Why, Oh Why…
By Nichole (Neko-chan) Johnson
Written: June 3 – 6, 2003
Rated: PG-13 for language and plain old inappropriateness—bad me!
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men (sob) or X-Men: Evolution. And most unfortunately of all, I don't own Kurt. *sniffles sullenly*
Summary: It's summer vacation at the School for Gifted Youngsters… It's only expected that wild pranks, rude wake-up calls in the form of fuzzy blue elves, impromptu pool parties and general insanity should ensue—especially when there are teenage mutants involved.
Author's Note: In my world, the events of this fic take place at the end of season 2, but only timeline-wise; the events at the end of season 2 did NOT happen…or at least not yet. Kitty and Lance are still on the off, though (just like they are at the beginning of season 3) as are Kurt and Amanda over some argument. (Heh-heh, wonder what I'm leaving that open for…?) But anyway, if I mention either of their current non-dating statuses, that's where it came from—my own little world. Most of the events of season 2 are moot unless mentioned. Alternate dimension—you can do that.
~ o O o ~
Chapter 2: …Do I Put Up With These Guys?It was the first day of summer vacation. And Scott was miserable.
He watched the van disappear through the gates, waving half-heartedly after Jean's smiling face in the window; feeling like his stomach had fallen into his shoes.
[Scott, cheer up,] came the redhead's voice suddenly in his head, trying to sound reassuring. [It's only a few weeks.]
He smiled weakly, even though she was too far away to see it by now.
[I'm fine. I was just worried about how insane it's going to be around here in that time.]
He could practically see her smile in his head. [Right,] she replied, sounding not at all convinced. [You'll handle it. So just have fun.]
[Of course. See ya, Jean.]
But he was still standing there when the van had long since disappeared down the drive and the street, staring dismally after her smile, still warm, in his head.
He hated summer vacation.
"Scott?! Dude, snap out of it!"
And he was jarred roughly from his pouting. Quite literally, actually. Someone was shaking him with surprising ferocity.
"Whoa! Alright, alright!" objected the tall, shades-sporting mutant hastily, hurrying to wrest his arm from his assailant's grasp. "Lay off already, Kurt! I'm out of it!"
He turned to glare dryly at the over-exuberant German. "Was that really necessary?"
In reply, the younger mutant grinned up at him slyly. "Apparently. I called your name like fifty times, man."
He cocked his head slightly and raised a brow, grin turning into a leer. "Off in dreamland?"
Scott promptly turned about six different shades of red, and then turned sharply on his heel, heading back towards the mansion with stiff strides.
"Where're you going?" Kurt called after him, still sounding amused.
"Danger Room," was Scott's curt reply, not bothering to turn around. "I've got some training to catch up on."
Somewhere behind him, Kurt chuckled good-naturedly. "Man, you need to lighten up! It's summer vacation! Time to cut loose!"
"That's what I'm afraid of…" muttered Scott worriedly, as the blue mutant ported away to cause lord knows what mischief.
It was going to be a long month…
* * *
The mansion was like a tomb. It seemed that the majority of the students were outside, taking advantage of the good weather. Screams and faint echoes of laughter from the backyard seemed to attest to that theory.
Scott couldn't help but release a thankful sigh of relief. Silence, at last.
Just as he liked it.
He was walking past the rec room, on his way downstairs towards the Danger Room after stopping in his room for his uniform, when he spotted Rogue; curled up in a chair with a book.
Guess I'm not the only one who enjoys a little silence, he thought wryly, stopping momentarily in the doorway, an idea occurring to him.
It couldn't hurt…
"Hey, Rogue."
The Goth looked up in surprise, ready to glare at whoever had disturbed her peace. She seemed to relax slightly when she saw that it was Scott; though if anything, she looked a bit surprised.
"Oh, uh…hey, Scott," she muttered absently, eyes flicking back to her book. "Jean 'n the others finally manage to escape the Madhouse, I assume?"
Scott nodded, moving further into the room. "Um, yeah…"
He frowned a bit. She was already buried intently in her book once again.
He decided to attempt it, anyway.
"Hey, I'm headed down to the Danger Room for a run," he began, gesturing in the direction with an arm, "You wanna' join me?"
Her green eyes tore momentarily from the book in front of her to raise a brow at him incredulously.
"You do realize its summer vacation, right?" she queried dryly in that warm, southern drawl of hers.
What was it with everyone reminding him on that?
"Just because its summer doesn't mean we have to slack in our training," was his somewhat curt reply.
Rogue continued to stare at him with that sidelong, dubiously disinterested expression of hers. After a moment, he sighed heavily, shaking his head lightly.
"I'm taking that as a 'no', then…" he muttered, heading back into the hall.
And as he was walking away, he thought he heard her mutter something about 'it' beginning. Whatever 'it' was.
What was it with these people and summer vacation, anyway? By the way they acted, one would've thought it was a time to slack and goof off.
Scott shook his head hopelessly. Well, if no one was going to join him, he was just going to have to train by himself. He could do that. There were plenty of Danger Room simulations that were good for that.
"Hmm, this one should do…" he murmured decisively to himself, selecting a sim from the computer display. Grinning grimly to himself, he set up the simulation, watching it appear over the wide expanse of the Danger Room with satisfaction. Making sure everything was properly set up for a one-man run, he headed downstairs into the arena.
He was on the Institute grounds, and it was night. Pale moonlight and the faint glow from the mansion's great windows was all that lit the area.
The sim was so realistic; he could even hear the loud chirruping of crickets and the faint murmurs of the fountain.
The senior X-man readied himself, hand poised at the beam regulator on his visor. He knew this simulation like the back of his hand, but the good thing about it was it tended to change, so it was always good to stay en guard.
After several brief moments of scanning the grounds, a bit of movement caught his eye. Reacting instinctively, the X-man whirled in the direction of the disturbance, firing a brief warning shot into the brush.
In response, his attacker gave a small scream of surprise, hopping awkwardly out of the bushes and attempting escape.
Giving chase, Cyclops shot another optic blast in Toad's direction.
The training exercise had begun.
Within several minutes, he had defeated the first of the Brotherhood, as two more of the mutant thugs appeared from the simulated forest. Avalanche and the Blob were slightly harder to defeat, especially when double-teamed. He had always had some difficulty at this point in the simulation.
But after about ten minutes or so, he had defeated those two as well. He saw a flash of silver and blue out of the corner of his eyes.
Quicksilver was up next. Here was the real challenge.
Jaw set grimly, the X-Men leader slowly and carefully scanned the surrounding grounds, body tensed for combat. Another flash of silver-blue, to his left. He fired instinctively, but the speedy mutant had already disappeared.
Damn, but he hated this part of the simulation.
"Maximoff, show yourself! Let's settle this!" he yelled challengingly, hoping the simulation would respond.
And it did. Just not in the way he had expected.
He was suddenly looking at the world from the wrong side up. Something had him by one ankle and was dangling him quite easily off of the ground.
Cyclops frowned. He thought he had knocked the Blob out already…
He angled himself in his unknown attacker's grip, trying to aim his visor at his assailant in order to free himself, and found himself facing…
"A squirrel?!"
A giant, armored squirrel, to be more exact. And it still had him by the ankle.
"What the—?!"
He twisted, kicking out with his free leg at the bizarre creature. Aiming his beam regulator, he shot a small optic blast at the creature's hand.
The squirrel squealed in surprise, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground.
Cyclops recovered his legs as swiftly as possible, backing up from the simulated creature in disbelief. He scowled furiously.
"Alright! Who's been messing with the simulator?!" he yelled angrily to no one in particular, becoming annoyed.
"When I find out who—Aaagh!!"
He was definitely caught off-guard by the blast of fire that shot suddenly at him, though he reacted in time enough to jump away in startled disbelief.
Scratch that first observation. Make that a giant, armored, flame-breathing squirrel.
Somebody was definitely getting it, now…
All thoughts of revenge were cut short, however, as the squirrel shot another blast of fire in his direction, and the X-man was forced to make a hasty retreat. The fire-breathing squirrel immediately gave chase.
"SHUT IT OFF, SHUT IT OFF!!"
After another minute of desperate flight around the Danger Room, the troublemaker in the control room apparently complied, for first the scenery and finally the giant, fire-breathing squirrel faded into nonexistence.
Cyclops came to a relieved halt, hands on his knees as he tried to regain his breath.
He was suddenly aware of laughter coming from the control room, echoing softly into the Danger Room chamber itself.
The X-Men leader's head shot up angrily in recognition, shooting a dark glare in the direction of the control room.
"KURT!!"
A jaunty, three-fingered salute from the window was his only reply.
* * *
"Come on, man! You have to admit, it was pretty funny."
Scott's expression was severe. He was clearly not amused.
"Messing with the Danger Room simulator is not a laughing matter, Kurt. You should be glad Logan wasn't around to do the punishing."
The blue mutant grinned devilishly from his perch. "Aw, you're just grumpy because you nearly lost to a squirrel…"
Scott made a face of apoplectic outrage. "I am not gru—I was not losing."
Kurt merely nodded, turning back to his task with a pleased grin. "Oh, you were."
"I was not! I—I was in total control!"
"Zhen running was in your plan?"
"Yes it—" The older mutant paused, frowning darkly at the look of continued amusement on his companion's face. "Shut up, Kurt."
Said mutant continued to smirk, shooting Scott a sly look from his perch on the X-Jet's hull. "You think I should tell the others about how you nearly lost to a giant rodent?"
Now it was Scott's turn to grin. His grin was decidedly lacking in humor, however.
"Do it and you'll be cleaning this entire hangar," he warned in a no-nonsense tone. His red-quartz shades glinted menacingly in the dim light.
Kurt saluted cheekily with his waxing cloth. "Touché. You drive a hard bargain, Herr Summers."
Seeing as how Logan and Storm were away for the time being, Scott had taken it upon himself to punish the mutant prankster for messing with the Danger Room. He figured, as the leader of the young X-Men, it was his right to mete out punishment to those who broke the rules, in the event of their instructors' absences. And he figured that waxing the X-Jet was pretty standard for a stunt such as this.
As much of a troublemaker Kurt could be, the exuberant mutant was used to the repercussions, and had readily complied with little complaint on his part. Any complaining was more for the sake of principle, rather than a real argument over his punishment.
There was brief silence in the hangar as Kurt fell back to his task with surprising dedication, and Scott allowed his mind to wander in his usual moody fashion.
"…going to have to teach you how to lighten up this summer, mein freund," Kurt's voice broke into Scott's thoughts after a moment.
The older mutant blinked slightly; an action that went unnoticed, hidden beneath his thick shades.
"Uh, what was that?" he stammered somewhat, pulling himself back to the present.
"It's like you're regressing, man!" exclaimed Kurt, woefully dramatic. "All my influence and careful training—gone!"
"Dude, what are you talking about?" queried Scott in confusion.
"You!" replied the younger mutant, gesturing severely with his rag. "You've turned into Military Man again—Commando; our very own modern Major-General; heil, mein Fuhrer!"
The older mutant scowled. What was with everyone telling him to lighten up, lately? He wasn't really that uptight.
…Was he?
"Kurt, aren't you being a little over-dramatic?" he prompted, raising a brow. "I'm just trying to keep us on our toes. Just because its summer vacation, doesn't mean we should be lax in our training. As the X-Men, we have to be—"
Kurt threw down his rag with a frustrated sigh, pale eyes turned heavenward in dismay.
"See? There you go again!" he exclaimed with a huff, sounding exasperated. "Mein Gott un Himmel, Scott, but ease off with the battle speech for just a bit! Do you realize that it's the first day of summer vacation, and while the others are outside soaking up some fun-in-the-sun by the pool, you and I are having this silly argument in a dark, musty old hangar and I'm waxing the X-Jet?"
A sigh from Scott. Well, he supposed the argument had to come at some point…
"Hey, you know the rules. Mess with the Danger Room simulator and you've got X-Jet waxing duties."
"How I factor into this is beside my point," countered Kurt shortly.
Sliding his legs out from under him, he perched himself more comfortably on the nose of the Blackbird; swinging his legs idly in front of him while leaning forward slightly on his forearms to peer at Scott pointedly.
"I'm missing Kitty in her bathing suit for this, so you better listen," he exclaimed with mock severity.
Scott crossed his arms, preparing for the worst, but gave the younger mutant his full attention. "Alright, I'm listening. But like I said, it's your own fault you're waxing the X-Jet instead of goofing off with the others."
"Dude, it's a two-piece! Have you no heart?"
Scott merely glared at him to continue.
Kurt grumbled momentarily, a comically dark expression on his usually cheerful face, then brushing it off, turned back to address him with surprising seriousness.
"Anyway, it's only recently you've been like this," he began, peering down at the other through fathomless, yellow eyes, "So I'm wondering, is this about a certain someone going home for the summer?"
The X-leader continued to glare up at him, though he seemed slightly shocked by the observation. He hadn't thought it had been that obvious. And to have Kurt of all people point it out to him.
He wasn't sure how he should react to this. He settled for blushing slightly, turning away from the younger mutant's gaze to scowl irritably.
He was somewhat relieved—not to mention surprised—when the blue mutant didn't burst into laughter or crack a joke on the matter, but instead sighed softly; shaking his head ruefully.
"I swear, you are so predictable sometimes…" he murmured wryly, sounding somewhat sympathetic despite the humor of his tone.
"It's not what you think," cut in Scott hastily in his defense, trying to undo the damage his blush had done. "I'm just…used to her being around, is all. We've been best friends since she came to the Institute, practically."
"Riiiight," was Kurt's unconvinced reply, his accent giving the word an unusual inflection. "You know, no one around here is really that stupid, mein freund. You think we don't have eyes?"
Scott, who had been avoiding the other's eyes up until this point, slowly met his friend's gaze in surprise.
Kurt was smiling a somewhat softer version of his thousand-watt grin. Scott figured it was Kurt's version of sympathy.
"Ever try talking to her about it?"
The older mutant actually snorted derisively at that; although his face intensified its red shade somewhat. He gazed momentarily at the blue mutant with brows raised in an expression of incredulity.
"You're telling me to what?" he said finally in amazement.
Kurt grinned supportively. "Talk. To her. Whole new concept in boy-girl relationships."
Scott continued to stare at him with that ever-popular, 'Are you crazy?' expression. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized such an expression was more than likely lost on Kurt, who received such a look more times than he could count in a single day.
But somehow he couldn't get his face to form any other expression. The downright ludicrous suggestion was just too…well, ludicrous.
Trying to find something to rearrange his facial features, he glanced the younger mutant over; and a slow scowl of disapproval came over his face as he realized that his blue friend was still perched comfortably on the nose of the ship.
And not waxing.
Scott glared at him pointedly.
Getting his drift, Kurt merely flashed his fangs in a faint smirk and leaned slightly to the side; exposing his tail, hard at work with the waxing rag.
Scott sighed in disbelief and shook his head.
"Look, man, it's like you said," continued Kurt idly, not even bothering to glance at his tail-work, "You've known each other since you were kids, ja? It's obvious Jeans likes you, and it's more than obvious you like her back."
Scott tried to cut him off with a, "What?! It is not…!" but Kurt quite simply ignored him and continued on his tangent.
"…So, why don't you just tell her? Summer vacation is the perfect chance—won't she be leaving for college to work on her doctorate in the fall?"
The X-leader stared at him in momentary surprise. "H-hey, how'd you know…?"
Kurt shrugged absently, switching the rag to his hand and starting up another section on the X-Jet's hull.
"We've talked about these things. She's really easy to talk to, you know. You should give it a try."
Scott was silent for a moment, amazed despite himself over this new information. He'd never realized Kurt and Jean had struck up such a friendship.
And he realized, abruptly, that there were a lot of things lately that surprised him about his teammates; things he hadn't known about them. So many things around the Institute just seemed to pass him by these days.
Maybe there was some truth to everyone's accusations.
And then Scott realized he was getting relationship advice from an elf. No offense intended.
"You're not exactly one to talk on the whole relationship thing, buddy," he spoke up pointedly, giving his friend a raised brow.
"Aren't you and Amanda on the off right now?"
A slightly pensive expression overcame Kurt's features. "Ja," he conceded with only slight reluctance, a wry smile spreading across his blue face. "But that's a whole different situation, mein freund…"
"And what about you and Kitty?" added Scott, knowing that this time, he had hit home with his words.
As expected, the German's face fell abruptly. It was brief, however, and in hardly the blink of an eye, he was grinning again cheerfully; though his grin seemed to hide a faint trace of bitterness that was not previously there.
"Heh. Seems you're starting to realize just how alike you and I really are, ja?" He pretended to be suddenly absorbed in his task, peering critically at his handiwork on the X-Jet's hull.
When he spoke again, there was a most decided trace of bitterness in his voice, although he covered it up well with his usual, wry sense of humor.
"Only real difference is unlike me, your feelings are more than likely mutual."
Scott frowned, looking sympathetic. "Kurt…" he began gently, unsure of what to say.
The younger mutant ignored his attempts, climbing to his feet to survey his handiwork. Grinning faintly with satisfaction, he ported with a soft BAMF! reappearing on the hangar floor.
Retrieving the wax for the X-Jet, he turned to Scott with a rakish grin.
Trademark Kurt.
"Und that's why you should take the leap, mein freund."
He ported again, and now he was on the top of the immense jet; going quickly to work once again.
"Trust me on this, man—she's not going to turn you down. This is Jean we're talking about!"
The senior X-man couldn't help but laugh a bit at his friend's enthusiasm, even if he did seem to be avoiding another issue with his overzealous assumptions.
"And what's that supposed to mean, Dr. Phil?"
"It's supposed to mean what it's supposed to mean," was Kurt's nonplus retort, grinning mischievously. "If you know Jean as much as you think you do, you'll understand."
He raised a brow then at his friend, mock insulted. "Dr. Phil? Was that the best you could come up with?"
In response, Scott scowled at him. With a faint shrug, the blue mutant sighed hopelessly, turning back to his work.
"Well, it's a start, I guess. But you need some lessons in humor hardcore, man…!"
Scott smirked, returning the expression of disbelief with a raised brow of his own.
"What, from you? Maybe if I wanted to pick up some pointers on bad humor…"
Kurt laughed. "Hey, now you're getting it!" he exclaimed in delight. He gestured at the older mutant severely with his rag, a look of mock severity coming over him. "And my humor is not bad."
"Oh, right! You're just the epitome of comic genius, Mr. Class Clown… Slapstick doesn't count, here, buddy."
From his perch on the X-Jet, Kurt rolled his eyes heavenward in dismay.
"Is this part of my punishment? Gott help me, I will never mess with your Danger Room sim again if it is…!"
Scott just laughed. So he would never admit it, but Kurt was good at what he did—he really was. And that was making people laugh. Even Scott could appreciate that to some extent.
He figured the exhibitionistic mutant didn't need his telling him in order for him to know that.
"Just keep working, buddy."
Kurt gave a jaunty salute with the rag. "Yes, mein Fuhrer!"
"And if you call me that again, I'll let Logan decide what else to punish you with. I bet he'd be pleased to know you were messing with the Danger Room again…"
"Whatever you say, Herr Summers. … verdammt dich…"
"And no cursing me out in other languages, either."
"Alright. How about in English, then?"
"Kurt."
"Yes, O Slave-master…! Getting to work."
* * *
Scott couldn't deny that he was more than a little impressed. Kurt had definitely gotten fast at waxing the Blackbird.
He supposed a lot of practice would do that to a person.
"So, about Duncan's party tonight…"
They were in the back halls of the mansion, now, having come up from the hangar to clean up and head their separate ways.
Scott raised a brow slightly at the query, but didn't turn to acknowledge it. "So, what about it…?" he countered, knowing where this was headed before it had even begun.
He had heard this one a million times. He was pretty sure he knew most of the lines by heart.
"It's officially summer vacation now, man. You know his summer kick-off's are always big," continued Kurt with overdone nonchalance; his pale eyes devious and eager.
Scott seriously hated this argument. There was only one way in hell anyone could get him to go to a Duncan Matthews party.
And that one reason was currently 50 miles away in good old Connecticut.
"No way in hell," he exclaimed firmly, hoping to cut off any further argument.
But this was Kurt he was dealing with.
"Aw, come ON! It's a perfect chance for you to cut loose, man! You NEED to cut loose! Trust me."
"Dude, you 'n I both know there's only one reason I ever go to Duncan Matthew's parties. There is absolutely no way you are dragging me to this one."
Kurt had a rather sly expression on his face. "Hmm, dragging you say? That could be arranged…"
"Kurt, I'm serious—"
"And so am I! Dude, you need to get out. If you keep going like this, you're going to be wound up so tight you'll be shitting bricks by the end of the summer!"
"Ecch, think you could've used a different metaphor there, buddy?"
The younger mutant placed a firm hand on Scott's arm, halting them both in the middle of the hall.
"It's just one party," he continued, his expression almost desperately serious. "Hell, after this summer, you're never even going to have to see Duncan again in your life! It would be like going out with a bang, man! The last big blowout of your high school life! Ach, you might not even run into Duncan, his parties are so verdammt big!'
Besides, it wouldn't be the same without you…"
The last part he said in sing-song tones, his expression almost daring the older boy to take him up on his offer.
Scott peered at him for several moments in pensive silence. It was the mention of being a team member that really got him, as much as he hated to admit it.
The sounds of laughter and splashing from the pool drifted to the two from outside, breaking into the momentary silence that had befallen them. Kitty's voice could be heard quite distinctly over the noise, shouting in righteous tones.
"Damnit, Bobby, like, quit icing the pool!!"
Scott looked down at his blue companion. Kurt was looking up at him with an eager, pleading expression on his cheerful face.
"Sorry, Kurt. The thought of another one of Matthew's parties just doesn't appeal to me as a great way to finish off my high school career."
He really did look apologetic; the look of disappointment, and then irritation on his friend's face was hard to bear, as much as he pretended it wasn't.
"You guys will just have to go without me this time," he added, brushing off Kurt's hand as gently as possible and continuing in the direction of his room.
He didn't feel quite so guilty as he was turning the corner to overhear Kurt muttering, "Party pooper…" after his retreating back like a sullen child.
It was obvious the wise-cracking elf would recover from the disappointment…
But that only gave Scott different reason to feel dispirited.
~ * ~
TO BE CONTINUED… (WHY, OH WHY?)
*
~ Kurt's Wunderbar Glossary of German ~
Herr – Mr.
Mein Gott un Himmel – My God in Heaven
Verdammt dich – goddamn you
References, Homage's, etc. –
"…our very own modern Major-General…" : reference to a very fast-paced, very humorous song called "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major-General" from the play, The Pirates of Penzance. Many young theater aficionados pride themselves on memorizing and or being able to quote this song; I was able to for sometime, myself.
"Heil, mein Fuhrer!" : I should hope most of you would recognize this historical reference… Not the most charming reference, but it's the allegory pledge used in Nazi Germany to address Hitler—I don't have a real translation of it, but it basically wishes good health to their leader. Basically, Kurt uses it to imply that Scott is being a bit of a tyrant, (NOT to show Nazi support! Oh God, no!)
"…won't she be leaving for college to work on her doctorate in the fall?" : In the original X-Men comics and animation, Jean Grey is a doctor; as well as in the movies (the students often refer to her as 'Dr. Grey'.) Just a touch of continuity on my part.
"Dr. Phil? Was that the best you could come up with?" : I'm sure most of you have heard of the 'illustrious' Dr. Phil. He's that psychiatrist (or some sort of mental doctor) who first appeared on Oprah, and now has his own show. Scott was not only insulting Kurt's advice here, but just plain making a bad reference.
"…currently 50 miles away in good old Connecticut." : Seriously, I have no frikkin' CLUE how many miles it would be from Bayville to Jean's family home! I just threw in a number, honest-to-God.
~~~~~~X~~
Wow!! Such a great response; and for only ONE chapter, too! You guys are too awesome! I'm glad this stupid, lame idea of mine was received so well, because I definitely want to continue it.
RedLion: Again, you are the Mistress of Support, mein freund. Thank you so much! "One of the best X-Men writers"?! Wow!! I think I've just turned rainbow colors with embarrassment!
PallaPlease: Good for you, Palla! Keep me on track! If I do take long on an update, I'll try to explain—I just recently was having conflicts w/work and then FF.Net wouldn't let me log on or upload, so arrrggghhh! Not my fault for the delay this time, I swear! Yeah, I love the word 'buzz-kill'. It's just such a fun word for some reason, so I thought I'd make someone say it and Rogue seemed like a good person to get the job done. The fun thing when you have such a wide range of characters at your fingertips is that you can almost always find SOMEONE who will say a certain word, phrase, or make a specific action that you find funny, without it being overly OOC—that's what makes fics like these so fun. (So why don't you like writing them? Just curious.)
Girl_number_1: Ummmm… First of all, glad you like; second of all, calm down. It will be alright! (And what do you mean, 'stupid Rahne'?? I likey!! *sniff*) It's only the first chapter—and just because a character's left, doesn't mean I don't have ways of including, or getting them back. For starters, I'm a huge Jamie fan myself—he's just soooooo darn cute and adorable and CUTE!!!—so I definitely want him in there. I have reasons for everything, my dear (well…) Anyway, I really liked his scene and I wanted to do that for him. But he will probably be coming back somehow because I love him too much to not include him. I also LOVE Evan—he's another of my favorite characters—so he should be coming back, too. For most of the people who left, it was only for a couple weeks of the summer and only for the sake of realism—I thought a lot of their families would want them home for some of the summer, y'know. In fact, Kitty will be going home for a bit later on, and outside of Kurt, she is my favorite character. So just…calm down. Breathe! You will get your Jamie-goodness!
Last of all, though I appreciate the fact that you like the fic enough to have ideas for it, I'd just like to say right now that I don't really 'take requests'. Most of my fics are planned out, or I at least have specific scenes and scenarios in mind that I want to use; so I don't have room or particularly wish to insert other people's ideas in there. I'm sorry. But thanks for the input! Sounds like you have the makings of your own fic right there, y'know.
Me: OMG, I've attracted the elusive 'me' to my fic! Dude! I'm assuming this is the same 'me' that has left so many reviews for LeDiz's fic, "I always do", am I right? If you're not, sorry to mistake you—if you are, SO COOL! Thanks much for the review! I'm glad you think I've captured their characters—that feels so good, especially when you've got SO many characters to contend with! Yikes! And the Kurt-flirting—also very glad you like, because I have this thing about writing him just a little extra flirty ('cuz I like 'im that way and he's like that in the comics) and it would make me so sad if someone had asked me to tone it down or something. He's just more fun this way! So yes, you will definitely be seeing a rather flirtatious and energetic elf for the duration of this fic. Weee!
Kiki: Ooh, so glad you liked that line! I just kept on liking it more and more myself each time I read over it, lol! I know! Ego-maniac! But I really did! And it's the same with me—inspiration for it definitely came from my friends and I. I'm sure we've said something in that vein regarding ourselves in the past—as well as my family. My family's a pretty nutty one, and there's 7 of us, too, so it's basically a nuthouse around my house 24/7. Big families are the greatest thing in the world—especially big, crazy, Minnesotan families. You should hear us all at family reunions when everyone's had a little too much to drink; it's like a scene outta' Fargo, don't'cha' know…
LeDiz: Oh, Lee, you can write humor; you just don't realize it! And I'm so glad you like it! Your opinion is thought so highly of in my crazy little mind! Must…always…make…the LeDiz…Standards…! Arrrrrggghhh!!! *goes Super Saiyan from the force of her determination*
Amara Aquilla: Like I told Girl_number_1, don't worry, mein freund! Amara is likely to return! (Ach, but you New Mutant fans are rabid on this subject…*lol*)
Crow Black Dream: Wow, thanks so much! And I use big words? Well, yes, I guess I see what you mean by 'in comparison to other fics'… I am always trying to extend my vocabulary and incorporate it into my writing, so that may be the reason. (Plus, on the whole, I think I'm a bit older than most Evo writers—at least, that's what I've seemed to notice.) Anyway, I'm so pleased you like this enough to 'Favorite' it and all that! I look forward to more of your reviews!
Kurtfan5678: Sorry, kurtfan, I didn't realize it was that obscure. I think I pretty much mentioned all of the students who were leaving, though: Jean, Evan, Jamie, and Amara. I kind of wanted to leave it all to you guys, though, so that in case I wanted to use a character for a certain scene, I wouldn't have to be breaking continuity or changing an idea because I had sent a character home. So some other students may have left; you'll know if I don't write them. But I wanted to leave it a bit open for me to use some of them. Sorry if that just caused confusion for you—I didn't mean for it to come out so 'messy' or obscure.
Kurt-Ling: Sorry, K-Ling, that this chapter wasn't all about Kurt—but he was still in it quite a bit, no? I hope you liked him in this chapter, 'cuz I really liked writing him. But guess what? Chapter 3—all about him. I'm having so much fun writing it, you wouldn't believe!
Hotaru-sama: *lol* Oh, believe me, Hota-sama, I know what that means! *lol* I think I say, "Oh, kawaii!" more than I actually say 'cute' on a regular basis—it just comes as habit these days. If you check out my Profile, you'll see I'm a total anime NUT. X-Men is just one of my few American loves (the others being BtVS, LoTR, Harry Potter, Fairly Oddparents, and anything by Jhonen Vasquez: my unholy god.) And jeez, you're already addicted?! Girl, you might wanna' get that problem checked out—there's only been a chapter so far!! *lol*
…And for all of you who wanted to know if this would contain Kurtty… I'm not telling! *sticks tongue out* Nyah! No, really, sorry…but I'm not gonna' this time around. If you can't guess correctly, then…I dunno', you need a monkey and a chalupa. (Oh, I'm just so evil…)
I will say this though, the matter of Kurtty aside, there will most likely be some "odd" and possibly some unrequited love interests in here just because it makes for good humor. No, actually, just because my sick, sadistic mind comes up with them and would childishly wish to force them all upon you in this fic, disguised as it is to be of good taste.
Now if you'll excuse me all… Pepito keeps urging me to end this, and as he is the Spawn of Satan, I must obey. (DAMNIT, PEPITO, YOU'RE GONNA' GET STOVETOP ON THE KEYBOARD!! BACK OFF ALREADY!!)
Until the next chappie, my happie little meat-sacks of adoration…
~Neko-chan
