As they followed him, they couldn't help but notice they were moving into a very different part of the city. The buildings were older, darker, and scarier looking. Almost every dwelling they past had some kind of hangings in the windows, symbols in some cases, plants in others. Finally, they made their way in front of a two story building with wrought iron columns across the front, the second floor containing a balcony. It didn't stick out right away as a store of any kind, but they could see some wares in the window.
"Daer it is. Gambit stays here." He made no attempts to apologize as he leaned against one of the columns.
"Fine. Rogue, you and I will go in and see what we can find out. The skirt can hang outside. Kitty can keep him company." Wolverine smiled as he started for the door. Gambit cut him a sidewards glance.
After Logan and Rogue disappeared into the building, Kitty moved to lean against another post behind Gambit. "Like, why didn't you want to go in there?"
"Gambit got a healt'y respect for many religions, petit. Don't mean I be comfortable round dem." He pulled out some cards and started shuffling them.
She started talking to him about everything she had seen so far, but he wasn't really listening to her. As his back was to her and his mind was preoccupied, Gambit was unaware of two young men approaching her from the street.
"Well, now, who do we have here? Aren't you a pretty t'ing" the first one said to her with a charming smile.
Kitty blushed and thanked him for the compliment.
"What be your name, little girl?" the second one asked.
Kitty giggled slightly before answering. "My friends call me Kitty."
The two boys looked at each other and started chuckling. "Kitty, eh? Dat's a funny name" came the first one's reply. The second laughed and prodded his friend with his elbow. He sneered at Kitty as he addressed her. "Meenoo, meenoo".
"Like, that's gross. Why don't you two just go off and die somewhere" she wasn't sure she understood what they said, but she didn't like the way they said it.
"Awhhh, Boudreaux, you made her mad" they both continued laughing and moving closer to her. One of them moved behind her and started grabbing strands of her hair in his hands and putting it up to his nose to smell. Kitty was thoroughly disgusted now and she shoved him away from her.
"Like, get away from me you disgusting…disgusting…swamp rats." She knew that was Remy's pet name, but she just couldn't think of anything else to call them.
"Passé!" Gambit had heard the exchange and was turning around to face the two unwelcome guests. "You two really t'ink de lady be interested in a couple of peeshwanks like you?" Gambit removed his sunshades and they were both startled by his piercing red on black eyes.
Suddenly, one of them recognized something. His eyes widened and he stepped back grabbing the other ones jacket. "Let's go" he pulled the other man with him. Gambit watched them move a block or so away, where they stopped to talk with each other for a moment. They both looked back at him and then one of them went running off in the other direction while the other just stood there watching them.
The expression on Gambit's face turned from smirk to frown as he realized he had been made. "Merde! Come, petit. Time to go." He grabbed Kitty by the arm and headed down the alley a few feet from where they were standing. The alley seemed to extend a good distance when all of the sudden they ran into a dead end.
"Merde! I don't remember dis wall here. Gambit must be slipping." He cursed himself as he turned to face the direction they had come. He could hear some men starting up the alley. "Stay behind me, Kitty" he said to the frightened girl he had dragged along with him.
"Why you dragging us way the hell down here, Pierre?" one voice called out.
"I tell you, I seen him. I seen Remy LeBeau. He went dis way" another voice answered.
"Looks like we in fo a party, petit." Gambit turned to look at Kitty, but she wasn't there. "Petit?" He turned all around looking for her. He didn't realize that she had phased into the wall to see what was in the building on the other side.
Gambit turned back to face the oncoming attackers. He couldn't see them yet, but knew they were close. He started to charge a card and gritted his teeth. Kitty phased partially back through the wall and reached out to grab Gambit's shoulders. She yanked on him, pulling him back through the wall just as the attackers were rounding the corner. Gambit gasped as he passed through the brick and mortar to rematerialize on the other side where Kitty immediately put her hand to his mouth to quiet him. They both listened carefully with their ears against the brick.
"Dead end. What the hell, Pierre? Ain't no one here!" The apparent leader of the group sounded pretty upset at being dragged all the way down a dead end alley.
"Ga lee! Dey disappear! I tell ya it was Remy LeBeau I seen." Pierre protested.
"Dumbass. Stop wasting our time and go get your eyes checked!"
From the other side of the wall, Gambit and Kitty could tell the men were leaving. They both took a deep breath. "Like, that was totally close!" Kitty whispered.
"Yeh, de almost catch us dis time. Dat some trick of yours." Gambit grinned at her.
"Oh, that's right. I've never phased you before? Wow, so you were like a virgin at phasing." She smiled wide at him.
He moved his faced to within an inch of hers and whispered, "Not no more, cher, t'anks to you." Kitty immediately lowered her eyes and blushed.
He grinned at her and then rose to a standing position. Extending his hand to assist her up, he looked around the room they were in and said "Come, petit. We take de long way back." With that, they proceeded back to the store to meet up with the rest of their team.
Back at the store, Wolverine sniffs the air to try and get an image of which direction Kitty and Remy went. "I can't pick up nothing. All those scents in that shop got my sinuses screwed."
"Yeh." Rogue answered holding a little bag of herbs.
"What did you get, anyway?" Logan curiously looked at the pouch in her hand.
"It's a gris gris bag, sugah. It's supposed to bring me luck or something" she smiled back at him.
"Give me a break. Don't tell me you're buying into all that hocus pocus like Gambit." A furrow developed between Wolverine's eyes as he looked at Rogue in disbelief.
"You forget, Logan. I grew up in Mississippi, where there are more than a few tales of the mystic." Rogue looked around the street searching for her teammates. She spotted them rounding the corner and heading for them.
As they gathered together, Kitty shared their experiences while Wolverine sneered. "Well, Gumbo, not feeling the love for you here. The woman in the shop didn't have nothing good to say about you neither." Rogue elbowed Logan and then she proceeded to tell Kitty and Gambit what they learned in the shop.
"We'll hit the cemetery where the girl was last seen tonight. Let's get back to the rooms and figure out how we're going to approach her once we find her." Wolverine commanded and started walking up the street.
"Sorry, mon ami, but de rooms are dis way." Gambit smirked and started walking in the opposite direction.
Wolverine growled and muttered something under his breath. Kitty caught the tail end of it and put her hand to her mouth as she giggled. "Like, that's not nice Wolverine."