Storm exited the shower, toweled off and immediately began the process of packing for her cruise. As packed her bag full of underwear, bikinis and only a select few revealing outfits that consisted of skirts and halter tops, Ororo's smile grew wider and wider. Had anyone been in the room they would have been shocked to see the still naked heroine, normally so calm and serene, smiling her odd, wide smile as she almost robotically haphazardly threw garment after garment of clothing into her rolling suit case.
Just then, there was a knock at the door and Storm froze. Her big, barely blinking eyes looked over to the closed door to her room inside the X-Mansion before her head finally turned. She stood there motionless for a few seconds, this time unable to blink even if she tried. Then, as if a switch had been flipped inside her head, Ororo scrambled about her room, slipping on a sundress, fixing her hair, applying just enough makeup to look presentable and tidying up her room.
Kitty Pryde was outside of Storm's door, waiting for her to answer her knock. She could hear as clear as day the sound of Storm flitting about inside, as if she was desperate to hide something. The brunette mutant furrowed her brow. The Storm she knew would never hide anything from anyone. She was above such silliness and would go out of her way at times to remind her fellow X-Men just how silly they could be at times.
It also wasn't like the Ororo Monroe that Kitty knew to be late. They had scheduled some time together to meet at a local coffee shop to catch up since they had both been so busy lately. They were supposed to meet out front and drive together, but Storm hadn't shown up and Kitty had wondered whatever could make the always-punctual Ororo to be late? Finally, an almost too-cheerful voice called from the other side of the door to come in and Kitty used her phasing ability to enter the room.
What Kitty saw caused her to stop dead in her tracks. The bathroom had been torn apart, a suitcase rested on the bed with clothing casually tossed in completely unfolded and Storm's lap top was open and on the screen appeared to be a cruise website. Like Ororo Monroe would ever be interested in such silly things!
"Um, Ororo?" Kitty said, confusion evident in her voice, "What's going on? I thought we were scheduled for coffee, but it looks like you're about to go on a trip."
It was then that Storm looked over at Kitty, her beautiful blue eyes almost too big and far too empty at the heart of the ebony beauty's expression. Beneath this vapid stare, an incredibly wide smile had spread across Ororo's lips. To add to the oddities, the weather witch's white mohawk, which normally rose off her head in a grand fashion, had been slicked back and uncharacteristic makeup graced her face. Storm's whole demeanor instantly threw Kitty off and she even took a tentative step back at what she was seeing. It didn't help when Ororo spoke.
"Oh, but it's not just any trip, Kitten!" Ororo exclaimed, her excited voice rich and velvety, "I'm going on a cruise!"
"A cruise?" Kitty asked, "Ororo, last time I checked you hated the entire concept of cruises. Tight, confined spaces? Like little cabin rooms on a big luxury liner? And your claustrophobia..? You have to have considered this, right?"
"But Kitten, you don't understand. I have to go! I won! I'm a winner, you see. I won an all-expenses paid vacation on the BLISS Pleasure Cruise for two," Ororo explained as if reciting from a perfectly memorized script, looking as giddy as the prom queen accepting her award. All of a sudden, Storm's expression grew even more excited, as if that were possible. Her eyes had almost literally lit up like the metaphorical lightbulb with an idea and she started almost bouncing up and down on her heels with excited energy, "Wait! There's two tickets! There's two of us! You should come as well, Kitten!"
"Pffft, what...?" Kitty scoffed at the older woman's immature behavior. Storm had to be pulling one over on her. There was no way the defect mother figure of the X-Men would act this excited for something as trivial as a cruise, "Come on, Storm. This isn't funny anymore. Give up the joke. Hell, since when do you play pranks like this?"
"Joke? Pranks? I am being dead serious, Kitten," Storm stated, her cheerful voice had turned dead serious. She was almost acting like herself again, before immediately breaking her normally serene, serious character again and rushed the young woman with a childish squeal and wrapped Kitten in a monstrous bear hug, "Eeiiiieeeee! It's going to be so exciting! We'll drink fruity drinks, get pampered, have makeovers. We'll get made up, be pretty and stuff! It's going to be so great! Don't you want to be pretty, Kitten? C'mon! I'll help you pack! We've only two days to get ready for this amazing experience of a lifetime!"
"Ororo," Kitty asked, trying not to sound frightened at what had become of Storm. She was sounding more and more like a twisted spokesmodel and it was starting to become scary, "How did you find out about this cruise?"
"Oh, how silly of me," Ororo gushed, leading Kitty over to the lap top in her room. She booted the computer back up and went to the BLISS Pleasure Cruise website. Ororo, robotically entered in her profile and Kitty could see that there was space for another name on the invitation. Kitty thought Ororo was going to enter her name when the tall, African mutant stood up without warning and held out the chair for Kitty to sit down while giggling, "Well, c'mon, silly."
"Huh?" Kitty asked, completely dumbfounded.
"You have to put in your name and info, Kitten," Ororo tutted, rolling her eyes and puffing out her lips in a childish pout, "That's the rules."
Kitty looked from Ororo's wide, nearly unblinking eyes and then down to the computer. The normally fearless girl was somehow nervous of this entire situation, but she sat down anyway. She knew that if Ororo was going to go on this cruise, Kitty felt she had to come too just to find why the hell her friend was acting so strangely. Storm was normally so self-reliant, mature and strong, but right now she was acting like an absolute ditz, and this cruise seemed to be why. Ororo was her friend, and Kitty decided she had to get to the bottom of this.
"Alright, alright," Kitty said, as she took her seat. She then looked up at Ororo's still-smiling face and asked, "I do this and then we go for coffee, alright?"
"Of course," Storm said, as a thrill of excitement ran through her at what was about to happen.