Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Joaquin and Billy are now both sitting on the box, muzzled. They did it of their own volition, I swear! It had nothing to do with the drinking songs at four in the morning on a work day... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are frabjuous for archiving! :) Readers/Reviewers: I'll bet that you thought that the Killer Kitties (tm) and their Killer Minions (tm) were gone, 't y't you? Ha! They've just gone into Stealth Mode (tm) and are now skulking in the shadows, occasionally swiping at those who try to thwart them. I loose more ducks that way...



"What are you doing up?" Amara asked sleepily.
Lance had thought himself alone on thek pak patio, owing to not only the early hour but the lack of sound in most of the house. Amara's presence, though a surprise, was not unwelcome. "Wake and bake," he said, waving the joint in his hand at her, offering it to her. When she made a face and shook her head, he shrugged and took another hit.
"How can you stand that?" she complained, shivering slightly in the chilled air. "It's gross."
"Some people drink coffI smI smoke a joint. No big deal. Been doing it since I was twelve. Wait...no, twelve is right." He leaned back in the lawn chair and, throwing his head back to look up at the pale purple sky, asked, "What're you doing out here?"
in in a robe and thin slippers, Amara sighed and rubbed her arms to keep warm. "Goddess worship. Dawn comes early..."
Exhaling a cloud of smoke, Lance smirked. "Aw, you mean you didn't just come out here to see me? I'm disappointed!" ite ite me, stoner," she said, though smiling. "I'll be back later if anyone looks for me before breakfast...going to woods where I can be alone." Without another word, she turned and headed towards the edge of the woods that bordered Institute property.
Lance watched her peach-clad form head into the trees like a Technicolor ghost as he finished his joint, mulling over whether or not he should follow her. _On one hand, it's early, no one else is up except for maybe Logan, and I'd hate to waste a good buzz. One the other hand, she gets kinda defensive when I bug her when she's doing her pagan thing...which in and of itself sort of freaks me out. _ Lance flicked the tag end of the marijuana cigarette into the grass and rose to his feet. _Eh, but when she gets defensive, someone gets hurt...and that's not always a bad thing... _
Amara was deep in her ritual, something she did virtually every morning, her entire being focused on the goddess of the dawn, the one she reverenced in hopes of a good day and mainly to feel more connected in general. As enrapt as she was in her workings, however, she knew that she was being watched. Gritting her teeth, despising the tiny fracture in concentration she experienced, Amara finished her ritual and took a deep breath. "Lance, I will fry you to a nice golden brown if you don't show yourself right now!"
"How'd you know it was me?" he asked, ambling from a copse of birch on thee ofe of the small clearing. "I smell like weed?"
"You were staring. I could feel it on the back of my neck." Hands on her hips, she walked towards him with annoyance in every line of her posture. "Do you know how annoying it is to be bothered while you are doing something important?"
When she was within arm's reach, Lance pulled her close, making her stand on her toes as he bent to kiss her. "Yeah...now askhow how much I care."
Amara let him control the kiss for it's brief duration, letting him plunder her mouth despite the pungent taste of smoke on his lips and tongue. A rustle in the underbrush and then a cavalcade of running feet broke their embrace. Three Jamies, followed closely by Remy, all running Hell bent for leather, came crashing through the small clearing. A moment later, Rahne in full lupine form flew by as a blur of fur, fangs and pawsoganogan brought up the rear, running but barely breaking a sweat, obviously toying with the teenagers ahead of him. "Kids," he said, pausing and jogging in place.
Lance groaned under his breath and released Amara from his hold. She nodded coolly to Logan as if she got caught kissing her boyfriend in the woods wearing nothing but nighnightgown all the time. "Logan," Lance said, repeating Amara's words from earlier, "do you know how annoying it is to be bothered while you are doing something important?"
"Yep," the older man grinned. "And you two are late for your morning run. Get inside and suit up for the Danger Room session. You can make the run up tomorrow."
"But tomorrow's Saturday!" Amara interjected, seeing her visions of a nice, long morning in bed dashed.
"Like I said," Logan smiled, resuming his chase, "you can make up the tomotomorrow. Don't worry," he called over his shoulder, "you'll have good company with Kurt and Kitty!"
Lance made a rude gesture as soon as he was sure that Logan was out of sight. "I thought he was spending the night over at Tabby's to make sure blondie didn't get at her again..."
Amara shrugged. "When have you known Logan to pass up on a chance to bust our asses over something?" She began the long walk back to the mansion with Lance following suite.
"Why don't Scott and Jean have to run?" Lance whined as he trudged after his girlfriend, half way considering dragging her into the boathouse for a quickie.
"Scott takes on extra Danger Room sessions and Jean runs in the evening." Amara tossed her hair indignantly. "A Princess of Nova Roma should not run anywhere. It's unseemly."
"A Princess of Nova Roma might not run anywhere, but a mutant with someone on her tail should be able to haul ass," Lance said glumly, realizing that he was defending Logan's special brand of torture even as he said it.
Amara seemed to realize it to because she paused and turned to consider her boyfriend. Walking backs, ss, she said in a sulky tone, "No one ever wants to chase me..."
Lance snorted. "Nice try, Princess, but I'm too tired to run..."
"Then you should stop smoking so much pot in the morning...no wonder you're so bad in math!" She turned her back on him and resumed walking towards the mansion at a quick pace.
Lance waited until she had gained the porch before saying "I thought you were gonna lay off me about the weed."
Amara stopped, her hand on the doorknob of the French doors, and said tightly, "I never said that...All I said was that I would not pester you about it unless you did it a lot. And you still do it a lot!"
Lance's reply was cut off by Storm flinging the French door open, making Amara fall forward and onto the f of of the tiny hall leading to the main part of the house. "Amara! Are you hurt?" the weather witch cried, dropping to her knees beside Amara's prone form.
"Just my pride," she replied as regally as she could while sitting up.
Lance belated reached out to help her up, trying not to smirk. _It was kinda funny...and she isn't hurt... _ "What's the rush, Storm?"
"I needed to get some air..." the woman replied. She sighed inwardly, thinking of the scene she had left. She was not exactly empathic, but she could tell when there was great tension between people or emanating from a certain person. Sometimes, she had realized early on, it would give her a migraine. The Professor had assured her that she was not empathic, just highly sensitive, but whatever it was, Storm really hated it sometimes. Kurt and Kitty were the cause of that morning's burgeoning migraine, and they did not even know it.
Amara stood stiffly and smoothed her hands over her robe. "If you will excuse me," she said to Storm, turning her back on Lance, "I have a headache. A very long, painful headache that will last about a week."
Lance grimaced. "Damn it," he hissed. At Storm's harried glare, he apologized and said, "We just had a minor...thing. She's mad at me."
"Seems to be going around..."

Kitty did not know why Kurt kept giving her a baleful stare, but it was honestly starting to get on her nerves. "Sweetie, are you sure that everything is okay?"
"Ja...sure." He broke his gaze and poked forlornly at his French toast. "Very sure._I d_I don't believe you. _ Instead of voicing her doubts aloud, she changed topic. "So I was thinking that we could go see that double feature after I get home from Temple tonight...is that okay with you?"
"Huh? Oh...ja, fine."
She sighed and stabbed at her grapefruit, sending a spray of acidic juice onto the wooden tabletop. "Is that all you can say this morning?, fi, fine, ja, sure..." she said, mimicking his tone if not his accent.
Kurt glared. "Nein, it's not all I can say. I can say that I am incredibly tired after last night and I don't feel like going to school and watching the other guys stare at you dressed like _that _ and knowing that I can't have you even though you're mine!"
Kitty reeled as if dealt an physical blow. "Ex_cuse _ me? Last night? Unless I sleep harder than I thought, all we did was sleep! Yeah, I was a little surprised this morning when you were still there but I wasn't upset...I was actually pretty damned happy. And dressed like what? I wear this sort of thing every day!" Oddly, Kurt being proprietary did not bother her as much as her feminist sensibilities told her it should. _So long as he doesn't start dragging me by my hair and insisting I stay barefoot and pregnant when we're older, I'll let him get away with it... And it doesn't hurt it makes me all fluttery in the tummy... _
Kurt shoved his half-eaten breakfast away, much to the dismay of his appetite for the time being, and rounded the table. Grabbing the back of Kitty's chair, he turned her to face him and leaned in close, his face barely an inch from hers. "All you did was sleep! I didn't get so much as a wink all night! And dressed like..._that! _ All cute and sexy and showing things..."
"What kinds of things?" she asked, leaning away from him. He was not yelling or even angry, but his tense aura was leaking into her own confused one, making her hyperaware of his every nuance. He was agitated, she knew, and the fact he was not raising his voice made her slightly nervous.
Kurt pushed away from her and began to pace, his hands fisted by his sides and his tail lashing as if a separate entity from his body. "You think nobody looks at you but they do. I'm not the only one who sees you and thinks you're pretty or beautiful even..." He returned her startled gaze with a self-deprecating one. "I couldn't sleep last night because I wanted to wake you...I wanted to feel you against me and around me again and it's driving me mad that you are holding me to this promise..."
"A promise is a promise," she said weakly.
"Especially to God, ja?" Kurt sighed, stopping to stand directly in front of Kitty. The others would be returning from their Logan-mandated run soon and he did not want to be overheard on so personal a topic. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you. You don't dress inappropriately."
Kitty smiled crookedly. "I guess that means I need to hold off on the hot pants and bustier then?"
Kurt stared at her for a moment, forming a mental picture, before chuffing and nodding. "Ja, for now anyway..."
Kitty stood and approached him cautiously as if she were expecting him to snap at her again. "Why didn't you just go last night if I made it so hard to sleep?"
He felt a tiny amusement at her choice of words. "You made it awfully difficult to go, Liebes, what with the way you were holding onto me..."
"Kurt, I've seen you turn yourself into a human pretzel to get out of Remy's grasp when you drank his last YooHoo1. I've seen you slither away from Logan. Both of them are much bigger and stronger than I am even when I'm awake...what on Earth was I doing last night that made it so difficult to get away so you could get some rest?"
He reached out and took her wrist, turning it so that the flat of her palm faced him. Pressing it to his groin and his semi-erect state, something he was determined would never go away at this point, he said, "Feel familiar?"
"Er?" Her eyes went anime-round at Kurt's actions.
"This is what you had hold of last night...And truth be told, I didn't exactly want to leave..."
Jean's voice, calling back up the stairs to Scott, drove Kurt and Kitty apart. By the time the red head entered the kitchen, Kurt was putting his syrup-soaked plate in the sink to rinse it off and Kitty was salting her grapefruit.2 "Hey...you guys are up early!"
Kurt muttered something about wakeful nights before leaving to get his school things together. Kitty waited until he was well out of ear shot to ask Jean, "What are you and Scott doing tonight?"
"Nothing! What have you heard?"
Kitty raised her eyebrow at Jean's pink countenance. "Nothing, but I think I might like to... Kurt and I are supposed to go out on a date tonight and I want you and Scott to double with us."
Jean made some quick calculations. _Scott wanted to wait until it was safe before we...hmmm. It'll be safe when we come back, won't it? Almost everyone would be in bed... _ "Sure we'll go with. But just you want us to double? Not Kurt as well?"
"Just me, not Kurt," Kitty agreed.
"Mind if I ask why?"
"If I can't trust myself asleep, I can't trust myself awake..."
1 Chocolate flavored drink for those who don't know...a bit like Chocolate Soldiers (another drink). Like cold, mildly fizzy hot chocolate.
2 Quite good, actually. So is salted watermelon.