Nighcrawler tells a tale, with help of course

[Nightcrawler]

As it had been decided, for Karma's benefit and to make things easier all around, the Alpha Squadron bedroom was a double sized room at the end of the hall of the girls dormitory. This night Kurt was helping to settle the children and get them tucked into bed. It always seemed after a full day of play that those littlest of mutants would be tired out and ready to turn in, yet it was never the case. In fact it was quite to the contrary.

The giant sized room was in actuality two rooms that had the wall removed down the middle and there was a bathroom at either end. Of course to delineate things the 'girls side' was adorned in pinks and Princessy things while the 'boys side' was very blue and rather Star-Warsian in design. Though the walls and carpet were completely neutral in the battle for dominance the towels and bedsheets, toys and curtains, told another tale completely.

"Goot boys, very goot. Teeths are all brushed und viss zhe clean PJ's und all showered up to vash off zhe potato salad und zhe mustard.... Ja, I zink you're ready for bed." At the utterance of the word groans and stomping erupted from the young gentlemen and Kurt knew he had committed the worst infraction of tending to the young, he had born forth T.M.I., and as anyone who every babysat knew - too much information was the quickest way to find oneself in the maelstrom of chaos. "Ahk! Vhat is zhe problem viss getting into a nice comfy bed? I just don't get it? I did not say you vould have to go to sleep."

He did the best he could to counter the response to the onslaught of drama that was beginning to unfold. "Karma!" he called from the doorway of the boys bathroom down to the girls bathroom at the far end where the leader of the mighty Alpha Squadron tended to the fairer of her flock. "How about a story? Are zhe girls ready for a story? Because I vas going to start von, und as you know, I alvays like to ask vhat to tell about."

He walked out of the bathroom knowing that, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the mere mention of a story -one that the children could help to create as they went along- was far better enticement than any book reading that only lasted for twenty pages or so. "Hmmm, so I don't know zhough because..." he looked around at the little ones, eyes wide as soup bowls and frozen in their places with the concern that Nightcrawler wouldn't tell one of his famously awesome stories. "...Vell, zhey just don't seem to vant to get into bed so ve might begin?" He shrugged at Shan and grinned in anticipation of the sound of feet padding and beds being hopped into and giggling and squeeling that he knew would follow in fractions of a second thereafter.

[Jenny]

"No no! I'm in getting in beds look!" Jenny said scrambling under her Pocahontas covers with her little ragged bunny Roger, whom Karma was nice enough to wash for her after the food fight. She didn't mind too much, cause with Mr. Kurt he could teleport them all over the place to keep them from getting hit with food. Jenny had a blast and all she got was a little sauce on her shirt. Her proud moment was she put the whole bowl of ranch dip on Chopper's head. It was a very proud moment for her, and she had no problem reminding him the rest of that night. Jenny settled Roger next to her and pulled up her fleece baby blanket that her mommy sent her from home.

She settled back in her bed and looked eagerly between Nightcrawler and Karma. She loved hearing stories, and books period. She liked movies too, but books were better. Her mommy and daddy didn't have all that much money, so they were only allowed to watch TV only an hour a day. That was okay with Jenny though, she liked to help her daddy on the farm with the horses and the sheep. She would ride her old pony Ginger and help her daddy herd the cattle and the sheep, and sometimes the other horses, with her St. Bernard, Abner running with them. Her mom used to read her stories right before bed all the time, encouraging her to read them herself. That's why she always liked stories better, or how she started to actually.

"What kinda sthory are we getting? Can it be about a warrior girl likes Mulan and have her pound a boy's face in the dirt and make him eat WORMS!" Jenny said and giggled to herself, snuggling into her covers and looking at two of her favorite people ever with shining eyes, excited for the story.

[Chopper]

Chopper walked past Jenny's bed and used that moment to grab a hold of her pigtail hard enough until he heard the yelp from her before running to his bed. He was still very sore about the food fight, and even more so that she knocked the last of his toothpaste into the toilet by 'accident', like anyone would believe that. He stuck his tongue out at Jenny as he climbed in bed.

"The only person that's gonna eat worms is YOU, tomorrow after lunch!" he yelled and crossed his arms in bed, exchanging a glance with Austin and rolling his eyes at the stupid icky girls. "Well I think we should watch a movie. I got the TMNT movie in the DVD player right now!" Chopper was at the stage where he was convinced that he was too old for stories unless they were comic books or the funny Diary of a Wimpy Kid diaries that Karma bought for them one time, and had been asserting his age to everyone who would listen about him being too old to do baby things with the stupid girls. "Right Austin? Movies are better," he said to his friend in the next bed over looking for an alliance.

[Lily]

Lily flitted from the bathroom into the room and dove headfirst into her bed. She was wearing her Princess Ariel pajamas and she was a small lump under her covers that had pretty flowy fairies on them. She squirmed under her covers until pink hair popped out and the rest of her head followed. She heard Jenny's yelp and knew it was Chopper, and she made sure to send him a glare cause girls gotta stick together. "Nobody wants to watch stupid turtles doing stupid turtle stuffs, Chopper. Jenny's right! Let's hears a story about a girl who kicks dummy boy butts!" she said enthusiastically and pumping a tiny fist in the air before quickly giving Karma and Nightcrawler an adorably sweet smile to convince them that a story like Mulan would be so much better than stupid ninja turtles.

She looked over at Jenny cupped her hand around her mouth as if she were telling a secret. "We'll gets those doo-doo heads tomorrow. And I'll gives them so much happy powder they won't know what got 'em!" she whispered, leaning over so that the boys couldn't hear before she gave Jenny a big grin and looked back at the teachers again, giving them another cute smile to turn them to the girls' side. She bounced in her bed in anticipation of what they would hear about, and she was looking forward to falling asleep hearing it. After a long day of being better than boys and throwing food at them, she was ready to go to sleep hearing a darn good story.

[Karma]

"Chopper!" Shan exclaimed with a stern look on her face. "That wasn't nice at all! Maybe if you apologize to Jenny we can watch a movie after, if not then looks like you guys get a story tonight!" She winked at Kurt despite the grumbling from the boys and finished putting the toys away on the shelves. "You guys are going to have to start being nicer to each other, otherwise there will be less stories and movies and more chores. Now you don't want that do you?" Her black eyes glittered in amusement as she winked at Kurt. "Let's go everyone in bed! It's really late and remember tomorrow is Sunday, and that means its cleanup day! We start early too, so we need our sleep," she said leading Austin to the bed next to Chopper.

"There now Austin, you look very comfortable," Shan said tucking him in and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Come on Chopper, in you go too." She tucked Chopper in his beloved Batman blankets and placed a kiss on his forehead too, despite his protests. These were her boys and Shan just adored them beyond belief. She loved how mischievous and rough they were, and yet in each of them there was a good spirit that made her happy she had the hand in raising them.

"Tomorrow, for you Austin and Tori since you're new to this," she said looking at Tori who was tidying up the room. She had been such a great helper for Shan that at this point she couldn't imagine how she got along with the others beforehand. "We are doing our laundry and making our room all nice and tidy. And then whoever passes inspection with the highest points gets to pick what movie we go out to that night. Then we do schoolwork in the library, and we go out for our Sunday movie!" Shan smiled as she went to the two little girls now to tuck them in, hugging them and giving them a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry Jenny, I know its Kurt's turn to tuck you in, I didn't forget," she said with a grin at her and then at Kurt. "Ok Ms. Lily, let's get you all wrapped inside for that story you so want. I have to say you all earned it today, since shopping was a big job and you all did great!" Shan tucked Lily in her fairy covers, kissing her fore head and then grinning down at her, pressing a finger to her nose gently. She walked over to the small little couch and sat down, watching as her little ones got ready. Because Tori was older, she was allowed to come back to bed late after the others were tucked in. The girl was sweet enough to help her out before she joined the others downstairs, and that certainly was a relief to Shan. Her little ones may be small, but they were a handful.

[Nightcrawler]

"Very goot. Now zhat ve are settled I vill begin zhe story. Like most of zhe best storys start.." he said as he tucked Jenny in patting her head and smiling a toothy grin down on her ".. even Star Wars" he said for the boys. He knew they would be hard to get into the tale so he figured he wouldn't worry about that knowing he'd win them over soon enough.

"In zhe land on zhe ozher side of zhe bridge."

"Zhere vas a coy pond."

Kurt looked at the children, seeing them and measuring their reactions to the start of his tale. The looks on their faces told him it wasn't the best place to begin, but he was winging it... like he always did, knowing that somehow the tale would begin to form and with the help of the kids directing it's flow they would eventually reach a conclusion. Now zhough, ve need an antagonist.. hmmmm..

"Und it vas a special coy pond indeed! For jou see zhe Lord Baron of zhe land, who vas an evil man- a Nobleman, ja but he vas cruel- und he had kept all fish und zhe fowl und zhe game animals for himself. His people vere all but starving."

[Torri]

After Torri finished rearranging the pillows and putting the toys back to where they belonged, she sighed and gave herself a firm nod. She was finished with helping out and tidying up the room. Now that it was bedtime for the little ones, she was able to go and join the older kids. It was a while since she really spent any amount of time with them. Whenever she did, she felt a bit out of place but that was because of her own insecurities. Since she became part of the Alpha Squadron, Torri was able to gain more confidence and have more control of her power too. She was finally proud of herself, somewhat and she was able to lead her team and be there for them too whenever Karma asked her to.

Still wearing her day clothes, Torri waved goodbye to all the kids before moving over to Karma. "OK Karma," she replied while heading out the door. "Will do. Austin stop making faces to Lily they scare her!!" She had to shake her head and roll her eyes. Austin and Chopper were just the worst sometimes, but boys would always be boys. As she left the room she made sure to say goodbye to Nightcrawler and headed down to the Rec Room. It was the usual spot for the older ones to go to at that time and she wanted to finally apologize to Ricki for being such a baby around her.