DISCLAIMER: X-Men: Evo belongs to Warner Bros. And Marvel Comics. I have never, and shall never own them, no matter how much I may want to. I've simply warped them to fit my own twisted mind. However, this fic and any original work herein is officially mine, and anyone trying to steal it will find out how painful a weapon a computer mouse can when used by someone with imagination.
WARNINGS: This is an AU (Alternative Universe) fic. Everything has been transplanted into a fantasy universe of my creation. Inspirations, despite what you might initially think, aren't actually from a certain Peter-Jackson-esque film project, since I started work on this before I ever *saw* those movies. Influences rather include InterNutter's spiffy fic 'Mein Teuful' (if you haven't yet read this then go do it *now*!) and various other sources I'll explain later.
CODES:
Hello = Narration
~ Hello ~ = Thought
"Hello" = Character Speaking
*Hello* = Bold
//Hello// = Psychic communication
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Argh! Exams. I hate exams. But they're over now, so here's a new chapter for y'all. Now all I have to deal with are the results. Which are perhaps worse than the actual exams themselves.
As per usual, all reviews and comments are appreciated more than you could imagine. Please take pity on me and drop me a line if you like the new chappie. Drop me a line if you don't, too. Just remember that flamers will be ignored for the idiotic fools they are, and though the heating in my room is broken until further notice I won't stoop to using flame-mail to keep warm. And yes, I know the title of this instalment is clichéd, but I couldn't think of anything better. If you want interesting chapter titles then see Idiot nr. 72056.
May cause drowsiness and irritability.
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'Of Beast And Blade' By Scribbler
Chapter Nine ~ 'Getting to Know You'
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'You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.' -- Brian Tracy
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"Just hold still, will ya."
"I can't help it. It hurts!"
"Well, it'd hurt a lot less it you'd just quit wriggling."
Jubilee tugged gently with a hairbrush at the snarled mess that crowned Kitty's head, eliciting another cry of pain.
"Yowch! What's that thing made of, hedgehog spines?"
"Sorry. It's just that your hair...." Jubilee waved one hand at the chaos of knots and impenetrable tangles. Kitty reached up one tentative hand and rubbed at her skull.
"Yeah, but do you have to, like, scalp me?"
The oriental girl sank back onto her heels where she was kneeling and crossed her arms, tapping her chin in thought.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if we just cut it all off."
Kitty whipped round to face her, clamping both hands down over her head in protest. "You are totally *not* cutting off my hair! No *way* am I gonna, like, sport the bald look."
"Why not?" Jubilee shot back. "You've already started by the looks of things." She gestured at the hairless spot where part of the Changeling's brown tresses had been burned off. Kitty scowled.
"That's different!"
The two girls were sat on a low bed in a small, modest room that branched off from the main Temple Infirmary. The resident physician had been so preoccupied with Rogue when Kitty was brought in, that she'd been treated rapidly for her exhaustion and quickly given over to the care of a girl who just happened to be waking by at the time. Hence, Jubilee now found herself faced with the somewhat daunting task of untangling the peasant-girl's hair in an effort to clean her up. Unfortunately, not being one of the most patient people on the planet, she found it difficult to deal with Kitty's trademark copious complaining and steady stream of verbal objections.
"Well if you don't wanna lose your hair, then stop pulling away when I'm trying to brush it!" she snapped, meeting Kitty's glare with equal distaste.
Kitty pulled the blanket she'd been wrapped in further around her shoulders. It was warmer than any clothing she'd ever worn, and the tonic she'd been given to ease her fatigue had educed a glowy, relaxed feeling throughout her body. She was certain it had been spelled in some way, but had been too drained to dispute when given it. She would have been very content were it not for several irksome factors. One being the absence of Kurt, and the other, Jubilee's none-too-gentle hair-brushing.
"I can, like, brush my hair myself, you know," she pointed out.
"No you can't. I was told to do this, so I'm going to do it. Now turn around and let me finish."
Kitty sighed, but did as she was told. Good as the medicine had been, she still felt rather tired, and hadn't the energy to get into a real argument yet.
Jubilee resumed her brushing, albeit taking pains not to be too rough this time. A sadist she wasn't.
They sat this way for several minutes; the only sound in the diminutive room being the 'shush' of extricated hair passing though bristles. There were no windows, owing to the fact that the room was in the centre of the building, which made it very warm in wintertime, but left the view as something to be desired. Kitty sat on the edge of the bed in front of Jubilee, legs hanging over the side, and was rendered having to study her bare foot by way of entertainment. She idly rotated her ankle backwards and forwards in an attempt to amuse herself and distract her errant tongue.
The silence was abruptly broken when Kitty piped up, and Jubilee rolled her brown eyes, expecting another bout of whinging. However, she was pleasantly surprised when the other girl asked in a perfectly civil tone, "So, like, where's Kurt, anyway?"
"Kurt?"
"Yeah. You know, the guy I arrived with. About yea tall, blue fur, long tail - kinda hard to miss."
"You'd be surprised in a place like this," Jubilee returned, but before Kitty could ask what this implied, she went on, "He went with one of the other underlings to get cleaned up."
"Oh." Kitty couldn't think what else to say. That question had been her only flash of inspiration, and she rotated her ankle again in the hope of achieving some more.
If there was one thing Kitty hated, it was silence. When she'd lived alone, she'd often talked to herself just to fill the empty air, and had long intellectual conversations with her id. Since joining with Kurt and Rogue, she'd dispensed with this ritual, but her love of conversation hadn't abated one iota.
The roots of her hair twanged again, and she winced, but kept her mouth closed. What to say? What to say? Thousands of questions whirled around inside her skull, but none found their way to her lips. Besides, some of them she couldn't imagine asking a strange girl she hardly knew, despite how accommodating - if slightly grouchy - she was being.
"So, you're name's, like, Jubilee then?" she asked, grasping at conversational straws. Jubilee was what some of the people in the courtyard had called her, wasn't it? Strange name.
"Yeah."
"Short for anything?"
"Jubilation. So you can see why I changed it."
Kitty shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's kinda nice. Celebratory. Much better than Katherine."
"Your name's Katherine?"
"Technically, but everyone just calls me Kitty. Except for Kurt, who keeps saying Germanic stuff I, like, totally don't understand; and Rogue, who seems to prefer 'Shrimp'."
"This 'Rogue' person likes seafood?" Jubilee's voice held a hint of puzzlement, both at the individual referred to and the seemingly random comment itself.
"No, no, that's what she calls me - amongst other things. None of them, like, pleasant." Kitty abruptly caught hold of part of Jubilee's puzzlement and proceeded to swiftly elucidate. "Rogue's, like, the other girl I arrived with. The one who's really sick."
"Oh, right." A pause, as if she was contemplating whether to ask her next question. "Mind if I ask why she's so ill?"
"Um...." Kitty hesitated for a second, wondering how much information to reveal. She chose her next words carefully, unwilling to fully explain Rogue's predicament lest her wayward tongue bring down more problems for the ex-assassin. And herself and Kurt for that matter.
~How, like, weird,~ she mused. ~Not so long ago I would've been, like, totally itching to get Rogue into trouble any way I, like, could. But now....~
"She was.... poisoned. By an animal we ran into."
"An animal? Must've been real nasty to lay her up so bad," Jubilee said almost jovially, her natural buoyancy returning. Apparently she hadn't picked up on the irresolute edge to Kitty's voice - a fact the brown haired girl was eternally grateful for.
"Nasty. Yeah," she agreed. "It almost killed me and Kurt, but Rogue, she.... she, like.... saved us."
"You sound surprised." Jubilee separated another untangled lock and starting on a fresh patch of hair.
"And well I might," Kitty replied, half to herself. "We're, like, not exactly - as Kurt would put it - welcome travelling companions. Half the time, I think Rogue just puts up with us. The other half, she's plotting our violent and untimely demises."
Jubilee laughed good-naturedly, not sensing the truth beneath Kitty's idle remark. "She sounds like quite a character. I'd like to meet her sometime."
~If she wakes up.~ The thought pierced Kitty's mind without warning. ~Shut up, brain!~ she mentally retaliated. ~Of course she's gonna wake up!~
"You probably wouldn't," Kitty stared at the floor, continuing in more civil tones. "She's had a.... different upbringing to most people. Her social skills aren't really, like, up to much. She doesn't interact very well, and she definitely does *not* like meeting new people, believe me."
"Riiiight," Jubilee drawled, though it was clear she wasn't really listening. A strand of particularly knotted hair had snared her complete attention, and she focused hard on it until the backs of her eyeballs began to ache with the effort. Bits of powdered soil and leaves tumbled onto the bed sheets as she carefully worked to find order amongst the chaos.
"You are so gonna need a bath after this," she pronounced. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're filthy."
"A bath...." Kitty trailed off, remembering how a simple, inconsequential wash in the river had started this whole horrible business. All she'd wanted was a quick clean up, but the Silver Sword had to ruin even that simple pleasure. If it hadn't been for Kurt getting her out of the water in time....
The grateful thought abruptly snapped off, another, sharper one taking its place.
~I never did ask Kurt what he was doing there on the riverbank, did I?~
"So, what exactly *is* this place? Some kind of cult?" she asked, distracting herself. No point in berating Kurt when he wasn't even there. "If so, then your uniforms are like, totally gaudy."
"I suppose you could call us a cult," Jubilee replied, "Of a sort. We're a temple actually. But I agree with you about the robes. Pink's not really my colour, but you get used to it after a while. Don't ask me why they chose pink, because I don't know. I'm just a lowly Underling."
"Underling?"
"Yeah, Underling. It means I'm still at the basic level around here. I'm not a visitor, I'm a Resident since I live her permanently, but I haven't yet undergone the tests and divine rituals to progress to the second level of Residents - Initiates."
"Initiates?"
"Uh-huh. They're kinda like over-seers of Underlings and visitors. The next step up from that is Acolyte to a Senior-Initiate, and after that.... well, you can't really get much higher unless you become the Temple Mother."
"Sounds complicated," Kitty mused.
"Not really. No more than class-systems in towns, only we don't like the prejudice that always seems to accompany that. The way I understand it, everybody's equal, but with seniority comes more responsibility. That's what the names imply. Initiates are those who've mastered their powers enough to train Underlings who haven't. Simple, huh?"
"Not really," Kitty answered. "So, let me get this straight. Everybody here is a *Changeling*? I thought Changelings hadn't started appearing until recently."
Jubilee gave a short, not unkind laugh. "Well you're wrong on two accounts. Firstly, not *everybody* here is a Changeling. There are other races and people who live here too, it's just that Changeling's are the majority. And secondly, Changeling's have been appearing for *years* now. It's just that the number of us has increased dramatically recently. I don't know why. It's some big mystery the temple-elders don't like to talk about. As a rule, many seem to end up at here, where they're looked after and trained how to use their abilities safely."
"Can I ask just one more question?" Kitty ventured.
"Sure. Fire away."
"How the heck do you, like, know all this? I thought you were like, really low down on the scale of things."
Jubilee laughed again, tapping the side of her nose. "I'm just blessed with an overabundance of natural curiosity."
"You mean you're nosy."
She shrugged. "Whatever. I find out things. It's what I do best. Well.... that and blow stuff up. I haven't quite got the hang of my powers yet."
Kitty's eyes widened. "And you're doing my hair? As in, getting extremely close to my *head*!"
"Don't worry. Holding my powers in is no problem. Self-control is one of the first things they teach you here. It's just that I find them kinda difficult to manage once they're released. Big blast or little blast, I can never tell what's gonna happen until it happens. More than once I've asked myself why I couldn't have some nice, passive power like helping plants grow. But no, I get to have explosions shoot out of my fingertips."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I come in real handy on celebration days and festivals. So what's your power, anyhow? You said you were a Changeling too."
Kitty opened her mouth to respond, but didn't have a chance to answer, because at that moment there was a scuffling sound outside the wooden door on the far-side of the room, and two voices filtered through. One of them sounded distraught, the other irritated, yet at the same time rather playful.
"Leave me alone. I don't want to be brushed."
"Aw, come on, sugar. I went and got the soft hairbrush specially."
"Stop it, I groom myself."
"But I was told to clean you up some. You're all mucky, and you smell like stagnant water."
"Be that as it may, I don't have time to be groomed right now. I have to find someone."
"Sure you have time. There's always time for.... Hey! Come back! Get your butt back here and let me finish what I started - "
"Nein! Leave me alone, Blonderkopf!"
Jubilee and Kitty exchanged puzzled glances. Kitty thought she could recognise one of the voices but the other left her stumped.
Jubilee's lips twisted into a wry line. She knew the identity of the other speaker all too well.
The door burst open, and a vaguely humanoid shape tumbled into the room. A flurry of blue fuzz hung in the air in its wake, and it hung off the door handle, narrow chest heaving with exertion.
Kitty's eyes widened. "Kurt?"
Kurt's head snapped up. "Kätzchen! I didn't know you were in here; I just picked a random room to escape from der Siedämon - "
"Oh Fuzzy. Come heeere," a light voice sang from the corridor beyond the doorway. Kurt yelped and dived into the room, taking shelter beneath a wicker chair in a shadowy corner.
"Bitte, hide me!" he whispered, doing the best he could to secrete himself behind the flimsy cover. Both Kitty and Jubilee stared in puzzlement at the cowering boy, wondering who and what he was hiding from.
They didn't have long to wait.
A figure abruptly appeared in the doorway, resting one hand against the frame and gazing intently into the room at the confused duo. She wore the same magenta robes as Jubilee, and didn't look very much older than her either. A rather stiff looking hairbrush was clutched possessively in one hand, and several blue strands danced from between the bristles, testament to where they'd been yanked out by none-too-gentle grooming. The girl waved it at Kitty and Jubilee as she spoke.
"Did a short, blue, fuzzy guy with a tail just come in here?"
Kitty stared dumbly, unsure of how to answer. Jubilee took control of the situation.
"And why would you be looking for someone like that, Tabby?"
The girl in the doorway sniffed. " 'Cause *I* was told to help him wash and clean up, but the little guy's gone and done a runner on me."
"I see. Your tender charms scared yet another guy off then, I take it?"
The girl known as 'Tabby' glared at Jubilee with obvious, scarcely hidden dislike. "Oh buzz off, *Jubilation*. Have you seen him or not?"
"No," Jubilee replied flatly, a slight edge to her tone thanks to the insulting use of her abhorred full name. "We haven't."
The two girls glared at each other for a moment more, and Kitty took the chance to examine this new arrival. Tabby was as unlike Jubilee as was possible to be. Her short blonde hair seemed to defy gravity as it exploded out around her head, and her naturally pale skin had been daubed in many different pigments and pastes in an effort to bring some colour to her wan face. However, so much make-up had been used, that the overall effect was one of a child playing in her mother's cosmetics instead of a young woman bringing out the full potential of her handsome features. She looked gaudy and cheap, and reminded Kitty somewhat of the dancing girls at 'Das Ruckenhaus'.
Evidently, Tabby caught her staring, because she immediately whipped round and snapped, "What're you looking at?"
"N.... nothing...." Kitty stammered. Jubilee laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Get lost, Tabby. You weren't the only one given clean-up duties, you know. I've gotta get Kitty here ready just as much as you gotta find your charge. So beat it and let me get on with my work. It's not *our* fault you can't hold onto a guy for more than five seconds."
"But I *know* he came in here," Tabby argued. "This is the only door in this corridor, and I *saw* him turn down this way. He *has* to be in here!" She pouted, and made as if to start searching the room.
A sudden flash of inspiration struck Kitty. "Um.... he doesn't have to be visible to like, travel, you know."
Tabby's head jerked up. "What?"
"He.... he like, can travel distances in a second.... without being seen," Kitty tried to explain, remembering how Kurt had somehow whisked them to the gates of the temple in roughly no seconds flat.
Tabby's nose wrinkled, and her forehead puckered in thought. "Teleportation? By the gods, how am I supposed to keep track of him if he can disappear at any second?"
Jubilee shrugged and went back to her brushing. "Not my problem."
"You're sure he didn't come in here?" Tabby persisted. "How come your door was open?" She edged further into the room, and towards the shadowy corner where Kurt cowered in fearful silence behind his chair.
"Food!" Kitty yelled out, startling both girls and causing them both to look at her with equal puzzlement. Kitty abruptly turned red as an overripe beet and mumbled, "Food. Kurt has a high met.... mitab.... mitabolobolisam.... He needs to eat a lot, and can sniff out food almost anywhere. Wherever you keep your food is probably where you'll, like, find Kurt."
"The kitchens!" Tabby smacked the back of the hairbrush against her open palm. "Of course. I thought I saw a hungry gleam in his eyes. He must've gone to the kitchens. Or the larders. Ah, no matter, I'll find him!" And with that, she darted out of the room, the faint scent of kitschy perfume the only indication she'd been there at all.
Kitty stared after her. "Who - or what - was that?"
"Tabitha. Another Underling like me," Jubilee replied. "As to *what* she is, I think 'giant-sized-pain-in-the-butt' just about covers it."
"Nein," came a muffled exclamation from the corner. "Sie ist ein Haar-Ziehen, blonde, gräßliche Teufel-Frau mit einer Stimme wie Nägeln auf einer Tafel. Ebene und einfaches."
"Huh?" Jubilee said unintelligently.
Kitty searched the shadows for her erstwhile travelling companion. "Alright Kurt. Like, you can come out now."
"Is she gone?"
"Like, yeah. She's gone."
"Really?"
"Really really?"
"Promise?"
"Kurt, will you just get your fuzzy behind out here?"
There was a scuffling, and a lissom form extricated himself gracefully from the murky area. Kurt crouched before the two girls on all fours, and Kitty's cheeks coloured instantly he was visible. She averted her eyes with a jerk of her head, causing Jubilee to lose her place in the tangled strands she was working on.
"Hey!" she protested, looking to see what had elicited such a reaction and turning seven shades of scarlet as a result.
Kurt squatted self-consciously on the wooden floorboards, wearing a thick but short towel knotted around his waist and very little else. This veritable scrap of material just about maintained his modesty, but left very little to the imagination, and he pulled at it awkwardly, trying - and failing - to stretch it further around himself.
His embarrassment apparently affected his language, and he mumbled inaudibly, flitting between Common and Germanic as the two girls tried to look anywhere but at him - no mean feat in such a limited space.
"Es tut mir leid. I'm so, so sorry, ladies. Sie nahmen meine Kleidung.... My clothing.... To wash, they said.... Dieses ist, ich versichern Ihnen nur temporär, daß.... a temporary state of affairs.... mindestens, ich hoffe es bin, sowieso.... I'm so very sorry!"
Jubilee found a particularly riveting patch of hair and stared fixedly at it, holding her tongue. Kitty, having no such excuse, was left gazing at a knot in a floorboard close to her bare feet, painfully aware of her own immodesty beneath the blanket so carefully wrapped around her body.
"S'alright, Kurt," she mumbled. "Should be, like, getting used to seeing your hairy chest by now, shouldn't I?"
"Pardon?" Kurt seemed bewildered for a moment, and then recalled his chivalrous action of giving her his shirt in the river. "Oh, right. That."
He struggled for words, vocabulary in either tongue impinged on by discomfiture. He desperately wanted to bolt for the door, but the prospect of running into 'die Blonderkopf' as he'd named her, was infinitely worse than fending off the embarrassment of two teenage girls. Tabby's hands had been a little *too* caring through his fur - something which her brushing lacked in spades. This deadly combination of overly enthusiastic fingers and agonising hair-pulling had been enough to send him running for cover for a week. His fur was incredibly sensitive, and to have it yanked about so was pure torture. It was just plain chance he's escaped into this particular room.
This train of thought led the blue boy back to the reason he'd been searching for Kitty in the first place.
Keeping his golden eyes charily turned aside, he addressed her. "Kitty, do you know where they took Rogue?"
"Nuh-uh, not really," Kitty answered, shrugging. "I don't know any more than you do."
"She's been taken to the Infirmary," Jubilee supplied. "I told you that before. She'll be taken care of there, don't you worry."
"Ach, I can't help worrying Frauline.... I'm sorry, I forget."
"Jubilee."
"Frauline Jubilee. Rogue saved my life. Saved both our lives - and more than once too. It's our fault she's sick. She was defending us against that Displacer Beast - "
Jubilee stopped brushing, brown eyes widening in shock. "Did you just say, 'Displacer Beast'?"
"Yeeees," Kurt drawled uncertainly. ~Uh-oh. Just great, Kurt. Open mouth, insert foot! Kitty must not have told her exactly what happened yet, and there *you* go blurting out our secrets to the first person who takes an interest in them!~
Jubilee's eyes dilated even more, amazement mixed with disbelief clearly evident in them. "But.... but that's impossible. Displacer Beasts are so rare.... they don't even live around these parts. How could one.... How did she.... Wow!" She directed her next comment at Kitty. "So that animal you were talking about....?"
"Yeah. That was it."
"Wow," she vociferated. "I mean *really* wow. Your Rogue must be some piece of work! To my knowledge, nobody's ever fought a Displacer Beast and lived to tell the tale."
"Ja, well...." Kurt murmured. "She's not exactly in a position to tell it at the moment."
The oriental girl clapped a hand over her unknowingly insensitive and runaway mouth. "Oh gods, I'm sorry. I didn't think.... No wonder you're worried about her."
The pair remained silent, and stillness reigned in the enclosed room for several minutes. Each teenager reflected upon their own thoughts and ruminations, a single figure playing a prominent role in all. Two minds focused on their own guilt and hopefulness at a successful recovery, and the third contemplating on how remote such a recovery actually was.
In all recorded history in every known land and realm, no-one who engaged in combat with a Displacer Beast had emerged alive. No-one. The creatures were famous for their unrivalled savagery and killing record. The fact that Rogue had come this far spoke volumes for her resilience, but even she had her limits.
Could it be that this skirmish was to be her last victory?
The tension lingered in the air, interrupted only when Jubilee cleared her throat. This innocent noise seemed ten times louder than usual, and both blue and golden eyes flashed to her face as she spoke the best words of comfort she could come up with without out-and-out lying.
"Our healers are the best, you know. Even the more expensive townie-healers can't compare with them. Remember, we have Changeling-power on our side."
"Your healers are Changelings?" Kurt asked, surprised. He didn't yet know the extent of the Changeling population in the temple.
Jubilee nodded warily. "Well.... one of them is. A little girl, actually. But don't let her age fool you; she's gifted in ways neither you nor I could ever conceive. If anyone can help your friend, it's her."
"Rogue's not a friend," Kurt murmured, half to himself.
The Underling girl seemed confused. "But I thought...."
"Never mind," he snapped from his ponderings like a trap springing back upon its prey. "Es ist ich seiend dumm gerade. Just me being silly."
Silence engulfed them again. Kitty waggled her toes in an effort to think of something vaguely intelligent to say. The weight of Rogue's predicament rested heavily upon them, and even Jubilee's natural buoyancy was muted by the oppressiveness that accompanied the topic.
Finally Kitty piped up. Her voice seemed thin and reedy to Kurt, who had nothing else to concentrate on since he flatly refused to stop staring at the floor. What she said made his tail twitch in mild agitation.
"Kurt, I've been meaning to like, ask you.... um.... what exactly happened out there today?"
"What happened?"
"Yeah. You know.... the whole whooshing and moving and getting across the plain in, like, naught seconds flat thing."
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, that. You said something about your 'powers growing in'. Care to, like, enlighten me?"
Kurt sighed. "I'm not sure I can, Kätzchen. It's.... it's difficult to explain."
"Hey, I'm not like, going anywhere. So spill, what did you *do*?"
"It's.... it's like this." The spade of the elf's tail thumped the floor as he carefully worded his explanation. "My people have special powers, something like Changelings' actually, except that ours aren't the result of some unnatural magical disturbance - no offence meant."
"None taken," chorused the girls. Kitty listened avidly, eager to learn more of Kurt's lineage, and Jubilee eavesdropped despite herself, although she carried dutifully on with Kitty's hair. A small tangle of strands removed from the brush sat beside her, signifying the progress she was making.
"There is one major difference between us and other races, though," Kurt continued. "Our females are all seers. They're famous for it. Most towns and cities possess a seer, and invariably she's a Pellae-Azuulle."
"Pellae-Azuulle?" Jubilee raised an eyebrow.
"Uh-huh. Males of our species are called Pella-Azul."
"Why the difference in name?"
"Because of the difference in physiology. Although both genders are of the same species, we differ slightly in that female seeing-powers are present from birth and unchangeable. They learn to use them as they grow up. Males, however, don't gain their powers until adolescence, and even then the type of power they get isn't set in stone. It could be anything. From blowing up tree with a thought, to boiling an egg merely by concentrating on it. They usually appear when the male in question is in desperate need of them. I believe that my powers grew in today."
"When we needed to reach the temple," Kitty surmised.
"The only thing is," Kurt went on, "I never grew up around other Pella-Azul, so I don't exactly know what my power is. All I know is that I needed to be somewhere, and then suddenly I was there."
"Tabby called it something." Kitty screwed up her face, trying to remember the blonde girl's words. "Telli.... Teller...."
"Instant Teleportation," Jubilee supplied. "It means travelling from one place to another using simply the power of your mind. There used to be an Initiate here who could do it, but she left a few months ago to tend to her village in the west, which was attacked by an invading army. That's where our other healer went too. The little girl I told you about - it was her mother."
Kurt's mouth twitched. "The definition sounds right, Frauline, but I don't like the name. Too long. If you don't mind, I think I'll just call it 'Bamfing', on account of that's the noise I made when I did it."
"Do you think you can do it again?" Kitty asked. Kurt nodded, albeit a little uncertainly.
"Jaaaaa. At least, I think so. I *should* be able to do it again. It's like breaking down a gate. Once it's open, one can access the power beyond easily, and bend it to one's will as one sees fit."
"That sounds like what happened to me when the Displacer Beast was about to bite my head off!" Kitty exclaimed. Jubilee's eyes bulged at this casual mention of such a dramatic and glamorous near-death experience, but she held her tongue, interested in their conversation. "It felt like something snapped inside of me, and suddenly I could make my power do what *I* wanted, instead of waiting for it to show up on its own. I could do it again too. It's there, just beneath the surface; waiting for me to tell it what to do. I can feel it."
"Humph," Kurt grunted. A pang of jealousy sprang up in his gut at this statement, and he stood up - careful to make sure the fabric around his waist was doing its job properly. "Well if you can do it, then so can I. After all, es ist meine birthright." He closed his eyes, frowning slightly as he searched for the power at the back of his mind.
"Wait!" Jubilee cried. "Shouldn't you figure out where you want to go first? I mean, you could end up anywhere if you don't. Imagine if you turned up in the courtyard wearing just *that*." She indicated to his less-than-substantial attire.
Kurt glanced down at himself. "Hmm, you may have a point there, Frauline. Perhaps I'll try something smaller to begin with." He took a quick look around and then settled on the wicker chair in the corner. "There. I'll Bamf to there. That should be simple enough. It's only a few feet."
He closed his eyes once more and concentrated hard on the chair. Having hidden beneath it, he knew its texture, the details of the material, the faint musky smell that only his sensitive nose could pick up from its rough fibres. He envisioned it in his mind, willing himself to be there. He wanted to go there. He *needed* to go there. And he had the ability to do so, if only he could force his power to cooperate....
Kitty and Jubilee watched in dual anticipation. An expression of deep and intense concentration briefly crossed Kurt's furry face, knitting his bluer-than-blue eyebrows together.
And then he abruptly vanished in an implosion of collapsing light and faint whiff of brimstone, leaving nothing but a slightly scorched mark on the floor.
Both girls gaped, snorting the smell from their nostrils and waiting for him to reappear on the wicker chair as promised.
One minute passed. Then two.
Still no Kurt.
Kitty bit her lip, and Jubilee's hands ceased their brushing as she waited expectantly for the cerulean boy to rematerialize.
Another minute. Then another. Kitty's forehead puckered in worry.
"He should be back by now. Do you, like, think that everything's OK?"
"Maybe he's just visiting somewhere else first. You know. Testing his limits," Jubilee offered, although she didn't really believe it herself.
"Yeah. Maybe," Kitty replied in a tone that clearly stated she didn't believe it either.
Not a thing stirred. Even the dust motes in the static air stilled themselves. Silence filled the small room, leaking out of the door and extending into the corridor beyond. The tension was almost palpable, and two pairs of eyes ached as they gazed anxiously at a single, inconsequential chair in the corner.
Suddenly, with a blinding flash and rush of evil smelling smoke, a blue figure emerged as if from nowhere, upside down on the ceiling above the chair. He hung in the air for a second, the force and unusual nature of his arrival fleetingly exempting him from gravity. Then, with a slight cry of alarm, he fell inelegantly to the floor, a mass of flailing limbs and fuzz.
"Kurt!" Kitty cried, but the happy shout died in her throat as he struggled to right himself.
He was covered in a generous amount of white powder, and kept sneezing intermittently as the fine particles got into his nose. Accompanying this was a large globule of something black and sticky on his head. This viscous liquid stuck to his hair and face, and was already covered in a film of navy fur and lint.
In all he made for a curious picture, and the fact that he was wedged behind the chair did nothing to help the situation. Neither did the fact that his towel had slipped, revealing far too much flesh around the base of his tail. Both Kitty and Jubilee whipped their eyes away from the sight of Kurt's waggling behind until he'd extricated himself and righted his raiment accordingly.
"Like, where the heck have you *been*?" Kitty demanded, somewhat angrily. Annoyance replaced the worry she'd felt but a moment ago, and her blue eyes flashed at Kurt's apparently wayward excursion whilst she was concerned for his safety.
"The kitchens, I think," Kurt replied, dusting himself off and getting a handful of sticky black substance for his troubles. "At least, it was a big hot room filled with ovens and mountains of food. And people too. Lots and lots of people, all working and cooking and preparing fare I've never even seen before."
"Yep, they're the kitchens alright," Jubilee said. "The cooks will be getting breakfast ready around about this time. You probably landed right in the middle of things."
"In more ways than one. Aachoo!" Kurt sneezed, sending a cloud of white into the air. "I don't seem to be able to Bamf in at ground level. I didn't even want to *go* to the kitchens! I was hungry, yes, but I didn't think that would affect my powers. Yet the next thing I know I'm perched on top of a huge stack of shelves, which promptly fall over, catapulting me into a pile of flour sacks - hence the new look." He wiped some rapidly congealing white muck from the corner of one golden eye and extended a glutinously covered tridactyl hand. "I have no idea what this horrible black stuff is though. Urgh."
"That would be treacle," Jubilee told him matter-of-factly. "A delicacy from the east, and usually reserved for the Temple Mother herself. She won't be pleased you've wasted it on a fashion statement."
"Hey, it's not like I *wanted* to or anything," Kurt protested. "This stuff is awful. It's all in my fur and...yeuch. I'm never going to get all of it out."
"How did it like, get there?"
Kurt sighed. "Big mess from fallen shelves on floor. Really big, angry guy in a robe. Pan of treacle nearby. Kurt as good available target trying to get out of burst flour sacks. Splat. Does that answer your question, Kätzchen?"
"More or less." Kitty stifled a giggle, and hid her upturned mouth beneath her hand. Kurt glanced sharply up at her.
"And what's so funny?" he exacted hotly.
"Nothing," Kitty answered, shoulders perceptively shaking. Jubilee emitted a tiny snort, and bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud.
Kurt glared at her. "You too?"
"We can't help it, Kurt. You're like, so *funny*, standing there in a towel and covered in nothing but flour and goop. You've gotta, like, admit, it's not exactly imposing."
Kurt reached up to scratch behind his ear - something he always did when embarrassed or discomfited. "I really don't see what's so.... urgh!" His palm came away plastered with black paste and fur, which dripped tackily onto the floorboards through his thick fingers.
He stared at it for a second, before a faint smile tugged at the sides of his lips. "I don't advise anyone to try this beauty treatment," he said at last, and stuck one finger into his mouth. "Mmm, tasty though."
"Aw, Kurt! That's disgusting!"
"Not for me it isn't, Kätzchen." Kurt grinned toothily. "I haven't eaten in hours. Here, you should try some." He held out his coagulating hand.
"No thanks, I'll pass."
Jubilee beamed. After her tactless words earlier, she was glad her two guests were still able to laugh and joke around. Humour in a time of crisis was a boon indeed, and since the fate of their companion hung so delicately in the balance, it was best not to dwell upon such depressing thoughts any longer than was absolutely necessary. She smiled, a genuine smile.
She made friends easily, and Kurt's easy-going nature appealed to her. He seemed to have a natural sense of fun that matched her own. And Kitty was OK too, once you got past all the whining and complaining. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad having them around here after all. This old place could certainly do with some livening up. She grinned mischievously.
"Seriously, though." Kurt stopped chuckling, even though his smirk remained firmly in place. "I have to get cleaned up. If this treacle sets I'm *really* in trouble."
"I dunno," Kitty tipped her head sideways. "It could be, like, a whole new look for you. Anyway, at least you've proved that you can Bamf on command now."
"Yeah, but actually getting to my destination needs some work, Ich denke."
"Not to mention your landings," Jubilee added impishly.
"Oh ha ha, a regular comedian, aren't you."
Jubilee began braiding Kitty's newly freed hair. "You're both gonna need baths, if you don't mind me saying so. Now I've sorted out this mess, I'll see what I can do about getting you washed."
"Danke schon, Frauline," Kurt said gratefully. He sniffed deeply, and then pulled a face. "You two should be grateful for your puny, human noses. I've got the grime *and* the smell to contend with, and believe me, I reek."
"Oh, we know." Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Believe me, we, like, totally know."
"Danken Ihnen sehr viel, Sie kleiner Schauspieler."
Jubilee looped a piece of string around the end of Kitty's braid and threw the tight knot of hair over the other girl's shoulder.
"All done." She wiggled sideways and jumped off the mattress. "Now, about those baths - "
"Don't you *dare*, Jubilation!" a shrill voice suddenly shrieked through the empty air.
All three teenagers winced at the grating noise, and Kurt even went so far as to cover his sensitive ears with his hands before a bolt of pink and blonde shot through the open doorway and latched onto him.
"Fuzzy here is *my* responsibility, and mine alone!" Tabitha said decisively, shooting a positively murderous glance in Jubilee's direction. "I'll take care of any bathing for him."
"Götter helfen mir," Kurt mumbled, face a picture of despair as the enthusiastic girl gripped his arm firmly and began dragging him out of the room. "How did she find me?"
"Your little friend over there told me to check the kitchens for you. I was just about to give up looking when you popped in. Caused quite a stir too. And I must say, you look real cute as a blonde. Kinda like me." She smiled a cherry red smile; voice dripping with saccharine infested tenderness.
"Kätzchen! Frauline Jubilee! Außer mir von der Teufel-Frau! Help me!"
"Oh no you don't, cutie. You're not getting away from me so easily this time. I'm gonna keep a special eye on *your* pretty little behind."
"Hilfe!"
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*TRANSLATIONS*
GERMANIC
'Blonderkopf' ~ (Literally) Blonde-head
'Der Siedämon' ~ The She-demon
'Sie ist ein Haar-Ziehen, blonde, gräßliche Teufel-Frau mit einer Stimme wie Nägeln auf einer Tafel.' ~ She is a hair-pulling, blonde devil-woman with a voice like nails on a chalk-board.
'Ebene und einfaches' ~ Pure and simple.
'Sie nahmen meine Kleidung' ~ She took my clothes.
'Dieses ist, ich versichern Ihnen nur temporär, daß....' ~ This is only temporary, I assure you....
'Mindestens, ich hoffe es bin, sowieso....' ~ At least, I hope it is anyway...
'Es ist ich seiend dumm gerade' ~ It's just me being silly
'Ich denke' ~ I think.
'Danken Ihnen sehr viel, Sie kleiner Schauspieler' ~ Thank you very much, little actor/pretender.
'Götter helfen mir' ~ Gods help me.
'Außer mir von der Teufel-Frau!' ~ Save me from the devil-woman!
'Hilfe!' ~ Help!
WARNINGS: This is an AU (Alternative Universe) fic. Everything has been transplanted into a fantasy universe of my creation. Inspirations, despite what you might initially think, aren't actually from a certain Peter-Jackson-esque film project, since I started work on this before I ever *saw* those movies. Influences rather include InterNutter's spiffy fic 'Mein Teuful' (if you haven't yet read this then go do it *now*!) and various other sources I'll explain later.
CODES:
Hello = Narration
~ Hello ~ = Thought
"Hello" = Character Speaking
*Hello* = Bold
//Hello// = Psychic communication
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Argh! Exams. I hate exams. But they're over now, so here's a new chapter for y'all. Now all I have to deal with are the results. Which are perhaps worse than the actual exams themselves.
As per usual, all reviews and comments are appreciated more than you could imagine. Please take pity on me and drop me a line if you like the new chappie. Drop me a line if you don't, too. Just remember that flamers will be ignored for the idiotic fools they are, and though the heating in my room is broken until further notice I won't stoop to using flame-mail to keep warm. And yes, I know the title of this instalment is clichéd, but I couldn't think of anything better. If you want interesting chapter titles then see Idiot nr. 72056.
May cause drowsiness and irritability.
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'Of Beast And Blade' By Scribbler
Chapter Nine ~ 'Getting to Know You'
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'You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.' -- Brian Tracy
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"Just hold still, will ya."
"I can't help it. It hurts!"
"Well, it'd hurt a lot less it you'd just quit wriggling."
Jubilee tugged gently with a hairbrush at the snarled mess that crowned Kitty's head, eliciting another cry of pain.
"Yowch! What's that thing made of, hedgehog spines?"
"Sorry. It's just that your hair...." Jubilee waved one hand at the chaos of knots and impenetrable tangles. Kitty reached up one tentative hand and rubbed at her skull.
"Yeah, but do you have to, like, scalp me?"
The oriental girl sank back onto her heels where she was kneeling and crossed her arms, tapping her chin in thought.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if we just cut it all off."
Kitty whipped round to face her, clamping both hands down over her head in protest. "You are totally *not* cutting off my hair! No *way* am I gonna, like, sport the bald look."
"Why not?" Jubilee shot back. "You've already started by the looks of things." She gestured at the hairless spot where part of the Changeling's brown tresses had been burned off. Kitty scowled.
"That's different!"
The two girls were sat on a low bed in a small, modest room that branched off from the main Temple Infirmary. The resident physician had been so preoccupied with Rogue when Kitty was brought in, that she'd been treated rapidly for her exhaustion and quickly given over to the care of a girl who just happened to be waking by at the time. Hence, Jubilee now found herself faced with the somewhat daunting task of untangling the peasant-girl's hair in an effort to clean her up. Unfortunately, not being one of the most patient people on the planet, she found it difficult to deal with Kitty's trademark copious complaining and steady stream of verbal objections.
"Well if you don't wanna lose your hair, then stop pulling away when I'm trying to brush it!" she snapped, meeting Kitty's glare with equal distaste.
Kitty pulled the blanket she'd been wrapped in further around her shoulders. It was warmer than any clothing she'd ever worn, and the tonic she'd been given to ease her fatigue had educed a glowy, relaxed feeling throughout her body. She was certain it had been spelled in some way, but had been too drained to dispute when given it. She would have been very content were it not for several irksome factors. One being the absence of Kurt, and the other, Jubilee's none-too-gentle hair-brushing.
"I can, like, brush my hair myself, you know," she pointed out.
"No you can't. I was told to do this, so I'm going to do it. Now turn around and let me finish."
Kitty sighed, but did as she was told. Good as the medicine had been, she still felt rather tired, and hadn't the energy to get into a real argument yet.
Jubilee resumed her brushing, albeit taking pains not to be too rough this time. A sadist she wasn't.
They sat this way for several minutes; the only sound in the diminutive room being the 'shush' of extricated hair passing though bristles. There were no windows, owing to the fact that the room was in the centre of the building, which made it very warm in wintertime, but left the view as something to be desired. Kitty sat on the edge of the bed in front of Jubilee, legs hanging over the side, and was rendered having to study her bare foot by way of entertainment. She idly rotated her ankle backwards and forwards in an attempt to amuse herself and distract her errant tongue.
The silence was abruptly broken when Kitty piped up, and Jubilee rolled her brown eyes, expecting another bout of whinging. However, she was pleasantly surprised when the other girl asked in a perfectly civil tone, "So, like, where's Kurt, anyway?"
"Kurt?"
"Yeah. You know, the guy I arrived with. About yea tall, blue fur, long tail - kinda hard to miss."
"You'd be surprised in a place like this," Jubilee returned, but before Kitty could ask what this implied, she went on, "He went with one of the other underlings to get cleaned up."
"Oh." Kitty couldn't think what else to say. That question had been her only flash of inspiration, and she rotated her ankle again in the hope of achieving some more.
If there was one thing Kitty hated, it was silence. When she'd lived alone, she'd often talked to herself just to fill the empty air, and had long intellectual conversations with her id. Since joining with Kurt and Rogue, she'd dispensed with this ritual, but her love of conversation hadn't abated one iota.
The roots of her hair twanged again, and she winced, but kept her mouth closed. What to say? What to say? Thousands of questions whirled around inside her skull, but none found their way to her lips. Besides, some of them she couldn't imagine asking a strange girl she hardly knew, despite how accommodating - if slightly grouchy - she was being.
"So, you're name's, like, Jubilee then?" she asked, grasping at conversational straws. Jubilee was what some of the people in the courtyard had called her, wasn't it? Strange name.
"Yeah."
"Short for anything?"
"Jubilation. So you can see why I changed it."
Kitty shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's kinda nice. Celebratory. Much better than Katherine."
"Your name's Katherine?"
"Technically, but everyone just calls me Kitty. Except for Kurt, who keeps saying Germanic stuff I, like, totally don't understand; and Rogue, who seems to prefer 'Shrimp'."
"This 'Rogue' person likes seafood?" Jubilee's voice held a hint of puzzlement, both at the individual referred to and the seemingly random comment itself.
"No, no, that's what she calls me - amongst other things. None of them, like, pleasant." Kitty abruptly caught hold of part of Jubilee's puzzlement and proceeded to swiftly elucidate. "Rogue's, like, the other girl I arrived with. The one who's really sick."
"Oh, right." A pause, as if she was contemplating whether to ask her next question. "Mind if I ask why she's so ill?"
"Um...." Kitty hesitated for a second, wondering how much information to reveal. She chose her next words carefully, unwilling to fully explain Rogue's predicament lest her wayward tongue bring down more problems for the ex-assassin. And herself and Kurt for that matter.
~How, like, weird,~ she mused. ~Not so long ago I would've been, like, totally itching to get Rogue into trouble any way I, like, could. But now....~
"She was.... poisoned. By an animal we ran into."
"An animal? Must've been real nasty to lay her up so bad," Jubilee said almost jovially, her natural buoyancy returning. Apparently she hadn't picked up on the irresolute edge to Kitty's voice - a fact the brown haired girl was eternally grateful for.
"Nasty. Yeah," she agreed. "It almost killed me and Kurt, but Rogue, she.... she, like.... saved us."
"You sound surprised." Jubilee separated another untangled lock and starting on a fresh patch of hair.
"And well I might," Kitty replied, half to herself. "We're, like, not exactly - as Kurt would put it - welcome travelling companions. Half the time, I think Rogue just puts up with us. The other half, she's plotting our violent and untimely demises."
Jubilee laughed good-naturedly, not sensing the truth beneath Kitty's idle remark. "She sounds like quite a character. I'd like to meet her sometime."
~If she wakes up.~ The thought pierced Kitty's mind without warning. ~Shut up, brain!~ she mentally retaliated. ~Of course she's gonna wake up!~
"You probably wouldn't," Kitty stared at the floor, continuing in more civil tones. "She's had a.... different upbringing to most people. Her social skills aren't really, like, up to much. She doesn't interact very well, and she definitely does *not* like meeting new people, believe me."
"Riiiight," Jubilee drawled, though it was clear she wasn't really listening. A strand of particularly knotted hair had snared her complete attention, and she focused hard on it until the backs of her eyeballs began to ache with the effort. Bits of powdered soil and leaves tumbled onto the bed sheets as she carefully worked to find order amongst the chaos.
"You are so gonna need a bath after this," she pronounced. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're filthy."
"A bath...." Kitty trailed off, remembering how a simple, inconsequential wash in the river had started this whole horrible business. All she'd wanted was a quick clean up, but the Silver Sword had to ruin even that simple pleasure. If it hadn't been for Kurt getting her out of the water in time....
The grateful thought abruptly snapped off, another, sharper one taking its place.
~I never did ask Kurt what he was doing there on the riverbank, did I?~
"So, what exactly *is* this place? Some kind of cult?" she asked, distracting herself. No point in berating Kurt when he wasn't even there. "If so, then your uniforms are like, totally gaudy."
"I suppose you could call us a cult," Jubilee replied, "Of a sort. We're a temple actually. But I agree with you about the robes. Pink's not really my colour, but you get used to it after a while. Don't ask me why they chose pink, because I don't know. I'm just a lowly Underling."
"Underling?"
"Yeah, Underling. It means I'm still at the basic level around here. I'm not a visitor, I'm a Resident since I live her permanently, but I haven't yet undergone the tests and divine rituals to progress to the second level of Residents - Initiates."
"Initiates?"
"Uh-huh. They're kinda like over-seers of Underlings and visitors. The next step up from that is Acolyte to a Senior-Initiate, and after that.... well, you can't really get much higher unless you become the Temple Mother."
"Sounds complicated," Kitty mused.
"Not really. No more than class-systems in towns, only we don't like the prejudice that always seems to accompany that. The way I understand it, everybody's equal, but with seniority comes more responsibility. That's what the names imply. Initiates are those who've mastered their powers enough to train Underlings who haven't. Simple, huh?"
"Not really," Kitty answered. "So, let me get this straight. Everybody here is a *Changeling*? I thought Changelings hadn't started appearing until recently."
Jubilee gave a short, not unkind laugh. "Well you're wrong on two accounts. Firstly, not *everybody* here is a Changeling. There are other races and people who live here too, it's just that Changeling's are the majority. And secondly, Changeling's have been appearing for *years* now. It's just that the number of us has increased dramatically recently. I don't know why. It's some big mystery the temple-elders don't like to talk about. As a rule, many seem to end up at here, where they're looked after and trained how to use their abilities safely."
"Can I ask just one more question?" Kitty ventured.
"Sure. Fire away."
"How the heck do you, like, know all this? I thought you were like, really low down on the scale of things."
Jubilee laughed again, tapping the side of her nose. "I'm just blessed with an overabundance of natural curiosity."
"You mean you're nosy."
She shrugged. "Whatever. I find out things. It's what I do best. Well.... that and blow stuff up. I haven't quite got the hang of my powers yet."
Kitty's eyes widened. "And you're doing my hair? As in, getting extremely close to my *head*!"
"Don't worry. Holding my powers in is no problem. Self-control is one of the first things they teach you here. It's just that I find them kinda difficult to manage once they're released. Big blast or little blast, I can never tell what's gonna happen until it happens. More than once I've asked myself why I couldn't have some nice, passive power like helping plants grow. But no, I get to have explosions shoot out of my fingertips."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I come in real handy on celebration days and festivals. So what's your power, anyhow? You said you were a Changeling too."
Kitty opened her mouth to respond, but didn't have a chance to answer, because at that moment there was a scuffling sound outside the wooden door on the far-side of the room, and two voices filtered through. One of them sounded distraught, the other irritated, yet at the same time rather playful.
"Leave me alone. I don't want to be brushed."
"Aw, come on, sugar. I went and got the soft hairbrush specially."
"Stop it, I groom myself."
"But I was told to clean you up some. You're all mucky, and you smell like stagnant water."
"Be that as it may, I don't have time to be groomed right now. I have to find someone."
"Sure you have time. There's always time for.... Hey! Come back! Get your butt back here and let me finish what I started - "
"Nein! Leave me alone, Blonderkopf!"
Jubilee and Kitty exchanged puzzled glances. Kitty thought she could recognise one of the voices but the other left her stumped.
Jubilee's lips twisted into a wry line. She knew the identity of the other speaker all too well.
The door burst open, and a vaguely humanoid shape tumbled into the room. A flurry of blue fuzz hung in the air in its wake, and it hung off the door handle, narrow chest heaving with exertion.
Kitty's eyes widened. "Kurt?"
Kurt's head snapped up. "Kätzchen! I didn't know you were in here; I just picked a random room to escape from der Siedämon - "
"Oh Fuzzy. Come heeere," a light voice sang from the corridor beyond the doorway. Kurt yelped and dived into the room, taking shelter beneath a wicker chair in a shadowy corner.
"Bitte, hide me!" he whispered, doing the best he could to secrete himself behind the flimsy cover. Both Kitty and Jubilee stared in puzzlement at the cowering boy, wondering who and what he was hiding from.
They didn't have long to wait.
A figure abruptly appeared in the doorway, resting one hand against the frame and gazing intently into the room at the confused duo. She wore the same magenta robes as Jubilee, and didn't look very much older than her either. A rather stiff looking hairbrush was clutched possessively in one hand, and several blue strands danced from between the bristles, testament to where they'd been yanked out by none-too-gentle grooming. The girl waved it at Kitty and Jubilee as she spoke.
"Did a short, blue, fuzzy guy with a tail just come in here?"
Kitty stared dumbly, unsure of how to answer. Jubilee took control of the situation.
"And why would you be looking for someone like that, Tabby?"
The girl in the doorway sniffed. " 'Cause *I* was told to help him wash and clean up, but the little guy's gone and done a runner on me."
"I see. Your tender charms scared yet another guy off then, I take it?"
The girl known as 'Tabby' glared at Jubilee with obvious, scarcely hidden dislike. "Oh buzz off, *Jubilation*. Have you seen him or not?"
"No," Jubilee replied flatly, a slight edge to her tone thanks to the insulting use of her abhorred full name. "We haven't."
The two girls glared at each other for a moment more, and Kitty took the chance to examine this new arrival. Tabby was as unlike Jubilee as was possible to be. Her short blonde hair seemed to defy gravity as it exploded out around her head, and her naturally pale skin had been daubed in many different pigments and pastes in an effort to bring some colour to her wan face. However, so much make-up had been used, that the overall effect was one of a child playing in her mother's cosmetics instead of a young woman bringing out the full potential of her handsome features. She looked gaudy and cheap, and reminded Kitty somewhat of the dancing girls at 'Das Ruckenhaus'.
Evidently, Tabby caught her staring, because she immediately whipped round and snapped, "What're you looking at?"
"N.... nothing...." Kitty stammered. Jubilee laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Get lost, Tabby. You weren't the only one given clean-up duties, you know. I've gotta get Kitty here ready just as much as you gotta find your charge. So beat it and let me get on with my work. It's not *our* fault you can't hold onto a guy for more than five seconds."
"But I *know* he came in here," Tabby argued. "This is the only door in this corridor, and I *saw* him turn down this way. He *has* to be in here!" She pouted, and made as if to start searching the room.
A sudden flash of inspiration struck Kitty. "Um.... he doesn't have to be visible to like, travel, you know."
Tabby's head jerked up. "What?"
"He.... he like, can travel distances in a second.... without being seen," Kitty tried to explain, remembering how Kurt had somehow whisked them to the gates of the temple in roughly no seconds flat.
Tabby's nose wrinkled, and her forehead puckered in thought. "Teleportation? By the gods, how am I supposed to keep track of him if he can disappear at any second?"
Jubilee shrugged and went back to her brushing. "Not my problem."
"You're sure he didn't come in here?" Tabby persisted. "How come your door was open?" She edged further into the room, and towards the shadowy corner where Kurt cowered in fearful silence behind his chair.
"Food!" Kitty yelled out, startling both girls and causing them both to look at her with equal puzzlement. Kitty abruptly turned red as an overripe beet and mumbled, "Food. Kurt has a high met.... mitab.... mitabolobolisam.... He needs to eat a lot, and can sniff out food almost anywhere. Wherever you keep your food is probably where you'll, like, find Kurt."
"The kitchens!" Tabby smacked the back of the hairbrush against her open palm. "Of course. I thought I saw a hungry gleam in his eyes. He must've gone to the kitchens. Or the larders. Ah, no matter, I'll find him!" And with that, she darted out of the room, the faint scent of kitschy perfume the only indication she'd been there at all.
Kitty stared after her. "Who - or what - was that?"
"Tabitha. Another Underling like me," Jubilee replied. "As to *what* she is, I think 'giant-sized-pain-in-the-butt' just about covers it."
"Nein," came a muffled exclamation from the corner. "Sie ist ein Haar-Ziehen, blonde, gräßliche Teufel-Frau mit einer Stimme wie Nägeln auf einer Tafel. Ebene und einfaches."
"Huh?" Jubilee said unintelligently.
Kitty searched the shadows for her erstwhile travelling companion. "Alright Kurt. Like, you can come out now."
"Is she gone?"
"Like, yeah. She's gone."
"Really?"
"Really really?"
"Promise?"
"Kurt, will you just get your fuzzy behind out here?"
There was a scuffling, and a lissom form extricated himself gracefully from the murky area. Kurt crouched before the two girls on all fours, and Kitty's cheeks coloured instantly he was visible. She averted her eyes with a jerk of her head, causing Jubilee to lose her place in the tangled strands she was working on.
"Hey!" she protested, looking to see what had elicited such a reaction and turning seven shades of scarlet as a result.
Kurt squatted self-consciously on the wooden floorboards, wearing a thick but short towel knotted around his waist and very little else. This veritable scrap of material just about maintained his modesty, but left very little to the imagination, and he pulled at it awkwardly, trying - and failing - to stretch it further around himself.
His embarrassment apparently affected his language, and he mumbled inaudibly, flitting between Common and Germanic as the two girls tried to look anywhere but at him - no mean feat in such a limited space.
"Es tut mir leid. I'm so, so sorry, ladies. Sie nahmen meine Kleidung.... My clothing.... To wash, they said.... Dieses ist, ich versichern Ihnen nur temporär, daß.... a temporary state of affairs.... mindestens, ich hoffe es bin, sowieso.... I'm so very sorry!"
Jubilee found a particularly riveting patch of hair and stared fixedly at it, holding her tongue. Kitty, having no such excuse, was left gazing at a knot in a floorboard close to her bare feet, painfully aware of her own immodesty beneath the blanket so carefully wrapped around her body.
"S'alright, Kurt," she mumbled. "Should be, like, getting used to seeing your hairy chest by now, shouldn't I?"
"Pardon?" Kurt seemed bewildered for a moment, and then recalled his chivalrous action of giving her his shirt in the river. "Oh, right. That."
He struggled for words, vocabulary in either tongue impinged on by discomfiture. He desperately wanted to bolt for the door, but the prospect of running into 'die Blonderkopf' as he'd named her, was infinitely worse than fending off the embarrassment of two teenage girls. Tabby's hands had been a little *too* caring through his fur - something which her brushing lacked in spades. This deadly combination of overly enthusiastic fingers and agonising hair-pulling had been enough to send him running for cover for a week. His fur was incredibly sensitive, and to have it yanked about so was pure torture. It was just plain chance he's escaped into this particular room.
This train of thought led the blue boy back to the reason he'd been searching for Kitty in the first place.
Keeping his golden eyes charily turned aside, he addressed her. "Kitty, do you know where they took Rogue?"
"Nuh-uh, not really," Kitty answered, shrugging. "I don't know any more than you do."
"She's been taken to the Infirmary," Jubilee supplied. "I told you that before. She'll be taken care of there, don't you worry."
"Ach, I can't help worrying Frauline.... I'm sorry, I forget."
"Jubilee."
"Frauline Jubilee. Rogue saved my life. Saved both our lives - and more than once too. It's our fault she's sick. She was defending us against that Displacer Beast - "
Jubilee stopped brushing, brown eyes widening in shock. "Did you just say, 'Displacer Beast'?"
"Yeeees," Kurt drawled uncertainly. ~Uh-oh. Just great, Kurt. Open mouth, insert foot! Kitty must not have told her exactly what happened yet, and there *you* go blurting out our secrets to the first person who takes an interest in them!~
Jubilee's eyes dilated even more, amazement mixed with disbelief clearly evident in them. "But.... but that's impossible. Displacer Beasts are so rare.... they don't even live around these parts. How could one.... How did she.... Wow!" She directed her next comment at Kitty. "So that animal you were talking about....?"
"Yeah. That was it."
"Wow," she vociferated. "I mean *really* wow. Your Rogue must be some piece of work! To my knowledge, nobody's ever fought a Displacer Beast and lived to tell the tale."
"Ja, well...." Kurt murmured. "She's not exactly in a position to tell it at the moment."
The oriental girl clapped a hand over her unknowingly insensitive and runaway mouth. "Oh gods, I'm sorry. I didn't think.... No wonder you're worried about her."
The pair remained silent, and stillness reigned in the enclosed room for several minutes. Each teenager reflected upon their own thoughts and ruminations, a single figure playing a prominent role in all. Two minds focused on their own guilt and hopefulness at a successful recovery, and the third contemplating on how remote such a recovery actually was.
In all recorded history in every known land and realm, no-one who engaged in combat with a Displacer Beast had emerged alive. No-one. The creatures were famous for their unrivalled savagery and killing record. The fact that Rogue had come this far spoke volumes for her resilience, but even she had her limits.
Could it be that this skirmish was to be her last victory?
The tension lingered in the air, interrupted only when Jubilee cleared her throat. This innocent noise seemed ten times louder than usual, and both blue and golden eyes flashed to her face as she spoke the best words of comfort she could come up with without out-and-out lying.
"Our healers are the best, you know. Even the more expensive townie-healers can't compare with them. Remember, we have Changeling-power on our side."
"Your healers are Changelings?" Kurt asked, surprised. He didn't yet know the extent of the Changeling population in the temple.
Jubilee nodded warily. "Well.... one of them is. A little girl, actually. But don't let her age fool you; she's gifted in ways neither you nor I could ever conceive. If anyone can help your friend, it's her."
"Rogue's not a friend," Kurt murmured, half to himself.
The Underling girl seemed confused. "But I thought...."
"Never mind," he snapped from his ponderings like a trap springing back upon its prey. "Es ist ich seiend dumm gerade. Just me being silly."
Silence engulfed them again. Kitty waggled her toes in an effort to think of something vaguely intelligent to say. The weight of Rogue's predicament rested heavily upon them, and even Jubilee's natural buoyancy was muted by the oppressiveness that accompanied the topic.
Finally Kitty piped up. Her voice seemed thin and reedy to Kurt, who had nothing else to concentrate on since he flatly refused to stop staring at the floor. What she said made his tail twitch in mild agitation.
"Kurt, I've been meaning to like, ask you.... um.... what exactly happened out there today?"
"What happened?"
"Yeah. You know.... the whole whooshing and moving and getting across the plain in, like, naught seconds flat thing."
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, that. You said something about your 'powers growing in'. Care to, like, enlighten me?"
Kurt sighed. "I'm not sure I can, Kätzchen. It's.... it's difficult to explain."
"Hey, I'm not like, going anywhere. So spill, what did you *do*?"
"It's.... it's like this." The spade of the elf's tail thumped the floor as he carefully worded his explanation. "My people have special powers, something like Changelings' actually, except that ours aren't the result of some unnatural magical disturbance - no offence meant."
"None taken," chorused the girls. Kitty listened avidly, eager to learn more of Kurt's lineage, and Jubilee eavesdropped despite herself, although she carried dutifully on with Kitty's hair. A small tangle of strands removed from the brush sat beside her, signifying the progress she was making.
"There is one major difference between us and other races, though," Kurt continued. "Our females are all seers. They're famous for it. Most towns and cities possess a seer, and invariably she's a Pellae-Azuulle."
"Pellae-Azuulle?" Jubilee raised an eyebrow.
"Uh-huh. Males of our species are called Pella-Azul."
"Why the difference in name?"
"Because of the difference in physiology. Although both genders are of the same species, we differ slightly in that female seeing-powers are present from birth and unchangeable. They learn to use them as they grow up. Males, however, don't gain their powers until adolescence, and even then the type of power they get isn't set in stone. It could be anything. From blowing up tree with a thought, to boiling an egg merely by concentrating on it. They usually appear when the male in question is in desperate need of them. I believe that my powers grew in today."
"When we needed to reach the temple," Kitty surmised.
"The only thing is," Kurt went on, "I never grew up around other Pella-Azul, so I don't exactly know what my power is. All I know is that I needed to be somewhere, and then suddenly I was there."
"Tabby called it something." Kitty screwed up her face, trying to remember the blonde girl's words. "Telli.... Teller...."
"Instant Teleportation," Jubilee supplied. "It means travelling from one place to another using simply the power of your mind. There used to be an Initiate here who could do it, but she left a few months ago to tend to her village in the west, which was attacked by an invading army. That's where our other healer went too. The little girl I told you about - it was her mother."
Kurt's mouth twitched. "The definition sounds right, Frauline, but I don't like the name. Too long. If you don't mind, I think I'll just call it 'Bamfing', on account of that's the noise I made when I did it."
"Do you think you can do it again?" Kitty asked. Kurt nodded, albeit a little uncertainly.
"Jaaaaa. At least, I think so. I *should* be able to do it again. It's like breaking down a gate. Once it's open, one can access the power beyond easily, and bend it to one's will as one sees fit."
"That sounds like what happened to me when the Displacer Beast was about to bite my head off!" Kitty exclaimed. Jubilee's eyes bulged at this casual mention of such a dramatic and glamorous near-death experience, but she held her tongue, interested in their conversation. "It felt like something snapped inside of me, and suddenly I could make my power do what *I* wanted, instead of waiting for it to show up on its own. I could do it again too. It's there, just beneath the surface; waiting for me to tell it what to do. I can feel it."
"Humph," Kurt grunted. A pang of jealousy sprang up in his gut at this statement, and he stood up - careful to make sure the fabric around his waist was doing its job properly. "Well if you can do it, then so can I. After all, es ist meine birthright." He closed his eyes, frowning slightly as he searched for the power at the back of his mind.
"Wait!" Jubilee cried. "Shouldn't you figure out where you want to go first? I mean, you could end up anywhere if you don't. Imagine if you turned up in the courtyard wearing just *that*." She indicated to his less-than-substantial attire.
Kurt glanced down at himself. "Hmm, you may have a point there, Frauline. Perhaps I'll try something smaller to begin with." He took a quick look around and then settled on the wicker chair in the corner. "There. I'll Bamf to there. That should be simple enough. It's only a few feet."
He closed his eyes once more and concentrated hard on the chair. Having hidden beneath it, he knew its texture, the details of the material, the faint musky smell that only his sensitive nose could pick up from its rough fibres. He envisioned it in his mind, willing himself to be there. He wanted to go there. He *needed* to go there. And he had the ability to do so, if only he could force his power to cooperate....
Kitty and Jubilee watched in dual anticipation. An expression of deep and intense concentration briefly crossed Kurt's furry face, knitting his bluer-than-blue eyebrows together.
And then he abruptly vanished in an implosion of collapsing light and faint whiff of brimstone, leaving nothing but a slightly scorched mark on the floor.
Both girls gaped, snorting the smell from their nostrils and waiting for him to reappear on the wicker chair as promised.
One minute passed. Then two.
Still no Kurt.
Kitty bit her lip, and Jubilee's hands ceased their brushing as she waited expectantly for the cerulean boy to rematerialize.
Another minute. Then another. Kitty's forehead puckered in worry.
"He should be back by now. Do you, like, think that everything's OK?"
"Maybe he's just visiting somewhere else first. You know. Testing his limits," Jubilee offered, although she didn't really believe it herself.
"Yeah. Maybe," Kitty replied in a tone that clearly stated she didn't believe it either.
Not a thing stirred. Even the dust motes in the static air stilled themselves. Silence filled the small room, leaking out of the door and extending into the corridor beyond. The tension was almost palpable, and two pairs of eyes ached as they gazed anxiously at a single, inconsequential chair in the corner.
Suddenly, with a blinding flash and rush of evil smelling smoke, a blue figure emerged as if from nowhere, upside down on the ceiling above the chair. He hung in the air for a second, the force and unusual nature of his arrival fleetingly exempting him from gravity. Then, with a slight cry of alarm, he fell inelegantly to the floor, a mass of flailing limbs and fuzz.
"Kurt!" Kitty cried, but the happy shout died in her throat as he struggled to right himself.
He was covered in a generous amount of white powder, and kept sneezing intermittently as the fine particles got into his nose. Accompanying this was a large globule of something black and sticky on his head. This viscous liquid stuck to his hair and face, and was already covered in a film of navy fur and lint.
In all he made for a curious picture, and the fact that he was wedged behind the chair did nothing to help the situation. Neither did the fact that his towel had slipped, revealing far too much flesh around the base of his tail. Both Kitty and Jubilee whipped their eyes away from the sight of Kurt's waggling behind until he'd extricated himself and righted his raiment accordingly.
"Like, where the heck have you *been*?" Kitty demanded, somewhat angrily. Annoyance replaced the worry she'd felt but a moment ago, and her blue eyes flashed at Kurt's apparently wayward excursion whilst she was concerned for his safety.
"The kitchens, I think," Kurt replied, dusting himself off and getting a handful of sticky black substance for his troubles. "At least, it was a big hot room filled with ovens and mountains of food. And people too. Lots and lots of people, all working and cooking and preparing fare I've never even seen before."
"Yep, they're the kitchens alright," Jubilee said. "The cooks will be getting breakfast ready around about this time. You probably landed right in the middle of things."
"In more ways than one. Aachoo!" Kurt sneezed, sending a cloud of white into the air. "I don't seem to be able to Bamf in at ground level. I didn't even want to *go* to the kitchens! I was hungry, yes, but I didn't think that would affect my powers. Yet the next thing I know I'm perched on top of a huge stack of shelves, which promptly fall over, catapulting me into a pile of flour sacks - hence the new look." He wiped some rapidly congealing white muck from the corner of one golden eye and extended a glutinously covered tridactyl hand. "I have no idea what this horrible black stuff is though. Urgh."
"That would be treacle," Jubilee told him matter-of-factly. "A delicacy from the east, and usually reserved for the Temple Mother herself. She won't be pleased you've wasted it on a fashion statement."
"Hey, it's not like I *wanted* to or anything," Kurt protested. "This stuff is awful. It's all in my fur and...yeuch. I'm never going to get all of it out."
"How did it like, get there?"
Kurt sighed. "Big mess from fallen shelves on floor. Really big, angry guy in a robe. Pan of treacle nearby. Kurt as good available target trying to get out of burst flour sacks. Splat. Does that answer your question, Kätzchen?"
"More or less." Kitty stifled a giggle, and hid her upturned mouth beneath her hand. Kurt glanced sharply up at her.
"And what's so funny?" he exacted hotly.
"Nothing," Kitty answered, shoulders perceptively shaking. Jubilee emitted a tiny snort, and bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud.
Kurt glared at her. "You too?"
"We can't help it, Kurt. You're like, so *funny*, standing there in a towel and covered in nothing but flour and goop. You've gotta, like, admit, it's not exactly imposing."
Kurt reached up to scratch behind his ear - something he always did when embarrassed or discomfited. "I really don't see what's so.... urgh!" His palm came away plastered with black paste and fur, which dripped tackily onto the floorboards through his thick fingers.
He stared at it for a second, before a faint smile tugged at the sides of his lips. "I don't advise anyone to try this beauty treatment," he said at last, and stuck one finger into his mouth. "Mmm, tasty though."
"Aw, Kurt! That's disgusting!"
"Not for me it isn't, Kätzchen." Kurt grinned toothily. "I haven't eaten in hours. Here, you should try some." He held out his coagulating hand.
"No thanks, I'll pass."
Jubilee beamed. After her tactless words earlier, she was glad her two guests were still able to laugh and joke around. Humour in a time of crisis was a boon indeed, and since the fate of their companion hung so delicately in the balance, it was best not to dwell upon such depressing thoughts any longer than was absolutely necessary. She smiled, a genuine smile.
She made friends easily, and Kurt's easy-going nature appealed to her. He seemed to have a natural sense of fun that matched her own. And Kitty was OK too, once you got past all the whining and complaining. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad having them around here after all. This old place could certainly do with some livening up. She grinned mischievously.
"Seriously, though." Kurt stopped chuckling, even though his smirk remained firmly in place. "I have to get cleaned up. If this treacle sets I'm *really* in trouble."
"I dunno," Kitty tipped her head sideways. "It could be, like, a whole new look for you. Anyway, at least you've proved that you can Bamf on command now."
"Yeah, but actually getting to my destination needs some work, Ich denke."
"Not to mention your landings," Jubilee added impishly.
"Oh ha ha, a regular comedian, aren't you."
Jubilee began braiding Kitty's newly freed hair. "You're both gonna need baths, if you don't mind me saying so. Now I've sorted out this mess, I'll see what I can do about getting you washed."
"Danke schon, Frauline," Kurt said gratefully. He sniffed deeply, and then pulled a face. "You two should be grateful for your puny, human noses. I've got the grime *and* the smell to contend with, and believe me, I reek."
"Oh, we know." Kitty wrinkled her nose. "Believe me, we, like, totally know."
"Danken Ihnen sehr viel, Sie kleiner Schauspieler."
Jubilee looped a piece of string around the end of Kitty's braid and threw the tight knot of hair over the other girl's shoulder.
"All done." She wiggled sideways and jumped off the mattress. "Now, about those baths - "
"Don't you *dare*, Jubilation!" a shrill voice suddenly shrieked through the empty air.
All three teenagers winced at the grating noise, and Kurt even went so far as to cover his sensitive ears with his hands before a bolt of pink and blonde shot through the open doorway and latched onto him.
"Fuzzy here is *my* responsibility, and mine alone!" Tabitha said decisively, shooting a positively murderous glance in Jubilee's direction. "I'll take care of any bathing for him."
"Götter helfen mir," Kurt mumbled, face a picture of despair as the enthusiastic girl gripped his arm firmly and began dragging him out of the room. "How did she find me?"
"Your little friend over there told me to check the kitchens for you. I was just about to give up looking when you popped in. Caused quite a stir too. And I must say, you look real cute as a blonde. Kinda like me." She smiled a cherry red smile; voice dripping with saccharine infested tenderness.
"Kätzchen! Frauline Jubilee! Außer mir von der Teufel-Frau! Help me!"
"Oh no you don't, cutie. You're not getting away from me so easily this time. I'm gonna keep a special eye on *your* pretty little behind."
"Hilfe!"
*******************
*TRANSLATIONS*
GERMANIC
'Blonderkopf' ~ (Literally) Blonde-head
'Der Siedämon' ~ The She-demon
'Sie ist ein Haar-Ziehen, blonde, gräßliche Teufel-Frau mit einer Stimme wie Nägeln auf einer Tafel.' ~ She is a hair-pulling, blonde devil-woman with a voice like nails on a chalk-board.
'Ebene und einfaches' ~ Pure and simple.
'Sie nahmen meine Kleidung' ~ She took my clothes.
'Dieses ist, ich versichern Ihnen nur temporär, daß....' ~ This is only temporary, I assure you....
'Mindestens, ich hoffe es bin, sowieso....' ~ At least, I hope it is anyway...
'Es ist ich seiend dumm gerade' ~ It's just me being silly
'Ich denke' ~ I think.
'Danken Ihnen sehr viel, Sie kleiner Schauspieler' ~ Thank you very much, little actor/pretender.
'Götter helfen mir' ~ Gods help me.
'Außer mir von der Teufel-Frau!' ~ Save me from the devil-woman!
'Hilfe!' ~ Help!