Chapter Nine:
As the last light faded from the evening sky, Remy sat on the stone railing encircling one of the second floor balconies smoking a cigarette. He was holding his thinning deck of cards, but was not shuffling. Instead, he was tossing them, one at a time, out into the yard. He supposed when he ran out, he would go down and gather them up again, if only so he could come back to this same balcony and repeat the action again.
Remy never knew it was humanly possible to be this bored.
Well, I am a mutant, he thought, I'm "super human" now, no? We can achieve greater levels of boredom than normal people...
He looked at his next card curiously, and wondered how many explosions he could cause before the angry weather goddess came up to scold him.
Suddenly, from somewhere below, Remy heard the unmistakable sound of female mischief...giggling. He frowned and ducked down into the shadows as the three figures appeared on the grassy lawn.
"Oh, come on," a voice pleaded, "Just a few details?"
"Yeah," a second voice agreed, "You owe us that much..."
When the third voice laughed, Remy recognized it immediately.
"Owe you?" Rogue said, "What do you mean 'owe you'?"
Remy leaned over the edge of the balcony slightly to get a look at the three girls. Rogue was standing and grinning at her two friends with amusement. Remy could see that one of the other girls was wearing a long yellow coat, which he immediately recognized as belonging to Jubilee. He guessed the other girl must be Kitty Pryde.
"Oh, please," Jubilee replied with annoyance, "We have to listen to every little detail about you and Bobby..."
"Only after interrogations like this," Rogue said with another laugh.
"And," Kitty said, continuing Jubilee's point, "You won't give us a single hint about new Mr. Mysterious."
"I think the mystery is..." Rogue said, "That there's really nothing mysterious about him."
Still listening secretly above them, Remy frowned. Mr. Mysterious? Now, who could les trois femmes be discussing?
"Oh, really?" Kitty said, doubtfully, "And how many conversations have you actually had with him, huh?"
Rogue grinned and shook her head, "Not many, I admit, but...it's not like there's that much to him..."
"Oh, no?" Jubilee asked with a smirk, "I think I've gotta disagree with you. There seems like there might be a lot..."
"Shh..." both Kitty and Rogue said to their friend with a laugh.
"For God's sake, Jubes, there're kids around here..." Kitty said, "But, seriously, Rogue, you really don't think he's the least bit interesting?"
Rogue shrugged, "I don't know. It's not like he's got some unknown forgotten past like Logan..."
Both of her friends rolled their eyes.
"We're not talkin' about Logan tonight, girl," Jubilee said.
"Totally," Kitty agreed, "Or that's all we'll be talking about..."
"All right," Rogue said, "Fine...what do you want to know? I'm on my way to watch a movie with Bobby, so all of my answers are gonna be short answers..."
Remy, listening with the skill of a thief, leaned further out over the railing.
Jubilee gave Rogue a measuring look, and decided to start with an easy question. An effective interrogation took patience.
"How has he been doing in the Danger Room?" she asked and folded her arms.
Rogue was standing directly under one wall-mounted light as her friends lingered in the shadows. Remy grinned with amusement as they began to play good cop/bad cop.
"Fine...better than he was..." Rogue answered honestly, "That's why the Professor let him go with us to..."
"We'll come to that in a second," Kitty said with a wave of her hand, "Now, how has he been looking in the Danger Room?"
Rogue laughed, "Fine...black uniformed, like all of us."
"Uh huh," Jubilee said, "And in the few times you've spoken with him...what did you talk about?"
Rogue thought a moment.
"Chemistry," she said with a shrug.
"Oh, Rogue, how boring," Kitty said and then added in 'bad cop' fashion, "What kind of chemistry?"
"For Dr. McCoy's class..." Rogue said.
Kitty nodded, "So the boring kind...I knew it."
Jubilee also nodded, and then continued, "And on your most recent adventure, what was it like to be saved by him?"
"I wasn't saved by him..." Rogue said, "He just..."
"But he did carry you to safety?" Kitty asked with a strange sweeping gesture.
"I guess," Rogue said with a shrug, "I was pretty much out cold when..."
"But you do admit he played a crucial role in the rescuing, right?" Jubilee asked.
"Sure..." Rogue surrendered, "Whatever you say..."
"And...you do admit he is hot, right?" Kitty asked, and Rogue laughed again.
Remy was now leaning dangerously far over the edge of the balcony, supporting himself with one hand on the roof and the other hugging the railing.
"Kitty...," Rogue said but her friend pointed a comical finger at her.
"Admit it!" Kitty demanded, looking quite serious.
"We won't take 'no' for an answer..." Jubilee added with a wicked grin.
Rogue shook her head. Remy could see her white streaks moving over her darker hair.
"Well, I guess..." Rogue began, "In a way...he is...kind of...cute..."
"Ha!" Kitty and Jubilee announced at once.
Their sudden shout made Remy start with surprise...and, of course, he lost his grip on the roof. He began to topple over the railing and held onto one stone pillar desperately. He could only watch in horror as his remaining cards began to shower down toward the ground.
Kitty blinked with surprise as a playing card landed on her head. She plucked it off and stared down at the King of Hearts with confusion.
"What the f..." she began, but was cut off as Jubilee yanked her to the side. A pair of booted legs swung down from above them.
Remy was clinging to the upper balcony and heard Kitty's surprised yelp.
Merde... he thought, This is perfect...perfect end to a perfect life...
"Um...Remy?" Rogue asked, taking a few steps toward the dangling Cajun.
"I'm fine," he called to them, "Everything's under control...I just dropped some of my..."
With a few foreign profanities, Remy lost his grip and fell to the ground. Rogue jumped backward as he hit the grassy area...hard...with his head.
The girls watched with dumb shock for a moment, until the Cajun struggled comically to his feet.
"I'm fine..." he repeated, "I'm fine...sorry to frighting...um, I mean, pardon my variable rudeness..."
The three girls could only stare at Remy as he stammered. He looked shaky on his feet, and he pointed to the scattered cards around him.
"I just...lost my cards," he said and fell to the ground again. He was still conscious, but looked a little dazed.
When Remy stared up at them, he blinked slowly several times. His vision was tripled and swimmy from the fall.
"I didn't know Jamie had sisters," he mumbled through his daze, "I'm suddenly surrounded by three pairs of beautiful triplets..."
Kitty and Jubilee laughed. They walked over and helped Remy to his feet. Rogue sighed and shook her head.
My hero, she thought with a smile.
***
Author's note: A little Remy...and a little Romyness...in honor of Mardi Gras. :-)