Right. I'm back from my vacation and thoroughly tanned! Woo! I was looking for flit eggs…but I didn't find any. Ah well.
MetaChi: I went to da beach! Wait, I take that back. I went to the shore…the Jersey Shore! Yeah. Just thought you oughta know…I wanna X2 again too! But I don't think it's in theatres anymore…*Sobs* Now I have to wait for it to come out on DVD!!! *Sniff* I'm gonna go watch 'Reign of Fire' and take my mind off of it. Oddly cool in a odd sort of way! My dream focused mostly on Gambit though…*Shrugs* Must be my growing fascination with angels…
And now; the fic!!!
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Janella was in the garden again when the students came home from school. She was typing determinedly on her laptop, which was placed on her crossed legs. One of her thin forward braids was tucked behind her ear, but the other was dangling forward. She pushed it irritably back behind its own ear, but it kept perversely falling forward. There was an open can of soda balanced on a rock by her left knee, and a few comic books on the ground by her right side.
She still had her wings, but they were crossed behind her, the joints where the pinions and wing claws were attached tipped out to either side, and the ends of the pinions were braced against the ground. As she worked, her tail came forward and wrapped around the can of soda, bringing it to her lips. She tipped back her head and took a long swallow, pausing in her typing only when her eyes left the keys, and resuming again as soon as they tipped back down. Without moving her eyes from her work, she set the can back on the rock. She licked the residue from her lips. The only indication that she was even still alive was the fact that her tail tip twitched occasionally and the small movements of her arms and eyes as she worked.
"Was are you vorking on?" a voice said next to her ear. She started and shied away, tipping the laptop from her lap. She sprawled on the ground; wings spread out on either side and tail lashing furiously. She bared her teeth and hissed at her attacker.
Kurt just looked at her and laughed. He was hanging from the tree by his tail, and was doing his best to keep from falling. He flipped himself up and grabbed the branch, and then dropped lightly to his feet.
When Janella realized it was him, she relaxed, and got up off the ground. She glared at him.
"That was so not funny," she snapped, crossing her arms. He smiled at her.
"Yes it vas," he informed her, crossing his arms. She laughed.
"Whatever, pal," she said, gathering up her laptop and checking it for damage. "If anything happened to this thing, I'll…" She let the threat trail off, and convinced herself it was fine.
"You'll was?" Kurt asked mockingly.
"Do nothing," she said, adding ominously, "this time. It's fine." She stood and glanced at Kurt, smiling crookedly at him. "You guys got back early," she remarked.
"Oh, ja," he remarked. "Ve have only half days in ze last veek of school."
"Hey, my school did that!" she exclaimed, tucking the laptop under her arm. She yawned and stretched. "I think I was sitting there too long," she said. "I'm hungry!" Kurt laughed.
"Was a coincidence! I am too!" Janella rolled her eyes. "As a matter of fact, ze others sent me to ask you if you vant to go out and celebrate ze last day of school vith us."
"Really?" Janella asked. Kurt nodded. "Okay then! I'd love too!"
"Vell, come on!" He grabbed her hand and began to pull her around towards the front of the mansion.
"Wait!" she said. "I need to put my laptop in my room!" She pulled her hand from his grasp and sprinted for the nearest door. He caught up to her and put his hand on her shoulders.
"You forget zat I'm ze best shortcut around," he said with a smile before bamfing with her into her room. She smiled widely.
"I'll have to forget less, then," she said, finding the plug for her computer and sticking it in the wall to recharge. She hunted through one of her bags and found some money, which she stuck in her pocket. She turned back to Kurt. With a smile and a mocking bow, he held out his now disguised hand, which she just as mockingly accepted. He teleported them down to right in front of Scott's car.
"Found her!" Kurt said triumphantly. The older boy leaned out the window and gestured to them.
"Then get in!" he said. She opened the door and shifting quickly back to human form, hopped in beside Evan, and Kurt squeezed in beside her. He shut the door, and Scott revved the engine.
"Where to, guys?" he asked.
"The mall!" "The skate park!" "How 'bout a movie?" "I'm hungry! Let's get food!" Hearty agreement met this, and thus a debate on where to go started. Eventually, the mutual agreement to go out for pizza was reached, and so Scott pulled out of the driveway, and they took off.
It didn't take long to reach a pizza place no one objected to, but finding a table big enough for them all took a moment. The staff ended up pushing two tables together, and they were seated. Orders were placed, and drinks were soon served. Janella sipped a root beer, and conversation started, mostly directed towards her. The pizza had just arrived when Evan looked up intently at the entrance.
"Uh-oh," he said. "Here comes trouble." All the others looked up.
"I don't believe this," Scott snapped.
"Can't they just leave us alone?" Rogue asked. Janella looked up at the four boys just entering the restaurant.
"Who're they?" she asked, leaning in close to Kurt.
"They're the Brotherhood," he told her.
"Yeah," Evan added. "It's like their whole purpose in life is too hassle us!"
"Well, that sucks," Janella said, crossing her arms. Those on either side of her nodded their agreement.
"No one look at them," Scott instructed. "Maybe they won't see us." The other young mutants nodded and followed his order, bending to their pizza and looking anywhere but at the entrance, where the Brotherhood stood. Janella hazarded one glance up at them, and unfortunately caught the eye of a tall thin boy with slicked back white hair. She ducked her eyes back down, but it was too late. He had seen her, and the rest of the X-Men sitting there. There was a blur, and he was standing in front of the table, arms crossed. The other three boys in the Brotherhood were moving through the restaurant, and soon backed the thin boy.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the thin boy asked, speaking quite rapidly. It took a moment for Janella's brain to register the individual words, and by that time, he had whizzed around the table and was standing behind her chair. She craned her head back and looked at him.
"Leave her alone, Pietro," Scott snapped from the other side of the table. "It's her first full day in Bayville."
"Ah, I see," Pietro said. He struck a pose. "Showing her the best things the town has to offer?" Janella made a face.
"Maybe I shoulda stayed in Joisey," she said. He blushed furiously.
"Maybe we'll just have to knock you back there," he threatened. She spun in her chair and got up on her knees.
"You wanna take this outside, punk?" she asked, snapping her fingers back and forth in front of her face. "I've dealt with creeps like you all my life! I bet I could knock your punk ass down!"
"Hey," one of the others, a weedy, dirty-looking boy said, piping up. "You stole that line from Men In Black!" Janella turned her fierce gaze on him.
"So?" she snapped. "You got a problem with it?" He ducked under her gaze.
"Uh, no, not really, no."
"I didn't think so."
"Come on, guys," Pietro snapped. "We're leaving."
"What? Why?" the dirty one asked, clearly disappointed.
"Because. I said so." Pietro herded the others back to the door. He turned back to Janella and pointed fiercely at her. "We'll be seeing you around later," he said threateningly. "Count on it!"
"I'll be looking forward to it!" Janella called with a mocking wave. He glared and whirled, slamming out the door. As soon as he was gone, Janella broke down laughing. "What a macho egotist!" she gasped out. She sat back in her chair, and, recomposing herself, picked up her pizza, folded it in half, and took a bite. She glanced around the table. "What?" she asked, noticing a good bit of staring.
"Ah don't think I've seen anybody put them in their place so well so soon aftah getting here," Rogue commented. The others nodded in agreement. Janella shrugged.
"I've visited the Big Apple often enough to have picked up a bit of their attitude," she said.
"Obviously," Evan said. She smiled, and took another bite of her pizza before letting out a huge sigh.
"Something wrong?" Scott asked.
"Is there anywhere in the world that makes pizza as good as they do in New Jersey?!" she asked exasperatedly. They all laughed.
Janella laid her head on her knees. She was in her room, and it was late. After pizza, they had gone around town, showing the new girl all the places to hang out-when they had spare time. They also explained to her what was so bad about the Brotherhood.
It had been quiet for a while now, even though the sun had gone down hours ago. Janella just wasn't tired though. Being in this new place made her tense with excitement. That, coupled with the fact that she never was able to go to sleep early, resulted in an insomnia doubtless to last far into the wee hours of the morning. She yawned and stretched, and decided she needed to get out. She opened her window and climbed delicately onto the windowsill. Shifting quickly to the dragon-winged form, she spread her wings and silently slipped from the window. She soared up into the sky, cool wind caressing her hair, and made the decision to fly straight instead of going between. She went up high and made a circuit of the town. There was very little movement below, and all was still where she wanted to go: the playground. As she carefully set down in the abandoned play area, a single light shining above and casting deep shadows all around, she glanced about, ascertaining the fact that she was alone.
She sat down on one of the swings, wings pressed tight to her back. She pushed herself back and forth a few times before pushing herself up on her toes and into the familiar childhood rhythm of back and forth, back and forth. As she swung, her vest and tail were alternately blown back behind her, then against her. She took a deep breath and began to sing softly to herself.
"Give up, if you wanna survive
Get oh some light
In your life
Everything, falling out the sky
On top of you
Now what you do?
Set yourself up now
It's the love of your life
She'll lean on me
All I know
The forest gone, I always feel it's getting me down
When nothing's wrong.
So what's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me-e-eee?
Give up, if you wanna survive
Pick this up and go, you've got
To get on the song, lowly
What's the point?
It's funny 'till you're left to kill yourself
In this town.
So what's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me?
What's the matter with me-e-eee?"
"I don't know," a familiar, haughty voice said from directly in front of her. "Why don't you tell me?" Janella opened her eyes (she had closed them while swinging) and was only mildly surprised to find the Brotherhood ranged in front of her.
"If I knew," she remarked, flipping the swing over so her legs were braced against the chains and arching her back to look at them right side up, "I wouldn't be singing the song, would I?" Pietro and the others didn't seem fazed by her somewhat dangerous move.
"I don't think we were properly introduced earlier," he said. "I'm Pietro. Pietro Maximoff. Nice to meet you." Janella flipped herself right side up, tail lashing nervously back and forth. The young X-Men had warned her about these guys, and as she looked over them, she could see why.
"I'd return the sentiment," she said in high-pitched voice, meant to imitate the nasal speech of a young child, "but it's a little late, and my mommies told me never to talk to strangers. My mommies are usually right." Pietro blushed again.
"Mommies?" one of the other boys, Lance they had said his name was, asked. "As in the plural?"
She snickered. "As in the plural," she stated. She looked around. She didn't like the way this was going. The Brotherhood had ranged out around her in a rough circle around.
"Hey, lookit this!" one of them said behind her. She pivoted to see…what was his name? Todd? Yeah, that was it…seize her tail and give it a yank. "We've got us another Nightcrawler on our hands!" She pulled it angrily from his grasp and, with a whip-like motion so fast only Pietro could follow it, slashed it back and forth across his face, drawing two thin lines of blood.
"If only," she said with a smirk. "I'll warn you now, I'm much more dangerous." She stepped from the swing and leapt to the supporting beam. She crouched there and looked down, wings spread slightly for balance. She was knew how to take care of herself, but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Glaring furiously at the girl, Todd hopped up on the beam opposite her.
"Are ya really?" he asked mockingly. "Prove it!" As he watched, she changed, and soon there was a copy of him seated on the beam. His jaw dropped, and she smirked. Then, she snarled furiously in his face, exposing two long fangs and the rest of the teeth that were rapidly lengthening and sharpening. She stood and, spreading her arms elegantly, leaped off the beam. She turned a somersault above Pietro's head and, pivoting her body in midair, landed facing them, feet spread and firmly planted in the woodchips that surrounded the swing set. By the time she hit the ground, she was fully transformed into a raptor. She dropped her lower jaw, hissing furiously.
The Brotherhood could only stare, eyes wide, at the shapeshifting girl.
"Uh, you know," Todd said nervously, "I just I remembered I left something on, uh, the stove at home." He leapt down from the swing set and began backing away. The other two quickly followed his move.
"Hey!" Pietro snapped, seeing his force melt away around him. "Where are you-?" Janella stepped ominously towards him, and, realizing the rest of the Brotherhood wasn't coming, turned tails and fled with them.
Standing straight, Janella shifted back to her preferred, winged form. She smirked to herself and turned, deciding to head back to the mansion.
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Wow, what a long chapter. *Shakes head* Hmm…anyway. Did you know this story has fourteen chapters written? It does! Yep. Right.
Did you know that Kurt figures are conveniently good Rummikub players? It's true! I played the game a lot at the beach, and I won a lot, but only when I had Kurt with me! Otherwise, I stunk…freaky, no? Yes. Yes it is.
So…review please!! Please please please!!!! Please? Hee, I'm so pathetic!
Disclaimer: Do you actually think I own anything other than Janella? I don't. I don't own Evo, Rummikub, or 'Latin Simone,' which is the Gorillaz song above. I do, however, own my watermelon patterned retainers…which are missing at the moment…I have to find them now…BYE!!