Marius, Fred, & Monkey Joe

[x-nothungry.livejournal.com]

Marius takes refuge in Fred's room from an unknown assailant that seeks nothing short of the utter destruction of the Australian X-Man...




Marius shot down the hallway, panting. No time to wait for the elevator. Too small to hit. He'd thought the stairs would slow it down, but it had swarmed right up the banister.

The time for second thoughts had passed. It was too late. The skittering of death's tiny feet was upon him.

He wrenched open a door, barreled into the room, and slammed it shut behind him. A split second later that same door resounded with a small, ominous thud.

After whatever harrowing situation Marius just escaped, he was now greeted with a very large, very confused young man.

Fred, who'd been reading the No Fear Shakespeare given to him by Yvette, put the book down and slowly stood from his sitting position on the bed. He'd never met the well built older man than now stood exasperated in his door, but he figured there were still dozens of people at this school he'd yet to meet. The man didn't seem to be threatening, though Fred didn't know what had caused the 'thud' at the door, so he was still a little anxious over the whole situation.

Fred finally managed to speak, "Can I...help you, sir?"

"Shh!" Marius' hand shot up for silence, but it was too late. Whatever was on the other side of the door began scrabbling furiously at the sound. The older boy gestured frantically at Fred. "Get a towel, blanket, anythin'!"

Fred, bewilderment still etched onto his face, slowly removed the comforter from his bed and, as if wary Marius was going to explode, handed it carefully to the other man. "Here..."

The Australian grabbed the comforter and jammed it into the narrow gap along the bottom of the door. There was a muffled chitter from the other side, followed by another brief flurry of skittering. Marius gusted a sigh of relief and backed away from the door.

"We must take every precaution," he said, brushing sweaty hair from his eyes. "This may seem like paranoia, but they've been known to gnaw through even wire. They are compelled, you know. Should they neglect the urge their teeth would grow into their skulls." He turned to Fred, seemed to really notice the boy for the first time, and smiled brightly. "Forgive the intrusion. I am Marius Laverne, and I assure you this rudeness is quite uncharacteristic of me. Frederick Dukes, yes?"

"Erm, just...Fred. And yea, that's me. Pleasure to meet you, sir," Fred ignored whatever the hell it was that was trying to eat his door and put his hand out for Marius to shake. His ability to ignore it, however, had a half-life of about 3 seconds, "Uh, sir...what the hell is on the other side of the door?"

"Just Marius, if you please. I am not staff, merely a hanger-on availing myself of room and board here whilst attendin' uni." There was an instant of hesitation before Marius took Fred's hand, but the shake was firm enough. There was an odd, smooth mass in the centre of his palm. The Australian released his hand and returned his attention returned to the door. "As for our assailant, from what I have been able to glean it is some manner of rodent. A rat or squirrel, I believe, although I cannot be sure as my only real opportunity for observation occurred when it launched itself from the refrigerator onto my head. The attack was unprovoked. I wanted only a granola bar." He turned to look at Fred with haunted eyes. "Do not touch the granola bars."

Fred gave Marius the most serious look he could muster, "Sir, I can tell you in all honesty: I've never eaten a granola bar in my life." Fred thought for a moment, "Are you sure you're not being chased by Catseye? Tiny purple cat? Can turn into hot naked girl with no sense of personal space?"

Marius patted at a fresh scratch on his forehead, smearing a few small beads of blood. Bothersome as it was, this was strangely serendipitous. The Professor had mentioned some things in passing about Fred which, Marius had to admit, had somewhat piqued his interest -- or, perhaps, empathy. There were worse places to be stranded.

"What did I tell you about 'sir'?" he said, wiping his hand on his slacks. "And quite. Cats has a habit of nocturnal ambushes, and as such her presence is well seared into my memory despite the attempts of therapists. Plus I once took her to prom. Additionally, it is my unique ability to tell from mutants. For example, you yourself possess certain physiological augmentations. Some manner of restricted energy manipulation as well, though I confess the specifics are a bit unclear. No, this evil is unquestionably a denizen of the animal kingdom. I would be most indebted if I were allowed to stay here for a time -- at least until its nefarious rodent attentions have waned. Surely its attention span cannot be long."

Fred shook his head a little, trying to absorb everything Marius had said, especially about his powers and the rodent. He took several breaths, then looked to Marius, "Uhm ,sure, Mister Laverne. Pull up a seat," he waved his hand to the desk chair full of mussed clothes and loose papers. "I, uh...I promise it's sanitary to touch,"

Marius put his face in his hands. "Cheers for the hospitality -- but please, my family has bequeathed me with four terrible names, and affixing 'Mister' to any of them offers no improvement. Trust me, I have tried. Unbelievable as it is, I consider Marius the least embarrassing of the lot." He carefully removed the papers, then set about folding the loose clothes in a perfunctory way. "Ah, enough of the agonies of my appellation. So, how are you gettin' on here?"

Fred looked towards the door, still wary of the skritching, then back to Marius, "Sorry. I'm not too good at introductions. I'm, uh, I'm doing okay. Made some friends, kept from making an idiot out of myself in classes. So, are you one of the, uh...the X-Men?" he chuckled a little, and scratched the back of his head.

"No worries about the introductions. I have been told my own personality makes them difficult even for the most skilled. And yes," said Marius with an aplomb slightly incongruous from a twenty-year-old man currently in hiding from a squirrel, "I am indeed an ordained X-Man. Against all reason."

Fred smiled and nodded, "From what I've heard, reason isn't really at a, uh...surplus in this place," he said. He leaned over and opened the window next to his bed. He pulled a lighter and jacket out of his pocket, "You mind if I smoke, Mis-mah-Marius?"

"Don't bother yourself on my account." Marius settled into the desk chair and decided to cast a line into the unfamiliar waters of social nuance. Steering a conversation was not one of his gifts; usually he just waited for it to veer in a favorable direction. He sat back and clasped his hands across his stomach. "Any time I become perturbed about air pollution, I remind myself of those months spent on a respirator. I may say with full confidence that second-hand smoke is vastly preferable to methane."

"You...had to breath methane?" Fred winced, and hesitated in lighting the cigarette, thinking about dangerous gasses and the like. His fear was soon swallowed by his addiction, however, and he lit the smoke. After he dragged off of it, he turned back to Marius, "Was it because of...y'know, mutation?" he said, testing the waters. After his conversation with Forge, he really didn't want to strike anymore raw nerves in the Mansion, and mutation, at least the bad aspects of it, seemed to be a hot button...

Marius was relieved. When the professor had told him Fred seemed ambivalent about his mutation -- that it even caused him physical discomfort -- Marius could understand why he'd thought the younger man could benefit from someone to talk to. And, remembering his own less than proud moments, he could see why Xavier might want someone to give Fred the opportunity before his ambivalence could become . . . worse.

"It was indeed," Marius replied. "My mutation nearly did me in, ah, three times, I believe is the official count. Let's see. First time, broke my metabolism an' I nearly died of malnutrition before things got sorted. Then it cost me a good deal of my skin an' lungs. Last go, I believe, was when my lungs stopped processing normal oxygen. Oh, an' my skin dropped off on its own that go. All in all, a rather unpleasant two years." He spread his hands, revealing silver-dollar-sized scars on either palm. "I was, as it was so aptly put once, behind the door when they gave out the sexy mutations."

Fred sat wide-eyed as Marius listed the issues he'd gone through, and continued to sit silent for a moment after. He dragged off his cigarette, then spoke, "Jesus, sir...heh, I thought I had it bad, Marius, but..." he trailed off, "...what, uh, how did you deal with it?" Since he'd met the tanned mutant, he didn't really know what to make of him. With this little revelation...he regarded Marius completely differently.

"Eh . . ." For the first time, the older boy looked a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "In truth, not very well. See, this lot were tryin' to help me, but after the last go I got, well . . . there's only so long one can maintain a sunny disposition after nearly dying, right? So I left for a bit, to try and see if I could find something on my own -- I can borrow powers, so I thought maybe there was someone somewhere . . . anyway." Marius pretended to occupy his attention by cracking his knuckles. "It got a bit out of hand. To skip the sordid details, I was eventually retrieved before further damage was done, either to myself or anyone unfortunate enough to be in my vicinity. An' you know? Turned out, I needn't even have left. Few months later a solution was devised, an' now I've not nearly died in two years."

Fred listened intently as Marius spoke, and could easily pick up on the other mutant's unease with the whole situation. He could understand: Fred hadn't really even told Julian, or even Yvette, about how his powers made him feel. It was an odd assortment of shame, disbelief, and discomfort. From the way Marius spoke, Fred imagined he felt similarly. Best not to push the topic too much.

Fred grinned reassuringly, "I've been thinking about it, and I'm pretty sure I know what's attackin' ya, Marius..." Fred flicked his cigarette out the window, and dug around in the pockets of his jacket for several moments. He stopped, and presented a half-eaten, still wrapped Snickers to the X-Man, "If it's still out there, offer this to it. I think it loves peanuts. Like, loves peanuts. Like, loves them more than a creature should love anything..."

The abrupt but welcome change of subject momentarily derailed Marius' train of thought. As usual, his mouth bravely attempted to compensate. His brow furrowed. ". . . I'm persecuted by an elephant?"

"..." Fred very conspicuously said nothing for several moments, "...No. No I don't think it's an elephant. I think it's that new girl's pet squirrel..."

Marius slapped his forehead. "Ah, right! I believe I was even forewarned by Kyle." His head tilted thoughtfully. "I would feel the fool, but as that is my default state I cannot say there appears much difference. Well . . . nonetheless, I suppose it's worth a try. Perhaps you should stand back a bit, though. Just in case."

Fred couldn't imagine a situation where a squirrel could cause him any physical harm, but he nonetheless nodded, and handed Marius the candy bar before he moved back toward the desk in the corner.

Marius glanced back to make sure Fred was out of pouncing range, then twitched the comforter away from the base of the door.

"Oi, er, squirrel?" Marius called through the door as he peeled back the Snickers' wrapper, "I request a truce. I'm openin' the door, right? I have a peace offering." He opened the door . . .

. . . onto an empty hallway. Marius tilted his head, then looked back at Fred. "Eh . . . well. Guess it lost interest . . ."

Monkey Joe took a flying leap then, landing on Marius head squeaking angrily. Not only had he been interrupted, his food stolen (or so he thought) now he was ignored when he was used to getting just what he wanted. Since the Big Sister human wasn’t around to complain to, he took it out on the curly haired human’s head.

Squeaking like a mad man when he did. You did not anger Monkey Joe.