Angel, 0; The Monkey, 1

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time, there was a girl. And then there was a monkey. And then there was chaos.



Angel was dancing. It was rather bad dancing but it was unashamed as she boogied her way down the corridor, iPod blaring in one ear with the other ear piece tucked into her shirt. She'd learned that loud music in both ears meant people – namely the one's starting with a "K" and ending with "yle" – could easily sneak up on her. Grinning as the music hit a particularly loud and boisterous part, she took a running start and slid several feet, arms outstretched to make sure she didn't fall on her butt.

"Come back here," Marie yelled, seeming to chase right after Angel. Leaping into the air, she flew to the top of the hallway and grabbed a small brown furball that was clinging to a lighting fixture. "You're not allowed out and you know it," she scolded.

Staring up at Marie, Angel cocked her head. "Uh, did you lose your…cat?" she hazarded a guess, squinting at the squirming fluff of fur. That was a very dexterous cat to have gotten all the way up on the lighting fixture but weirder things had happened. It was, after all, Xavier's.

Marie squeaked as the monkey got loose and climbed to cling to the top of her head. "Jack here isn't quite a cat," Marie said as she came to land in front of Angel.

Angel's eyes grew wide and she clamped her hands over her mouth. For any other young girl confronted with a cute, adorable looking monkey that would have been a precursor to cooing and requests to hold it. Not quite Angel's reaction. "Oh my god, why do you have a monkey?!" she yelped from under her hands, rooted to the spot. If she ran, it would chase her and turn her shirt inside out and molest her. She had to stay still as a ninja.

"Ah got him from a pirate ship," Marie said. No one ever believed her when she said it, so it was becoming her general response. "He kinda followed me home and Ah've been researching what to do with him, but honestly Ah keep getting busy."

"Was it Mr. Summer's monkey first?" she asked, taking a cautious step backwards. Jack perked and Angel froze again. "He didn't have a parrot but if he had a monkey…oh dear god, why does it have such little hands?" She moved again and the light flashed on her hair, lighting it up to an even more brilliant red color. With a yip, the monkey was airborne…until it landed right on Angel's face. She froze for a moment as the tail wrapped around her neck, the little creature getting a good balance while it went after the shiny hair.

"Oh. My. God." And with that, she took off down the hallway, screaming "It's eating my face!"

Marie blinked, staring after the redhead before she began to laugh. Running after the girl and the monkey, she called out, "Angel, stop moving. He CLINGS when he's scared!"

And he was, indeed, clinging to the best of his abilities. The tail had her neck in an almost stranglehold while four little creepy hands clenched to either hair or to her face. Angel was just as freaked out and couldn't stop running around for the life of her. Apparent demon attacks had nothing, she thought, on freaky little simians. She tugged on Jack with one hand and flailed quite well with the other one.

Marie pulled at her gloves and sleeves to make sure she was covered before dive tackling Angel to the ground. "Hold still," she urged, reaching with one hand for Jack while the other kept Angel pinned to the floor.

It took everything in Angel's powers not to wiggle – not that she could get very far considering who was holding her still. Jack screeched once, ripped some red hair for a prize and finally released his death hold on the pyro's face. Angel gasped in a breath full of not-monkey filled air. "That was worse than Aliens!" she panted, eyes panicky.

"Because you have that experience to compare it to," Marie said giggling as Jack resumed his usual spot on her shoulder. "If you hadn't screamed like a little girl he wouldn't have been so scared."

She sputtered as she scooted backwards, away from the creature that was currently eating strands of her hair. "Of course I did!" she squeaked. "I am a little girl!" She stopped when her back hit the wall and then glanced down, mouth falling open. "Why…what?" Her shirt had, somehow, managed to get turned around backwards. She had no idea how that had actually happened. She pointed an accusing finger at Jack. "They have some freaky shirt powers! Mutant monkeys with shirt turning around or inside out powers!"

"Why are you traumatized by monkeys?" Marie said, unaware that Jack was staring at Angel and waving her hair around.

Angel kept a wary eye on the enemy as she responded. "A bunch of us went out to the petting zoo once and we were totally attacked and molested by a rabid pack of monkeys," she said, twitching as Jack moved. "First, one went after Forge and then me and then it was chaos! Dogs and cats living together kind of chaos!"

"What did you do to the monkeys?" Marie asked innocently. Jack had dropped the strands of hair he'd held and was now holding onto Marie's hair and making little chittering noises.

"We didn't do anything to them!" Angel defended, huffing. "One of the monkeys liked Forge and hopped a ride. Maybe taking the picture wasn't such a good idea but it was funny. But it's all fun and games until the monkey puts an eye out." She glared at Jack. "I get your game now, mister. All cute looking until you take over the world. It's only a matter of time! They already have thumbs!" She'd really been paying too much attention to Forge lately.

"No more caffeine for you," Marie said, shaking her finger at the young girl. "Or you," she said, raising her eyebrows as she turned her head to Jack.

Angel regarded them solemnly. "First the caffeine," she warned, "and then the world!"