Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth and is used with permission. Blaze, Shockwave and Iona belong to Lamby and should not be used without my permission.

Scene 07

The staff meeting between the Professor, Blaze, Storm, Cyclops and Vixen lasted a good hour. The only thing that was really decided was that they had to try and split the four girls up as much as possible, get them working in with other children in class in the hope of them forming less troublesome alliances. Convinced the four girls egged each other on, their four tutors completely understood why it was so important that they kept up their sessions as often as possible. It was the only way to show the four teenagers that the X-Men still did see them as separate people, and that they could make decisions for themselves.

"Cyclops?" Xavier called his team leader back to him as the others left the room. "There is one more thing. Samantha's father, Senator Hawley, has been on the phone again, and welcome change as it is to have a parent truly interested in what we do here, he does need setting at ease…"

"Let me guess, Professor." Cyclops grinned. "He's been talking your ear off so much even you've lost patience with him."

"Something like that." Xavier smiled knowingly. "I've arranged for him to come in and talk to you, if that's alright?"

"Of course Professor." Cyclops nodded. "Leave it with me."

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Not much later, Blaze was again avoiding unpacking, sat in the rec. room catching up on the gossip with Logan, Remy and Bobby. At least, that was how it had started, until Logan had responded to Gambit's tale of the girls at Diego's with his own story of hearing something in their room the night before. Now the conversation had descended into a battle as to who could insult Wolverine the most…

"Maybe you hit the beer too hard last night, non?" Gambit was on a roll and he knew it. "You start hearin' t'ings again, we have to cut down your drinkin' Wolverine."

"Shut it Gumbo." Logan snapped back, leaning on the window ledge with his arms folded.

"Chill Logan, Gambit's only winding you up." Bobby pointed out from his chair by the foosball table he called home.

"Easy for you to say." Wolverine commented in reply. "I know what I heard, okay? There was somethin' goin' on in that room."

"Or maybe you jus' wish there was, eh Logan? Stormin' into a dorm full of teenage girls…" Blaze and Bobby racked into hysterical laughter as Logan fought the impulse to smack Gambit's face in. "Easy, Mon Ami!" Gambit held up his hands appeasingly.

"Maybe it was a ghost or something, Logan." Bobby tried to calm the situation by changing the subject.

"You not sayin' you believe in ghosts eh Iceman? How old you t'ink you is?" Gambit grinned, rolling his eyes sceptically.

"I'm not saying I do." Bobby protested, "I'm just saying it's as good an explanation for Logan losing his marbles as any."

"I'm not losing my marbles…" Logan continued to protest, but no one was listening.

"Just 'cause you're sceptic of the year, Rem. Maybe the mansion is haunted." Blaze argued, but she was smiling.

"Hey, jus' 'cause you go in for all that meditation mumbo-jumbo Blaze." Gambit grinned.

"And you think that makes me deluded?" Blaze countered, turning to meet Gambit's eyes as he sat next to her on the big sofa.

"I'se know you deluded, Cherie, that just proves it." Blaze stuck her tongue out at Remy, flicking her curls back over her shoulder. Gambit reached across the sofa to mess up her hair, making Blaze scowl truculently.

"Would you teach me to meditate Blaze?" Bobby asked as Blaze wriggled away from Gambit to stand up energetically.

"'Course I will." She replied as Logan began his grumbling again. "Look, can we get back to the point here?"

"I thought you didn't want us to wind you up about last night?" Blaze asked him curiously, making him scowl at her.

"I only brought it up at all because Iona was there, and I thought she was supposed to be in her own dorm with the younger girls? She's your tutee Blaze, so sort it out will you?"

"And while you're at it, maybe you could ask her if she's seen Logan's ghost?" Bobby quipped comically, making Blaze and Gambit laugh again.

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"So can anybody tell me what it is a peacock is trying to say with a tail so elaborate?" Ilehana Xavier asked her class, perching on the edge of her desk, predatory eyes wandering over her pupils. With the way that the school recruited its pupils having to be so fluid, the classes weren't divided up so much on age or ability as they might be elsewhere. It certainly made teaching more interesting and challenging anyway, not that it needed to be when the classes were invariably children still learning to control their mutant powers…

"Look at me?" Sam Hawley answered, waving her hand in the air, making the rest of the class stifle their giggles. Shockwave ignored them, glowing as Ilehana nodded.

"Exactly that. And the bigger and brighter his tail is, the more peahens seem to like him." Vixen nodded to her fellow X-Man as the door opened and closed. "Perhaps Blaze can tell us why that might be the case?"

"Because," Blaze answered with a knowing grin as the class turned to look at her. "If he's going to run around looking like that much of an idiot, he's got to have something else good going for him or someone would have put him out of his misery already." Ilehana nodded, returning the smile, as Blaze turned to why she was there. "Can I steal Iona please Vixen?"

Iona suddenly squirmed in her seat as Vertigo and Wolfsbane gave her sympathetic looks. Sam just folded her arms and sulked that the attention been taken away from her answer by Blaze's. Ilehana agreed that Iona could go, and suddenly Iona realised that they were waiting for her to move.

"Sorry…"The young girl muttered as she darted past Blaze out into the corridor. The redhead sighed and reached out to put a hand on the back of her tutee's shoulder. "Not so fast, Iona. Calm down, will you?"

"Are you gonna tell me off now you're back too?" Iona asked turning to face Blaze but not meeting her teacher's eyes as she shifted the school bag on her shoulder. Blaze just shook her head.

"The Professor's much better at things like that than me." Laura smiled. "Come on, its too nice a day to be stuck inside. Lets go out to the gazebo and talk…"