Dawn broke and Toad called for a stop, feeling weird telling the others what to do. Tabitha grinned at him and fished in her bag for rations. The Asian woman, Betsy, merely stood at the edge of the campsite, not letting her guard down for an instant.
Storm unrolled the sleeping bags. They'd chosen a spot that was well covered by trees and should no be easily seen from the air. Hopefully their luck would hold and they'd find similar campsites along the way.
"Betsy, you want to take first watch?"
"Yes." She was already in place as it was. Toad didn't' suspect she'd be sleeping anytime soon anyway.
"Alright, I'll take next watch, then Storm, then Remy, then Tabitha and Sam you get last."
There were no arguments. Sam got in his sleeping bag and was softly snoring in seconds. Remy tried to talk to Betsy again, who was pointedly ignoring him, before he gave up and went to bed too. Neither Toad nor Storm were tired so they sat by the gear, speaking in low voices and planning out the next night. Tabitha sat a little away, headphones over her ears, head bobbing to music.
"Figure we should find Mags in about four days, give or take. Just hope the others can hold out that long."
Storm watched him speak. He rubbed tiredly at his shoulder, the weight of the days events taking their toll.
"I hope this will work," She said awkwardly, stretching her own legs.
Toad nodded in agreement. The silence was thick, uncomfortable. She wasn't being horrible anymore, but Toad doubted they would ever be friendly. Of course, if anyone had told him he'd be about to lead X-Men into battle he wouldn't have believed that either.
In a few moments Storm resigned herself to try to sleep, and nodded a good day to him, shuffling to her bag. Toad vaguely wondered again if she'd take an order from him.
As soon as Storm seemed to be asleep Toad turned to be nose to nose with Tabitha Smith, who grinned broadly at him.
"Hey, Mort."
"Don't call me that," he sounded exasperated. She grinned again.
"Don't be grumpy, Greenie, I'm here to keep you amused."
Toad wondered what in the Hell she was implying by that. He settled on answering her with a raised eyebrow and a head cocked to the left.
She rolled her eyes and backed up slightly, looking him over with a scrutinizing eye.
"I think I've got you figured out. After years of pent up sexual frustration you went nuts and started stomping everyone in sight?"
Toad's eyebrows dropped alarmingly quickly into a scowl.
"I can think of someone I'd like to take out pent up frustration on."
Tabitha winked.
"Is that so, Greenie? Cuz if you're offerin I might just take you up on…-"
Toad snorted.
"I'm not offering."
As though she was serious. This girl was really giving him a headache. Half the time she seemed decent, and then she just fucking started taunting him like this. It was enough to drive someone crazy and make them start stomping everyone in sight.
Toad turned irritably back to watching out for sentinels, trying to ignore the girl giving him exasperated looks. Finally it got to be too much and he turned back to her.
"WHAT?"
It came out a lot louder than he'd intended, and most of the camp woke in a hurry. Toad flushed.
"Sorry, g'back to bed."
When it was quiet again, he turned back to Tabitha who looked terribly amused and whispered 'what?'
"You've just got an awfully big chip on your shoulder."
"I just don't like being teased by pretty faced mutants."
"I wasn't teasing."
It was Toad's turn to roll his eyes. Yeah right she wasn't teasing. Sure, she was really offering to… Toad looked closer at her. Was there something wrong with her that wasn't apparent to the naked eye? Something more than her irritating habit to be crude and amusing all at once.
She scootched closer to him laying a hand on his shoulder and purring, "Toady, baby I want you to pound every little frustration you've got out on me."
He leaned in to make good on his threat and groaned as a twig stabbed him in the side. A twig?
Toad woke with a start sitting up, startled and brushing the twigs off of himself.
He must have fallen asleep when Storm had, and experienced a dream that was waaay to pleasant for comfort out here where anyone could hear him having it.
He glanced around suspiciously, wondering if anyone had noticed. Everyone was quiet. He grumbled down at the bulge in his pants that threatened to betray him, but after some well-placed thoughts about Sabretooth and Wolverine he managed to get his body under control.
It was probably getting close to his watch, so he got up and started toward Betsy.
She simply nodded when he came to stand next to her, and went toward her sleeping bag. She was an odd one. A real warrior. Reminded him of Mystique.