get back to work, is the tank full?" He nodded. "I have to get back to work," She walked back towards Logan and Ororo. " You do that."
"Already admitting I can't - without busting a few heads, at least," Logan conceeded, stepping around to the back of the van and pulling the doors open. He flung his own bag inside, then grabbed Ororo's and Serenity's luggage and stacked them in the trunk as well.
"All set," he dusted his hands off and slammed the doors of the van shut, "wonder how that poor bastard's gonna explain that, though..." He snickered a little.
Ororo smiled hopping into the drivers seat. "I would not do that even I could, having men fall over you is less than appealing," iIt worked for Jean../i Serenity thought, pissed she didn't beat Ororo to the chase. She got into the passenger seat, knowing that when you deal with Logan, the back seat is off limits. Hmph, why couldn't he find a hotel instead of a bar? "I don't like it either, but hey here you and I are with a free ride, filled with gas."
Being the complete safety nut she was known to be, Storm checked everything and buckled her seat belt. She really didn't like the way her two teammates drove. Serenity's gotten her hands on the X-Jet before. Even their enemies the Brotherhood didn't want to ride with her again. She looked at her rear view mirror. "Try not to get too comfortable, Logan," she joked.
Serenity combed her fingers through her hair, preparing to have it braided. The aftermath of her powers left her feeling wanton, not to worry. That feeling never lasted too long.
"After your incident in the dangeroom, Serenity, you should try resting," Ororo commanded gently. Even though both women were 100 hetero, there was something about Ororo's accent that made you see her beauty even with your eyes closed.
" I know, 'Ro, thanks." She rubbed her side, over her ribs, remembering.
"Comfortable?" Logan called from the backseat, stretched out across the cushions, "dunno what you mean." He didn't feel like he was a part of the conversations going on up at the front of the van, and therefore didn't take part. Besides, he had all the room he needed back here.
"What'dya do in the danger room?" he asked, his curiousity piqued a little bit by Serenity's remark, "fall into a trap or something?"
With her eyes still closed, she reclined her seat back as far as it could go. "No, I just got my ass, handed to me. There was some new additions I didn't know about so I wound up getting some ribs cracked." The cracks were too small for her to be in complete pain. She felt it when she breathed and made certain movement, things could be worse and she wasn't one to complain.
"Goddess, you make it sound like you fell and scrapped your knee." Since the big battle, even a scrapped elbow freaked out the weather wench. She kept her eyes on the road, keeping to the title of the alert driver.
Logan folded his arms behind his head, "not bad for an injury." He took a nice deep breath, and reached out to open the window partways to get some fresh air, "keep it up and you'll be breaking legs in no time." He shut his eyes and yawned, "wake me up when we get someplace important, eh?" Truthfully, he wanted a little time to think by himself. It was his idea to go out to search for Jean in the first place...he had to go over in his mind where they needed to go and what they needed to look for. Or maybe he just wanted to remenisce.
She hadn't heard a thing he said but wasn't going to ask him to repeat it. She had been permanently tired for a couple months now. Taking a trip to Japan did that tot a person. But not being able to rest a minute once you got there was what rubbed salt in the wounds. She accomplished what she wanted, however.
