Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER FOUR (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Ted is mumbling something about being a god...do you know anything about that? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are sparkled. :) Readers/reviewers: You make me want to kiss you for your kindness. But that'd be weird to have a stranger show up and kiss you then run off, so I won't do that... The Killer Kitties (tm) have revealed their Art Project of Doooooooooooooooom-it's a giant, hollow platypus in which to hide. They've been reading about the Trojan War...I hate to break it to the Killer Kitties (tm), but I don't think platypi can work latches.



Jubilee poked forlornly at her beignet and sighed. "I'm just not hungry," she said to Kitty, shoving the plate and a cup of super-strong coffee across the café table towards her.1 "I want to go home and lock myself in my room and sleep until I forget this ever happened."
Kitty shoved the plate and cup back before taking a bite of her own pastry. "Jubes, I'm sure there's a reason..."
"Of course there's a reason...he's a giant fucking crap weasel and deserves to be castrated with a dull knife!" She bit viciously into her beignet, spraying powdered sugar everywhere.
Frowning into her coffee and debating whether or not to laugh about the comment, Kitty said slowly, "You know, hiding from Remy isn't going to help things any. He's still going to be there when we get back to the house, he'll be there in Bayville and I know that he won't give up until you listen to him. He loves you and there's a reason he never told you about Belladonna."
Jubilee drained her coffee and rose, throwing a handful of bills onto the table. "We told each other _everything _, Kitty. At least I did. I told him things that made me physically ill to think about having done. I trusted him with my most disgusting, morally reprehensible secrets and he holds this back from me. I can't deal with that Kitty. No way, no how..."
Kitty finished her coffee and stood, following Jubilee out of the crowded café. It was well into the afternoon and the streets were thick with revelers waiting for nightfall, beads littering the tree branches and street despite the near-constant efforts of the city to clean up. A rag time band played on the corner and Kitty winced as she ran by them, trying to catch up to Jubilee's remarkably fast stride. "Jubes! Wait up!" She darted around several people, upsetting someone's soda as she called back an apology. "Jubilee!"
Jubilee stopped mid-stride, turned sharply and stalked back towards Kitty. "You don't understand," she said jaggedly, walking backwards in front of her friend. "What would you do if you found out Kurt was married and you'd been committing adultery the whole time you're together?"
"Eeesh. I hadn't thought of it from that angle...but I didn't think things like that mattered to you, Jubes... I mean, aren't you Buddhist? Is there a law about that in Buddhism?"
Jubilee rolled her eyes. "Karma, baby, karma...and it's not religion that bothers me here. It's the fact he held back the truth, the fact he had years to get this taken care of and never did. It makes me wonder what else he's hiding from me." She drew to a stop at a trolley sign, leaning against the narrow green post with her eyes closed.
Kitty laid a tentative hand on Jubilee's shoulder and said softly, "I'll go back with you today if you want to go, but we're all leaving tomorrow. You don't think you can stand one more day?"
Jubilee sniffed and turned her face away from her friend. "Hey. Here comes Jean and Amara...and it looks like poor Jamie's having to carry their bags."
Kitty frowned at the change of subject but looked in the direction of Jubilee's glance. Sure enough, Jean, Amara and Jamie were weaving in and out of the crowd, all laden with bags from shops in the Quarter but Jamie seemed especially weighed down. A large, wolfish beast trotted beside him and it took Kitty a moment to realize it was Rahne. "Wonder why she changed?"
Jubilee snorted. "Probably to get out of girl talk with Jean and Amara."
"Hey!" Jean said as the group neared Kitty and Jubilee. "You guys heading back towards the house?"
'Thinking about it," Jubilee said with studied indifference. "It's almost dinner time but we're full up on beignets and coffee...Maybe I can get a nap in before hitting Bourbon Street tonight."
"Um, Jubes? Aren't you a little young for Bourbon Street2?" Jamie asked, shifting the bags around, trying to get a better grip on some of the heavier ones. "I mean, it's not like you can drink or nothin'..."
"Remy said you just have to be tall enough to reach the bar here to get a drink," Amara said with a mild amount of interest. "And they have those walk-up bars everywhere...3
Jean frowned. "That's not true about the disregard for ages, Jubilee. You'll get caught and you _know _ Logan will let you spend the night in jail just to teach you a lesson!"
Jamie gulped, obviously having been considering a jaunt down Bourbon Street himself. "I'm to pretty to go to jail!"
Kitty shook her head then, almost laughing. "Here's the trolley...come on."
The ride back into the Garden District was mostly quiet, save for one tourist already drunk and struggling to take off his shirt despite the chill in the air. "Jubes," Jamie whispered loudly, leaning towards his best friend, "do you think they'll kick Rahne off?" He had just noticed a sign that said "No Pets on Trolley."
"She's not a pet," Jubilee answered, wincing when Rahne licked her hand in what could only be a joking manner. "Pretend you're blind if they give you a problem."
Kitty sighed with relief as they rolled to a stop a few doors down from where they were staying, Jamie acting comically blind for the benefit of the conductor, who did not even look up. "So what all did you guys get?"
Jean blew her bangs out of her face and recounted, "Some t-shirts, postcards, a dress for Amara, some sandals, a bunch of stuff at the flea market..."
Amara said with some nt ont of pride, "I got some lovely earrings and a bracelet for Lance's birthday."
"What?" Jubilee said, snapped out of her funk for a moment. "Um, Am, Lance doesn't cross dress."
"Not for him. For me. I understand that another phrase for being naked is being in your birthday suit, so I figured I'd decorate it a bit..." She did not even blush at the mention of her sex life, so Kitty did for her.
Jamie cringed. "TMI, Amara...TMI..." The front door opened to reveal Logan scowling faintly. "Er...hi!"
"Where have you kids been? It's almost five thirty and dinner is ready."
"Sorry, mom," Kitty snickered only to have Logan poke her in the side as she walked by. "I'm not too hungry...I'm going to go lay down for a while."
"Just a minute there, Half-Pint," Logan ordered. "No one is going to Bourbon Street tonight. I already put the kibosh on Lance and Todd's plans to get, as they put it, shit-faced and I know that at least three-fourths of you are going to try the same thing. Instead, we're all going to eat dinner as a group then going to the Krewe of Orpheus parade. We leave here at ten in the morning for the airport so it's an early night." There were groans of disappointment as the teenagers within earshot heard Logan's decree. "Hey, I don't want to hear it! I told the Professor I'd keep an eye on all of you and keep you safe, and this is me keeping that promise. Got a problem, call home about it!" He turned a deaf ear to protests and moved towards the kitchen, his boots ringing a heavy tread.
Rogue emerged from the parlor with a book under her arm. "That sucks. And I took a nice long nap to rest up for a night of partying, too."
Jean shrugged. "We'll still have fun! It's not like we see this sort of thing all the time, and we can always come back next year."
Rogue sighed. "Not the same, but point. I'm gonna go sneak something before dinner. See y'all there."
Jean and Amara lugged their bags up the stairs, followed by Jamie and a happily trotting Rahne. Kitty offered a smile to Jubilee and said, "Well, want to eat or take a nap?"
"Why, Kitty, are you propositioning me?" Jubilee joked halfheartedly. She headed up the stairs, Kitty following with a slight titter at her friend's improving humor, only to draw up short when they saw Jean, Amara and Rahne standing in the hall, looking expectant. "What?" Jubilee asked sharply.
"Um, nothing. Just going to dinner now!" Jean said with false brightness, taking Amara by the arm and rushing towards the stairs, a hastily dressed Rahne following suite.
"Oh, God," Jubilee groaned. "Subtle they're not...Stay out here, Kit? Just...just in case?"
"In case of what?" Kitty asked, already knowing who was in the room waiting. "I'll stay, but you won't need me."
"I hope so," Jubilee sighed and, with the air of a condemned prisoner, she entered the room.
Kitty sank to the floor along the opposite wall, waiting for she was not sure what, and closed her eyes. I wonder what Kurt wants to do tonight...other than the obvious. I swear, they're going to find us dead from exhaustion before we're twenty! The thought made her giggle with black humor as she pictured Scott's face, peering into a room to see why they were not ready for school yet, to find her and Kurt in a perverse state of rigor mortis, dead but smiling.
"What's so funny, Katzchen?" Kurt asked, emerging fresh from a shower to find the object of his thoughts grinning happily, eyes closed and oblivious to his appearance.
"Oh! Hey!" She rose quickly and almost knocked him over with the force of her embrace. "I missed you! I haven't seen you since this morning!"
A tiny voice in Kurt's head that sounded suspiciously like Scott chided, _It's only been a few hours and she missed you desperately. Like you missed her, don't kid yourself. You'd think you two could survive a few hours apart with out these tremendous greetings! Hello... _ Scott's voice was cut off by a more subtle, soundless command in his back-brain that was responding to Kitty's now-fervent kisses. She clutched at his neck and pressed against him, pushing him against the wall as she sought entry into his mouth. "Katzchen," he managed, though muffled by her kisses, "slow down!"
"Why?" she asked between pecks. "Everyone is busy for a few minutes, we're pretty much alone...and I can see behind you that no one's in the bathroom...so you wanna?"
Kurt groaned but pushed her away. "Yes, very much! But Kitty," he asked seriously, taking her hands in his in an attempt to slow her virtual attack of kisses and caresses, "do you ever worry we're _too _ physical?"
Kitty blinked in surprise and stared at him. "Huh?"
"I mean," he said, flustered and feeling not a little embarrassed, "we have an awful lot of sex..."
"Kurt, I'm so pretending you didn't just say that..." She pulled her hands away, though, and took a large step backwards. "What's wrong? You don't feel like it? Just tell me! I won't be upset !"
"Nein, nein! I really, really, really want to...God, do I want to! But I was just, you know, worried. I don't to overdo things."
The rattle of the knob to the girls' room made Kitty frown. "You're a weird little mutant, you know that?" She cupped his cheek in her hand and smiled, though. "We'll talk about this later, okay? I'll see you at dinner." She was disappointed that their chance at a tryst had passed unused, but she had great confidence in the idea that they would no doubt have another chance later. Jubilee emerged from the bedroom as Kurt disappeared down the stairs. "Well? Where's Remy?"
Jubilee's eyes were flat and dull. "He's sitting in there, thinking, he says." She shuffled her feet a moment and said quietly, "Belladonna is coming back with us because Remy wants one of the Professor's lawyer friends to help with the annulment."
"Well, that's good, right? I mean, he's getting thrriarriage dissolved and..."
"We broke up. I broke up with him, actually."
"What?"
"I told him that I didn't know what to believe anymore and I just needed to step away. He said he understood..." She sobbed brokenly and flung herself at Kitty, who captured her in an embrace. "It hurts so much!"
Kitty stroked her back and lied. "I know, sweetie, but you'll feel better soon..."
1 Café du Monde in New Orleans has been in operation for over a century and is this outdoor café that serves beignets (fried pillow dough things covered in powdered sugar), coffee made with chicory and cream and that's it. Well, orange juice but that doesn't count, does it? LOL... They're open all the time so if you go down there, get a beignet and a three day buzz off the coffee.
2 Raise your hand if you don't know what Bourbon Street is. Okay, it's this street in NOLA that is closed to traffic and is all bars and clubs and really just a hedonistic sort of thing. It's kinda cool, actually. A party every night of the year almost, but it's one of those things where, unless you're way into that scene, once is enough for a few months. Good, cheap places to eat there, too. At Mardi Gras, the streets of the Quarter are literally shoulder-to-shoulder and yes, there is flashing and yes, cops tend to look the other way. Unless you're a real nuisance.
3 Seriously. Some bars in the Quarter are these tiny, closet-sized places that you just walk up to on the street and get a kick-ass drink or a beer. And they have drive-through daquiri places in Louisiana. When I lived there, there was one not far from campus. Quite the detriment to studying sometimes...lol.