Jurrasic Punk: Seeing more of Ray is highly unlikely. Deal with it.
Chaotic Boredom: I don't know much about the comics, honestly. Never was able to get them consistently enough to be able to keep up with the million and one twists and turns and connecting plotlines from the different series. Thanks for correcting me about that, though. And I hope you didn't hurt yourself falling out of your chair.
Chapter 10: Christmas Morning, Gags and Gifts. So THAT'S what the fight was about!
As the sun rose over the horizon, and shone through the door to the institute, it set it's warming light on a massive pile of cloth sitting in the center of the foyer. Then, the pile started to move, slowly but surely sorting itself into a menagerie of teenaged and pre-teen mutants, and one human.
Slowly, the group filtered towards the dormitory, gathering comfortable clothing, quickly showering, going through their morning routines in a flash of speed. Finally, the students found themselves in the kitchen, gaping, as Storm, who apparently must not sleep to be up already, was prepping breakfast again.
After giving a good breakfast the only kind of compliment that can truly prove it's worth, (Devore it as quickly as possible.) The students found themselves waiting for the other teachers woke before they could open the presents.
They waited all of thirty minutes.
After that, a twenty minute planning and supply session, and another twenty minutes running from Logan, Bobby had achieved the impossible.
He had awoken adults before 11 a.m.
ON CHRISTMAS MORNING!!
As Professor Xavier rolled up next to the tree, he looked first at the small pile of gifts to the side, smiled, and shook his head. One of the traditions of the institute was that, for the gift giving, everyone gave a gag gift to another student. The names were picked from a hat, so no one knew who before they drew the name.
(AN: I doubt you want to read about Xavier picking up every one of the packages and reading the name, so I'll skip that little detail of each gift.)
"Bobby." Was the first gift the professor picked up. "I'm still alive, I think." Bobby called, as he made his way forward from the students sitting in a cluster in the foyer. He opened the small package, and saw that it was a scarf. A voice called out, "Ah thaught ya' might need a little warmin' up." Bobby shook his head, and called out, "Thanks Sam."
"Jean." The girl didn't even bother moving from her position, using her TK to bring it to herself. She opened the wrapping, to find a package of Advil. "I figured you must get a headache listening to all of us." Came Jubilee's voice.
"Evan" The young man picked his way past the group to let him reach the professor. He opened the package to find a wrench inside, along with a note. "You'll need this. Wolverine."
"Jamie" The group had come to a communal decision, and simply took the gift from the professor and passed it towards the stated person. Jamie opened the package to find a calculator and a note. "To keep track of yourself. Dr. McCoy."
"Scott." The package found its way to the team's leader. He opened it, and found inside it a glasses case. "Juzd in caze" said Kurt.
"Rogue." She opened the packaging to find a bottle of hand lotion, "Those glove's 'ave got tae' beh' murder on ye' hands, lass." Came Rahne's Irish lilt.
"Sam" The human battering ram opened the wrapping paper, and saw… a toy cannon. "It reminded me of you, just as destructive. Storm"
"Kitty" the Shadowcat opened her present, to find a small, plush, black cat. "Meow." Rang out, sounding suspiciously like Tabby.
"Tabitha." The young semi-delinquent opened the package, and found a pair of gloves. "Best not to leave fingerprints." Said Berserker.
"Amara." The young princess opened the package to find a book, "Technology for dummies." "Consider it ah crash course." Came Rogue's voice.
"Me?" The professor opened the package to find a bottle of car wax, doctored so the label said wheelchair. "I figured that your ride could use a little polish." Evan joked
"Rahne" The Scottish girl opened her package, to find a dog collar. "It's adjustable." Bobby called out. The Scottish girl was promptly restrained from justifiable homicide.
"Jubilee" The young girl opened the package to find a firework inside it. At Jubilee's startled exclamation, Kyle laughed, "In case you run out of juice." He explained
"Ray" The short-tempered young man opened the package to find a timer. "So we can figure out just how long it takes you to blow." Came Jean's voice.
"Kyle" the blind boy opened the package to find a book… in normal writing. "So the rest of us can read over your shoulder." Said Scott.
"Kurt." The teleporter did just that, grabbing his gift and returning. He opened the package to find a bottle of air freshener. "So we all don't have to smell it." Called out Roberto.
"Roberto." The Brazilian opened his gift, to find a pair of sunglasses. "All that sun will damage your eyes." The professor said jokingly.
After the gags, it was time for the actual gifts. The procedure was that the giver of the gift passed them out himself.
Things went smoothly, until Kyle's turn arrived. He gave out all of the gifts in his pile, and was about to seat himself, when Kitty said, "Like, what about Rogue?"
The rest of the students turned to look at her. "He, like, totally forgot Rogue."
They now turned angry glares upon Kyle, who looked at Kitty,
and shook his head. The professor opened his mouth to speak, but Kyle, guessing
that he intended to, cut him off.
"You have forced my hand early Kitty, for I am not totally sure of the success of this. But, if you wish to see, then watch carefully."
Kyle turned to Rogue, and began to speak, "Rogue, clear your mind of all thoughts." As the rest of the Students began to protest, the professor cut in telepathically; do not say a word. Kyle is taking a great risk right now, and we think that this may work.
Rogue turned questioning eyes to Kyle, who simply continued. "Concentrate, clear your mind, focus on control. Forget your surroundings, forget everything else, and just concentrate on control." Rogue, the eternal pessimist, the gothic ice queen, the literal kiss of death, decided, Why the hell not, it might just be crazy enough to work. Rogue then began to concentrate, hard.
Kyle reached forward suddenly, placing his right hand on her forehead. Everyone gasped, but the Rogue continued focusing with all her might.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kyle snapped his hand back, recognizing the electrical jolt that was the call sign of Rogue's powers. Rogue looked up at him, her eyes angry and accusing. "What are you trying to do, kill yourself?"
Scott was the first to break out of his silence. "Rogue, he was holding you for over a minute."
The goth turned to look at him, her face showing a combination of shock, hope, and doubt. "Scott, if you're lying, I'm going to kick you so hard that you and Jean won't ever have kids."
From the doorway behind her, a voice rang out.
"He ain't kiddin, Stripes."
She turned to face Wolverine, who walked into the room. "That's what that fight he and I had was about. He didn't get ya anything, yet he did for everyone else. I guess I was wrong when I said that, Grasshopper."
Kyle smirked at Wolverine, "Well, I guess I shouldn't have jumped the gun." He admitted.
The other students were watching Kyle, who could almost feel their gazes. He turned to them, and began to speak.
"I guess you would like to know how I did that?" Stunned nodding. "I was meditating one day, about the time you were starting Meditation, wondering what I could get Rogue for the Holidays. Out of all of you, she was the only one I had no clue about what to buy. Suddenly, I had what Forge would call a 'flash of inspiration.' I went to talk with the Professor about it. He called in Beast and Sensei, and after much deliberation, we decided that the idea might be psycho enough to work. I had hypothesized that Rogue's mutation might be similar to, of all people, Mystique. Now before the cries of outrage, let me explain. Mystique's power allows her to take the form of any being, correct? Now, when she is in a person's guise, she does not have their powers or skills, just their body. Rogue can drain a person's energy, powers in the case of mutants, and memories. But that doesn't explain how Rogue had the football skills she has, when no mutant she has absorbed plays football that well, and memories do not give a mastery of a skill anyways. So, I told them. 'What if we're looking at Rogue's power the wrong way. What if she actually copy's a person's abilities when she touches them.' That got me thinking, 'what about the memories, personality, and energy drain.' Then, Dr. McCoy figured out how that could be explained. To copy their abilities, Rogue's body chemistry has to be pretty flexible. A process of body chemistry forms memories. Rogue has to touch the person, because she needs the template they provide for her body to change its chemistry to match. This copying process, if indiscriminate enough, would also copy not only the person's abilities, which their body chemistry provides her a template for, but also the memories and personality embedded in their brain's chemistry. To prevent them from taking her over, her mind is shielded from them, which also explains why Jean and the Professor find her so hard to read. Now, all of this probably takes a lot of energy, so, Rogue's body worked out a clever way to avoid the massive drain. She uses the other person's energy to do all the work."
(AN: Did you catch all that? Let me simplify, he asked the professor if Rogue's mutation might not just be a different form of metamorphosis, but, instead of changing her body, it just gives her the subject's abilities. Dr. McCoy figured out the chemical stuff, saying that she has to have the other person because they provide a template to copy, and the memories, and personality-copying, come about because the mutation is indiscriminate in what chemistry in the body it copies to Rogue. Her mind is shielded naturally, to prevent the other personality from taking over (Read Self Possessed). To keep this whole process from K.O.ing Rogue, she uses the other person as a battery to do all this, as well as using them as a template.)
"Now, the four of us looked at each other, and wondered, 'this is all good, but what do we do with it?' Then, Sensei came through. He said 'Mystique controls her power through strength of will, correct.'" More stunned nods, " 'then could it be possible that Rogue's mutation could be controlled the same way, but it is so strong that it overpowers even her will.' We thought about this for a moment, and the professor acceded the possibility. I then pointed out that it takes a few seconds before Rogue's power kicks in, if she doesn't want it to. That time delay might be her trying to fight it off, and failing when it takes effect. Sensei then said that, since he was starting meditation anyways, he would have Rogue work harder at it, so that, if we turned out to be correct, she might be able to fight it off. Meditation increases the strength of one's will, as you all know. So, Rogue's extra work at meditation had a purpose. And, now that I think about it, it's actually a gift for all of us, I doubt that Rogue will be quiet as defensive when she pulls this off finally."
Kyle turns back to Rogue, "It will take time, patience, and determination, but you can do it. Just keep meditating like you have been, and you'll have it under control in next to no time."
(AN: Yes, I did just give Rogue a way to control her powers. Yes, it will be as simple as that. No, it will take many a chapter for her to master her power. Yes, Remy will have to wait a while before he can touch her without having to worry that she'll zap him by accident. No, I'm not going to change Rogue's personality too much, I think she kicks @&$ the way she is.)
After the students shook off their shock, a process which required Wolverine to begin singing 'I'm a little tea cup,' the passing of presents continued. All to soon, in her opinion, Jubilee's turn came. She began passing her presents, and finally, she reached the last one, the one she was most nervous about, the one for the person who the very thought of killed any and all forward brain function.
Bobby Drake.
She handed him the package, which he opened slowly.
Bobby took the package, using all his control not to snatch it, and began opening the package, trying not to look too eager, but failing, in his opinion. He found that the package contained a shirt, with a folded note on the top. The note had written across the front, Read in Private.
Taking the shirt, he found that, impressively, it was in his size. Opening the shirt to full, he forgot all about the size, it was just that appropriate for him.
The shirt was a pale blue, the same color as him in his Iceman form. On the front, it had printed in red letters. "If I say yes, will I get a raise in my allowance?"
Showing it to the group at large, they got a laugh from it. Bobby put the note in his pocket, intent on reading it later.
Sam's turn was next, and, as he handed Rahne her gift, he found that his palms were slightly sweaty. She opened the paper with the same vigor that dogs use with chewing it up. Inside the package, she found…
(AN: Any guesses, don't read on yet, or you'll have it spoiled for you if you wanna guess.)
A stuffed wolf, with fur the exact shade of hers in her transformed state. She smiled at Sam, and said, "I'll call him Wolfsbane Jr."
Much later that day, after much fun was had, Eggnog drunk, and Wolverine got hammered again, Bobby found himself in his room, for the first time that day, alone. He opened the note that he had received with Jubilee's gift. It read.
"Dear Bobby,
I'm not sure how to say this, but, that kiss from two weeks ago? I really liked it. In fact, it took Tabby slapping me for me to stop thinking about it long enough to talk about it. I'm not sure if you feel the same, but… I like you, there I said it!
Jubes."
Bobby re-read the letter a good twenty times, then folded it up neatly…
And fell back on his bed, half-fainted.
When Kyle, his roommate, returned to the room a good hour after these events; he thought he could hear the faint litany of "she likes me" coming from his roommate.
