Christmas 2013: Darren

[Ferguson]

"My, Adam really did paint the town red and then some, didn't he?" Jean-Paul chuckled quietly as he looked up at the paint job, shaking off a bit of snow from his shoulders.

"I don't envy the people that have to clean up when quarantine is over...." Greer pulled her coat tighter around her. Cold. But she'd committed to being non-fuzzy today so she'd have to suffer.

"Well, it's not like things aren't going to need a fresh coat of paint to cover up ink stains and other things so I suppose it is at least more cheerful."

Darren seemed happy enough crusing a long next to the group in just his t-shirt and jeans, "Yes because paint will be so much tricker compared to all the gore, guts, looting debris and burnt out cars."

"Well I kind of meant all of that in with the repainting, Darren..." Greer rolled her eyes.

"If I were the residents, I'd opt to burn down the place anyway and build up something new and more exciting," Selene commented, strolling by Darren's side.

"Maybe we should help them with that," she mused, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Like a roller coaster."

"Or a haunted house," Selene added.

"Cheerful isn't the word I'd use." He patted his pockets to make sure his cellphone was there, just in case. "Let's not destroy anymore than what's been done, kids."

"Yeah... you have fun with that...." she shook her head, kicking at an empty can.

"Just as long as the fire involves some s'mores I'm game. Probably would be handy as a security write-off for people as well."

"Oooh haunted house ..."

"Awww, no destruction?" Jean-Paul looked back to Scott, trying not to smirk too badly. "What about mayhem, can we cause mayhem?"

"No."

"I think the goo zombies have monopolised the mayhem anyway, honey..."

"I believe I could offer my help when it comes to rebuilding," Selene told the others. "Getting wrecked buildings to reassemble themselves should be a useful ability."

"That's true, you could be the savior of the city with that."

"You think they'd make me mayor for that," Selene asked, looking at the others.

"I'd totally make you mayor for building haunted houses."

"Ugh kill me now..." Greer muttered.

"I doubt they'd want the help, but you can always offer." He turned his head at a noise. He made sure he was between the kids and it, raising his hand to take off his glasses. There was nothing there.

"Sure, always wanted a tiger-skin rug."

"Why so grumpy," Selene asked Greer. "I could gift you Central Park when I'm in charge."

"Someone forgot to change her litter, that's what."

Greer glared at Darren, "NOT. FUNNY."

"Children, knock it off."

"I will help you with your mayoral run." Jean-Paul promised Selene. "I'm just imagining your slogans."

"Only from your point of view," Darren grinned widly, rolling onto his back, picking Selene up and sitting her on his stomach as he cruised along.

"Over here it's pretty damn funny."

"Yeah because you're an asshole."

Selene chuckled. "We should all take a ride on Darren," she suggested.

"Oh yeah, can I take a ride on Darren?" Oh, come on, like Jean-Paul wasn't going to go there?

"I said shut the fuck up." He turned around. There was something there, definitely.

"Think I'll pass, I'm sure he'd drop me on purpose..."

"Yup, I totally am an asshole, and hop aboard JP," he tapped his chest, "plenty of room."

In the direction of the noise that Scott heard, there was also now smoke.

Selene frowned when she saw the black trail of smoke rising up not too far ahead. "That is new," she said.

Darren tipped his head back, "Looks like there's some fun up there, wanna go check it out?"

He needed no more invitation that that, quickly finding himself onboard the Darren Kent Express. "Is it? I lose track of smoke nowadays. I just figure the hobos have banded together and are having a roast."

Greer frowned, "I'm totally not wearing the right clothes for trouble..." she sighed and took her shoes off so she didn't ruin them.

"Any clothes are the right clothes for trouble, as long as you have a lead pipe," Selene informed the others.

"Lady's got a point."

Scott started off in the direction of the smoke, wishing he had something easier to use than his glasses.

"Not when you have fur... Trust me." she shifted a little to free her tail. That was less uncomfortable. The smoke smell was also putting her off. Smoke meant fire.

Darren cruised after him.

"Onward!" Jean-Paul patted Darren's head, enjoying the ride. "You know, Selene, you've got yourself quit the personal hovercraft here."

"Why thank you," Selene replied, smirking at JP. "Not only is he useful, but also entirely eco-friendly. No emissions, runs on electricity, and purrs like a kitten as long as you change the oil at least once a week."

"But preferably more than once a week."

Greer pulled her coat off, she was too warm now. She also paused to remove her pants. Better. She'd find somewhere safe to put them for after.

"It greatly enhances performance, yes," Selene agreed with a nod.

"Oh, so that's what the kids are calling it nowadays. You know Scott here has the best supply of condoms. I believe he is their king."

Scott stopped as the alley opened onto a large intersection. The fire was larger than he'd expected, and it was creeping closer...no. There were people on fire. He sighed. where the hell was Lizzie when someone needed her? "Ok. Stay alert. I think those are the zombies. Which means someone else set the on fire."

"Fire and zombies?! This is just not my day...."

"... Can you imagine what the king of condom's crown must look like?"

"Or his septer?"

"I can, and it's a wonderful mental picture," Selene remarked, standing up to get a better view of the situations. "Don't they advice against fighting zombies with fire in every respectable book on the topic. The only thing you accomplish is getting undead who are on fire."

Rose was not far from those bruning people. She was backed into the corner of the ally, which was the only thing around her not on fire.

Greer stuffed her clothes into the broken window of a car to free up her hands... she removed her top as an after thought.

"Oh mighty teacher-leader dude? You want me to try scanning the area to see if there's any non-zombois life forms around here?"

Greer sniffed at the ground, "There are...."

Rose caught new movement from the students and narrowed her eyes. She squeezed her hands into fists and the fire disappeared, leaving a charred ally and burning zombies.

"Yes, thank you, Darren. But just a moment." He took off his glasses and blasted a wave of burning zombies into the building across the street. He put his glasses back on. "Ok, go for it. Be careful." Telepaths to link us up would be so useful...

"I can sense at least one non-infected person, too," Selene informed the others. "It's hard to pinpoint them, however."

Darren scanned the area, "Yeeeah, I'm picking up a human signiture, it's a bit masked by all the heat though."

Greer tried to filter out the smell of smoke and focus on the scent of the non-zombie. She spotted the shape but was reluctant to move towards it because of the fire.

"You might be careful with those eyebeams, Scott," Selene tossed in, trying to tell the infected from any normals.

"Hi there! Need help?" Scott called to a figure that didn't look like a zombie. "We're here to help you."

Rose glanced around for somewhere to hide. It occured to her that maybe she should fight instead of hiding. Hiding was getting old.

"I only have one normal scent..." She decided to avoid the fire by climbing up the wall of one of the buildings.

"... Yep, that's our chick," Darren pointed lazily towards the girl Scott was talking too.

Rose snapped her fingers and threw her hand out, sending a line of fire to snake around the group and enclose them and cut off their escape.

Roof was charred bits free! Yay! She walked across and peered over the edge, spotting the girl.... and now she was even more glad she was on the roof and not down there.

"I'm quite sure the rest here are all of the tentacled kind," Selene called out, scanning the area for any other normal minds, but unable to find any.

"Crap."

Darren grinned, "I think she's a bit paranoid, don't blame her."

"Don't sweat it, you've got a flyer here," darren shrugged.

Maybe she'd just wait and see what happened. She was safe up here...

"Hey, careful with that!" Selene ducked and shielded her eyes as she felt her hair getting singed by the sudden heat.

"Can someone douse the flames?"

"I can blow on it but I doubt it'll do much good," Selene replied, trying to keep her distance to the fire.

Well he already had Selene and JP riding him, "Hold up," Darren said, grabbing Scott around the waist and flying up.

Rose glared and put the fire out again. These bastards were getting tricky. She sent a fireball at the group instead.

"See, no prob-argh!" Darren was forced to roll to avoid the flames, luckily he wasn't too high, "Watch it lady!"

Greer flattened herself down on the roof as fire was thrown at the others. She definately didn't want to be seen if that was going to happen. She moved further along the ledge and looked for a safe way down that wouldn't startle the girl too much.

""Oh Christ!" Scott yelped as a ball of fire came a little too close. "We're friends, not zombies! He tried the speech in French and Italian. "Put me down, Darren."

Rose wasn't pleased that she had missed. She sent another fiery ball at the flying group, trying to anticiptae another dodge.

Selene called out in surprise and held on to Darren when he had to dodge. "Can't you see we're not like them," she shouted. "No tentacles here!"

Tigra climbed down a stack of crates, slowly and carefully. "Um... excuse me..." she said quietly, "Um... I know you're scared but... please don't set me on fire..."

"Sure," Darren dropped Scott as carefully as he could and then quickly brought up his arms to shield himself from the fireball, he was fireproof, his charges weren't.

Scott blasted at the fireball, taking out a building in the process.

"Ma'am, seriously, I am way better looking than any of those monsters," hmmm ... she looked a bit hyspanic, "Seriously, I'm not a zombie!" He tried calling in Spanish.

Rose turned her stance to take in the... fuzzy? woman? near her, keeping fire on her fingers to throw. Fire. She knew that word. "Fire..." And then she heard Spanish! [Spanish]"That is what the last group said."[/Spanish]

"Uh huh... fire bad." Tigra landed on the floor, but stayed low and crouching submissively.

"At least this time it won't be me getting all the blame for obliterating the city," Selene muttered when Scott's beams did quite some impressive damage.

"But were they as articulate as I am? Come one, I can fly and I totally ahven't tried to swoop down and eat yuo or whatever, that's gotta be worth someting right? He lowered himself to the ground so that Selene and JP could get off him, "My name's Darren, Darren Kent, what's yours?

The fire on Rose's fingers vanished and she took a step toward the giant talking kitty.

Jean-Paul looked to Scott. "You know, that's pretty badass. Guess that's a building the owners won't have to worry about repainting either, yeah?" Oh yes, destruction had happened. He hopped off of Darren, running for some of the fires that were going that weren't attached to zombos and speeding around them to suck away oxygen, putting it out.

Oh no fire. Awesome. She gave the girl a friendly smile - minus fangs. And purred a little. Friendly. Not zombie.

Selene hopped off hover-Darren and found a nice non-burning spot of pavement. "I think the... Spanish is working," she said. "Hola?"

[Spanish]"I'm not leaving."[/Spanish] Rose told the man speaking Spanish. Rose gently touched the kitty woman.

"Yeah..." He gave the fire girl a smile and held up his hands. Ah, Spanish. Yet another language he apparently should learn. And here he'd thought three was enough. "Keep talking to her she's calming down."

"What did she say?"

Greer sat still and let the girl pet her. She didn't mind pettings.

"Whatever it was I don't think she was quite in agreement...though maybe she's up for groping?" He quirked an eyebrow at the pettings.

"No one's asking you too, pet the nice cat girl for a bit, we've given her her flea pill, it's all good." Darren said, before turning to Scott, "She said she's not leaving, and she thinks we're zombos."

"Well, if any of us prove we don't leak black maybe she'll be on board with that?"

Rose decided the giant kitty was friendly enough, but then she glared at the man again. [Spanish]"Then you leave."[/Spanish] She flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Ah. Well, I'm not a Zombo, My name is Scott, I'm a teacher. What's your name?" He gave the girl his most nice smile.

"We're here to get you," Selene explained, dusting off her Spanish. She then realized that what she had said might be a bit ominous. "To get you out of trouble, that is."

Greer purred some more, slowly standing up now that the woman was definately not going to burn her.

"Fine by me, who wants to be volunteeed for bleeding?" He poked Scott, "She just asked us to leave," "You sure you don't want a hand here, I mean ... blasting zombies all day must get boring?"

Rose sent fire at Selene for the 'to get you' comment, never hearing the rest.

"I think she's a pyromaniac," Selene told the others in a whisper.

She pointed to herself, "Tigra."

"Whoa!" Selene hit the ground, barely dodging the fireball.

"Definitely pyromaniac," she muttered.

"Ok, seriously. Stop firing on us. We're here to help you, not hurt you." He scooted between the girl and the others.

Darren quickly shot out a hand, catching the fireball and sending it zooming skywards harmlessly, "I will thank you not to threaten my girl friend ma'am."

"You all need to relax your postures a lot..." Tigra told them, "You look majorly threatening."

[Spanish]"I told you sons of bitches I am not going with you before and I'll say it one last time. Leave me alone!"[/Spanish]

"She's afraid, you all look scary... she's defending herself. Just calm the hell down." She frowned a little.

Darren looked at himself in his t-shirt, jeans and mussy hair, then at Selene, then at JP ... Yes, clearly they were very threatening ...

Scott grit his teeth and held out his hand to the girl. "I'm obviously not a zombie, so please calm down."

"Or you could try smiling... non threatening... relax your posture...." God. It was like teaching children.

Jean-Paul dug into his pockets, reaching for something that most everyone could see as a declaration of good intentions, holding out the bag of chocolates he kept on him for extra sugar to burn towards the girl.

"May I brain her," Selene asked the others. "Non-threateningly, of course."

"I'm seriously thinking we should just leave Tigger with the flamy girl and go get pancakes."

"Oh yeah because that would really convince her we weren't trying to hurt her..." Tigra sighed. There was just no hope for non-ferals.

"Tone counts as well, Greer, maybe you should try to give instructions with a smile." he had his own on, taking a seat on the ground as he waited to see what their firestarter thought of his offer.

Rose's eyes lit up a bit. It had to be a trick. Men do not just have candy on them... chocolate candy.

Tigra gave rose a smile, picking one of the chocolates and eating it to show her it was safe.

Rose tensed, ready to fire on JP if the kitty cat dropped dead... but she seemed ok. Maybe it was safe?

"We are not here to harm you," Selene tried again. It had been quite a while since she had spoken Spanish, and actually felt a bit strange.

"Oh, wonderful. Ladies love candy. I've got...a pack of cigarettes and a lighter."

Tigra purred again at Rose. Safe.

"I'd take them." Jean-Paul spoke up. "She might like the fire though."

"Then why are you here? The last people who came tried to take me away. Said they were doing the world a favor."

"We come in peace," Selene continued, holding up the palms of her hands. "I think I still have a lemon somewhere."

Rose took one step closer to the chocolate. How long had it been since she had tasted chocolate? Her mouth watered at the memory.

"Tell her we live around here and saw smoke?" He kept the bag held out for her, still plopped on the ground with his legs gathered up against him.

"This is progress." He lowered his hand and gave a sigh. He took a step back slowly.

Rose didn't take her eyes off Darren as she went for a chocolate, shaking as she did.

Darren shrugged, Selene seemed to be being more effective than him at this, and took a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.

Tigra's tail curled and uncurled behind her as she watched, continually monitoring the girl's scent for any changes.

Rose put Darren's cigarette out with a smile. Her idea of a joke. She munched on her chocolate happily.

Darren blinked and took the cigarette out of his mouth and stared at the end of a second, before trying to relight it.

Greer giggled a little. She already liked this girl.

Selene searched her pockets, and while she didn't find a lemon or other treats, one contained a small rock with a sour face painted on it. "The people who tried to chase you away wanted to do the same to us," she told the girl, offering her the little rock. "They are no friends of us."

[Spanish]"We can set them on fire then, yes?"[/Spanish] She took the little rock, confused.

Scott sighed and offered up his cigarettes. "What are you guys saying?"

"Yeah, mind translating once in a while? I'm getting cramped up here."

"We are like you," Selene continued, trying not to get too tempted by the girl's suggestions. "Maybe later. It makes them angry."

"She's saying we can set zombies on fire together."

Rose took the offered cigarette and lit the end by blowing on it. She inhaled on the white stick, then grinned. [Spanish]"I can wait to set them on fire."[/Spanish]

"You know, shouldn't we feel more squicky about killing and maiming them...I mean, we don't know the people they were aren't still in there...but, then again, they do try to ink-tentacle us to death."

"She agrees to come with us if you will wear your pants on your head," Selene told JP.

Darren snorted.

"My pants would make a poor hat."

Tigra giggled again, getting the feeling that wasn't what the girl had said. She tried again with her name, "Tigra." she pointed at herself. Then gestured to her indicating she'd like to know her name now.

"She will settle on a turban?" Selene shrugged, then turned back towards the girl. "I'm Selene. What's your name?"

"I could totally bring turbans back." Jean-Paul went ahead and took a bit of his own chocolate.

"My name is Rosalinda Elena Rodriguez... Rose.. I am from Mexico... the pen is on the table..." She paused... then blushed. That was not supposed to be part of a greeting.

Tigra smiled kindly at her, "Rose. That's pretty."

"Oh, good. English. My name is Scott Summers. It's nice to meet you, Rose."

[Spanish]"Are you going to send me back to Mexico?"[/Spanish] She looked to Selene and Darren, since they had been the ones speaking Spanish.

"Do you want to go back to Mexico?"

"Jean-Paul." He gave her a bit of a wave as he introduced himself.

"No one wants to go back to Mexico," Selene remarked. "No, only out of the city. To safety."

She turned to Jean-Paul. "Thank you, Jean-Paul." She pointed to the chocolates. Rose looked back to Selene, paused, then nodded. Out of danger would be a change. Maybe they had a nice bridge to sleep under to keep out of the rain.

He took that as freedom to stand back up. "Of course."

"Then we're in agreement? To get the hell out of here before more zombies or government people show up?"

"Sure, I have a real craving for panckes now as well."

Rose knew that word too. "Pancakes?"

"Sure... want some?" She smiled.

"Yeah, pancakes ... and bacon ..."

Rose was all smiles now. Food! Real food!?

"Oh there you go, I think that's made her happy."

"I'll cook you some up when we get back to the mansion, if you like?"

Tigra held a hand out to Rose. "Hungry, huh?"

"We come from a place where food is plenty," Selene explained and gave Rose a nod.

Rose looked a bit confused as she tried to translate all of that. She could figure out that she was supposed to take the offerd hand.. and there was something about a castle maybe? Surely that wasn't quite right. She took the kitty hand.

[Spanish]"Food is most appreciated. Thank you, ma'am."[/Spanish]

"Food always makes everyone happy," he said with a grin. "I think there's a small cache of food in the van's emergency kit. A couple granola bars, to tide you over."

Tigra smiled at Rose and made a start towards the street... and her clothes.

"You can eat as much as you like, as long as you don't mind being part of our family. Everyone helps out play their part." Selene nodded again and smiled at the new girl. "You know how to tidy, do you? My room is a mess, you know?"

"Selene!"

"What? Everyone is getting their own Mexican, why can't I?"

Darren rolled his eyes and put his arm around Selene, kissing her cheek, "You're terrible, you know that?"

"Of course," Selene replied, leaning against Darren's side. "It takes a lot of work, after all."

Rose wasn't quite sure what to make of these people, but it led to a safe place to sleep for the night and food. Couldn't be all bad.

When they reached the street, Tigra pulled her clothes out of the car and put her coat back on, deciding to just carry the rest of her stuff.

Scott herded the children towards the van, looking behind them for signs of any more zombies.

Rose stayed with the giant kitty cat, keeping an eye out, like Scott, for more zombies of black goo.

"You probably picked a poor time to arrive in the city. But I guess you've figured that out all ready."

[puppygirl]

Selene was used to being the only one concerned about the school's safety by now. Therefore it didn't surprise her much to find everyone else busy whit holiday preparations, while the task of securing the estate from tentacled zombies had been left to her. One day they'd thank her for making their life safer.

One tentacled monster happened to be sneaking up on Selene just as she though that, closer and closer, moving on silent feet, two hands dropped onto her shoulders from behind and a voice whispered, "Boo." in her ear.

Not picking up any psychic tracks from the stalker, Selene was understandably surprised. She spun around with a yell and swung a kitchen mixer at the offender, complete with a thick glob of sticky goo attached to the end.

"Argh!" Darrem screamed like a little girl and ducked, managing to miss getting the mixer to the face but not managing to avoid getting goo all over his hair and mohawk, "It's me! It's me!"

Selene paused and blinked, still holding the mixer in a menacing way as she looked at Darren. The sticky mess began to drop to the floor. "Oh, hey there," she said. "Did you forget that it's dangerous to sneak up on me? Especially when there are tentacled things afoot."

"Hey, this tentacled thing is always afoot!" Darren couldn't help the grin despite his head being covered in a mystery substance, "Though you know I like to live dangerously babe," he winked at her.

"Have you been reading dubious Japanese comics again," Selene asked, dumping the majority of the gooey glob in the kitchen bowl, before stepping up to Darren to put her arms around him.

"I am always reading dubius Japanese comics, Onemanga is a wonderful website," Darren grinned, before putting his arms around her and hugging her tightly, kissing her forhead, "Are you okay?"

"Why yes, I'm excellent," Selene replied, returning the kiss. "Even though I could have used your help earlier. It's hard being the only responsible one at school."

"Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that," Darren pulled a face, "and yeah? Everyone else got cabin fever or something?"

"They are occupying themselves with holiday decorations and getting drunk on eggnog, while leaving me to worry about defending us from the tentacly apocalypse," Selene said, turning to stir the sticky mass inside the bowl. "One day they'll thank me for mining the lawn with glue-bombs, however."

"... Glue bombs?" Darren grinned, "Pure genius! I'm sure they will!" He only wished he was there to see the discovery, "Soooo ... that's what I've got in my hair right now then?"

"Hey, don't you complain," Selene said, running her hand through Darren's hair to help him get rid of her bomb material. "It's only fair you get an idea how troublesome it can be to get sticky substances caught up in her hair."

"Hey hey, there have been plenty of time I've gotten a sticky mess in my hair, the most recent was last thursday," Darren caught her hand and kissed the tip of her fingers, "or have you forgotten?"

"How could I?" Selene smiled and kissed Darren again. "It tends to amuse me when you get messed up." She turned around to wash her hands. "So, where have you been? Couldn't resist shooting golf balls at unsuspecting zombies again?"

His smile faded a little, "Yeah ... you could say that ..." then his usual impish grin returned, "Hey, you wanna take a break from that for a few? All work and no play makes Sel dull."

"And we can't have that, can we?" Selene shot Darren a grin, then promptly hopped up to wrap her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "I've been stirring that mess for too long now. A break would be perfect."

Darren held her tightly, "Oh, take it you want a lift then? Where shall we go?"

Selene cocked her head and put on a thoughtful expression. "So many options." She bit her lip. "How about someplace private?"

"Attic?"

"Perfect!" Selene put on another grin and held on.

Darren gently carried her out of the back door and flew straight upwards slowly till they landed on the roof.

"How I have missed my personal boyfriend-lift," Selene said, carefully putting her feet back on the ground - or roof, in this case. "There's no heating in the attic, so we might have to look for a way to keep warm." She opened the window and stepped inside.

"Oooh, I'm sure I could think of something," he grinned, opening the door into the attic and holding it for her, "we've still got all those blankets and the like up here after all."

"It's always nice when we think alike," Selene smiled as she stepped into the attic, which was only slightly warmer than the air outside. She rubbed her arms to heat herself up. "I think we should get comfortable."

"Say no more," Darren swept her up as he followed her in and deposited her in their nest of pillows and blankets, before burying them beneath them, "We should get a stove up here," he said, wrappig himself around her to keep her warm.

"Oh yes, just think of all the excitement that comes with the possibility of burning down the mansion by accident." Selene chuckled, snuggling up against Darren.

"Livin' on the edge, babe," he said, snuggling his face into her hair in inhaling deeply, "God ... I miss you when I'm not here ..."

"Why not just take me along then," Selene asked, shifting a little when she felt that her shirt was definitely unneeded. "The good thing about being post-grad is that I won't get frowned at when skipping classes."

Darren paused for a moment, the sighed, rolling onto his back and pulling her down on top of him, "... I wish I could babe but ... I can't ..."

"Why not?" Selene cocked her head, sitting up as she straddled Darren's lap, so she could unbutton her shirt and slip out of it. "I'm not heavy, and I'm pretty sure I could make myself fit into a suitcase when I had to."

He ran his hand through her hair and then down the front of her chest, "It's ... it's not as simple as that ..." all year he'd been in two minds abuot this, it could endanger her but ... at the same time she'd given him three years of perfect love and companionship and he'd returned it with a lie ... "Selene ... I have something I ... something I gotta confess ..."

Selene's expression darkened when he said that. "You are a tiny alien living inside the hollowed out skull of my boyfriend," she said and let out a sigh. "I've always suspected as much."

Darren cracked up at that and hugged her close to him, "Oh yeah, you caught me! What gave it away?"

"Are you kidding me? No earthling could have tolerated my strange schemes for such a long time without running away in terror." Selene leaned down to give his lip a playful nip. "You're either insane, or not of this world."

"Could be both? I could be a horrow from beyond the span of space and time, Warlock fhtagn!" He smiled, leaning up to kiss her, "But ... I'm being serious here babe, there's something I need to tell you."

Selene brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and propped herself up on her elbows. "Well, if you're serious about it, then I suggest you tell me while I'm in such a good mood." There was a faint smile on her lips as she kissed Darren's neck.

Darren tried desperatly hard to not be distracted, "Mmm ... Sel ... there's ... well, there's no good way of saying this but ... I've been lying to you, to everyone, ever since I came back to the school ..."

Her caresses trailing off, Selene leaned back to get a look at Darren's face. "You do sound serious about this," she stated. "Lying about what?" That alone didn't trouble her too much yet. After all, everyone was lying. All the time.

Well ... he could either dally around about this ... or he could be up front ... up front would be less painful in the long run, "It's ... it's about the whole ... army thing Selene."

Selene arched an eyebrow as she gave Darren a scrutinizing look. "The army? Is that where you have been sneaking off to when I couldn't find you?" She frowned. "You didn't let yourself get drafted or anything, did you?"

Darren laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh, "Oh God ... you don't know how right you are there babe ..." he sighed, rolling them over so they were both laying on thier sides and faceing each other, "You remember how ... after the Phalanx the army came and took me and my ... my dad away?"

Selene gave a slight nod. "I assumed they probed you to make sure you won't cause another outbreak of the bee people," she said, before her eyes narrowed. "They didn't do anything unpleasant to you, did the? Because if they did, I can tell you that I won't care if they have guns..."

Darren shook his head, "No ... not really, but you know when I came back I said that I'd managed to escape, faked my death and stuff so that they wouldn't follow me?" He brushed a strand of her hair back from her face, "... I lied, they sent me here ... to observe the school," he cracked a small smile, "to make sure you guys never turned into terrorists or anything and threatened national security."

Selene gave Darren a long and silent look. "You spied on us for the army," she eventually asked.

Darren looked awkward, "... Sorta, but you gotta believe me, I did it so I could make sure you guys were all kept safe, people were getting seriously worried about this place and they were talking about sending a team in to shut it down, but Fury ... he said that if he sent one of his agents in to observe that wouldn't be necessary ... and it's not proper spying, I basically have to contact base and go 'Nope, still no anti-american sentiments here ... please Selene ... you believe me?"

Selene remained silent for a long moment. "I... don't know," she eventually said. "At first I thought you meant to tell me that you had joined the army reserve to drive old tanks over compact cars in your spare time... but this is just somewhat unexpected." She sat up and crossed her legs. "So... they meant to spy on us... but didn't because you offered to do it?"

"Well, the figured just to send a team in and arrest all of you under the counter-terroism act, but Fury offered me instead, and I took it because I wanted to make sure you guys stayed safe, because I think that this school is maybe the best thing out there for mutants and ... and because I missed you so, so much Selene, I'd have done anything to see you again ..." Darren said, sitting up as well and taking her hand in his, "You mean everything to me Selene, always have, back when I was Warlock and now that I'm Darren."

Selene instinctively grasped his hand and gave it a squeeze, while her other hand occupied itself with twirling a stray strand of her black hair. "You're aware that this is still quite a surprise," she said after another moment of silence. "I remember Fury... believed he was a good man. Very upright." She looked Darren in the eyes. "Much like you."

She bit her lip, pausing again, before adding: "I believe you."

Darren grabbed hold of her and pulled her in for a hard kiss, leeting out a groan of relief as he did so. He kissed her fiercly for a moment before the broke apart, his face split by the happies, goofiest smile ever, "You ... you've got no idea how much that means to me Selene ... I've wanted to tell you for so long but I couldn't, I've been sworn to secrecy," he kissed her again, "You can't tell anyone else about this Sel, I mean it, if they think for a moment that my postion has been compromised ..."

A wry smile appeared on Selene's lips. "Remember who you're talking to," she said. "I was born to be all secretive and scheming." Even though she couldn't read his mind, she felt that she could trust him. "To be honest, I'm quite relieved you confessed your secret to me. I had already started to believe that you kept no secrets on your own. And how suspicious would that have been?"

Darren grinned widly, "Glad I didn't let you down then," before kissing her again, he loved her so much and she'd trusted him and believed him about this, she hadn't turned from him and before he realised what he'd said he'd blurted out, "Marry me."

Selene was perfectly sure that her heart skipped a beat of three, before she choked rather awkwardly and simply stared at Darren. "Excuse me," she asked, her voice sounding coarse and quite undignified. "You're trying to kill me tonight, aren't you?"

Darren paled, OhshitohshitohshitIjustaskedhertomarryme! What did he do? Did he take it back ... no, that might make her angry and right after this big confession ... "I ... I ... no, no of course not ..." he stammered.

Selene blinked, her mind reeling from all the strangeness occurring around her, convincing her that she was very close to fainting. "Will you please stop confusing me and start making up your mind," she then demanded, giving Darren a smack on the head. "Of course I'll marry you, silly boy!" Wait what...!?

"... You will?" OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod! Well he had to have meant it since those words made him more insanely happy then he'd ever thought possible, "... YEESSSSSS!" And then he glomped her pretty much.

Selene squealed, no less undignified than her previous reaction, and toppled over to the floor with Darren. "I guess so," she replied, barely any air inside her lungs. "After all, the voodoo spirits already said we belong to each other. It's obviously destined to happen, no?"

"Besides, for some reason, I happen to like you very much." She smiled, leaning in to kiss Darren. "One could even say I love you."

Darren kissed her back, hands holding the side of her face, "Yeah ... and there's a quite large probability that I love you you too," and there, he'd said it, the l-word and it felt so damn good.

"What a cosmic coincidence." Selene stroked her hands over the sides of Darren's face and smiled. "You know that I'll still make you suffer for lying to me, do you?" Her smile turned into a grin. "Proposing to me won't get you out of this."

"Oh? The good kind of punishment or the bad kind?"

Putting on a thoughtful expression, Selene took her time to come up with an answer. "I guess it must be your lucky day," she said. "Not only do you get to marry me, I'm also in a good enough mood for the exciting kind of punishment."

Darren smiled goofily, "I'm the luckiest man in the world."

[steyn]

Yay marriage!

[puppygirl]

Place holder for Darren/Jay instance

[Ferguson]

Jean-Paul stepped out, still pulling tinsel out of his hair as he pulled his coat on, looking up quite happily at the little bit of snow that was coming down. "Mmm, fantastic."

"Me? Oh I know, but thank you for the compliment," a voice issued from above him. Darren was sitting on the low roof above the patio, legs swinging over the side, a box next to him and smoking a cigarette.

Rogue walked out from the back of the garage with her own box and lifted herself up onto the roof a few feet from Darren. "'Lo, Jean-Paul."

He tilted his back and up farther, looking up to see Darren. "You're quite welcome. Hello, Rogue. How goes it out here?"

Darren grinned savagely, "Coldly, apparently," he tapped the box with his elbow, "I've been asked to do the outdoor lights, I guess the skunk here was asked to help ... either that or she just wants to try an annoy me ... or she could be minding her own business but this is Roguey we're talking about so probably not." He took another pull, "What brings you out into the oh so seasonal weather?"

"Ah'm hangin' lights o' mah own accord, Darren. An' Ah've been mindin' mah own business a lot f'r tha past year if ya hadn't noticed." She pulled out lights from the box and looked down at JP, "Gonna help'r just stand there lookin' at us?"

"The seasonal weather brings me out but I suppose I might as well come up and help. I can look at scores of people." He smirked, flying himself on up. "I suppose it does make sense to have the fliers do the lights now, doesn't it?"

"Yep, and those immune to the cold in my case," he took a final drag and flicked the stub away, "and with you we'll probably get it done extra fast now." He made no move to take any lights out.

Jean-Paul didn't go for the lights but he did go for the light staple gun. "I'm just all around useful."

"Oh yeah. Y'all're plenty useful. At givin' me headaches." She passed him some lights to hang.

"See, for absolutely everything." He just grinned, starting to hang where he was. "As well you should know. Had any chats with your head-friend?"

"Now, now Roguey, you being a naughty girl and bad touching the students?" Darren scolded mildly, "setting a bad example there," he grinned as he took out another cigarette before offering the packet around.

"Every chance Ah get, Dar." She smirked and took a cigarette as she looked over to Jean-Paul, "Several. He's very annoyin'. Cain't get him ta shut up really."

"You really shouldn't be surprised." He gave her a wide, completely insincere smile. "Maybe he'll be helpful."

Darren tisked and rolled his eyes, pocketing his cigarettes again, "Y'know one of these days you're gonna bad-touch once to often and they'll kick you outta here, toots," he warned with a wave of a finger before using it to light his smoke, "So JP ... recovered from the near flambeing?"

"Oh yeah, recovered quite nicely. This wasn't the first time I've been knocked out by an angry butch girl."

Rogue passed more lights to JP, 'accidentally' elbowing him hard enough to knock him off his feet and hopefully to the ground. "Hey, they knew when they hired me that anyone who talks 'bout Sam gets a beatin'."

The ground was going to be a bit of a stretch as far as getting Jean-Paul to hit. Instead he just hoovered off of the roof, stringing the lights around. "Helps to warn the new people as to who Sam even was ahead of time though. And I never brought him up at all, just a poorly crafted ceiling. It does make me wonder how many times various places of this school has been rebuilt...should I be worried?"

Darren snorted, "Oh yeah, I forgot Rogue doesn't do the whole rational thing," he nodded, still making no move to help the two with the lights, "maybe she figured that it left such a 'psychic impression'" he did air quotes, "that even non-psychics should be able to pick up the fact that it happened." He gave JP an unhappy smile, "A few semesters ago there was this kid ... he couldn't control his powers at all and they were some fucking freaky powers, let me tell you! Upshot of it is that Rogue's fiance Sam was killed in an explosion in the kitchen."

"Murdered, Darren," Rogue said blankly as she grabbed her own staple gun and started with a new strand of lights.

"Well, may there be no more explosions then." He pulled a face, definitely wanting to avoid all such things. "Any other horrors I should know?"

"Tons."

"Comforting."

"Well there's the cylon in the basement that's been taking courtship lessons off Edward Cullen, but you're probably safe from her ... then there's Wade ... let's just leave that at that ..."

"Danger? Oh I all ready know Danger." He chuckled. "Reed is mildly obsessed with Danger...and by mildly I feel I should knock just in case."

"Wade's his own breed o' horror." Rogue flew along the side of the roof stapling the lights up. "But he ain't really dangerous."

"Oh, and there's Leech up in the attic, he has the power to neutralize all mutations, so don't try flying around him," Darren scratched his chin thoughtfully, "But apart from that ... I mean, you don't need warning about Adam and his stabby-stabby do you, you guys already know each other."

Rogue shuddered at the mention of Adam and the memories that brought up from JP's psyche.

"Yeah, all ready know Adam." Jean-Paul answered, giving Rogue a look. "Oh what are you shuddering at?"

"... Oooh, I recognize that shudder, that's the 'foreign memories uncomfortable sex-act' shudder," Darren grinned, "You mean Twitchy McLeprechaun finally got laid?"

"Hey, no parts of my sex-act memories deserve a shudder." He defended himself. "She should be glad for the free porn, I'd think."

Rogue gave Darren a glare and then turned to Jean-Paul, "Ah ain't glad f'r nothin', thanks. Ah've been real a-sexual lately."

"That doesn't mean you can't recognize quality when you remember it."

Darren snorted, "Hey, could be worse Stripes, at least you haven't inherited any sexual fantasies that involve you from him," he pointed at JP with his cigarette, "So ... morbid curiosity here, what is Adam like in the sack? Either of you can answer this by the way."

"...I'm going to go with an apt pupil. I swear he studied for it."

"... Studied?" Darren frowned at the though of how you 'studied' for such a subject ... was it unfair of him to suspect that Cessily was involved?

Rogue arched an eyebrow at Darren, "Why? Have y'all heard o' any sexual fantasies that involve y'all from someone ya 'hived' with?"

"Of course, how else would I be able to recognize that particular twitch," Darren took his cigarette out of his mouth long enough to poke his tongue out at her.

"...are you the school perversion oracles somehow? Because that sounds like warnings I'd be able to appreciate more." Jean-Paul plugged in a new string of lights, continuing on. "And I can't be the only one that thinks the word 'hived' just sounds dirty in this context, right?"

"I'm serious about the studying though. I'd not be surprised if he hasn't gotten himself a notebook and is taking notes from everything he can find on the internet...I should be more worried than I am."

Rogue blinked at Jean-Paul then turned to look at Darren for a second then back to JP. "Yes we are."

She took another strand of lights and kept going along the roof, "With Darren, hived is just as dirty as it sounds an' then not so much at tha same time."

"The vulcan mindmeld I'm cool with talking about, the hiving not so much, especially given the current situation," Darren sighed, taking a final drag and flicking the end away as he turned to JP, "I may have this ... zombie drone power y'see ..."

"...yeah, that doesn't sound near as appealing as it did a minute ago." He pulled a face. "I think I've all ready had my fill of zombie drones."

"Yeah, well Ah ain't so cool with talkin' 'bout Sam bein' possessed an' then combustin'. So now we're even."

"Yeah, but if you're going to start bad-touching people for referring to it without even knowing about it, you're gonna half to start talking about it sooner or later," Darren shrugged, "I mean, I haven't life-drained you for bringing it up, have I?"

"Will the two of you quit getting off topic with life-draining or essence sucking or whatever? Stick with the good bits now." He hovered back, giving their decor a critical eye. "I suppose doing this won't draw the inky tentacles right to us, yeah?"

"... Naaah, I mean, they're all in the city right? Why'd they be out here?" Darren said confidently ... but he still found himself scanning the grounds nervously ...

"Maybe the not-actually-undead don't like Christmas cheer...or maybe they'll associate it with some sort of meal."

Rogue frowned and looked behind her cautiously, "Ah don't want them ta associate it with a meal... Ah like them not likin' Christmas a lot better..."

"Well ... what do you guys wanna do? Take 'em down?" Darren took out another cigarette and lit it.

"Why don't you take 'em down since y'all ain't even helpin' ta put 'em up?"

"Well, it's not like we won't know until we light them up."

"Well, I say light 'em, we could do with some cheer around here I guess and if they do attract the Star-spawn ... we've proved we can handle them more that once."

Rogue blinked at Darren, "Y'all're certifiable, y' know it?" She sighed and kept stringing the lights though until she got to the edge of the roof. "Plug 'em in, Speedy Gonzales."

"I'm not sure if I object to the rodent suggestion or the geographical confusion most." He did go to plug them in though, smiling up at what they had created. "None too shabby."

"Yep, I am Stripes, but at least I have a shrink for it," he winked at her before blowing out a stream of smoke, "Mmm ... nice work guys, looks really nice."

"Good. Y'all need it." She hovered back from the roof and put her hands on her hips and gave a sharp nod. "Perfect. Y'all wanna help me do tha rest o' tha house? Figure Ah'll line tha windows too."

"Why not? It's certainly better than camping out in the recroom waiting for something to do."

Darren sighed, "Yes, I am totally the only person here who needs a shrink," he shrugged, "Yeah sure, might as well use 'em all up."

'More than likely the whole place needs something."

"Alright then. Let's get this done an' get inside. Ah'm gettin' cold." She hefted her box under her arm and headed to the side of the house, not bothering to wait for the boys.

Jean-Paul fought down the temptation to bring snow along just to get her colder, following Darren on inside and shutting the door behind him. Beyond the fence came and interested murring sound as a finger reached out into a tentacle, wrapping around one of the bars.

[Ferguson]

Jules took the pool cue as she dropper her coat onto the nearest bar-chair and walked over to the bar-table. She threw down a 50 dollar bill and smiled. "Who thinks they can beat Lightspeed!"

"At pool? I'm afraid I've never been much of a player." Jean-Paul considers the money though but shakes his head. Gambling was just nothing that ever set too comforting with him just because he imagined himself losing far too much.

Callie shook her head. "I do not gamble."

"Aw, c'mon!" Jules whined. She looked to Greer or Darren. "Someone? Someone daring?"

"Huh? Wha'?" Darren looked over from where he was trying to arrange renting Vitos ... it was hard trying to talk business with someone who kept on waving a machete at the slightest noise, ".. Naaah, Jay's the gambler, lady luck doesn't favour me so much."

"Is he always like this?" Jean-Paul nodded to Vito, watching him carefully. Sure, one had to be prepared for tentacle violators but...Jesus.

"I dunno, this is the first zombie invasion I've ever seen him in, it could be normal given the circumstances?"

Greer looked over at the pool table and frowned, "What do I win?"

"Fine..." She stuffed the fifty into her pocket and started racking the balls anyways. "Okay well, we're still playing..." She wondered how much Tequila she would need tonight.

"Nothing now, Greer, offer's off the table. It would've been the whole pot if you matched the bet. However, now you just win the glory."

"I don't want money..."

"Look ... a wedding ... WED-DING, with bridesmaids and best man speeches!" Darren tried to emphasis, "We want to hire the club for the VEN-UE!"

"I find it really uncomforting we're numbering zombie invasions. Does anyone else find that very uncomforting?"

Darren grinned at JP, "You just made the newbie face."

"We're numbering invasions? Since when? What number are we on?"

"I'd rather be new to zombie invasions. I don't want it to get old hat."

"Technically ... two."

"They're creepy!" Callie sipped her drink and looked around. Great. She'd come out to have fun, not worry.

"Two.... right... that's okay... better than like... five...."

"Very creepy." He had to agree, finishing his drink and pulling a face again.

Jules situated herself over to the bar before she lined up a shot. She looked at her watch knowing in just a few minutes her latest customer, the only one
stupid enough to be in town really, would be showing up for some of that sweet, sweet nectar.

"Vito!" She called. He almost hacked her head off when he jumped to face her. "GAH! I just want an appletini, man! Don't Machete Me Bro!"

"...I think he's cracked." Jean-Paul watched this Vito character carefully, arching an eyebrow as he wandered behind the bar, muttering about tentacles, the mafia, and shotguns.

Darren should probably give up ... he didn't seem to be getting through ... but damnit! He was not missing a chance on a possible 'crazed by the end of days' price reduction.

Vito pointed a fat finger at Darren. "Your wedding, no zombies, or you pay for damages."

"... I just pay for damages?"

Jules rose her fist in a fit of glory. "DAMAGES!"

"You're a good customer, you kids, you drink plenty and I ask no questions. Don't burn it down."

"Fire bad." Greer put in. "Totally with you there."

"Don't burn it all down?" She bargained.

"I don't burn. I grow!"

".... YEEEEESSSS!" Darren punched the air, free venue! "Can I have that in writing sir?"

Callie blinked. Perhaps water for the next two rounds.

"Fine, fine, get paper." They had better drink a lot though or Vito would not be pleased.

Darren flailed around for some paper and a pen, eventually he found both ... well ... a pen and a napkin.

Jules kept her mouth shut about napkins having never held up in court for legal contract, knowing perfectly well they could trust Vito... until she flipped a table over or something like that.

The door opened and caused Vito to grip his machete again and growl but only one of the scuzzier regulars made their way in, practically making a bee's line for Julie; definitely needing what she had.

Darren was waving the pen and napkin under Vito's nose, Selene was going to be so pleased with him!

Now they just needed to loot her a nice dress and find someone to perform the ceremony.

Julie smiled and flashed the boy a coy smile. "I'm gonna go to the ladies powder room, sir... would you like to accompany me to the door, I don't trust myself."

The customer's eyes darted from one side to another, acting considerably more squirrlier than he normally did for such drops...money was hard to come by in a deserted city, after all. "Um, yeah, sure."

Greer raised an eyebrow as she watched Julie and sipped her drink.

"So, when are you two going to do the wedding?" Jean-Paul asked Darren but he was watching the newcomer as well, not sure what his problem was.


Darren ignored the newb, to intent on getting his free venue, "Dunno, I mean, hopefully after the zombiegeddon since my family want to come up for the ceremony, but we need to find somewhere that'll marry us first ... lot of places aren't to keen on renting out to mutants see."

She led Captain Scuzzball over to the girls room door and pushed it open with her foot. She turned the light switch on and spun around to face him. "Okay, well first, I need some paper. Girls gotta wipe, y'know?" She put her hands out and made a motion for "paper".

"I...I don't have none."

"Y'know? Paper? I need paper to make this deposit." She loved screwing with people. This analogy was so twisted.

"Any kind of paper. Green paper? It's rectangular? It can have famous politicians on it? Preferably ones who discovered electricity?"

"I don't have anything...I can write a check but no banks'll cash anything, nobody's open an' FEMA sure as hell isn't cashing anything."

She looked to him with a raised eyebrow. "Hold on, I need to pee..." She shut the door in his face. Wow, this one takes the cake...

Jean-Paul nodded. "Yeah, I do remember that being a problem. Probably more down here than at home."

"Please, ya gotta help me. I've been your customer forever. You know I'm good for it, yeah?"

"Just kidnap a priest and tell him you'll eat him if he doesn't marry you, how hard can it be?"

"I don't know, threatening a man of the cloth with cannibalism seems awfully damning."

"... One, neither Selene and I are religious, and two, neither of us are keen on spending our honeymoon in seperate prisons for kidnapping."

"Well kidnap a justice of the peace instead and Selene can just mind wipe them afterwards. Dude, you're dating a telepath what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Forge a license and be done with it."

Julie sighed. She opened the door and looked him in the face. "Good for it? How's about you're good for being decked in the face if you think this business is the kind of mockery you are making it out to be." She said in a quick whisper. "You want the stuff? You need to give money."

"Forgive me for not wanting to start my married life with seedy mind-raping," Darren rolled his eyes ... though Callie's suggestion of a forgery might be leading onto something ...

Greer shrugged, "You're the one complaining about how hard it is..."

He tried worming his way inside the bathroom, wanting away from the crowd just in case. That one guy had a machete. "There ain't none to be had!"

"Then there ain't no stuff lunk head! Hey!" She tried to push back. "This is a ladies room!" The door couldn't be shut, he was already too far inside.

Callie looked up at the yelling. "Oh dear."

Greer frowned, putting down her drink, "You okay, Julie?"

"Um...should we do something?" Jean-Paul looked worried.

"Just give it to me!" He made a grab for her pockets, knowing something had to be there.

"Hey! Hey! No raping in my wedding venue, I'm sure that'd jinx my marriage," Darren called over.

Jules stumbled back as the door shut. "Oh, not again!" Julie grabbed him by his jacket and threw him, forehead first, into the airdryer. She then zipped over to him and grabbed him by his stringy, long hair and began punching his chin.

"Hey! Get your filthy hands off her!" Greer stood up.

"Julie! For God's sake!" She headed for the bathroom.

At the commotion Darren's head snapped around, "Hey! That was a joke, no real raping seriously! What the fuck's going on there?"

"I don't think we should be worrying about her exactly." Jean-Paul cringed as the door swung back and forth, showing a bit of the scene that was going on in there.

Jules reached her hands around his throat and began to strangle him. She felt the force, the power, of withholding life and precious breath. She began to bang the back of his head into the sink. "You fuck!"

Darren craned his head around, "... Jesus Christ! No murdering in me wedding venue either!"

Greer shapeshifted and pushed the bathroom door open, "Julie! LET GO!"

That would definitely cast a dark shadow over the celebrations.

Jean-Paul zipped in, trying to get a hold of Julie's hands as to not have a murder...especially as Vito was yelling now and the machete was waving very angrily.

Greer caught Julie around the waist and tried to pull her off the guy.

"NO!" She shouted, kicking at Tigra. "I'm not going to let these sickos think they can walk all over me!" She tried one of the martial arts chops she had been shown recently, right across his face, knocking him down to the floor, his head hitting the toilet on the way down. She picked him up again by his hair, his mumbling now becoming a plea, and tried to push his head into the water.

"Julie! You can't do this! It's fucking illegal!" She tightened her grip, careful with her claws, and pulled harder.

"It's beyond that, he can't even defend himself, it's just cruel!"

"Herraaaaaaahhh!" She didn't care about illegal. She let her rainbow power shielding flicker nice and bright and even used its force as she brought a punch down on the back of his head.

Greer let go of Julie at the bright light. That hurt!

"Oh fucking-" Darren was forced to try and hold the crazed Vito back from jumping over the bar and hacking away at the other students, "We'll pay for damages man! We'll pay! It's cool!"

Her skin began to almost absorb the light of the rainbow shielding, taking on the various shades of the color spectrum.

"Julie! I'm warning you!" The feral was pissed.

She looked to Tigra with malicious eyes, violet and shining. "Or what!?"

Tigra hissed at her, "Don't think I won't take you down!"

"Just hit her over the head with someone, fuck knows it won't damage anything important!" Darren called over.

She grabbed Captain Dickhead and tossed him back across the bathroom. "Mutants everywhere have it hard! I do the one thing that I can do that makes me a living, that I can always have as a job because no one can take it away from me for being what I am, and you think I'll let him take my money?"

"You can't just kill people, Julie!"

She pointed to the groaning body of ouch on the floor. "Get it in your fucking head! These people don't care about us! They want us for what we have and when they t hink we're not useful they become afraid of us and use us!"

Callie kept back. She couldn't do anything. Please just stop!"

She ran over and kicked him once more for good measure. "User!" she shouted.

"How the hell was this about being a mutant, you just brutalized him because he couldn't pay up." Jean-Paul, despite serious misgivings about this, now had a toilet seat to defend himself just in case.

"And this is helping how?! This is exactly what they're scared of, Julie!" She leapt over Julie and landed by the man on the floor, crouching over him protectively.

"Yes, because drug addicts are usually so thoughtful and polite," Darren muttered, getting Vito to settle back down by pouring him a large whiskey.

"They're scared that they don't know how to respect us for what we are!" She said pointedly. "Better."

Vito was very thankful for whiskey. It helped a lot.

"You don't get respect until you earn it Julie. This is not the way."

Jean-Paul tried to pull the victim for the evening away while they were talking, at least trying to get him out of the bathroom. He couldn't help but watch Julie carefully though. She was crazy if this was how she acted.

"No, Tigra you're mistaken. YOU earn respect, I demand it." She looked to the door and then to Vito. She pulled out a solid wad of 100's and dropped 5 down. Then she looked to Darren and frowned. She dropped the whole wad. "He's not with me, don't take it out on him." She said to Vito.

Tigra's eyes flashed and she pounced on Julie.

Vito roared and the machete waved again. "No more! You kill each other out of my bar!"

Darren quicky snatched the wad and shoved it into Vito's shirt pocket, "See? All better now ... and oh look, the two younge ladies are fighting now, with any luck the neko will claw blondie's clothes off and everything with be better, right?" he topped up Vito's whiskey, patted the man on the head before going over to help JP with dragging the druggie.

"...You have a good point." Vito was calm again, smiling at Darren and patting his shoulder.

Jules hit the floor and groaned. She turned to Tigra and then to JP and then to Vito. "Tigra... if you know what's best... you will stop now... before I have to kill you."

She was angry, she didn't know what she was saying. She knew she would never do it, but she needed a threat scary enough to get the human tiger off of her.

Tigra growled at her, "Don't threaten me, Julie. And don't think I can't hurt you. You can't talk to people like that."

"I don't suppose you're any good at first aide and beyond?" Jean-Paul asked as he looked up to Darren. His eyes soon fell back onto Julie though, just in case.

"Should I call the school for help?" She felt so utterly useless, so maybe a small help of offering to help would be useful.

"They're not people, they're sheep... and the X-Men want to be the fleas that rely on them for their own survival. I'd rather be a dog, and show the sheep who could actually be in charge." She used her hand to push Tigra up a little, just enough to use her ability to zip out of her grasp.

"Actually, I am," Darren smiled at Callie, "Don't worry, you can help plenty, see if Vito has some water and clean cloths and get the first aid kid from behind the bar for me?" he asked her.

She streaked over to the door and saluted the group. "Watch where you step from here on in, they'll be looking to get you." With that, she was gone, her streak blurring away.

Tigra sighed, sitting up and running a hand through her hair, debating the wisdom of following Julie to find out just what the hell was going on.

"Ok." Callie did as asked, and came back with the items, with a small smile.

Darren watched her go, "... That girl is fucking whacked."

"I'm worried about her...."

"Absolutely insane. Anyone who is going to attack people like this...this is bad."

"You think I should go after her? I can track her easy...."

"If she gets eaten by zombies it's Darwinism," Darren said, taking the kit off Caillie with a smile of thanks and starting to tend to the guy's injuries.

"I'm not worried about the zombies... I think she's in some kind of trouble.... she's not herself at all...."

"... And luckily she's all speed and no power, guy's a bit concussed but apart from that he's fine, it's mostly superficial damage here."

"Don't think it'd be a good idea to go after her now...maybe she'll calm down." Jean-Paul tried to sound confident on that but...yeah, this was insane. "You mean she's completely off her cabbage...Hey now, us runners have some power...oh dieu, I'm sharing a power with a rainbow coloured crazy."

"I just don't want her to do something stupid... well... stupider...."

"I'm not saying all zippers are puny, it's just she punches like ... well ... a girl."

"An absolutely batshit one."

"I feel like we should check on her..."

"With no regards for anyone else's matrimonial plans," Darren started bandaging, "Look Tiggy, you wanna go running after her into zombie land, by my guest, just don't expect us to come with you."

"Yeah, more worried about the brutalized man at the moment to be truthful."

"I'm worried about her...." she got to her feet, sighing at yet another pair of ruined shoes. "I'm gonna go look for her..." she picked up her coat.

"We've got things here, go on." Jean-Paul nodded, looking back at the man again. "So...who do we even call now for something like this?"

"The police?"

Tigra waved distractedly over her shoulder as she headed out the door, picking up Julie's scent and following it away down the street.

"There's no one left to call," Darren grunted, "we just gotta do the best we can, he should be okay though once the concussion passes."

[Ferguson]

Darren plucked another small, golden ring from the wreakage, "Aha! How about thi-" he squinted at it before tossing it to one side, "naaah, way to big for you babe," he grinned over at his intended.

Tigra sniffed at the items keeping her company on her latest rooftop perch. They'd been there for a while... probably most people didn't want to be up that high but she found it reassuring to be able to survey her surroundings all at the same time.

"You know, I'm certain there has to be something in my contract that states I shouldn't be stealing with students...I can trust you all to keep this a secret?" Lorna looked back at the others, smirking. "Just imagine if I got sacked. Who else would let you play with chainsaws in art class?"

"It's such a shame this place got hit so badly, isn't it?" Selene returned Darren's smile. "It would be irresponsible to leave all these shiny baubles to get lost in the dust and debris, don't you think?" She encountered an unbroken showcase, and promptly corrected the situation by accidentally dropping a heavy hat-stand into it. "Such a shame indeed."

"Haven't got to that part of the curriculum, Mrs Drake." Adam was clutching an odd bottle of clear fluid. "Was that before or after the ice sculptures with flamethrowers?"

Chainsaws in art class? Gambit has watch the pair for several minutes now, and that line had thrown him, somewhat. That woman was a teacher? Looting? Hardly professional conduct. He kept a charged playing card in hand, just in case, and continued to watch... for now.

"Oh I dunno, I was hoping to collect enough evidence to get you fired so I could steal your job, there can only be one! ... art teacher ..." Darren snickered to himself as he found another display case.

"Sounds like a mutually beneficial arrangement there," Selene replied, showing Lorna a smirk.

A pigeon landed on the far side of the roof. It hadn't seen her. Eeeeexcellent.

"I don't know, I'd let you cover portrait painting and the like. I'll give you Bob the Model's number...he always goes over so well."

Darren peered out of the window to check zomboid movements, "I don't wanna rush you people but there seem to be more of them generally meandering this way, and we've still gotta go find dresses and stuff," he picked up another ring and a jewlers eyepiece that he'd found behind the counter, screwed it into his eye for the effect and peered at it ... ooooooh.

Adam muttered to himself, blue eyes narrowed over his mask, black PVC coat replacing the one he'd burnt as he edged closer to the group. Wearing mostly blue and black, he looked like an extremely paranoid and skinny Twi'lek, the fake blue-black dreads near-glowing. "Mrs Drake, I swear I will do all your paperwork if we never have to see him again."

His arm was still in a sling as he nervously watched the zombies. "Did you know they can crush you? It really hurts. Lots. Also, Mrs Drake, I would totally help you hide the bodies too."

The pigeon took off in an attempt to flee as Tigra pounced. she caught it but missed the edge of the roof and plummeted to the ground, landing on a car. "Ow...." she still had her pigeon though. Score!

Lorna moved to peer out at the general shufflings of the hobo zombie parade. "Yeah, might want to get a move on at that. And Bob the Model is a passage into adulthood." She paused, looking back at Adam and smirking. "I'll keep the body hiding in mind...I think we might want to move, the zombos definitely would have heard that landing."

Adam eyetwitched. "Want I should burn them? I can totally burn them. Zombies burn good."

"It's harder to draw ugly people than beautiful, Bob's a pretty good model for learning life drawing," he held the ring out to Selene, "What do you think, regular and black diamonds? It's your size and probably costs the same amount as a small island."

"As much as these things sparkle and glitter, I think i still prefer more modest accessories," Selene mused, holding up a heavy necklace. "Roadkill jewelry and animals bones beat expensive kitsch any day, if you ask me."

In watching the newcomers, Remy'd totally forgotten about the potentially lifethreatening situation he'd found himself in. Still, seeing them rummage was amusing him: he'd already taken most of the decent stuff from this room. He couldn't help but smirk silently to himself.

She shook her head. "I'm not convinced people aren't still in there somewhere." She glanced back at everyone. "We haven't been doing too bad by them, have we?" She bit her lip, thinking it over. "Well, we have to defend ourselves, can't help that."

"Pleeeeeeaaase lemme burn them..." Adam sniffed, before narrowing his eyes. "Um. Lorna? We're not alone. I don't mean the zombos..." His eyes flared red. "...Yup, 'nother human in here." He paused. "...Want I should burn?"

Tigra extracted herself from the folded roof-crater she was lying in and sat up to chew on her catch while she kept her eyes and ears open for zombie movements.

Glancing at Darren and the ring he held out for her, Selene gave it a scrutinizing look and smirked. "Of course, I'm willing to make an exception for the one or other exception piece," she said. "If I end up not liking it, we can still exchange it for that island later."

Darren shrugged, "If they're trying to hurt me and my own, i'm taking 'em down before they take us down," he gave her a slightly appologetic smile, "sorry teach, guess that's just an army way of looking at things."

Damn... had he been spotted? How the... he was perfectly hidden! The unlit corridor at the back of the store was pitch as night... save for the glowing card he held inside his pocket. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He remained perfectly still..

"...Maybe I shouldn't tell you I've been keeping score...?"

"Oh? Awesome! We have a winner, but gotta do this properly," he got down on one knee and took Selene's hand, "So Sel ... haven't changed your mind have you?"

Selene peered out of the window, spotting Tigra climbing off a wrecked car outside. "I think the cat is about to drag something in."

"I'll just...pretend I didn't hear that bit." Lorna looked about, not sure what she was looking for but trusted Adam's senses. "Now now, we don't burn possible friends or anything. Wait until you decide they're worth burning."

Adam sniffed again, blood-red eyes narrowed as he looked around in the way that only the truly paranoid could. Damnit, he hated being watched and- "Ooooh! Shiny!" He suddenly bounded over the road, paranoia, person and zombies forgotten, gloved hand pressed against a window. "...Must have."

"..." Lorna gave up, shaking her head and just reaching over and patting Adam's shoulder. "Darren, do you know what he was talking about?"

Tigra licked her fur clean of blood and hopped off the car to wander inside to the others, "You guys not done yet?" she climbed up on a counter, curling her tail around her legs as she sat down.

"Sure do, adolesent human male, he was in here before we were, unarmed, guess he just had a similar idea to us," Darren called over, still kneeling.

"...Sure thing, teach." He said vaguely, before tapping the glass, red eyes fixed on the coat in the window. Oh man, and it was better than the one he'd wasted. He put his hand on the glass, blurred it in a circle and grinned happily as the entire window shattered. "Is mine now."

Turning her head, Selene found that she was getting proposed to in what had to be the most unfitting, inappropriate, and tasteless scenario imaginable. It was just like in her wildest dreams. "Oh, how could I, love," she replied, a grin on her lips as she looked down at Darren. She took his hand.

"Person. Is guy, watching, smells of burny...I think? I don't know." Adam petted the coat before nicking it. "Um. I could probably you know...pull him out, but I'm not completely recovered yet..."

Darren slipped the ring onto her finger, stood up, picked her up and swung her around him, okay, buisness taken care off now they could deal with their little voyer.

Oh she was definitely not being a good role model tonight...but Darren and Selene needed their things and it wasn't as if insurance wasn't going to cover this all when the store owners got back. "Hello?"

Adolescent? Human? Unarmed?! Whoever these guys were, they clearly had no idea what they were talking about. Still, the 'human' thing threw him. Did they mean he wasn't a zombie... or something else? One called out: remy didn't answer. Too many questions, not enough answers. He didn't want to walk straight into the unknown just yet.

Tigra sniffed at the scents in the air, "Think maybe he's scared."

"Not suprised with a half-naked catgirl running around, I'd be scare too," Darren said, still holding Selene off the ground.

"...Nope. I'd say wary."

"Zombies do that to a person." Lorna figured, "And the half-naked catgirl would depend fully on his taste in entertainment."

"... Well no one's asking you, Darren." Tigra narrowed her eyes on him.

Just as he said that, there was a sudden zip and a chunk knocked out of the wall. "Zombie!" He dove behind a counter, cowering.

Scared?! Remy LeBeau was never SCARED. That was enough. Pulling his hand from his pocket, the card glowing in the darkness of the corridor he stood in, he walked out towards the group, hair falling over his face to conceal his eyes. "Take more dan a zombie t' scare me, cherie." A sudden craack, a section of wall falling away grabbing Remy's attention. "Thinkin' we're on de same side for now, non?"

"Kill them! Hurt them!"

While Lorna took the commendable route of caution, Selene went for a more proactive approach, and while still holding on to Darren, reached over to the counter, picked up a small ceramic cherub statue, and chucked it into the direction of the stranger.

"Balls" Lorna was up in the air, breaking metal bits of the display case off for projectiles. "You know, I think that sounds reasonable. Good to meet you."

Reflexes as sharp as ever, Remy tossed the glowing card straight at the cherub, exploding it on impact. "Dis how y' treat people y' just met?"

"Argh! Zo- wait. You're not a zombie. Excellent!" A bottle of clear liquid was pushed into the stranger's hand along with a lighter. "Molotov, light and throw, light and throw!!"

"Ahhh! Sonuva-" Darren lept into the air with Selene, and the guy had emerged and ... he knew that accent, "Aww hell, another frikkin' cajun?" he grumbled, watching a tendril start to try and ram it's way through the wall.

"It's a sign of affection," Selene replied, letting go of Darren so she could land on her on two feet again.

"Fire BAD!" Tigra supplied at the sound of the word 'molotov'.

"Also, type A negative, we have plenty of that at the school, and fire not bad, fire saved me from being et!"

"Zombie slaying good!" Darren said, bringing both hands up and concentrating, sending out a pulse of yellow energy towards the tendril, there was an angry shriek from the other side of the wall.

He stares at the bottle with a smirk, tossing the lighter aside. "You guys do nothin' but talk? Dunno if y' realised, but..." The bottom glows, and Remy throws it. "...Dis kinda a dangerous place t' be right now!" the bottle sails throw the window, and explodes outside.

A tendril headed for Adam again. "Hey hey hey, we discussed this, I might be a little freaky but no freaky lovin' bitches!" The tentacle met a blurring blade. "Nice throw!" Another zombie was picked up, struggling. "Lorna, kill or disable?"

"Well...pays to be on your toes." Lorna cleared her throat, more than a tad sheepish as she let herself come back to the ground as she aimed her projectiles at the nearest tentacle. She watched as the bottle went out and apparently did it's explody thing. "Now that's quite nice."

Tigra headed outside, ducked a couple of tendrils and pulled a street light out of the ground to hit things with. Golfing with Zombies was totally getting sold as a game idea.

"Handy trick you've got there dude," Darren called over, "but in my professional opinion we should evac," he aimed another blast.

"If you can avoid killing by all means." She knew reason would dictate just letting him go on that but there was still a chance they were people somewhere in there...plus cutting Adam's tether loose just seemed like a bad idea. "Yes, I trust we've gotten everything we came for? No need to stick around."

"Y' always ask yo' girlfriend for orders?" Remy said with a smile to the... the guy who weirdly knew his bloodtype. He grabbed a piece of shattered glass from the ground, charged it, and threw again. Turning to the young woman who complimented him, he flicked his hair back from his face and smiled. "Wait 'til y' see my other tricks." Evac was suggested... and Remy couldn't help but think that running may be the best idea.

Darren tapped the pocket that he'd stashed the two golden wedding bands in, "We're good, boss."

"Yes, run away, run away before they hurt you." Adam nodded, before bouncing the zombie on its head a couple of times and dropping it. "Not my girlfriend, gorgeous, just my teacher. I'm gay." He grinned, pulling the mask down and holding his good gloved hand out. "Adam Kilduff. I'm not insane." He paused. "...At least, on paper I'm not insane."

Tigra was smacking zombies away with her makeshift bat, trying to best her own record of five blocks.

Gorgeous?? Well, Remy was never one to turn down a compliment, no matter where it came from. "Gambit. Sanity questionable, dey say," he replied with a grin, before gesturing to the corridor he'd hidden in. "Leads out back. Was clear out dere when I came in//"

Darren nodded, "Back sounds good, i'll cover you guys, you got point Lorna?"

Huh, so Adam had decided on that? Good for him. "They have a tendency to swarm shops once they realize there are people around but we should be kosher." She kicked off of the ground again, hovering to the lead. "Got it."

Adam grinned. "You're my new best friend. I'll tell Bit not to kill you in your sleep."

Selene pelted the approaching oozy zombies with various pieces of jewelry. "This place pretty much lost its charm," she said. "

"Yo Tiggy!" Darren called out the window, "we're evacing, out back!"

"Yeah I can hear you!" Tigra rolled her eyes, smacking another zombie away and picturing it as Darren's head.

She... flew? Ok, that explained why they hadn't been shocked by his powers then. There people were freaks like him! He was unsure about this guy being his best friend... but not being killed in his sleep was always a plus point. "Hope y' all got a car or somet'ing.."

Adam gave him a blank look. "I run faster than tube trains. Why the hell would I want a car?" With that, he grabbed the guy and started tugging him. "Come on, people, my wrist says zombies bad. I bet anything it'll start aching when zombies are near - or tentacles."

"So, you got a place you're living, Mr Gambit?...and do you count a van as good enough?" Speaking of which, it might be a good idea to all ready start that van up and get it down the street for them.

"... So you're good out there by yourself then, playing zombie ball?" Darren fired a few blasts into the horde to keep them back as he checked everyone else was heading out.

Discovering more of the frighteningly cheerful cherub statuettes, Selene decided to make the best possible use of the little naked buggers, channeled enough energy into them to animate a small flock, and sent them out to cover their retreat. "Fly, my lovelies!"

"Yeah, I can climb the walls if they get too close and I'm faster than they are on foot anyway. I'm good."

He allowed himself to be dragged away, picking up his pace as he realised just how close danger was. "Got an apartment I locked down a few blocks from here. Wasn't really 'spectin company though..." he replied, not entirely sure if he wanted to share his safehouse with others.

"... Okay then, have fun," Darren gave her a lazy salute and followed the others out back.

Tigra cheered as she cleared her record... sure it was on a bounce but who was gonna argue?

"...Thought teach said no killing...?" He muttered, totally ignoring his own love for burning zombies.

"Sooooo Tiggy's quite possibly nobley sacrificed herself so we could get away, what now?" Darren said, bolting the back door behind him for all the good it would do.

Selene slipped out the back of the store, quickly sending a telekinetic garbage can to topple a zombie in the distance before it could decide to head their way. "I'd be very welcome for a more comfortable place to take this party."

Tigra turned her ears to listen to the movements of the others, waiting til she thought they'd gotten far enough away.

"...That is the damnedest thing I've ever seen." Lorna practically forgot herself, hovering in place watching the cherub army. Oh, wait, yes. Zombies, best avoid. Lorna swore as one snapped a whiplike inky tentacle towards her leg. "Bad touch, don't approve." She gave it a quick slice and flew again.

"The question is..." He carried on up the hall. "The really important question is...will this coat go with my dreads?"

"...You people are crazy," Remy replied as he eyed them all with a degree of suspicion. However, there were some rather pretty faces in their number, and they -were- freaks like him... Maybe he could at least offer them his safehouse for now. Safety in numbers, right? "T'ree blocks away. Got my bike out de back. Where be dis van of yours?"

"Oui, we are. Well, I am. Can't vouch for them. I just like blowing shit up and I'm heavily medicated to stop me doing it."

Once they were far enough to be safe, Tigra jumped up and scaled the wall of the mall, taking the route over the roof. She jumped off and landed on the pavement just behind the group.

"We might be crazy," Selene replied, sending a dumpster into another zombie down the road, "but If the available options consist of tentacles zombies made of black goo and a bunch of crazy people, which would be the more sensible choice?"

"I don't know, a nice family outing to a zoo? Can we move faster please?"

"At least you don't say crazy like it's a bad thing," Darren grinned, pointing, "The van's that way, couple-a blocks away."

"Your dreads are pretty much whichever colour you want that day so I'll say you're good." She flew a bit faster, looking behind her. "Van is coming. So...you looking for a place maybe? We have a school...sort of an odd recruitment call but there you go."

"It's an epic school. It has lights and heating and everything!"

"...Y' got a good point, cherie," Gambit admitted, perhaps a little hesitantly. He broke off from the group as they got to the loading area out back, and beelined straight to his motorcycle, leant up against the wall. Swinging a leg over and kickstarting it, he tilted his head. "Can carry one o' you. De rest, y' have to run it."

Tigra followed along behind the group, not really listening to the conversation since her senses were busy scouting for trouble... and more pigeons. She was hungry.

"And is mostly zombie free, as well," Selene added.

The van rounded the corner, driverless as Lorna was pulling it along, bowling into one of their zombie friends and making a squealing stop near Tigra.

"Ten points Lorna!"

"...I wanna ride the bike! Can I ride the bike?"

Tigra blinked at the van sliding to a stop, "Man if that had been much closer I'd have no toes..."

"Long as y' keep y' hands somewhere sensible.." Remy replied with a raised eyebrow, head snapping around as a driverless van flung around into the loading area. "Geez! Dere anyt'ing y' can't do?!"

"Tap dance."

".... You know you need toes to do that, right?"

"Hey, no groping on a first date. And by the power of friendship...yeah, actually, there's a fuckton we can't do. End world hunger being one." He swung a leg over the bike, good arm tight around the guy. "I can fling anything out of our way. Go as fast as you like."

"I have ten perfectly fine toes thank you very much ... at least when I want them, doesn't mean I can tap dance ... or blow smoke rings."

"I can totally tapdance...I just move the metal in the shoes!" Lorna called back as she dove for the driver's seat. "You follow us to the school?"

She opened the door and climbed on into the van, "That's cheating - bad teacher!" Tigra laughed.

"Also, I suggest we try to not stray too far from our transportation the next time we scout the monster infested back-alleys," Selene announced, hopping into the van. "See? You forced me to be the sensible one of the group. Doesn't that tell us that we might be getting a little too reckless here?"

Oh God...Selene was right.

"Aww, but that's no fun then babe," Darren mock-pouted, sliding into the van beside her and putting his arm around her shoulders, "Guess we'll have to go dress shopping another day then huh?"

"I didn't even think there was a 'too reckless' for you, Sel... oh my God it really is the end of the world."

A little unsure how he felt about his choice of biking partner, he figured there were much more important things at hand here. "Reckless would be stayin' here any longer, cherie. Follow me, oui?" Remy said, a hint of desperation to his voice, as he kicked the bike into life, revving it loudly before taking off, hoping the others has the sense to follow.

A zombie slowy, sedately piroetted into the air in front of them, before getting slammed so hard into a wall the brick cracked. "...Hope they have insurance. And for the record, I'm no predator. It's just near my meds time."

"They didn't have my colour, anyway," Selene replied, resting her head on Darren's shoulder.

Lorna peeled out, tailing this Gambit fellow as closely as she dared in the dear old school van. "I'm convinced this thing is magic sometimes."

"Homme, don't be sayin' tings like dat when we on a motorbike, neh?" Remy said, wondering just what on earth was going through this unusual young mans head... and just what it was his ability was. He had no doubt in his mind he was amongst and entirely mutant group now. As he tackled the corner towards 'his' apartment sharply, he supposed that this wasn't such a bad thing, under the circumstances.

"Magic how?" Tigra raised an eyebrow, "Because driving itself doesn't count when you're doing it."

"But that one in the first wndow was already shredded, it would have looked awesome," Darren said, shrugging and kissing her temple.

"Hey, look. I could totally point out that I'm riding you shotgun here, but I'm not going to. You blow things up, that's cool, but it's not like I'm going to drag you down a backalley and rape you. There's only one person my roofies are for."

"Again, homme... too much.." He paused, another sharp corner. He hoped the van was keeping track of him. "..Information." They were closing in on his apartment, and as he slowed to a halt, he was careful to make sure the street they now found themselves on was deserted. Turning in his seat, he waited for the van.

"I meant more that it's managed to survive with us all these years considering what we put it through. It's a wonder the thing runs." She patted the dash. "That's it baby girl, you keep on purring."

"Hm, you're right," Selene replied, a thoughtful expression on her face. "We should definitely look out for torn dresses in the future. Blood splatters are a bonus."

"Yeah, I'm good at that. I don't have an inappropriate button." He admited happily. "Apparently it makes me fun to be around. That and the stabby."

"... I'm not gonna burst your bubble. Yeah it's magic."

"I'm pretty sure that the spirit of Professor Forge inhabits it and is what keeps it together," Selene remarked with a serious expression and nodded.

"Something belonging to Forge inhabited it at least," Darren muttered, deciding against just where he'd found the old perverts hidden camera in here.

"Have I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to your wedding, Selene?" She pulled a face at the mention of the deceased Professor. "Well, he did have a fondness for such things."

"Y' definitely ain't borin', dat's for sure..." Remy replied with a grin, patting the young mans leg to indicate he should get off the bike. "Here dey come. Surprised dat old t'ing dey drivin' ain't broken down."

"And other things."

Lorna put on the break early as she saw Gambit and Adam stopped ahead. "There we are...doesn't seem to be anything inky and black around." She opened the door, poking her head out. "Not a bad area."

"I'm quite positive it's going to be quite memorable," Selene told Lorna. "Once I'm done calculating when the stars are right, you'll be the first to get the date for the reception."

Adam complied, going around the street in a blur to make sure there were no zombies before stopping next to the bike. "Well...there's a few of us who have abilities with mechanical things. The punk guy, Darren? He does this weird shit with electrical stuff. It's awesome. Just don't piss him off. Same with the green-haired chick, Lorna. Talk about magnetic personality."

Tigra poked her head out and scented the air, "We're good." She stepped out onto the street.

"Also, thanks, I'd hate to be boring." He pulled his mask down and grinned again.

"The stars are always right," Darren waved his fingers infront of his mouth in the classic cthulhu immitation, "when you have the DR."

"I had hoped we would be taking the scenic route," Selene commented, hopping out of the van.

"Secnic? In New York?" Darren climbed out after her, whistling when he saw the building they'd stopped infront of, "Well if you're gonna squat, might as well squat in style."

Slowly, he was getting their powers together. Shotgun guy, did lots of stuff. Catgirl was... well, a cat girl. Teacher lady could fly. Punk guy, electrics... Quite a rag tag bunch, really. "Follow me, amies. And close an' lock de doors behind y', oui?" he said, wheeling his bike up towards one of the apartments. He didn't stop, continuing to push it up the few stone steps, pushing the door open and wheeling the bike into the hallway.

"So you suggest we marry in the DR;" Selene asked Darren. "It's an intriguing idea. We could pick any setting we like, and I'm sure Danger wouldn't object to downloading an online certification so she can conduct the ceremony herself."

"Adam, boring? I'm pretty sure that has never happened in his life." She gave Tigra a nod at the all clear. "Good. Now we can meet each other properly." She nodded, following behind Gambit as he led the way.

"Don' scratch her as y' walk past," Remy said, his bike being about the only constant thing in his life. and began to walk up the stairs towards the top floor: the elevator had given out ages ago.

"Very scenic, thanks to me. Painting by yours truly. Zombos don't appreciate it though." He followed the new guy, giving the bike a curious and respectful look as he was careful in passing her. "...Don't usually see bikes this close. She's pretty."

"... So I could fulfill my life-long dream of gettng married in R'lyeh?" Darren's eyes pratically glowed with the possibilities.

Tigra followed the guy indoors, hopping up onto the handrail to walk up that way instead of on the steps.

"...Mrs Draaaaake can I have a biiiiike?"

"If the state of New York will let you have a license for it I suppose I can't stop you." Lorna answered back, wondering just how that would turn out and imagining Adam driving into the recroom.

Selene paused before heading up along with the others, tapping a finger against a nearby streetlamp, imbuing it with enough power it could keep a watchful eye on their surroundings. She then followed the others.

"I can totally pretend I'm sane enough to be allowed to ride one."

"Dude ... I'm pretty sure in New York you have to fail the sanity test to pass the driving one, you've seen the cabbies right?"

"Good point."

Adam gave Darren and Lorna a purely innocent blank look.

Tigra decided to stay out of it. Voicing her concern about the idea of Adam behind the controls of any vehicle would probably result in her being pursued by said vehicle.

That look simply wasn't to be trusted. "So, how long have you been here?" She asked their host, having a quick look around.

"I'll have you know I have the perfect balance of an NY cabbie and an Irish grandma when it comes to driving anything."

"Cozy," Selene commented upon looking around.

"... That's a terrifying idea, even for me, and there's no way I can be hurt by being run over," Darren muttered before sprawling across a chair.

"Only 'bout a week," Remy replied, having left them to their banter as they finally reached the second to top floor. He pushed a door, unlocked, open into one of the apartments. "Ain't got no key, so barricade it wit' dat dresser once y' all in, 'kay?" he instructed, leaving them to let themselves in as he quickly checked the rest of the place. All clear, it seemed. For a city in ruins, Remy had gone out of his way to not only keep this apartment safe, but comfortable. Sure the windows were boarded shut, but the fridge was stocked, and there were plenty of books and *ahem* magazines laying around to keep him amused during his captivity within the NYC limits.

"This brings back fond memories of my stay in the windy city," Selene remarked, stepping into the room. "I like what you made out of the place."

Adam went and stood nervously in the corner, wrinkling his nose a little and eyeing up a mag. "I prefer my nest. My nest has a fort and a rabbit."

Tigra resisted the urge to sniff at everything. A guy living on his own for a week and not going out for fear of zombies... yeah. She could already guess that. She moved to look out of a window instead.

"It's a pretty sweet pad," Darren said, a weathered eye going over the magazines and approving of the guy's tastes.

"Does de job," Remy grinned in response, looking over the group. Generally, they all seemed around a similar age to himself, perhaps give or take a few years. It was strange, to be around a group of people just like himself, with their oddities and powers. "Take it y' ain't all from New York den?" he asked.

"No shit, Sherlock. Ireland, bred and true." Adam grinned happily.

Tigra shook her head, "No - Chicago." She tucked her tail around her legs as she sat down by the window.

"Barracks brat here," Darren gave the guy a salute, "i'm from all over."

"De accent gave it away, homme," he said with a smile to his shotgun buddy, eyes then moving to the cat girl. Chicago, huh? He hadn't been there in a while. He wondered just how well Chicago had taken to having a were-cat living in their midst...

"From everywhere and nowhere," Selene replied, a slight smile on her lips as she looked towards the guy. "Originally from Spain, however, in case you're interested."

army kid gave his salute, Remy playfully mocking it back. The woman (a pretty one at that) from everywhere, and Spain. He could see it in her eyes. "Always interested in de pretty ones like you, cherie," he replied with a wink.

Darren smirked at the flirting, "Yeah, she is pretty interesting," he said smoothly, wondering what Selene would do to this one.

"Well, you're certainly not the only one who has made his interest in me known," Selene replied, her smile turning into a wry smirk. "Just keep in mind that curiosity often leads down a perilous path. I guess there are some things man is not supposed to know. Incidentally, I keep most of them in my closet."

Darren snorted and grinned knowingly to himself.

"She's not even kidding a little bit."

"She has meds too." Adam supplied helpfully.

"Perilous paths? Dey tend t' be my favourite kind," Remy replied, a small grin, and a quick look at the other two as they jumped in. "Am I standin' in a room full of mutant asylum break-outs of somet'ing?"

"Nope. I'm the only actual insane one. She's just nuts."

"That's debatable... I'd have said yes...."

"Yes well, you would."

"Including yourself in that number too, I take it?"

"I'm not crazy... but my mom thinks I am."

Darren pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, offering them around, "Don't mind if I, do you dude?"

Selene grinned at the new guy, before looking at the others. "I like him already," she said. "He's amusing. Can we keep him?"

"Only if he follows us home. I kinda like him too."

There was a blur, and Darren's packet was down by one.

"Riiiight..." he replied, looking a little suspicious of them. Just what had he gotten himself into?! Armybrat pulled out a carton of cigs, Remy shrugging. "So long as y' don't mind sharin'?" he replied, holding his hand out expectantly.

"Hey, hey, no plannin' on takin' me home. Dunno if y' moms ever told ya, but I AIN'T de kinda guy y' wanna bring home. Not f' more dan a single night, anyways." he said with a small chuckle.

"Was why I was offering 'em dude," he smiled, taking one out and holding it to the tip of his index finger, it grew yellow hot for a second as he lit the cigarette before passing it over to him, "Name's Kent by the way, Darren Kent," he lit his own smoke and brought it to his lips, glancing at Adam.

"Didn't know you smoked, dude?"

"I can get along with that kind of guy." Tigra grinned fangily.

"Y' know-" Adam paused long enough to light his fag. "-We are gonna have to get back to the school eventually. And dude, most of us ain't got moms. I don't." He took a small drag. "I don't, not often, smell and taste's too much, but I did nearly get eaten yesterday." He waved his splinted wrist.

"Think the last time I smoked was Kevin. Oh wait - nope - JP."

"Merci," Remy replied, taking the lit cirgarette and enjoy a long, deep drag on it, smiling inwardly at catgirls comment. He made no effort to offer his own name back. They mentioned their school again, Remy tilting his head curiously. "What school is dis?"

"Xavier's school for freaks and weirdos." Adam grinned. "Like us."

"Xaiver's University, it's for gifted people," Darren grinned, a bit of smoke escaping the side of his mouth.

"My name is Selene, by the way." she tossed in.

Xavier? Never heard of him. But then, Remy wasn't really one to keep up with news. Another introduction, this time from the Senorita. Remy walked over to her, reaching out to take her hand, a light kiss placed upon it. "Pleasure, cherie."

"We take in pretty much everyone with the whole mutie thing. It's a good place - and completely protected from zombies."

Charming bastard, wasn't he? He'd have to watch this one ... not that he didn't trust Selene but .... yeah.

"I'm Greer... or well... I prefer 'Tigra' in this form - I shapeshift."

He gave a brief wink to Selene, then turned to the catgirl, quite intrigued. "De fluff ain't permenant, den?" he asked, having already wondered that. Having a minor one of his own, physical mutations were always quite interesting to Remy.

"See? Apparently it takes a guy living in a dump to show you lot what proper manners mean." Selene smirked as she looked from the new guy to the rest of the group.

Adam took another drag. "Nope. She can look completely normal." He lifted a fake dread to show a pointed ear before grinning at Selene. "Aw, I'm always polite. You gave me drugs."

"I have manners! I even make my own sandwhiches!" Darren protested.

*sandwiches

"Yeah I can look human if I want... it's just warmer and safer when I'm furry...." she concentrated for a moment and shifted back to her fleshy self, "See?"

"Manners, homme, means y' should be makin' HER de sandwich, not y'self," Remy said with a smirk, before his attention was quickly taken back by catgirl... Tigra... as she transformed. "Dat... dat's... Wow. Pretty good trick..." he said, somewhat.. transfixed for a few moments.

"Professor Charles Xavier owns the school, we're just a bit away in Westchester." Lorna rejoined the group after watching the window for any signs of trouble. "And I'm Lorna, Professor Dane-Drake though I'm pretty sure most everyone drops the Dane by now. Figured I should introduce myself properly as well."

"She lets me use a chainsaw."

He tore his eyes from Tigra to Lorna, eyebrows raised. "Double-barrelled, eh? Guessin' y' got a nice man waitin' fo' y' at home while y' go lootin' den?" he asked, not wanting to know if Adam was being serious or not..

"You double-barreled your name, I thought you just took Bobby's?"

"Most of us drop the Drake, as well, and only call her Lorna," Selene tossed in, before looking at the green haired teacher. "Sorry, I didn't mean to subvert your authority."

"Only on trees though. And occasionally birds..."

"Bobby thought it'd be funny if I could say my name was Lorna double D...it was in a fit of immaturity. It's what happens after getting married by aging Elvis."

"It's okay, cutlery is mine. That's all the authority I need."

"...Though there was that one time...I stopped the bleeding and he got it reattached though..."

Greer shivered a little then shifted back into her fur. Warmer now.

"Fear the spork," Selene said ominously.

"Seriously, fear it."

"But not as much as the barbeque fork."

"But anyway. Yeah, that's what the school's about. Safe, warm, full of nommy things and people to poke."

Yep, freak school, by every meaning of the word. Tigra changed back (a shame..) and Remy looked around them all, pointing in turn "Lorna, Selene, Gr- Tigra, Darren an' Adam, oui?"

"Oui!"

Tigra nodded, "Yep." she gave him a smile.

"Got it in one," Darren smirked.

He'd try to remember that, as he was generally good with names. Another relaxing drag on the cigarette (he'd have to find some of his own tomorrow, as he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed it) as he finally felt at ease enough to sit on the couch. "So, how long y' plannin' on stayin'?"

"I dunno, how long till you throw us out man?" Darren took a long pull.

"Until there's no more tentacle rape."

"Keep de smokes comin', and I'll consider it y' rent," he replied coyly, avoiding giving a exact time limit on just how long he'd put up with them.

Lorna looked to the others. "Well, tentacles are a worry." She admitted.

That made Darren laugh.

"I think we're still good...." Tigra put in, "You can kick us out if you want."

"No he can't. I rode shotgun, you can't just reject that kind of thing."

"It's a life bond you have now, hmm?"

"...Wait, was that inappropriate?"

Remy shrugged, taking a final pull on the cig until it was all but down to the filter, before putting it out on the boarded window beside him. He smirked at Adam's comment, rolling his red-on-black eyes a little. "Gonna be gettin' dark out dere soon. Y' might as well wait til mornin', neh?"

"Highly," Darren flicked some ash of his cigarette.

Adam sidled to a boarded up window, peering out through a crack. "...Yeah. I've been chased by them in the dark." He sobered a little. "It's not pleasent."

"Until then I'll be tempted to try and talk up the school, just because I'm on the school staff and feel like I should since we can't really get out too often to bring in new students in the current situation...though I guess the jet would get by things easily enough...huh." Lorna found herself distracted, thinking that through. "Well, this way we don't have to worry about FEMA or the CDC alerting anyone to a mystery jet."

"I can see fine enough in the dark... but I guess some of you are at a disadvantage..."

"'Nough room f' everyone, I t'ink," Remy said, gesturing around the room. Two armchairs, the couch he sat on, the floor, and... "Only one bedroom. Double. Someone's welcome t' join me if y' want," he offered, a sideways glance to Selene.

"Yeah. You know they'll totally claim Blackwatch, right?" Adam rubbed the back of his head, taking another drag. "Not me, pussycat, I'm fine in the dark. I just object to wasting good molotovs on zombies."

"...I'd love to, man, really would, but like I said - my roofies are in another glass."

Lorna wished she was completely certain Adam was joking about that. She couldn't help but have some small doubts, however.

"I don't think the military's quite desperate enough to unleash the force of a thousand suns upon New York, Adam," he raised an eyebrow at Selene, she was going to have fun with that one.

"I agree that the jet might be a bit too obvious in this situation," Selene remarked. "We might as well take him up on the offer. After all, we're even provided with entertainment." Sitting down on the mattress, she picked up one of the stray magazines.

Tigra watched the tip of her own tail flick back and forth. She was still hungry.

"Not sure they're to y' taste, cherie," Remy said as Selene picked up a mag. What?! He was a guy, and he'd been stuck by himself for almost two weeks. Could you blame him for wanting SOMETHING worth coming home to?

"And I'm quite sure my fiance would love to take you up on the offer with the bed and all," Selene added, smirking over the edge of the magazine. "As an army brat, he's used to the whole sharing bunks business, I guess."

"I don't think anyone can judge Selene's tastes." Lorna smirked very slightly, trying to hide the amusement and automatic curiosity as to what Selene would say.

Adam glanced sideways at the guy, unnatural blue eyes narrowed slightly, noting he didn't even know his name yet. "Hey...you know, I can't just call you 'man' all the time. You got some name we can call you by? Or I'm going to end up making one up for you, and it might just be as unsound as my reputation."

"...Either that or I'll make JP jealous by calling you bitch."

"Oh believe me, they are," Darren gave Gambit a leering wink, "and yes, I'm sure all three of us could squeeze in, might be a bit of a tight fit though," Darren waggled his eyebrows form emphasis and grinned evilly.

Oh yeah, names were important to know... she needed to write that down. She always forgot to ask.

"...I now know too much." She said mostly to herself, trying not to picture any of this.

Fiance? His eyes moved from Senorita to Army Brat, smile falling slightly. He hadn't been expecting that. "Non, I'm good, t'anks," he replied, perhaps a little awkwardly. He was desperate right now, perhaps... but not to that extent. Finally, they got around to asking names...

"Y' can call me Gambit," he replied, sticking to his rule of keeping his name hidden. You never knew who'd recognise it, after all.

"We can certainly stick with that."

Awww ... the little crestfallen look was quite sweet ... "Yeah, we're used to people using fake names."

"I'm sure we can find you some single ladies to use your charm on, don't you worry."

"Nice to meet you, Gambit," she smiled, totally not minding the non-name-ness of it. She understood that. "... Um... do you have anything I can put on over this....?" she gestured at her underwear, "If we're gonna be here a while... I don't wanna get loose fur on the furniture...."

"Yup. I use Toxic. It's actually a stage name." Adam said happily. "You know what 'Gambit' means, right?"

"Introduce him to Cess when we get back? Or rather Ms. Kincaid?" Darren suggested, not without pity towards the other man.

"Y' t'ink I'd've chosen it if I didn't know, homme?" he replied with a cheeky smile at Adam. He disappeared for a moment into the bedroom, returning moments later with a mens oversized shirt, tossing it to Tigra. "Should do y' for de night."

"Or JP's roomie, if he swings that way."

"And really? What does it mean then?" Adam smirked.

"Thanks...." she smiled again and put the shirt on, shifting back out of her fur and drawing her knees up to her chest. Now she could sit how she liked without her tail spoiling it.

"Takin' a risk, homme. Puttin' y'self in danger t' try and get de one up on de other side. Story o' Gambit's life."

"You sir, just won my admiration and respect. I like you." Adam grinned, pointing with his cigarette before taking another drag.

"Well, Mr. Gambit, welcome to the area, sorry it's in shambles."

"Seconded," Greer said with a small grin.

Darren grinned, stubbing out his cigarette, "I get the feeling you're gonna fit riiiiiiight in."

Lorna offered her hand to shake. "And even if you decide to not join us at Xavier's we'll be here if you need any help...though I'll still probably keep asking if you're going to join us."

"No need for de Mister part, cherie. Jus' Gambit is fine," he replied, not one for formalities. A weird bunch... but not an entirely terrible one. He almost found himself quite liking their company. As for fitting in.. Remy rarely fit in anywhere.

He took up Lorna's hand, twisting not to shake it, but to kiss it instead. Handshakes with women just never felt right for him. "Wasn't aware I was invited," he commented.

"Oh, you're definitely welcome." Lorna nodded to him. She smirked at the kiss though.

"Suggest we turn in for de night, den," he said, slightly reluctantly turning towards Darren before adding "De happily engaged can take de bedroom. Gambit ain't feelin' sleep just yet. Gonna keep watch."

"Now that's what I call hospitality," Selene remarked, smirking first at Gambit, then at Darren. "Shall we?" She held out her hand while putting down the magazine.

Darren took the hand and winked at the group, "We'll try not to keep you guys up."

"I'm suddenly glad I'm not kitty-fied anymore...."

"...I don't sleep. Not much, and not in a strange place. I'll help keep watch - I can feel 'em coming a mile away anyway." His eyes suddenly flared a solid blood red, leaving little trails. "And smell 'em. Darren, I swear to god, I smell anything suspicious and I will taser." His eye twitched slightly.

"Suddenly glad I'm keepin' watch, petite.." Gambit sighed to Tigra with a roll of his eyes. "Kitchen, homme. Still got de window uncovered a bit dere. Good view. E'vryone else, take a chair, an' get some sleep."

"Is there food in the kitchen?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure thing, Gaaaaambit." Adam gave him a lazy salute. "I'll watch your back passage good." He grinned, then sidled into the kitchen, trailing cigarette smoke.

"Enough. Help y'self," he replied simply. No point in holding out on them, as he could always find more if he needed it. To Adam, he made no comment.

"Thanks!" She hopped up, looking down at the hem of the shirt.... it was low enough, and headed into the kitchen to forage.

Lorna claimed a seat, stretching out as best as she could and half closed her eyes. "Serious about the offer, has to be difficult being what we are on your own, especially now."

Remy leaned against the wall closest to the window, peering out through the slats in the wood he'd nailed there. "...Will t'ink about it. T' be honest wit' ya, cherie, I don't tend t' stick around anywhere too long.."

"Yeah, we've got those types as well." Lorna sounded half-amused, not able to stop the thought about their various travellers who never quite manage to leave.

[Svartfreja]

Lorna: Lorna pulled the van up to the front steps of the school. "We've got a garage for your bike if you like. It's pretty safe in there...people have been known to hotwire cars or use trucks for more personal activity but generally it's no harm no foul."

Gambit: Following the van, Gambit couldn't help but give a low whistle (unheard over the sound of his engine) as they pulled up to this "Xavier's" place. Stopping beside the van, he gave an appreciative nod. "You guys know how t' live, I'll give y' dat."

Tigra: "Best part is it's all free." Tigra climbed out of the van and shook herself off. Riding around in the back of it always rubbed her fur up the wrong way.

Darren: "Yep, though trust me, the know if you start trying to sell the laptops and shit man," Darren said, climbing out and helping Selene down.

Jay: Jay had been enjoying a quiet smoke when he'd spotted the van and - ooooh. That looked like a new person. Cigarette in mouth, he pushed himself off, circling over the group. "Hey hey amis, y'all bought dinner back? Ah'm starvin' an' dere ain' no spicy chicken left." He landed, tucking the wings behind him and eyeing the new guy curiously. "Bonjou. Dey drug ya?"

Tigra: "Can't promise you chicken but I can catch you something that resembles a bird if you want?" Tigra offered, stretching a little.

Darren: "Been driven to canabalism already, bro?" Darren waved at the flying man.

Gambit: Free? How the hell did they manage that? This place must've cost a fortune to run. Climbing off his bike, though still leaning on the handlebars, his devil-eyes cast over the building. Another game over, and his voice... Remy'd recognise it anywhere. "Non, l'homme. Vous êtes du Bayou?"

Lorna: "Well, Xavier's pretty well loaded so that's how." Lorna admitted with a laugh, ing up the steps. "Jay, there we go, now we're having a Cajun reunion."

Jay: "Hey garcon." Jay grinned easily. "Always. Don' make me tell y'all what Ah do t' turkey." He turned to the new guy, eyes wide. "Wé, ami! Et tu? Je suis-" He grinned sheepishly at Lorna. "Ah, shaddap. Ah'm a long way from home, remember."

Darren: "Nothing's stoppin' ya from going back there, cockatiel," Darren teased, waving to Selene as she headed back inside ... that ring looked damn good on her finger.

Tigra: "Except the horrible zappy invisible wall around the city..."

Gambit: Gambit chuckled. "Sorry, cherie. We keep de home language down for now, non?" he said to Lorna, smiling, before turning back to the newcomer with interest. try as he might, he was quite unable to stop himself looking over his unusual body. "Happy t' be hearin' a decent accent again, I tell y'."

Lorna: "Reno's farther but I've not felt the need to don any of your feathers for a showgirl costume...yet anyway. Maybe I should borrow something for anniversary time or Bobby's birthday." Lorna had a good laugh. "yeah, watch the wall thinger...that's just not kosher though I guess we can jet it well enough."

Jay: "Ah know - it's bin too long. An' you an' Bobby have too many of my moltin's, ami, no more." He laughed. "An' oui...name's Joshua, by d' way, but mos' round here call me Jay." He held out a hand to the new guy.

Gambit: "Re- Gambit," he corrected himself swiftly, the familiarity of a Cajun accent making him feel more comfortable than he should. He shook Jay's hand firmly, liking this place a little more with another Cajun in residence.

Lorna: "Now, that's some nice bonding all ready." Lorna skipped a few of the steps and caught the door. "Shall we begin the grand tour?"

Gambit: "Oui, cherie. Okie t' leave de bike here f' now?" he asked, not wanting to take it to the garage just yet. He was much too eager to see inside the house... and see if all the women at Xavier's were as attractive as those he'd already met.

Darren: Darren shot the boy a sidelong glance, "Maybe we should start with Cess' office?"

Jay: "Non - she's busy an' uh...y'll never get him out." Jay grinned knowingly. "Break d' boy in gently."

Gambit: "Trust me, de last thing Gambit needs is breakin' in gently," he said, though not quite intending it to come out sounding as it did. Ah well, there was no taking it back now.

Tigra: "... Let's just get inside..."

Darren: Darren let out a quiet snort of laughter.

Lorna: "I think I should either be paid more or fired for the things I know and hear." Lorna hurried in at that.

Jay: "Oh oui?" Jay raised an eyebrow at that. "Ah'm gonna hafta see dat for myself some day. F' now, let's get inside - it's fuckin' cold an' Ah want coffee." He paused. "Ah got chicory, if y'all fancy...?"

Tigra: "I'm gonna go... put some pants and a shirt on..." she headed for the stairs.

Gambit: Silently cursing his choice of language, Remy followed the group in, keeping close to his fellow Cajun. Stepping inside, it was clear that this place was loaded. You could tell just from the panelling on the walls, the finish to the ceiling. Way above Remy's standards/

Lorna: "Yeah, can understand that...still no big fan of winter." Lorna groused, shaking the show off of her shoes. "So, what do you think so far?"

Jay: "Oh, Lorna? Dat music essay? It's gonna be late, ami - Ah messed up an' did d' wrong thing on it an' had t' restart. My fault f' tryna do it at butt a.m. in d' mornin'." Jay smiled sheepishly, hand going through his red hair. "Feel free t' dock my grade accordingly."

Gambit: "Thinkin' it's a good t'ing Gambit's here as a guest, otherwise he'd be breakin' in here t'night.."

Lorna: "Hey, not a problem. I'm not grading anything until break's over so you've got time." Lorna brushed the essay worries aside. "And definitely good to come in this way as that way."

Jay: Jay shot him a grin. "Good luck gettin' t'rough dem security gates an' shit, ami, Darren an' Selene monitor every inch of dis place twenty-four seven. Den dere's d' fact most of dis school don' take kindly t' havin' shit stolen..." He winked. "Still, if y'all here to stay, it's a sweet deal, trus' me."

Lorna: "We've had...problems with break-ins before. Maybe you can help out sometime by testing our security and so forth?"

Gambit: "Never said I was here t' stay," Gambit pointed out, not wanting any of them to think he'd committed to anything as he wandered along, still taking it all in and mentally tallying the worth of the place. "And ain't met a system yet I can't get t'rough."

Jay: "Ain't met d' guy yet dat can beat Darren, ami." Jay chuckled, shaking his head. "But y'all wanna try, be my guest, homme - jus' watch out for dem pidgeons, awright?" He clapped Gambit on the shoulder. "Eh, whether y're stayin' as a guest or stayin' for a while, y'll be welcome here, s' long as you don' push your luck."

Lorna: "Well, we'll have to test you on that." Lorna smiled and turned to attempt to give a tour. "Right, down that away is the most important room, kitchen."

Gambit: Remy cast a glance over at Darren, wondering just what it was that made this guy so formidable. Electrics, hadn't they said? As if electrics could stop a son of Jean-Luc LeBeau. Still, he'd keep that to himself for now, making his way into the kitchen. "What's de policy on drinkin'?" he asked curiously.

Darren: "... Sorry I zoned out there a sec," darren shook his head, "What're we talking about again?"

Jay: "Hard an' often, ami. Hard an' often."

Jay: "...D' drinkin', dat is."

Darren: "Oh, yeah, just don't raid the teacher's kitchen for booze, they get angry and wrathful if you do ... detention's the easiest you could get off."

Tigra: Greer slid back down the handrail to get down the stairs, glad in her usual lack of clothing - a halter top and hotpants. But she'd acquired shoes and done away with the fur. "You guys didn't get far..."

Darren: "We started talking booze."

Jay: "Eh, Ah have a store of La Fee Vert if y'all are in d' mood. Mates from N' Orleans send it up."

Gambit: "Dat's what I like t' hear," Remy replied, grinning approvingly. Tigra reappeared, Gambit unable to help himself but give her an appreciating once-over. She looked good in skin. "Thinkin' Gambit might need a welcome party, non?"

Tigra: "Oooh party! Let's do that, I like a good excuse to try and get drunk!"

Darren: Darren noticed the look, "Just make sure she doesn't give you fleas dude," he winked.

Jay: "Thinkin' so, eh?" Jay's accent was noticably thicker around the other Cajun, and he grinned, arm going around Gambit's shoulder. "Absinthe, vodka, whiskey, anythin' y'all want, oui?"

Tigra: "I don't have fleas you jerk!" She smacked him.

Gambit: Unfortunately, Gambit had no idea just how serious Jay may have been... but regardless, he'd keep it in mind. That didn't stop him being able to look, though. Jay's arms thrown around his shoulders now, Remy couldn't help but feel at ease around this guy. "Pick me up at 6, homme."

Darren: The smack did nothing except cause a slight, but very strange ripple across his body, like she was stapping something semi-liquid, "Oh, so you remembered to front-line yourself? I'm pretty sure i've got a cat-treat somewhere for a good girl," he poked his tounge out at her.

Darren: .... Should he warn the new kid about Jay and what he probably had intended .... naaaaaaaah, this could be hilarious.

Tigra: "You're an asshole. I'm going to the kitchen." She stalked off down the hall.

Jay: "Oh Ah will, ami. Y' better dress t' kill." He grinned. "T'ink Ah got a nice pot of gumbo too if y'all feel d' need f' some real spice."

Darren: "You say that like it's a shock to you," Darren called after her, smirking a little at the other two guys, "Yeah, I know ... but she rises to it every damn time, y'know?"

Gambit: "Better dan de stuff Gambit's been eatin' lately. If we're doin' dinner, y' better pick me up earlier," Gambit said with a laugh. A cajun, who drank, and knew good food? What could be better?! He watched Tigra stalk off a little discouraged: she was nice eyecandy to keep around.

Darren: .... Oh lord, this was going to be perfect, he was totally setting up a pigeon-cam and getting some popcorn in for this!

Jay: "Four about right den, homme? Ah can have y'all fed an' wasted come eight, or my name ain't Joshua Jameson."

Gambit: Completely oblivious as to just what he was getting himself into, Remy replied "T'ink I'm dat easy t' get wasted? Hope y' got plenty a bottles in stock, mon ami!" He laughed, turning to Darren. "Y' gonna be joining in, oui?"

Jay: "He can join, but he cain't get drunk - plus Ah'm a bad influence on him." He winked at Darren. "Might get all over-excited, ain't dat right, garcon?"

Darren: "... Oh I wouldn't miss this for the world," Darren said, "we need to get the pratice in before my bachelor party anyway, right?" He nudged Jay.

Jay: "Hell yeah! An' trust me, Gambit - dis is homebrew moonshine. Y'all ain't gonna know y're feet from y' armpit by d' time Ah'm done with ya."

Gambit: Gambit had had his share of unusual drinking buddies in the past, but he could safely say that Jay would no doubt be the oddest, in appearance alone! Lorna had left the boys to it, Gambit slightly lamenting the lack of female company, though the Cajun company made up for it. "Comin' here? Best decision Gambit's made all year."

Darren: Darren grinned widly, "It's a pretty sweet deal here, even better when there's ... y'know, no end of days going on outside."

Gambit: "De world, she has a way of sortin' herself out," Remy said, feigning wiseness. In reality, the situation seemed rather dire... but one had to be optimistic, right?

Darren: "Right ..." Darren gave shifty looks either side, "now that we've dumped the women for the moment, It's time to show you the good shit, to ... y'know, keep you ticking over till everything goes back to normal."

Jay: "Yeah - 'specially wit' Gede on d' case, eh?" Jay shot Darren a look, and then a grin. "...Y'all mean...?"

Gambit: Gambit raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Jay seemed to have a clue what was happening, but Gambit was in the dark,

Darren: "It's time to show you the wonders of technology, seriously, they are wonders," he jerked his head towards one of the doors.

Gambit: Gambit released the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. Technology? Really? Great. He was about to be shown some amazing machine that he didn't really care about, or a state-of-the-art whatever.

Darren: Though poor Gambit didn't have a choice, Jay and Darren were steering him towards the lift anyways.

Tigra: Greer wandered back out into the hall with a mostly raw steak and a bottle of water. "You know there's more of the house than the hallway right?"

Darren: "We're skipping to the good bit," Darren called over his shoulder.

Tigra: "Ooooh good bits!"

Gambit: Following politely, though hoping he wasn't about to be shown some super amazing security system, or the biggest, fastest calculator in the world, he tried to keep optimistic. Maybe whatever this was would be interesting. Maybe.

Jay: Jay patted his shoulder as he saw the guy's face. "Trust us, ami...dis is gonna be amazin'."

Darren: Darren hit the switch and the normal looking door slid open, revealing a lift, "Okay, what you gotta bare in mind is that this isn't a normal school, we arn't normal people," he said as they all climbed in, "and a fairly common mutation is super-human intellect."

Darren: There probably wasn't much point in going into the science of hard-light technology, "There's quite a few sub-levels, they're a bit ... sci-fi, where we're heading is somewhere called the DR."

Greer: Greer chewed merrily on her steak, wondering where she was going to put her plate when she was done with it.

Jay: "T'ink...Star Trek. D' Holodeck, ami." Jay smirked. "Only it's called d' Danger Room here. We use it t'...train...mostly..."

Darren: The door shut with a hiss and they started to decend.

Gambit: "DR?" he repeated, going over possible translations of the abbreviation in his head. Something-Room. Data? Nah, too boring. Danger Room? Sounded.... dangerous, oddly. "Ain't gonna find de Enterprise down here, am I?"

Greer: "Only if you find the right program...."

Jay: "Not unless y'all're into dat kinda t'ing. Ah dunno, next frontier..." Oh god. Thank you, Bobby.

Darren: Darren snorted and rolled his eyes as they came to a stop and the door opened, revealing an empty, white corridor.

Gambit: Staring down the plain hallway, Gambit was decidedly unimpressed so far. "Minimalist. Like it. In fashion."

Jay: "Fff. More like easy t' clean d' bloodstains. Medlabs down here too."

Darren: Darren snorted, "This isn't the DR, it's behind the door," he pointed, "come on, the ladies are waiting."

Jay: "Ah hate t' disappoint a lady." He shot Darren a dirty look before grinning. "'Specially considerin' dese are some high-calibre ladies. After y'all, Maestro."

Gambit: "Ladies?" Gambit repeated, confused. What, they kept a troupé of females down here or something. These two were enjoying their little secret too much for Remy's liking, and he was eager to finally get in on it. Hurry up and open the damn door, already..

Darren: Darren keyed in the code to the door ... and then sighed, "Awww, didn't realised it was booked already ..."

Jay: "...Y'all're kiddin' me. Ah swear, if it's Reed again..."

JP: On the other side of the door there were presently no ladies and Jean-Paul would be very offended if anyone tried to argue that fact. "It's fine, come on in, I hadn't actually started anything up again." He peeked out to see who all was with Darren. "Hello roomie, and hello someone I've not had the pleasure yet."

Jay: "Hey JP. Dis is Gambit...wouldja mind if we uh...introduced him to d' DR a little?"

Greer: "Ooooh please say it's okay!"

Gambit: "Bonjour," Remy said, with a small wave to the stranger. Knowing this was a mutant home, he couldn't help but wonder just what the powers were of each person he spotted. Still, he figured it was bad ettiquette to straight-out ask.

Darren: "Gambit, this is JP, he speaks french too," Darren said by way of introduction.

Jay: "Well, not quite. He's Canadian French." Jay grinned. "Makes swearin' at each other fun, oui, ami?"

JP: "Our room is an absolute horror for delicate ears. We do do our fair share of swearing as well." His eyes rolled at Jay a bit but smiled. "And what nefarious ideas do you have in mind for the DR today?"

Gambit: "Most beautiful language in de world for cursin'," Gambit chuckled. Being insulted in French was almost a pleasure.

Darren: Darren just grinned and called out, "Danger? Be a babe and run the DC Funtimes program?"

JP: "...fun times?" Jean-Paul's eyebrow arched even higher than it's natural place.

Jay: "Oh oui. If dey don't know what y're sayin', could be y're chattin' dem up. Win win either way."

Darren: The blankness materialised wooden pannel walls and soft red furnishings, cozy little booths and platforms with poles ...

Darren: "JP .... you might wanna cover your eyes," Darren gave the biggest shit-eating grin as the music started and the girls materialised.

Jay: "...Ah swear, Black Canary's gonna make me go blind one day..."

Greer: ".... I love this program."

Gambit: As the room transformed, Remy couldn't help but take a step back in surprise, eyes wide as he looked around. This... this was amazing! He'd never seen anything like it. As the dancers started to appear, his jaw dropped just a little. "Non, last t'ing y' wanna do is cover y' eyes, homme.."

Jay: "Swear down, ami, dis place can do anything y'all want. An' Ah mean anything."

Gambit: "...Gambit t'inks he may jus' live down here, merci..."

Darren: Darren had the smugest look on his face, "Oh yeah, and they're very accomindating, these girls."

JP: "...Oh joy, now I wish I hadn't shared." Jean-Paul deadpanned, just shaking his head. "Is this what we have to look forward to for your bachelor party then, Darren?"

Greer: "Who made this program? I need to buy them things... many things...."

JP: "I'd try to lie and say it was me to get free things but I have a feeling you wouldn't believe me."

Gambit: "Not enjoyin' de view?" Gambit asked JP disbelievingly.

Jay: Jay hooked a finger into the waist of JP's pants and tugged him over. "Aw hush, mon ami, it does good t'ings to dose who need it. If it's dat bad, Ah'll sit on y're lap so you don't hafta see, oui/"

Darren: "Former student i'm afraid, Bobby and I discovered it one day while we were deleating old programs to free space," Darren threw himself into a booth and snapped his finger, Poison Ivy and Batgirl sashaing over to dance on his table.

Darren: "Let's just say ... JP's not into this sorta thing, and don't worry, Jay's handing my bachelor party, you just know there's gonna be male strippers even if it's just to try and terrify me."

JP: "Nah, I'm sure I can live. If you were in my lap I'd be tempted to give you a dollar." Jean-Paul glanced up at their current entertainment. "Well, in that case I'll have to help him terrify you." He smiled approvingly. "Yeah, not quite my cup of tea to say."

Jay: "Then I saw her, from across the room - Poison Ivy doin' jello shots with Doctor Doom. Like the Eye of sauron, I couldn't look away - She was with some joker but dude was prob'ly gaaay..." Jay's voice completely changed as he grinned widely before reverting back to the Cajun drawl. "Ami, y' know dere will be."

Jay: "Jus' a dollar? Ah'm hurt."

Gambit: Gambit couldn't quite believe it. As real as these girls and this place were... he couldn't get over the fact that it was all an illusion. Technically, anything goes here. Mutely taking a seat at another table, he could do little else but take it all in, still in shock.

JP: "Make it worth more and maybe you'll get a raise."

Greer: Greer reached out to grope one of the simulations, "They feel so real...."

Jay: "Oh hell yes, y' know Ah can." Jay winked with a laugh.

Darren: Darren leant over to Gambit, "It's something called Hard-Light Hologram technology, solid illusions basically, the guy who came up with this ... put a lot of effort into it," he winked as the two dancers ground against each other on his table.

JP: "Darren, I'm not the one to talk at the moment but I'm pretty sure sharing the science might damage the effect a little bit."

Darren: "Science is sexy," Darren protested.

Greer: "Yeah don't shatter the illusion...." she groped some more.

Gambit: "He needs a medal, Gambit t'inks," he said, running a hand over his face as he glanced around, vaguely taking in JP and Jay as they joked with one another.. perhaps a little too comfortably. Better they amused eachother than anyone else (i.e himself).

JP: "...yeah, you're right science can be pretty sexy." Jean-Paul found himself slightly distracted for a moment but waved the thought away.

Jay: Jay simply smirked, still keeping a tight hold on his roomie - he wasn't going to grope, he preferred his women real and able to leave the DR. "Oui. So...y'all likin' dis place den, Gambit? Ah hope y'all remember d' booze an' shit's still t' come..."

Gambit: "Pretty impressive, gotta admit," he said, loving the view, but still quite unable to get his head around the fact it was all an illusion. It'd take some getting used to on a physical level, he figured.

JP: "Booze? I should be made aware of such plans, yes?"

Darren: "Hey, do you know what I found down here the other day?" Darren called over .... damn he could really do with a beer, the only thing that could make this better would be beer.

Gambit: "Strangely, no idea, homme," Gambit replied with a smirk.

Greer: "Treasure?"

JP: "Reed and Danger?"

Darren: "Beds."

Greer: "... Huh?"

Jay: "...Beds, ami?"

Gambit: "Someone testin' de limits of dese holo-girls, sounds like," Remy said, a bit weirded by the fact.

JP: "Well, I guess it's nice someone doesn't just kick their roommate out or something...which reminds me, do we have a door hanging policy?" He looked back to Jay.

Darren: "Seriously, beds, and bedrooms, from all different cultures and time periods. Arabic, imperial chinese, 1920's ritz ... beds upon beds upon beds ..."

Greer: "Oooooh sounds like fun!"

Jay: "Ah dunno, considerin' we tend t' occupy it at d; same time..." He grinned. "Nah. Ah know better'n t' come near y'all when Adam's over. Guy's...keen."

Darren: "I'm figuring someone had a lot of fun with them," Darren shrugged.

Gambit: "Guess so," Gambit shrugged, adding in his head 'Someone who can't get it in de real world, clearly...'

JP: "Whoever is doing the bed thing I am impressed." Jean-Paul had to admit. "And yeah, keen is the word."

Darren: "It was like ... an ancient program, it was last opened two years after the school opened you know, guess whoever it was left."

Callie: Callie had intended to use the DR as her gym of choice, but there were people already using it. She poked her head in a blinked. Flashing lights glinted off her pink skin and red hair. "Oh, wow. I do not think I should be here...Is that Robin? Come here, with those scaly panties, hot stuff!" She went in fully, waving at everyone. Oh. A new person! Wonderful. She dimpled.

Jay: "Eh...Ah try not t' look to hard at d' sorta programs dey have here. Darren...y'all remember Vic at all? D' huge guy? Ah came across one of his Sabretooth programs...guy was a kinky fuck."

Greer: "Hey Callie!" Greer waved and smiled at her.

JP: "Well, we may never know." Jean-Paul looked up. "Callie, excellent, help me deal with all of this. Hmm, Robin?" He started to look around.

Darren: "... Dude, I found some old footage of him and his girlfriend ... seriously kinky," he peered around his dancers, "Callie? Are you even old enough to be in here?" he teased.

Callie: She rolled her eyes and sidled up to JP. "Of course I am old enough! I was just surprised." She poked JP. "Are you going to introduce me or will I do it for myself?"

Gambit: Who cared if she was old enough. She was a cutie. Leave her be. Remy instantly had a smile on his face. He got to his feet, crossing over to her. "Gambit, cherie. Though pretty face like yours, y' can call me whatever y' like."

JP: Jean-Paul smirked at that performance. "I believe he prefers to do it himself. Seems to be the pro-active type."

Darren: "Don't worry man, as far as I'm aware she's fair game," Darren called over, going back to his dancers.

Jay: "...Seriously? Can Ah have it?"

Darren: "... Do I even want to know why?"

JP: "...yes, this is why we're going to start a door hanging policy because I don't want to walk in on you sampling that."

Callie: "Callie. It is nice to meet you." She took his hand. "I like Gambit. It is different." She smiled again. "So, when did you arrive?" Finally, a hot man with manners!

Gambit: Performing the same twist-of-the-hand trick he'd pulled many times before, the handshake shifted into Gambit kissing the back of Callie's hand, charming grin in place. "Just today, cherie. Might be stickin' 'round fo' a while."

Callie: "Oh, very fine manners you have." She smiled wider. "Wonderful. It will be nice to have more friends."

JP: Jean-Paul leaned closer to the others. "I feel as if we should get her a fainting couch."

Gambit: "Pretty girl like you must already have a tonne of friends, non?" Gambit continued, still holding her hand. Was it the light that made her skin seem so unusually pink? Probably not. It wouldn't be the strangest thing he'd seen today, he supposed.

Callie: Callie blushed becomingly on cue. "Yes, a lot of friends." It couldn't be the lighting from the club that made his eyes look so weird. Black on red. Or was it red on black? It didn't matter to her. "But nobody special." She shrugged and removed her hand coyly before he could kiss it again.

JP: "Be careful, Callie. He probably does this to all the girls."

Gambit: He held onto her hand for the briefest moment before letting her pull it away, straightening up with his smile still in place. Finally, a girl who was both responding well to him, and wasn't engaged or married. There was hope for this place yet! "Nobody special, cos you outshine dem, cherie."

Gambit: Turning to JP, Gambit raised an eyebrow, quickly adding "Quick t' be makin' assumptions of people y' literally just met, aren't y'?"

Greer: "Man now I feel offended..."

Callie: "Flattery will get you nowhere, handsome." But she did dimple again. It was nice getting complimented.

Darren: ... This guy was better than net-flix when it came to entertainment value, seriously.

Callie: "It's called flirting, JP. Try it out - it is lots of fun!" She whispered in his ear.

Gambit: "Flattery? Non, cherie. Just callin' dem as I see dem," he retorted, having gone through these motions so often that the words slipped out of his mouth with ease.

JP: He shrugged. "Just teasing but yes, I generally am a bit quick at that. Of course, doesn't mean what you're saying isn't true." He had to give Callie a mock-offended look at that. "I'll have you know I'm more than capable of that."

Greer: "Yeah... still feeling offended over here... if you want me I'll be in the corner with super girl over here..."

Callie: Callie snorted, hearing a glib reply when she heard one. "Well, you must have all the girls at your beck and call, what with your face. Though, nobody can compete with green panties." She turned her attention back to the pole. "I like this program!"

Gambit: Damn, lost her. Oh well, he figured. Another time, another place. She didn't seem like the hard type to win over. Casting his eyes over to Greer, he tilted his head. "C'mon, cherie. Stunner like you? Y' don't need a guy like me tellin' y' de obvious, non?"

Greer: "Doesn't mean I don't like to hear it once in a while... hell knows it'd be better than the crap I put up with from Darren..." she shot a glare at the other guy.

Callie: "You are like a furry Betty Page, Greer, and you know it!"

Greer: Greer blushed a little at Callie, "Well thanks!"

JP: "Careful, Gambit, might lose them to one another if they keep on this."

Darren: "You know, I've told you before if you didn't react, I wouldn't do it," Darren gave her a lazy smile.

Greer: "It's so offensive, Darren..." she frowned at him, "Seriously... it'd be like someone telling you were a walking spyware program... or something..."

Gambit: Sensing a disagreement that had been going on longer than he'd been around, he figured this topic was one he best avoid involvement in. JP's comment caused him to chuckle, yet at the same time, the way they all interacted together reminded him sharply of how much of an outsider he was.

Darren: "... Well yeah, I am," he shrugged, "people call me all kinda things, no reason to get worked up about it, they're just words."

Greer: She shook her head, "You just don't get it..."

Callie: Callie looked sighed at the argument. "They are always like this, I am sorry, Gambit. But hey, at least you know what you are walking into, now."

Darren: "No, I don't think you get it," he shrugged again.

JP: "I always figured Darren was more his own personal CCTV, recording our every motion ready to use anything he sees."

Darren: Darren just gave JP a slightly unsettling smile.

Greer: "Well then we'll just have to agree to disagree and you'll just have to tolerate the occasional blunt object hurled at your head."

JP: Jean-Paul gave Darren the same kind of smile. "I can put on displays for you."

Darren: "Fine by me," not like it could hurt him, the smile faded a little at what JP said, "... Actually, I think i'll pass."

Gambit: "Sure t'ing," he replied to Callie, though his smile had faded somewhat. "Just... gonna step outside a minute, mon amis," he said as he ran a hand through his hair, making his way past both real and holographic persons alike, outof the sliding door and into the hallway. He breathed a heavy sigh. He didn't do well in these weird, almost family environments.

Greer: Greer frowned after him a little, "Did we do something wrong?"

JP: Jean-Paul decided to put that up as a personal victory, kicking his feet up, then arching an eyebrow at Gambit. "Maybe the holograms were too much after all."

Callie: "Yeah, your bickering scared him off!" She crossed her arms.

Greer: Greer chewed her lip and looked down at the floor, now she felt bad....

JP: "You can always go out and console him. Go, get to consoling. I believe the phrase is 'get it, girl.' for this situation."

Icarus: Jay watched Remy leave, frownng slightly. "...Don' t'ink dat had anythin; to do wit' it. 'Scuse me." He quickly followed, finding the guy outside. "...Gambit? Y'all mind if Ah join y'?"

Greer: Greer threw her empty plate at JP's head.

Callie: "Pfff." She waved her hand at JP.

JP: Jean-Paul ducked quickly. "What was that for?"

Greer: "Sleeze."

Callie: "Oh hey!" She was going to leave too if they started trowing things!

Gambit: Lost in thought, he hadn't even heard the door open as Jay joined him. The voice snapped him back to reality, and he quickly threw on his usual care-free expression. "Non, feel free. Just takin' a break, homme," he said with a casual shrug. He'd prefer to be alone... but he could hardly say that.

Darren: Darren rolled his eyes at the plate throwing, how juvenile.

JP: Jean-Paul's eyes rolled at that, not even bothering. "New guy is quite something though, will give him that."

Callie: "He seems very nice."

Greer: "Yeah he does, he let us stay at his hideout in the city last night... after a fleeing from zombies...."

Icarus: Jay smiled a little, pulling out a slightly dog-eared packet of cigarettes, pulling one out and offering the packet to him. "Don't mind 'em, ami, dey can be a bit much. If y'all like, Ah can show y' some slightly more outta d' place ways t' hide when dey're bein' kids." He lit his own. "God knows Ah sometimes cain't hack d' noise...bin alone too long, Ah think."

Darren: "I like him, he knew to back off from a taken women," Darren shrugged, "if he decides to stick around could be good for him, and this place," God knows sometimes he felt outnumbered by all the women here, more dudes could only be a good thing.

JP: "You know, I never thought fleeing from zombies would be something like 'Oh, that again, must be tuesday.' I feel it's skewed my world view forever."

Gambit: Pulling a cigarette out, a nod of thanks, he touched a finger to the tip of it, charging it for a moment and a small crack as the energy exploded, lighting it. "Mebbe. Ain't used t' all... dis.," he said honestly, as Jay seemed to already have the score on him.

Greer: "... Yeah it kind of has... but maybe that'll be a good thing... some how?"

Callie: Callie was lost on the colloquialism, too.

JP: "Just as long as it ends before we become complacent with them."

Callie: "What does that mean, 'must be Tuesday'?"

JP: "Hmm? Was just saying it's not exactly anything new and shocking anymore...that's unsettling."

Icarus: Jay nodded. "'Fore y' ask, Ah ain't a mind reader. But Ah've been minus a family now f'...years, ami, Ah know dat look. Darren, he's got a big family, Greer's might dislike her but dey're still kickin'...JP has his sister, no idea abou' Callie. Me, Ah ain't got shit. An' sometimes dis place gets a bit much, oui? So...don't worry so hard abou' it, if y'all need space y'll get it, an' if y' decide to stay...well, y'll find they'll pull in f' ya too."

Gambit: He remained quiet, though nodded, smoking as he listened and thought. Since leaving home, he'd been a wanderer. He'd never settled, and never made friends he had to lose when he left town. This place.. it would change that. "We'll see, ami. Dunno if dis place is right f' me, yet."

Darren: "... Naah, not really ... though, that could just be me and the fact i'm in senior year ..." Darren looked thoughtful.

JP: "You're far too jaded now to know what to find unsettling?" Now that had to be unsettling.

Greer: "I don't find it that unsettling either... but I've had a weird few years...."

Callie: "I will never get used to them. So sad, and scary."

JP: He looked over to Callie. "I think they're demonstrating what I meant."

Greer: Greer laughed, "Oh honey, I was this way before I got here - when you live in the wilds for two years you have to get used to bad surprises."

Icarus: Jay nodded. "Dat choice is yours t' make, mo ami, don' let anyone take dat away. Jus' know dis might jus' be d' best damn chance y' get, oui?" He smiled. "At leas' stay f' Christmas. D' food's to die for, no kiddin', an' Ah wasn' jokin' about d' amount of booze." He blew out a plume of smoke. "Y' want dat alone time, or you kosher now, ami?"

JP: "...honey?"

Darren: "She's hitting on you, flee while you still can!"

Callie: Callie looked between JP and Greer and started backing towards the door.

Greer: "You'd prefer 'sweetie'?" she raised an eyebrow.

JP: Jean-Paul let a good peal of laughter out. "Oh, I'd say she's barking up the wrong tree but i don't think Greer would appreciate being accused of barking."

Greer: "Hell no, got more class. And I'm not hitting on anyone, I call everyone 'honey'.... Is that not okay?"

JP: Jean-Paul had the sense to bite back the next bit of laughter. "Oh you can stick with whatever you want."

Gambit: He had a point. He might as well take advantage of the free hospitality over Christmas: it wasn't as if he was going back home, after all. "Oui, I'm fine," he assured Jay, before giving the guy one of his very few honest, genuine smiles. "Merci, mon ami."

Greer: "If it's not okay I wish someone would've said something sooner...." she frowned a little. Why didn't people ever say what they were thinking...?

Icarus: "De rien, ami, pas de probleme." Jay grinned. "Y'all have any problems, jus' gimme a bell, a'right? Now...Ah know did is impolite, but Ah'm kinda curious. What is it y'all do exactly?"

Callie: Argument diffused, Callie crept over to an empty couch and sat down, primly crossing her legs.

Gambit: Gambit couldn't help but laugh at the question. "T'ings I shouldn't," he replied, taking another drag from the cigarette. "Gambit's job.. Well, Gambit's old job, was takin' t'ings dat don' belong t' him." Now, he took them for himself.

Icarus: "Don't we all, ami." Jay laughed. "Ah used t' do a bit of dat - not'ing much, food mostly, but y' know how it is, somet'ing shiny an' you just gotta have it. Guess Ah got d' right mutation for bein' a magpie." He chuckled, wings flaring a little with a soft metallic chime from the metal one. "Oh...yeah, we shouldn' smoke indoors, but Ah ain't met one smoker who keeps to dat rule, so hey."

Gambit: He eyed the wings with interest, wondering just what had happened to have one replaced with metal. Not something you just asked, though. "I ain't one t' keep to de rules," he said, glad that the smoking prohibition wasn't strictly kept to. "Mebbe we make sure dey ain't killed eachother yet, non?" he suggested, gesturing at the door to the Danger Room

Jay: "Oui...though Ah doubt it." Jay grinned, punching in the code. "Darren's near enough as laid back as me, but den he did have me as a roomie f' like...two years." The door slid open. "Hey hey, mes amis, did y'all miss me?" He grinned at the rest.

Darren: "-Auto-tuned camel ... that's how I'd describe the noises she made- Oh, hey Jay," Darren waved over at the two cajuns.

JP: "Well, I suppose we can't make any disparaging remarks about her humps. Welcome back." Jean-Paul waved. "We're discussing camel-like mating rites. I apologize ahead of time."

Callie: "Yes, you both were greatly missed!"

Greer: Greer sat down next to Callie and opened her bottle of water.

Gambit: "Don't wanna know, hommes," Gambit remarked, still smoking as he walked back in. The sobering conversation with Jay had dulled him to the effects of the Danger Room. He barely paid attention to the illusions around him. "Listen.. y' got a bedroom dat I could set up in? Been a long few days 'n all.."

Darren: Darren gave the guy a smile, "Yeah, there's plent of spare beds dude, sure Jay'll show you to one, right bro?"

JP: "Oh there's still loads of free beds. That's not a problem at all."

Greer: Greer looked between Jay, JP and Gambit... poor new guy.

Jay: "Well good. Ah vote we go upstairs an' chow down, because Ah dunno about y'all but Ah could do wit' some serious food - an' fuck y'all, Gede, ain't dat much of a predator. Sure Ah'll show y' a room, ami." Jay saluted lazily. "Y'all wanna kip now? Ah'll save y' some food f' later."

Callie: "Well, I came down here for yoga classes, so I'll see you all later." She changed programs so the room became a hot zen-filled oasis.

Gambit: "Might shower, at least. See how I feel," Remy said, not sure if he wanted to be alone or not, so figuring he'd leave his options open. He had a feeling Jay would understand that.

Greer: Greer blinked at the sudden disappearance of her chair. ".... Ow."

Jay: Jay nodded. "A#right. C'mon den, Gambit - let's get y' settled in." He grinned, leading the way out of the DR.

Darren: "I'll leave you too it then Callie," Darren smiled, getting to his feet, "have fun now," before following everyone else out of the room.

Callie: "Sorry! I thought there would be cushions in this program. This is a different one than the one I usually use."

Greer: "It's fine..." she got to her feet, "Guess I should leave you to it... unless you want company?"

Callie: "It's hot yoga, if you can stand it, sure!"

Greer: "I'm sure I'll be fine," she grinned, "Company it is!"

[puppygirl]

Adam was in the kitchen, surprise surprise, a bowl of cooling plain noodles forgotten on one side. An apparently holographic laptop was in front of him, blue headphones over his eyes and a fierce frown of concentration was on his face as he watched the screen. A notepad was in front of him, covered in gaedlig scribbles, pen in his mouth and a few textbooks scattered on the breakfast bar.

If one had to take a closer look, the title of the closest one was 'Human Anatomy'. On top of it, apparently sleeping, was the most adorable little tiny ball of bunny fluff, twitching a little as it dreamed.

"-And this is the kitchen, generally people just help themselves to food in here, if someone's got something they really don't want eaten they'll stick a post-it on it, so watch out for that, appart from that it's all good," Darren said as he lead Gambit into the room, giving Adam a slightly wary look as he did, "... oh, and don't even think of trying to pet that bunny, it's evil incarnate."

Having decided to at least try socialising a little more, Remy'd agreed to wandering the house with Darren again, ending up at the kitchen were a familiar face sat. "Bonjour," Remy said simply, looking at the bunny curiously, wondering if Darren was just messing with him. "...Looks harmless?" he said, peering at it.

Adam's blue eyes flicked up, and then the screen hurridly vanished, as did the notebook, though the pen was still being chewed. "Ohai!" He grinned, pulling the headphones down to rest around his neck. "Bit? Oh, he's harmless." He poked Bit with his pen, the bunny opening one eye, hissing at him and sitting up to wash his face. Bit regard Remy with a malevolent glare and promptly sat with his back to him.

"...Okay, so he's not sociable. But hey, neither am I. Watch the fridge, it's boobytrapped."

"Looks can be deciving," Darren warned ominously, giving the fridge the eye, not sure if he trusted Adam or not, "So irish, been doing your homework?" He leered slightly at him before pushing his fringe out of his face, the 'hawk was floppy today, "haven't been hitting the booze while you've been doing it have you?" He moved past the scrawny guy to investigate the cupboard.

Figuring it was best not to argue with them, Remy gave the rabbit a distrusting stare, before looking away. He felt better after some time alone, having showered and collected his thoughts.

Dressed more comfortably now, and with less people around, he found himself more at ease and less on-edge. "Never seen a school dat don' mind dere students drinkin'," he commented with a grin. But then... he hadn't seen many schools. Who knew, this could be the norm.

"Oh shut up, punkfuck." Adam said easily, sitting back and waving a gloved hand before stretching. "It's my business, unless you've been watching on your cameras, pervert. And my booze is in my nest, which you can't have, and if you're drinking I might join you. Maybe." He looked at his watch. Meds or drink? Mnn. He had his syringes.

"Weeeell...this school's a little different. So long as we hand in our work on time and pass grades, we're left alone. Daaaaaaaaarren, can you pass an aspargus over?" Bit was sitting up on his back legs, giving his master an imploring look.

"Hey, you just remember who build you that shiney computer there, as the Warlock giveth, the Warlock can taketh away y'know?" Darren said as he rummaged in a cupboard, "and I don't think it's so much they allow drinking as they've just bowed to the inevitable," Darren pulled out a four pack of Bud, "... warm beer, eww."

He placed it on the table and went to the fridge, grabing some aspargus, "Wanna be careful there buddy, they say it's an aphrodisiac."

"...I am not going to fuck my bunny, nor be fucked. Sick bastard.*

He chuckled, still not quite able to get how these people interacted with one another, but he figured he'd get the hang of it eventually. One thing was for sure, and that was the people here at Xavier's acted very different from his crowd back home.

Eying the 4-pack, Remy gave a shrug. "Warm beer better dan no beer, non?" he suggested, as right now he was more than happy to take any free alcohol sent his way. As much as Remy liked to think otherwise, he was not a hardened drinker. He made a mental note to take it easy.

"..." Adam rolled his eyes. "There's pernod in the bottom shelf of the plate cupboards, hidden behind some pans. Dunno who hid it, it's been there for a while, but you may as well drink it. Anything's better than warm beer." He sniffed. "...Not that I know, I mean...I haven't been drinking all that long."

Pernod? Darren peered down again, "... Score!" Darren yoinked it out, "This will make Jay a happy, happy cockatiel," he dropped it on the table and tossed Adam the asparagus.

Beer. Pernod. None of these things were regular in Gambit's personal cocktail menu, which consisted of... well, bourbon, bourbon, and bourbon. He'd like to say he could drink it all night long, but that'd be something of a lie.

Still, beggars couldn't be choosers, he supposed, and he'd take whatever was being poured. "Gotta say, likin' dis place o' yours so far. Lapdancin' bars in de basement, and free beer in de kitchen. Can see why y' stay."

"I have whiskey, vodka, some sort of weird purple concoction and most of the bar's contents from the club I DJ at down in my nest. We like booze here, and hey, I'm Irish, so I like it more." Adam grinned. "I'm here because I kinda have to be. I'm a foster kid. But gotta be honest, I like this place." He fed Bit the asparagus, the bunny holding it delicately in his paws.

"And Darren, you touch Plank and you'll be the third student I've stabbed. Not like I can do more than give you rabies but it'll make me feel better."

"And the chicks ... or in Adam's case dudes," Darren nodded, cracking open a beer, where was Bobby when you needed him man? "And dude, you couldn't even give me that," he passed the beer over to Gambit, "don't take this the wrong way man, but you ever been to school before?"

Shit. He should have know this question was coming. It wasn't something he hardly ever admitted to, especially to those he barely knew. "What make's y' ask dat, ami?" he queried, dodging the question casually as he took the beer, gulping down some of it's sickening warm contents.

"The eyes mostly," Darren took a sip, "most obvious mutants generally don't end up going to school or shit and who can blame them ... unless your eyes weren't always like that man?"

His gaze cast downwards momentarily, before quickly coming back up to stare back at Darren. He'd hidden his eyes for years before he felt confident enough to show them in public. Still, having it pointed out so suddenly had caught him a little off-guard. He scolded himself for being self-conscious.

"Non, dey been dere since Gambit popped int' de world," he admitted, seeing no real reason to lie about it. "Ain't done school like y'all have. Gambit learned his lessons... a little differently, comprenez-vous?"

"Weeeell...I done school a little differently too. I was normal before I hit twelve, hah." He scratched the back of his neck as Bit lolloped across the breakfast bar. "Nuns." He muttered ominously before he got up, ambling to the fridge and opening it, grabbing some cheese. "Darren, tell your bitch that he's been stealing my cheese, will you/"

Darren smiled, "Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones that can hide it, but till I came here I actually hadn't been in school since I was thirteen, was just wondering dude, since it's a pretty normal story for us. Just sayin' that if you do decide to stick around this isn't like a normal school, they're used to it. Hell, we had one girl who couldn't even read or write a single word when she arrived."

At least he wasn't alone in that respect then. Jean-Luc had, at least, made sure he knew the basics. He could read, write, do basic math... but Remy's real skills all lay outside academia.

"Never been. Not a single day," he admitted, figuring that if it was the norm here, then there was little harm in revealing that much. "Didn't get taught nothin' til I was 'bout thirteen or so."

"This is like...the only school where sometimes the lessons can take place in your head." Adam drifted past serenely, before boosting himself up to sit on a counter, munching his cheese. "And hey, I think the day someone with a normal life turns up here is the day I run around naked." He paused a second. "...Shit, by Pratchettian law that's going to happen now, isn't it/"

"Funny, dat. Bein' a freak, but bein' de same as everyone else.." Gambit said, though not to anyone in particular. It was one of the things weirding him out most about the school. He was so used to know he was seperate and different from others, that to be one of the crowd...

It was foreign to him. It might have explained why he felt so different here, and why he'd reacted the way he did earlier.

"Yeah, you feel a bit fish outta water huh?" Darren nodded, "Look on the bright side, at least you're not a mutant with amnesia, that was me the first day I arrived here, couldn't even remember my own damn name."

"Soun's like a story," Remy said, with no intention of trying to outdo Darren's background with his own. That was a step too far. Admitting not having been to school was one thing, but Remy was not about to dive into his life story.

If they wanted to, then fine by him. It was always best to know as much as you could about those around you, after all. "No amnesia or not'ing for you when y' got here, den?" he asked, turning to Adam as he took another slug of beer.

"Iiii'm saying nothin' about my sob story, but no, I can remember everything - except when I take my drugs. Then I just sorta float around. Floaty-light." He giggled a little manically. "What I will say is I was a foster kid, so didn't really arrive here in the best frame of mind...but I don't quite go out of my way to stab anyone any more. Much."

Smart guy, Remy thought. Keeping your background safe was something few people bothered with nowadays. Still, Adam'd given enough away for Remy to get a feel for his past. Either way, he wasn't going to reciprocate with his own story.

"Everyt'ing works out in de end," he announced with a confident smile, taking another mouthful of beer. "De only way is up, look for de silver linin', de glass is half full.... all dat stuff."

"...what if the glass has cyanide in it?"

Which was perfectly cool with Darren, he wasn't gonna pry into other people's buisness, "Yeah, while they may be lax on the booze they're very anti usng your powers on other students, with psychics around, it could get real sticky real quick," Darren took another mouthful of beer, "And yeah, the bright side is free lodging, free food, free beer, can't argue with that evn if you have homework."

Psychics... They could try. Remy'd been fortunate enough to meet a telepath a year ago in his travels, and it came to transpire that, through some effect of his powers, his mind was well-protected against psychic intrusion.

He'd always liked this fact, as the idea of someone sauntering into his head and seeing whatever they pleased did not sit well with him. "So... dat's de deal, den? Y' wanna stay, y' gotta go t' classes and stuff?"

"Well, it is a school man, but yeah, pretty much, go to classes and try not to flunk too hard," Darren smiled.

Remy wasn't sure he liked that arrangement. Just what classes could a guy like him take, anyway? He was hardly going to fit in academically with the rest. Then again, why was he even considering this an option? He knew what he was like. He was a runner.

Guys like him didn't settle down, take classes, and join happy little mutant families. Guys like him took what they could, and moved on. "Can't see Gambit takin' history classes, mon ami."

Adam regarded the new kid seriously as he nommed his cheese, blue eyes bright. He sniffed a little, smirking slightly. "Well, that's your choice." He settled for. "No one's gonna lock the door on you here. Me, I skip classes I don't like." He finished the cheese, screwing the wrapper up in his good hand. "And history's boring anyway."

"So boring you didn't even notice the fact that the teacher for it left?" Darren raised an eyebrow at Adam.

Still, that implied he attended SOME classes, which was a great deal more than Remy'd attended in his entire life time. As good as this place seemed, he couldn't see himself settling down at a desk and being lectured.

"Why bother? After all, out dere, dey ain't gonna care what lessons y' took," he asked, wondering just what the point of all this was. Freaks like them were never going to get into jobs where they'd care about qualifications,so why waste time?

"Wel for one, some of the stuff is useful, and two, why should be be denyed the right to an education just 'cos we were born with an extra chromozone?" Darren drained his beer, "they haven't taken those rights away from us yet."

"Never set me back," Remy commented offhandedly, shrugging. "Waste o' time if y' can get by in life well enough wit'out it, Gambit t'inks." He liked it here. He couldn't deny that. Part of him was enjoying the company, and the comfort...

But could he really tie himself down to an environment like this? Just for free room and board? No, he'd need a better reason than that before he could be convinced to stay.

((tiiiiiiiiiiiiits ..... freshman tiiiiiiiiiiiiiits))

Adam tilted his head at Remy. "...And what if it's fun to learn? To feel normal for a while? I wasn't always a freak and I'd give a lot to be able to go back to being just a regular kid. I wanted to be a doctor, now I'm lucky if I can formulate a cohesive sentance." He shrugged. "And I skipped history, Darren, so obviously." He grinned insanely.

"Anyway, the education's pretty secondary here. Mostly it's the people that keep me. And the occasional chance to beat someone up. I mean, I earn enough as a DJ that I could leave if I want...but I like it here. Why leave somewhere I like being?" He regarded Bit. "...Plus there's sex, booze, drugs - in my case legal - and all the tin foil I can eat."

It was all alien to him, the desire to stay in one place. Say what they might, the whole thing just didn't mesh correctly in Remy's mind. Sure, they were a cool bunch, but worth losing his freedom over?

"Well, only de first day here, non? Who knows. Mebbe y' got a pretty face livin' in here dat Gambit'll stick around for," he said, a playful smirk.

Darren grinned, "Plenty of pretty faces, some of them are even single," he scrunched up his can and tossed it towards the trash.

Speaking of sex...Adam tilted his head at his 'Plank' and his books. Was that even possible? He blurred around the kitchen, packing everything up within seconds, Bit squeaking as he was suddenly on Adam's head. "...Okay, leaving you guys to your booze and your bro-time, I have a pretty face of my own to do bad things to." He gave them a lazy salute - and was gone.

"Never said dey needed t' be single," Remy pointed out with a wink, downing the rest of his can, mimicing Darren as he threw it into the trashcan. Adam was up and making his exit, Remy giving a brief wave, and watching him leave.

"Nice guy. Bit crazy, but nice."

"It's like wonderland, most everyone's mad here, and let me give you a protip, if you wanna try a bit of girlfriend poaching, check what her guy's powers are first, otherwise things might get ... messy, for you at least."

"Y' reckon dere be people here dat Gambit can't handle, homme? Y' ain't really seen him in action, yet. De other day? Firecrackers c'mpared t' what Gambit can do."

Darren put his head to one side, "Oh I can just tell life is gonna get really interesting with you around, dude, hope you decide to stick around."

"Will f' now. Ain't got no-where else t' be for a while," he said with a shrug, not sure why he bothered to imply that, at some point, he would have places to be. He just... didn't want to seem too lost and wandering, he supposed.

"So.. some'a dese guys, I get why dey here. Y' can look at dem and see dey ain't normal. But you... y' look human. Why ain't y' in a college wit' normal people?" he asked, curiously. If it weren't for his eyes, Gambit would integrate more with the norms... but as it stood, it just didn't work that way.

Darren smiled and went over to the cutlery draw, "You know the saying, 'If you cut me, do I not bleed?'" He pulled out a knife, held out his hand and without even flinching rammed the knife through his palm, "... False statement."

Even Remy couldn't hold back a reaction to that, flinching hard as the blade cut straight through skin and muscle. "Homme, dat is not somet'ing y' wanna do wit' peoples eatin' utensils.." he said, grimacing slightly.

"It's not like they can catch anything fro me," Darren pulled the knife out and showed Remy his hand as the skin ran back together seemlessly, "I'm not flesh and blood anymore like you guys, and I said that I'm a lucky one, I can shapeshift to hide it," his skin grew black and his features faded away and yellow lines started to glow on the surface of his body till Remy was left standing with a completly featureless humanoid in the kitchen, "I really look like this see," he said, his voice now had a dead, eletronic echo to it.

If Remy ever though his appearance was odd, he never would again quite so much having seen Darren's 'true' form. "Dat's... dat's somet'ing else, mon ami.." he said, unable to take his eyes from the amazing sight in front of him.

"Still, least y' can hide it, oui?"

The man nodded, "However makes it nigh-on impossible to live undercover with humans, they notice eventually," he shifted back to his human form, "and I'm not like you I guess, I like having somewhere to hang my hat ... not that I wear hats."

Still amazed by the sight, it took Gambit some time before he'd thought to speak again. "Guess we all de same, but all tres different, non?"

Darren took out a cigarette, "Yep, you're learning, kid."

Kid?? He'd overlook that, for now. "Listen... Gambit's gonna go take care of some stuff b'fore de party starts tonight, oui? I'll meet you and de others back down here when dat Jay fella's got his cookin' goin."

"Looking forwards too it, been ages since we've had a chance to just hang and do guy stuff here," Darren tossed Gambit a cigarette, "Watch out for zombies, 'kay?"

"Always am nowadays, homme. Never thought I'd see de day, but dere we go." He chuckled, catching the cigarette with a gracious nod, sliding it behind his ear. "Bring shotglasses later," he said, and instantly regretteed it as he turned to walk away. Why did he just say that...