"Well, I must admit, tha' was a bit freaky."
- Rahne Sinclair
Turn Smile Shift Repeat
A/N: WooT! You guys rock! Soo many reviews, and I didn't even plaster ROMY! ROMY! ROMY! all over the summary! ^^; About all of you noted the lack of good New Recruits characterization, whether it be canon or on this very site. Yeah, that fact makes me sad too – but if you guys are up to a long fic and loooots of NR angsting/characterization, I highly suggest you read some of Scribbler's work. Hot DAMN her stuff is good. Her story 'Tapestry' is SCARY good, and is in the Favorite Stories section of my profile. Thanks, and let them eat cake!
~*~Reviewer Response~*~
Maxine-chan – Woo hoo! You're the first reviewer! That means you get…err, more cake! A broke authoress has got to improvise from time to time. Anyways, thanks very much for the review!
PomegranateQueen – Yeah, they meet everybody in this chapter. ^^ Fwee hee! FUN!!!
Risty – Hooray for Roberto! In fact, hooray for all of the hot cartoon characters in this show! I don't CARE if its weird to think a cartoon character is hot, HE IS!!! Oh…and hooray for the pixie sticks I downed to get into a hyper mood!! If not for them, I would never have posted up this chapter this soon!
mendari – Out of curiosity, if Berto's your 2nd, then who's your 1st? Myself, I can't pick a favorite. Though I do have these 'moods' I get into by weeks. Last week, it was the Boomster, and this week I was in a Ray mood. You can't tell in Chapter 1, because I tried to keep it as unbiased as possible. Oh, and a JUBBY fan! I FOUND ONE OF YOU!!!
Caliente – Sigh. I am such an idiot. I can't believe I FORGOT that – and my friend reminded me about that last week too! Well, thanks for clearing up my blunder; I promise I won't do it again. And yes, I know Roberto is from Brazil. I kind of…wrote that. o.O? It's just, I mixed up the languages. *thwaps self* Mrr!
Dark Jaded Rose - Glad ya like it. The lack of New Recruit stories? – sooo true. Which is why I'm writing this fic. Thanks for reviewing!
animeluvr1 – Heheheheheh… mebbe I should've warned you guys about this sooner, but... I'm a scarily huge Kurt/Kitty shipper. So beware. Along with all the Jubby (tee hee! I love that name!)/Sam x Rahne/Pietro x his sexy self/etc. No worries – this is continuing, for sure.
rain – DOOD! You think Roberto's a stud too?! WE SHOULD FORM A CLUB, GUYS! Seriously! It'll be called 'Roberto Is a Sexeh Stud Along With Other Evo Guys' Club! We'll have meetings discussing how inexplicably sexeh Roberto is. Although…oh no… it might clash with my 'Elijah Wood Is a Sexpot' Club and 'Pietro is a sexy, fruity little boy' meetings. Dear me.
Camille – Wow! Somebody out there actually appreciates and LIKES my sense of humor!!! IN YO FACE, people! WOOT!
Zoken – One other one like this…? *gets her lawyer just in case* You can never be too careful.
cxigner – And I just love how fics unite people with similar favored couplings. Mwee hee… WOOT for Ray/Tabitha-ness!
SkyDancerHawk – New Mutants fics rock, dood. I wish people would realize that and stop with all the OC/Mary Sue madness and write stuff with New Recruits more! Thanks for reviewing.
The Rogue Witch – Oooh, I know! He looked all half-asleep and stuff, but he was STILL sizzling. With rain out. Hmm… I know there's a pun in there somewhere… I find that he's sexiest when the sun is out, and he's all black and orange-y and his face makes him look like a mad scientist. Yum.
Ima Super Mute Ant – Hahahahahah. … … … … ahahahahhahahahhahahahaha. I'm sorry, it's just… I lurb your name so very much. *resumes cracking up*
Raskolian Phoenix – Man, if I had a nickel for every time I've ever asked that, I'd have… well, a heckuvalotta nickels. Yeeeep. And about the Amara/Rahne conflict – well, that was just a small thing, Amara will be getting into fights with just about everybody, but I envision Amara to have the most scuffles with Jubilee. (Rant time!: I absolutely HATED Amara in 'Walk On The Wild Side'. She was being whiny, but not bratty whiny, just 'aww man I can't do it' passive whiny, she wore far too much make-up, and just generally was very different from the Amara I envisioned through many official bios and stuff claiming that Amara was a bratty, stuck up princess. I was looking FORWARD to that Amara! And what did we get?! A relatively nice, whiny, unmotivated girl that looks too much like X23 and Amanda but with an overload of make up who tags along with Tabitha as her lesbian lover! …and where in that rant did I start to go horribly off topic? Anyways, Amara grows on you over time, especially after you watch 'Cruise Control'. But I will always lament the loss of a canon, bratty, absolute b!tchy Evolution Amara Aquilla.)
The Resident Psychopath - …I seem to have run out of things to say after that mammoth space-eating rant above. Thanks for the review, of course. Bananas are good. Meep.
Starfire – Yeah, people have been pointing that out to me. (Wee! Smart Poptart! Everybody loves to point out her stupidity! Yeah! Hahah! She's so dumb! …wait a second…) Thanks for duuuurh review. Heh. Heheh. *twitch* o_O;;
"A gunshot rings out at the station
Another urchin snaps and left dead on his own
It makes me wonder why I'm still here
For some strange reasons its now feeling like my home
And I'm never gonna let go"
- Green Day (Dookie) … "Welcome To Paradise"
Chapter 2: Welcome To Paradise
Rahne ran into her room and quickly slammed the door. She leaned against it, looking around at her surroundings, with a wolfish (A/N: PUNPUNPUNPUNPUN) grin etched on her face. She was unbelievably glad that she didn't have to share with any of the other girls. Not that she didn't like Jubilee or – Amara, Rahne thought wryly, or Tabitha, but she had always loved having her own space. Now, looking around at the room that had been her own for two days now, she felt a reinvigorated sense of possessiveness and territory. The walls were painted a deep, forest green – her favorite color.
I wonder how the professor knew. Rahne thought, before immediately mentally hitting herself. Well, he was psychic. A-duh. She shrugged and happily bounced onto the bed, the soft covers enveloping her.
It's a bit drafty up in here. With that thought in mind, she leaned forward on her knees and pushed open the window. A cool, refreshing breeze flew in and ruffled Rahne's wild reddish hair. It might've been considered chilly by others, but she had always loved the feeling of crisp, sharp wind hitting her face. The pangs of homesickness returned, but she quickly thrust them aside, angry tears swiftly pouring out. She fell back to her bed again, straggling for time before she had to go downstairs and meet the entire household. Rahne hugged the pillow to her and curled up in fetal position.
I never want to go back to that awful place again. Never again.
-----
"Awesome!" Bobby stressed on the word as he kicked the door open. Unfortunately, it banged onto Sam's face as he walked in, and the boy groaned and rubbed his head.
"Oops, sorry buddy," Bobby said without much conviction, still taking in his new room.
"It's alrigh', I'm used to it with my power." Sam said heartily, but Bobby wasn't quite listening. He raced over to the bed next to the window and heaved his bags on top of it.
"Man, I never got a room to myself back in Boston. I always had to share it with my twerp brother…" Bobby said delightedly. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Eh… Ah'm sorrah if yeh got the wrong impression, but I'm bunking with yeh, buddy." Bobby whirled his head around and stared at Sam as if seeing him for the first time.
"You?" Bobby said dubiously. Sam's face turned red with embarrassment, but his voice didn't waver.
"Yeah. Meh." said Sam with a bit of defiance. Suddenly, the door burst open again, revealing a beaming 12-year old visibly vibrating by himself from some invisible force – or perhaps caffeine.
"Hey guys! Miss Munroe is really really nice, did you know? She gave me some sugar cookies and a band aid after Rahne slammed the door on my finger which she didn't know but that's okay she's still nice and I'm really not supposed to have sugar but I didn't tell Miss Munroe that and it looks like I'm your new room mate!" Jamie finished breathlessly, positively beaming at the two of them. Sam was standing, merely stared in a kind of dead stupor at the boy, while Bobby merely sank into his bed, put his head down to his hands, and sighed in defeat. Jamie looked around at the room.
"Hey, there's only two beds!"
-----
Ray walked into his room, and promptly groaned. There he was, sitting on a chair looking out the window, looking all moody and shit. Ray couldn't fathom why he didn't like Roberto much – one could call it instinct, but Ray wasn't that type of person, he just impulsively decided if a person was good or not. It might've been because Ray was jealous of Roberto and his natural good looks that had obviously hooked in Tabitha, the bombshell of the girls, but Ray was far too proud and stubborn to admit that to anyone.
Ray looked around, and found that both beds were still unclaimed, as Roberto had remained in that chair the whole time, with his sparse luggage nestled by his foot.
"Hey, Enrique – I'm taking this bed." Ray said in a louder-than-necessary voice. "Hear me? NO SPEAKY ENGLISH?" Slowly, very slowly, did Roberto turn around and stared unblinkingly at Ray for the longest tiem. Unnerved, Ray turned away to start unpacking, grumbling about nothing in particular.
But, Ray thought, on the bright side, this room is a hell of a lot more comfortable to sleep in than a sewer. Even with Ricky Martin over here. With that thought, Ray was more enthusiastic and less grumpy. And Ray wasn't even the type of guy to look on the bright side. Especially since he went for months without seeing it. Though that trend would probably be broken now that he was living in Xavier's little mansion…
-----
Amara marched into the room like she owned it, while Jubilee stepped in after her, previous tantrum symptoms having all gone. Tabitha sauntered in as well and leaned against the wall by the door, her eyes on the princess who was eyeing the room with apparent distaste. Her petite nose sniffed, and she immediately recoiled.
"Ugh, what is that awful smell?" she exclaimed. Tabitha strode over right next to her and made a little pose, jutting out her hip. "It's my new perfume. Like it? I stole it from the red head's dresser."
Jubilee arched an eyebrow. "You stole it from Rahne?" Tabitha shook her head.
"The Scot chick? Naw, not her. I guess you guys haven't met her yet – but you will, soon enough." Tabitha said with a wry, sadistic grin. "Jean Grey. Possibly the most annoying, bossy, prissy little Miss Perfect you'll ever meet in this hole."
Students, please gather downstairs now to meet your new housemates.
"ACH!" Jubilee jumped in surprise, while Amara, in a more eloquent fashion, widened her eyes and put a hand over her chest. They could tell the others had a similar reaction, because next door, they heard a bump against the wall and a heated swear that couldn't be anyone but Ray, while across the hall they heard multiple (A/N: PUNPUNPUNPUNPUN) screams and shrieks and lots of people running into each other headfirst.
"You know, I swear, I think that guy gets a kick out of doing that to us without warning." Tabitha said unperturbedly, walking out of the room. Jubilee shook her head and was about to follow her when Amara's voice halted her.
"Excuse me, but I think you've forgotten something." Amara pointed at her pile of bags that were scrunched together on the bed, some slipping off to the edge. "When I get back, please have those unpacked neatly in the dresser, with the socks and lingerie on top."
Jubilee laughed hollowly. "Ha, ha, ha. No, I don't think so." Her tone was unmistakably sarcastic.
Amara sniffed. "I told you to do it, so now you're supposed to do it. I am royalty, and I won't be back sassed by a lowly commoner!" She snapped. Jubilee's eye twitched.
"Here's an idea," Jubilee said in a dangerous low voice, "you can do it yourself, and I'll try to hold back from hitting you. Very hard."
"This whole house is impossible! Who is going to serve me!?" Amara shrieked. "I won't have any more of these threats!" With that, she burst into flame, surprising Jubilee so much she fell back on her hiney. But the fact that she was prepared to duel a person with an abnormally high body temperature made out of fire didn't seem to ruffle Jubilee the slightest. She merely lifted a hand, which crackled with strange, colorful sparks of electricity, or energy, or something of the like. Amara didn't quite care. She tossed a boll of fire at the small Oriental girl, who ducked and held her hands out in front of her, shooting colorful fire crackers of sorts at the flaming heap that was Princess Amara Aquilla. These plasmoids that Jubilee liked to call 'firecrackers' could cause serious damage at times, but if you're attacking a human body made of lava and ash that would probably only absorb them, that was not one of those times. Amara rolled her eyes, and threw three fire balls at once. Jubilee emitted an 'eep' and it looked as if she was about to be carted off to the infirmary in pieces, but, surprising Amara, did a clean back flip and narrowly avoided the three balls of fire that exploded at the ground where Jubilee's feet were moments before. The floor crumbled, leaving an open space between the two floors. A lengthy silence pursued, followed by low growl. "Charlie, we have a bit of a problem upstairs." Logan's voice, even more audible by the acoustics of the bathroom, rose up to reach Jubilee's and Amara's ears. Jubilee blanched, while Amara quickly resumed her normal state, looking apprehensive. There was the noise of someone crinkling the newspaper, followed by the sound of Logan zipping up his zipper. But by that time, both girls had already run out of the room.
-----
Bobby was currently curled up into a ball and rocking back and forth creepily on his bed. He had a wild, insane look in his eyes which were darting this way and that, and was humming a little ditty he had come up with on the stop. Sam was standing, unsure what to do, while Jamie bounced around him in circles like an overgrown rabbit.
"Hey Sam can I call you Big Bro I never had a Big Bro before it'll be GREAT Heehee!"
"Walls…closing in…on me… room… getting smaller… smaller… smaaaaallerrrrr…."
Sam had never been in a situation like this before (you know, the kind where you have a hyperactive sugar-high 12-year old and a twitchy guy sucking his thumb on his bed. Yeah, that one) so he decided to use his age old adage that he had just come up with in the past hour of slightly getting to know his housemates: What Would a Cool, Hip, Urban Guy Like Ray Do? – shortened to WWCHUGLRD. This is quite funny, because if you stare at that mnemonic long enough, it kind of looks like its saying CHUG LARD with two extra Ws out of arbitrariness. But enough of that. Sam decided a cool, hip, urban guy like Ray would just walk out the room and shut the door. So he did, but his conscience still felt guilty, bless his sweet, shy Southern heart. Immediately upon shutting the door, he turned around and promptly bumped into the resident Scot, Rahne Sinclair.
"Oh! Uhh, hah, Rahne. Sorrah abou' that." Sam was saying hello to Rahne in Southernese. Yes, I know it LOOKS like Hah, but it really isn't. And plus, Southernese is more fun to write than 'his Southern twang'. What's that? I misspelled hah? Oh, go read a Rogue angst story, you, and leave me be!
The redhead seemed a bit preoccupied, and blinked when Sam spoke, her eyes coming into focus.
"Oh! Hi. Emm…"
"Guthrie. Sam Guthrie." Sam said, still hung up on his WWCHUGLRD axiom. Rahne, who had never seen any of the James Bond movies and hadn't talked to Ray yet, blinked again in a confused manner, but shrugged it off. "Of course, Sam. Sorry about tha'. I wasn't really watching where I was going, y'see." said Rahne, with her Scottish accent. Sam laughed half-heartedly.
"Yeah, well, ah do it all the time." Rahne smiled at that, and they began walking together through the hall. We must look pretty funny, Sam thought. Me, being a 6 foot giant and her head coming up at my shoulders. But Rahne interrupted this train of thought to make companionable conversation.
"Don't ye have roommates?" She asked curiously, casting an inquisitive look back at the door Sam had come out of. "Why aren't they walking with us?" Sam wondered how to answer that.
"Uhh… well, right now, Jamie's probably bouncin' off the walls from all the sugah, and Bobby is creeped out from the mind talkin' thing, so he's stayin' in 'is room in a little ball." Sam didn't realize how funny that sentence sounded. He and Rahne looked at each other, and burst into laughter.
"Well, I must admit, tha' was a bit freaky." Rahne said, her accent twisting the word 'freaky'. They turned a corner and had reached the stairs. At the mouth, most of the people had already gathered. "He didn' even tell us it was him! I thought I was going crazy…"
"You're not alone." Sam offered a grin, and Rahne grinned back.
-----
"Hello again, students. I apologize for any shock I caused you; I did not intend to startle you so. With that said, I implore, where is Bobby, Jubilee, and Jamie?" The professor asked, his eyes scanning the crowd of straggling teenagers around him. Sam shuffled his feet.
"Err, they're still in their room, sir. Jamie had some sugah, and Bobby is…having a nervous breakdown." Sam finished flatly, unable to find any other way to word it. This received some titters, while Ororo looked slightly alarmed, for once.
"I asked him if he was allowed to eat sugar in the evening at home, he didn't tell me!" Ororo said with a little moan. She quickly, but still gracefully, pushed past the young mutants and swiftly made her way up the stairs and out of sight. The question of Jubilee's absence, however, still lingered, but not for long. Amara cleared her throat.
"I can answer for the girl named Jubilation's disappearance. Earlier, the girl was being insubordinate with me, and we were in a tiny scuffle. That man should know what I'm talking about." Amara pointed at Logan, who grunted with an annoyed look. Amara continued, "Well, obviously, as the guilty all do, she fled from the room and took off to outside. I wouldn't know what direction, as I remained here as an innocent bystander." Scott widened his eyes (even though you can't tell, but whatever) and stepped forward, assuming 'caring, fearless leader' position and kind of posing, but unintentionally, of course.
"We have to find her, Professor!"
"I know, Scott. Logan?"
"On it." Logan said gruffly, striding out through the front doors. The professor sighed, and turned back to his increasingly restless students. "Well, this has grown to be quite a hassle. Perhaps it would be better to introduce you all to each other tomorrow."
-----
Man, I forgot how uncomfortable these benches are. Jubilee thought to herself, shifting edgily in her seat. It was ironic, sort of, how familiar this scenario was. The circumstances were pretty much the same, except for what she was running away from. The first time had been from the mall security, the second time, from the juvenile center. This time, she was running away from paradise. But what choice did she have? She moved her legs out from under her and let them swing freely. Sighing, she bent her head down, letting the curtain of dark hair swing out in front to hide her face. They would've kicked her out anyways, for that… she just made their job easier. This was what she was trying to convince herself, but being out in the street in the dark that was quickly getting darker alone, it was with great effort she didn't stand up and go right back. Jubilee had only slept out in the streets twice… then she had found the great and mighty haven that was known as a mall.
The wind blew extra hard, and Jubilee shivered, trying to collect as much warmth as her yellow shirt would offer her. She wondered miserably what she could do; where could she go. The only reason she was sitting at the bus stop was for the sake of looking like she was waiting for something, rather than wandering about the streets looking like an ickle lost orphan, which if she did, someone would see her and send for the police straightaway. Then, she'd be right back where she started. With a start, she jumped up, realizing something: she'd left her bag back there! Everything that was important to her, was in that bag… she slumped back down, feeling twice as depressed.
A jacket fell around her shoulders. Alarmed, Jubilee looked up, prepared to kick, punch, and bite – and there was Logan. She looked down ashamedly.
"I'm sorry. I'll pay back for it, I swear. I – I don't have the money, but I'll work it off."
Logan looked slightly amused. "You can bet you will, kid. But we'll have to get you home first."
"You mean…you're not going to ship me back to the Juvenile Hall?" Panic struck into Jubilee's heart. What if, to save the trouble, they sent her off to a New York orphanage rather than the Los Angeles County Juvenile Hall? At least she knew her way around Los Angeles, plus at the very least, it was never very cold, unlike New York. What if New York was creepier than Los Angeles at night? Though Jubilee found that hard to imagine… Logan gave her a funny look.
"Why would we? The Professor's already been looking for foster families."
"He's looking for…what?" She looked up quickly, and immediately flinched, having strained a muscle.
"Yeah. And one that lives here in New York, so you can go home with them on holidays if you want to." Logan paused, and looked grumpy. "Are you moving or not? Because, if you haven't noticed Firecracker, it's getting pretty damn cold out here."
Jubilee gave a sniff that was uncannily similar to Amara's, and grinned. "Then you shouldn't have given me your jacket, you big lug."
Fun Fact: Haruka (Sailor Uranus in the Sailor Moon anime)'s dubbed English name is Amara. She and Michiru (Sailor Neptune, dubbed Michelle in the English version) are lesbian lovers. WOW! 'Amara' must be like, a universal lesbian name or something! I'm pretty sure Pyro/Amara fans are going to flame me now (Fweh heh, PUNPUNPUNPUNPUNPUN) but what can I say? I have a friend who's a huge slash fan. She is in love with Lance/Pietro, Scott/Kurt, Bobby/Sam; the works, not to mention Tabitha/Amara. So she was bound to brainwash me with her slash ways. So… what was the whole point of that rant? Oh yes. NYAHH!
2nd Fun Fact: You might've noticed, but the first part of this chapter was a bit serious, and then abruptly it turned random, strange, and stupid. That would be the pixie sticks' fault. BLAME THE PIXIE STIX!!!
A/N: I couldn't resist putting in a Wolverine/Jubilee moment. You know what's the best picture? This one: h ttp : // www. wolverineandjubilee. com/gallery/duo/Pages/Image2. html (Delete the spaces) Isn't it so sweet?? Moving on… I have a dilemma… should I keep this at PG or move it up to PG-13? Because, as you noticed, Ray has some naughty language, and I'm not sure whether to just keep on mildly censoring or give up and move the rating up.
Upcoming Chapter 3: I'm Blue, Da Bee Da Do. (Hmmm, I wonder what that chapter's about…)