Chapter Five:
As the students were gathering for dinner, Remy was stalking around the mansion in annoyance, searching desperately for another adult.
Since they had returned, the other X-Men had been busily doing whatever it was they did after a robot-fighting incident deep in the labs below the school. After Logan had finished harassing him about his bourbon, Remy had been left to his own machinations, which meant he had been bored out of his mind in less than ten minutes. He debated heading out to Rusty's or one of the other local dives, but decided the Professor and crew would probably not approve of that so soon after their little adventure.
Remy sighed unhappily as he walked around the quiet halls, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his long coat. The events of the past day or so had really not affected him in any traumatic way. He had been in life threatening situations before, and it had not been the first time he had seen someone die under gunfire. It was terrible and tragic, of course, but c'est la vie. He did hope that Toad and Rebecca had made it out alive. They had been very entertaining cellmates, even though Toad and the boy Pyro had tried to kill Remy for a few tense minutes.
Wasn't the first time someone's tried to kill you either, Gambit, eh? He thought to himself with a chuckle.
Actually, from Remy's point of view, the entire ordeal had ended on a positive note. He had 'rescued' Rogue from certain doom...well, maybe not on his own, but it had been quite sweeping and dramatic the way he had drew her into his arms, away from the dangerous mutants and off toward the jet and then down to the medical bay where he waited anxiously for word on her condition. A great moment in human chivalry, if he did say so himself.
Shame she slept through the whole thing, he thought with another sigh, sounding like the tragic hero, but smirking wickedly at his own strange humor.
Remy wandered on past the dining hall, his curious attention focused on the various (expensive-looking) paintings and artwork adorning the walls. Suddenly, he heard several voices approaching, and before he could react, someone stormed around one corner and slammed into him roughly.
The wind was knocked out of him for a moment, and Remy steadied himself against one wall. Sitting angrily on the floor in front of him was Siryn, who met his apologetic gaze with a fiery glare. Three Jamie Madroxs were standing a few paces behind her, all staring at Remy as if he had just cut the wrong wire on an active bomb.
"Pardon, ma petite," Remy said with surprise, holding out a hand to the fallen girl, "My mind was wandering and I had not heard you coming..."
Siryn shoved his hand away furiously and quickly got to her feet. The Jamies all took an anxious step sideways in unison, and all three struggled for his life not to grin.
"Aye!" Siryn said in a loud voice, "I guess you didn't! Nearly ran me and the boyos over!"
"Again, ma chere, I do apologize" Remy said with a curt bow. Siryn had her hands on her hips and continued to glare up at him. Remy himself stood just shy of six-foot-two, easily a foot taller than the Irish girl, but his height over her did not seem to intimidate her in the least.
"This is a school, ya'know," she said indigently, "You should be watchin' where you're goin', ya clumsy Cajun!"
Remy gaped down at her in surprise, "What?"
"You heard me, ya fumblin' Frenchman!" she shouted up at him, the timbre of her voice changing slightly.
"I beg your pardon," Remy said with sudden anger at her rudeness, "But you...petite...were the one who ran into me..."
If Remy had glanced over at the Jamies, he would have seen them chuckling to themselves quietly.
"Don't think you can pass off your irresponsible behavior on someone else," Siryn said loudly, causing a nearby lamp to shudder.
"I wasn't trying to..." Remy began, frowning as Siryn pointed an angry finger towards his face.
"There're decent, hard-workin' students here, just tryin' to learn at thing or two," she continued, "Maybe you'd do well to follow our example and think once and a while."
Remy was now glaring back at her with his own fury. He may have to listen to this kind of talk about irresponsibility from Storm or the Professor, but he was not about to put up with it from some punk kid with an attitude problem.
One of the Jamies began to laugh out loud, but the other two muffled him quickly.
"Now see here, little one," Remy said with a frown, his accent enhanced by his anger, "Accidental run-ins are subjects of passing care, but insults and rudeness such as such as YOURS is not generally tolerated even in the lowest of places, and I don't expect it is here. Some gentlemen of a more unstable disposition may hold a grudge against such arrogant disregard of simple decent..."
Remy was cut off suddenly as Siryn began to laugh. The vicious glare faded form her face and she grinned up at him with amusement. He blinked in confusion as the small Irish lass folded her arms casually and tilted her head.
"What?" Remy repeated his earlier question and Siryn nodded approvingly.
"I like you, Cajun," she said with a smirk, "You've got fire in your belly. Not like this boy 'ere or rock heads like Peter...none of 'em will put up a good fight with me anymore. But, there's hope for you, Gambit, my friend. Can't wait to face off in the Danger Room!"
Siryn headed past him on her way to the dining hall and the Jamies lingered a moment as Remy scratched his head in confusion.
"What the hell just happened?" he asked the boy/boys. The Jamies just grinned and shrugged, one after the other in a repetitive manner, and then walked off after his friend.
Remy shook his head and sighed before heading off to his room. On the way, he passed Kitty and Jubilee walking in the opposite direction. He nodded toward them politely, and when he was out of ear shot, they began to giggle.
"Where's Rogue?" Kitty complained unhappily, "I want to find out more about Mr. Big Easy back there..."
"Yeah," Jubilee agreed, "Why does she always get to have the crazy adventures where she's rescued by all the sexy men? It's not fair..."
"Hey!" Kitty said, "We've had adventures! Escaping from the mansion and whatever. At least you got rescued by Kurt...he's sweet. But, totally all about Ms. Monroe..."
Jubilee giggled, "No kidding. Well, we have some boys our age in the mansion still...don't we?"
The girl reached the dining hall and opened the door to the quietly growing chaos within.
Siryn was busily shouting at Peter for something as he ignored her with practiced skill. (Kitty and Jubilee had a secret bet about how long it would take them to figure out they actually liked each other.)
Blink was drawing annoyed complaints from the other students as he channel surfed too quickly for anyone else to see. (And, he wondered why he needed glasses...)
Artie and another student had apparently dared each other to eat hot sauce directly from the packets marked "fire" and were desperately reaching for any liquid they could find to drink. (This happened every taco night...)
A relatively new student named Evan had literally speared another student's baggy jeans to the floor and was now quickly apologizing as he tried to yank the strange spike out of the floor. (Which had incredibly formed out of Evan's hand...)
Kitty and Jubilee exchange annoyed glances and both sighed.
"Once Rogue is better...we totally need a girl's night out of here..." Jubilee said.
"Totally..." Kitty agreed.
***
Author's note: I'm overwhelmed by all the responses I'm getting for this book! :-) Thanks everybody so much. The first four books are turning out to be like one long first episode. (I can't type the p-word, you know, the guys who fly planes, because my MS word errors every time. Does this happen to anyone else? lol)
Review responses: (If I miss anyone, shoot me in the foot and then just raise your hand so I know who you are.)
To lil_sis: FU (fun update) just for you. Now stop bugging me!
To Jojo: Thanks for the review! The Jean issue is still a question...right now, I'm leaving the end of X2 as it stands, but...she is definitely still a lingering presence... :-)
To ManniElf18: Taco night has only JUST BEGUN! Though I may need a chicken cheese steak night quickly since that bird flu is wiping out chickens all over the Northeast. 8-/ Yikes...
To katy: Thank you for the review! The stranger is a character from a Stephen King miniseries on TV called Storm of the Century. Long movie, and the bad guy is f-ing creepy but I can NEVER remember his name! Oh well...
To DemonRogue13: first four books are turning out to be like one long pi.
s he tried to yank the strange e packets marked " to see. put up witThanks for the reviews! I like to think I do have a secret underground lair. Problem is, everyone knows about it so it's not really a secret and it can't really be called a lair because it has a deck, and it's on the third story so not really underground....oh well...
To The Fire Dancer: Little bit of Toad in chapter...little bit of Remy in another...suddenly the world is good! :-) But no possible romances will be rushed! I enjoy the awkwardness WAY too much. Let's let everybody get to know each other a little bit first. Of course, that may deter certain relationships, BUT there is the whole Kurt/Storm issue to address in the meantime....Hmm....
To Xany Kaos: Toad-age! I need a t-shirt that says that! And when the twin's uncle appears, there may be a little of Magneto's background to go into. :-)
To hot-pepper96: Yes, I am quite fond of Toad (Toad fans = few but proud!). I think he needs some friends. The problem is...is he ready for friends. Kind of a loner personality but he does seek attention and acceptance from others, which is why he bonded to Magneto and his cause. (ah! down, psychology, down!)
To Kernl Toad Sanderz: Sorry for the cliffhangers. I really need to start putting up caution signs. I haven't really tried my own character yet. The Malloy twins and their uncle are just kind of twists on existing character from other movies. Besides, I needed somebody's house to be eaten by the robot, why not theirs? Plus wanted more Stephen King and Buffy tie-ins... will prove interesting later on....(cue evil laughter here)
To Arain Rowan: Sarcasm is my guide through life. I didn't become cynical until I started framing at the mall again and realized how many fist fights occur between grown men over underdone hamburgers (true life story...my store is next to a burger place...). Glad you're back! But should I have the first aid kit ready just in case of future, um...unconsciousnesses? :-)
On to Chapter 6....