Author's note: I am taking the films as canon, with bits of the comic for flavouring; only I am changing the order of some events, the "cure" for the mutant condition is already out there, but Logan's still off searching for his past… My laptop is my Tardis! (The way I figure it, in real life all the action happens at once, then dies down to leave you twiddling your thumbs…)
As always, the disclaimer – I don't own 'em, I'm just giving them a light-hearted, teenybopper outing with a topping of fluff… All credit must go to Marvel, and those people who bought the film rights off them!
And here we are with some new material. I get some feedback there will be another chapter as soon as I get back to my computer after tomorrow's lectures. If the feedback is really good, I might even put up the next chapter before lectures! Enjoy!
Xxx
PaintR
Chapter 3)
Rogue stepped carefully off of the escalator, holding the tails of her scarf close to her body, as the three girls made their way from the shops for a brief energy boost in the food court. She strode off to get the drinks as Kitty, rather unceremoniously, missed her step coming off the escalator and disappeared under a pile of bags. She made a small noise of embarrassment as she stood up, dusted herself off, and scooping up her packages, absent-mindedly stuffed a pair of cat's ears attached to a hair band onto her head before she re-coiled the matching tail-on-a-belt and shoved it into her handbag. Jubilee and Rogue shared a glance across the mostly empty hall, and both of them smiled as Kitty stooped back down to gather up the contents of her various bags, the ears seemingly forgotten on her head.
Jubilee, who had cleverly brought a backpack with her into which she had managed to fit, in an awe-inspiring display of tetris-like packing ability, all of her predominantly sunshine coloured purchases, relieved Kitty of couple of bags as she scooped up an armful of her makeup which had scattered. Finally they made it to a table, and sat down, their laughter echoing around the shining white, chrome and glass building. Rogue, who had yet to buy anything clothes-wise, strolled back over with a tray of drinks. "Raht, so, take your pick ladies, oh, yeah, and classy entrance." She drawled. Since there were two hot chocolates and a black coffee on the tray she knew there wouldn't be much complaining on that front, and she sat down behind the coffee, and raised it to her lips as Kitty stuck out her tongue.
Jubilee looked at her knowingly, "So Erik won the internal argument then?" she asked, redundantly, knowing that Rogue herself would probably have preferred a soda.
Rogue smiled wryly, "Naw, just ah can't have a beer in heah. So, whut's next?"
Kitty grinned, "I think it's mostly you now. All I need is a collar, and Jubes needs…ummm, no wait, you got a pair of shoes right?"
Jubilee looked across at her best friend, "These," she stated imperiously, withdrawing one from her backpack and studying it closely, "are not just mere shoes, Chica, these are yellow and beautiful and, I have no doubt, the most glorious pair of patent yellow leather, chain bearing stiletto heels that the world has ever seen."
"Yeah, I believe you," Kitty placated Jubilee, as she replaced the venerated article of footwear back in the rucksack, "but what are you going as? A daffodil or a sunflower?" Kitty grinned at her.
"I was thinking a fairy, which would explain the silly little fairy wings, but either of the above will do, Chica" She switched her gaze to Rogue, who was draining her coffee. "What are you going as?"
"Ah'm gonna go as a vampire, so ah have an excuse to wear long sleeves and stuff, as well as more obvious parallels." She grinned. Getting control of her mutation, even if was an immense effort of will, had lightened up her attitude towards it, most of the time. She put down the coffee, and fingered the chain of the dog tags as she spoke. "Ah was thinking of lacy patterned gloves an' stockings, with mah split long skirt, an' a white silk shirt."
"So where are you gonna get the kit? Are we gonna go back to the fancy-dress place where I got my tail?" Kitty had finished her drink and was, once again, sorting her purchases out to make them easier to carry.
Rogue shook her head, white locks escaping the ponytail to hang around her face, "Ah'm goin' to the place ah get mah scarves and gloves an' other stuff. Y'all comin'? It's just along the way ovah there." She waved in the general direction of an underwear shop.
"Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else, especially when you're our ride back!" quipped Jubilee who followed the line of Rogue's arm and whistled. "You mean you get your stuff, downstairs in Pandora's? Isn't that a …ummm…" her voice trailed off into uncomfortable silence.
Kitty looked up confused. "Whaddaya mean?"
Rogue stood up. "She thinks it's a bit, ah… risqué. But y'all come an' see. It's not what ya'll think, or well, not only what ya think." She shoved her gloved hands into the pockets of her jeans, gauzy jacket and scarf floating out behind her. Kitty and Jubilee looked at one another. Jubes shrugged, and they followed Rogue.
Entering the shop, Kitty and Jubilee looked around, "No, Chica, it is what ah expected, an underwear store, with, I guess, a kinky bit at the back behind the 'adults only' partition." Rogue grinned and walked to the checkout. Jubilee followed her, while Kitty looked through a rack of Betty Boop patterned nighties, looking for one her size.
"Ah'm here ta see Lola, ah got some stuff ta pick up, an' ah wanna buy some more. Is she downstairs?" The bored looking blond girl at the till, whose name-tag identifies her as Tara-Lee, nodded. Rogue smiled at her "Thank ya." She turned towards the curtained off section at the back of the shop. "Come on then, Kitty, we're gonna come back, y'all can buy the nightie later."
Kitty followed reluctantly, "Or I could if I hadn't just spent most of my money," she said, pouting.
Rogue walked through the curtains, past some, well, unusual, underwear, which had Kitty blushing. "Well, yeah, it is a bit risqué in heah," she muttered in response to Jubilee's accusing glare. "Key, Kitty, y'all know they do collars in heah," she said, picking a studded collar of a high peg and tossing it to Kitty. "It's real leather, an' not too kinky." Kitty, somewhere between mortified with embarrassment and excited, only nodded.
Jubilee, who had walked ahead and found some stairs, called out "Is it down here?" At Rogue's nod she made her way down the stairs. At the bottom the three girls passed through a beaded curtain. "Well, I didn't expect that!" Jubilee exclaimed.
Jubilee and Kitty looked around a large, softly-lit basement workroom, bolts of fabric of every shade and type imaginable lined the cream and forest green walls. Rogue walked over to a large workbench off to one side, and opened a package addressed to her, and proceeded to try on the gloves they contained. There were lights everywhere on dimmer switches, Jubilee guessed, so that the light could be raised when this "Lola" was working. The area behind the table was partitioned off, with Japanese patterned bamboo and silk screens. Three dressmakers dummies stood in a sort of tableaux towards the back, dressed in strange costumes. One of them was dressed as some kind of witch, but not your classic type of black hat and a broomstick witch, it had striped lime and purple stockings, and was predominantly purple in colour. Another wore a sort of kimono with long flowing detached sleeves, and the third was modelling a skin-tight orange cat suit with a silk peasant shirt underneath.
Kitty tilted her head to one side then clapped her hands. "I've got it! The one on the left is Yuna, the next is Garnet, and the other one is a dark mage!"
"What are you talkin' about, Chica?" asked Jubilee, bemused.
"They're cosplay costumes for the Final Fantasy series of games," a strange soft voice broke in from behind her, and she whirled around to see a stunning tall woman, with messy short dyed red hair. She was wearing a fabric apron with huge pockets stuffed with thread, scissors and fabric swatches over a tiny tank top studded with safety pins and a pair of incredibly baggy red tartan jeans. Her arms rattled with the weight of bangles, her lips were bright red, with the lower one split in the middle by a simple silver ring. "The dark mage is Rikku," She said to Kitty.
"I'm Lola. Rogue sweety, ma belle du sud, are they ok to have a look around?" At Rogue's nod she smiled warmly, and waved her arm in a welcoming gesture, "Feel free!"
As Kitty and Jubilee wandered across to open one of the huge wardrobes Lola turned to Rogue, and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Rogue interpreted it surprisingly well. "Them? They're from the Institute like ah am. Kitty and Jubilee" She added, indicating each in turn. Lola gave a slight nod, and moved around the work desk to lean against the edge, her hands trailing over the rim, followed by the whispering, tinkling, sound of the thin metal bands around her arms. Looking back up at Rogue she raised the other eyebrow, this time accompanied by a tilt of the head. "The gloves are lovely, and ah want a vampire costume for Halloween."
"I do love you so much sweety, you do know that? You give me such nice projects. Let's see what I can do for you, cream puff. How covered up do you want to be? Have you already got anything you want to work in?"
"Ah wanna be quite covered, but it's gonna be hot. And ah think ah wanna wear mah black shredded skirt, an' ah like the pattern from these gloves heah," she said, indicating the ones she meant.
"Nothing easier sweet pea, you go chat to your friends, I'll have something thrown together in about twenty minutes." Rogue leapt off the table and went to talk to Kitty and Jubes.
She found them sitting on the floor in front of a heavy wooden cabinet marked with an engraved X. "Look, these are…X-suits!" Kitty whispered, looking awed.
"So, y'all found Lola's secret, then." Rogue grinned. "Y'all wanna see the coolest thing evah? This cupboard heah is full of ones bein' developed for us lot for our graduation. Ah won't ruin the surprise by showin' ya yours, but ah've already seen mahne, an' ah don't mind y'all seein' it."
She shooed the other girls away from the cupboards, and opened the next one along, reaching in and feeling around. "So, how come you've seen yours already then?"
"Oh, the Professor wanted me to, as ah have to be completely covered, so ah had ta try it on an' run around in it for a while ta make sure that the extra fabric an' stuff wouldna make me ill. An' we had ta check an' see if ah could bare skin quick enough ta be of use." She grinned and withdrew her suit, which was on a hanger.
Kitty wrinkled her nose and grinned, "It's a bit tight, isn't it? There's not much left to the imagination." She giggled. "But, oh wow, your own X-suit. Cute gloves and oooh, you've got one of the cool belts!"
"Why the jacket?" asked Jubilee, from where she sat, on top of one of the other cupboards.
"Oh, ah liked it, an' Lola said she'd add to the suit! But ya know what's even bettah? She also did a coloured one!" Rogue put back her black leather suit, and withdrew a green and yellow suit with yellow gloves and a high collar.
"No, way! All the X-suits are black." Jubilee exclaimed.
Lola stuck her head through the partition at Jubes' shout. "I wanted to do something a bit more superhero-ish, you know like Superman's."
Kitty looked up from the floor, "I hate to burst your bubble, but, there's no such person."
Lola smiled. "Of course, and there's no super-powerful mutant army out there almost daily, protecting their friends and enemies alike from an evil which they cannot possibly comprehend, is there?" Kitty half raised her hand, her mouth slightly open, and then thought the better of it, shutting her mouth again with a snap. At that, all three girls burst out laughing, and only completely calmed down when Lola came back through with a wrapped package which she handed to Rogue.
She snatched the coloured suit out of Rogues hands, and began to fold it on the top tabletop. "Here you go, sweetheart. I know you'll love it. It'll fit, no problems, and I've put in a skirt just in case your one isn't quite right." She leant in close towards Rogue, and air kissed both her cheeks, whispering, "And I'll knock a whole third off the price 'mwah' if you lemme take a photo of your delicious self in it for the magazine, 'mwah'." She slipped the folded X-suit into the brown bag, and handed it to Rogue as well. "Keep it, sweetie, I've got the original." She turned to the other two girls, "Nice to meet you, girls, feel free to drop by, but remember, if anyone asks, you were here to buy kinky underwear, or cosplay kit!" She winked and waved as they made their way back up the stairs, and back into the harsh light of the shop. Just as they reached the top of the stairs her voice floated up after them, "Nice ears, by the way, Kitty-cat!"
Kitty's hands flew to her head, and she flushed bright red. "Ooh, you two are the meanest ever!" she complained, ripping off the headband.
Logan swung himself from the saddle of his stolen, no, borrowed, bike and made his way through the chill evening air to the waiting bar. His sensitive nose remembered that distinctive smell of sweat and blood and smoke in equal parts with a permeating acrid undertone of alcohol, the characteristic odour of a fight bar. He stood in the doorway for a moment, using the time it would take someone with normal eyes to adjust to the gloom to get his bearings and assess the bar, always alert to danger. Old habits die hard.
So, the local prize fighter in the corner, loitering by the cage, re-binding a bandage one handed, with practiced ease. Obviously a pro, by the wide berth the other men milling round the bar were giving him, and the jealous looks sent by an overdressed older woman sitting in a corner behind a pile of papers and a drink. Old hand behind the bar, local drunk asleep on it. No problems.
Logan made his way to the bar, and snagged a bar stool with his leg as he ordered a whiskey. The barman turned on the stereo as he reached back for the bottle, and suddenly the bar was filled with a twanging guitar and driving drum beat. Logan sat, staring at the oily amber swirls of his drink winding around the three ice cubes, trying to place the song. The prize fighter appeared on his left and sat down. "You look like a fighter, you here for a round in the cage?" Logan frowned slightly; the song was by some guy with a chick's first name, Allison? No... but something like that. "Hey, I said are you here for a fight?" Logan raised his eyebrow, as he glanced sidelong at the man. Taller and more slender than the Wolverine, he thought, but then, that's not hard. The blond man was getting irritated now. "No, just passin' through." Logan stated simply, finally remembering to take a swig out of his drink.
Aww, crap, he thought as the lyrics came out, a gravelly voice singing about wanting to taste a girl with venomous poison lips. His knuckles tightened on the glass. He looked up as another measure of the amber liquid twisted down, catching what meagre light there was in the room and seeming to pour it into the glass. The old gnarled barman smiled, revealing tobacco stained teeth, and kind dark eyes. "It's from Brad there," nodding at the fighter, his voice betraying a hint of Irish. The fighter had wandered off, to sit with the gaudily clad woman in the corner. Logan looked away, as sitting turned into a flaming row. "He's just glad he doesna have ta fight the Wolverine." Logan looked up in response to his pseudonym. "I'm guessin' she thinks he should pick a fight with you anyway, provoke you into the cage for the punters. There'd be quite a take, you've not played the circuit a while, but you're not forgotten."
"Well, I ain't going back to the cage." He took a swig from the tumbler.
"So mate, are you heading away from or back towards your poison lassie?" The barman was sitting down on the far side of the bar, dishcloth in hand, absentmindedly drying up beer glasses, a cigarette drooping between his teeth.
"Huh?"
The barman set down the dishcloth and nodded towards the radio, mounted up by the mirror behind the bar, as he took the cigarette from his mouth and knocked off the ash into a glass he had just wiped. "The song, mate."
Logan frowned, draining his drink. "Back towards, but I don't think she's mine anymore. She had a boyfriend last time I saw her. And she was just a kid, and I flirted with another man's woman."
"Why would you do a thing like that then?" he asked, pulling a pint of Guinness slowly into a fresh glass. Logan didn't answer. "OK then, how long have you been away?" Logan stared at the half empty glass, still frowning. "Some time I take it then?" lilted the barman, looking down at Logan. "Ah, I see," he sighed. "You had to wait for her to grow up." Logan looked sharply. "You'd better go find out before it's too late, you know." The barman continued blithely, "'What might have been' is always worse than the alternative."
Logan gulped down the remainder of the drink, and slammed a twenty down on the bar as he pushed his chair back from the bar, and stood up to go out, as the song drew to a close.