Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER SIX (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply


A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Joaquin and Billy have conscripted Dodo into a plot, though I don't know what they're planning. I'd hide the breakables if I were you. InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are going to whichever version of Paradise they chose for archiving and being generally groovy people. :) Readers/Reviewers: The platypi are falling for it...One of them has somehow managed to get a screwdriver and is working at jimmying the damned decoy open. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, this one.



The atmosphere of the mansion reminded Beast of the few moments after a patient dies-the tense silence, fraught with words waiting to be spoken, condolences to be given, no matter how vague in their meaning. Teenagers whispered in corridors, darting apart with meaningful glances at the approach of an adult or Jubilee. Remy remained in his room, announcing to anyone who knocked that he would come out when the Professor's friend arrived to settle the "mess," as he termed it. Beast was the most recent one to try and get Remy to come out, and he failed as the rest had. "I don't understand what's going on," the massive blue mutant sighed, settling into the nearly too-small kitchen chair with his cup of tea.
Logan used his claw to flip the cap of his beer bottle, earning a raised brow from Beast and a pointed look at the clock as if to say it was too early for alcohol, but he drank deeply anyway. "I was there for the whole thing and I'm not quite sure myself. Nearest I can figure, this whole thing is some backwards Southern arranged marriage and Remy just never consummated it, so it can be annulled. Jubilee is just about off her rocker, though."
Beast frowned and took a sip of his cooling tea. "I can understand why she is upset-that is quite a thing to hold back from someone you love. Remy really should have told her early on."
"Unless he thought the marriage automatically dissolved or something," Logan suggested, taking another swallow of beer. He shrugged, adding, "I don't know. I just know I don't like that Belladonna girl and I'll be happier when she's gone."
"Where did Charles put her?" Beast blew on his still-too-hot tea and waited.
"Ah, that's the funny part. She's in that tiny room in the subbasement. Apparently, Chuckles didn't take too kindly to her snotty attitude." Logan hid a grin behind his hand under the guise of wiping his mouth off.
Beast's brows shot up. "Charles did that? I would never have guessed...though, she did have quite the little attitude problem, didn't she?"
"I recall Amara having a few...issues...when she came here," Logan said, knowing full and well that said girl was heading into the kitchen from the rec room at that moment.
"I have every right to be," she said frostily, heading for the fruit bowl. "I am a royal of Nova Roma. _She _ is just a bitch."
"Language," both men said automatically, exchanging wry looks.
Amara ed hed her eyes. "All I'm saying is that while, yes, I have, as you call it, an attitude, it's bred into I I was born and raised as being better than those around me. Belladonna is just..."
"A bitch." Logan shrugged at Beast's disapproving noise.
Beast set his tea cup down carefully and said, "Maybe she is just nervous around all these strangers and being...difficult...is her self-defense mechanism."
"Or mebbe," Remy said quietly, "she just wanna make my life Hell." He had been so quiet, Logan had written off his footsteps to random house noises. Remy looked the worse for wear, dark circles under his usually bright eyes, his hair disheveled. He looked as if he had not slept for several days, which, Logan thought to himself, was probably true.
"Remy," Amara nodded as if nothing were amiss. "Apple?" He nodded and she tossed him one. "You know," she said conversationally, as if the older men were not in the room with them, "I bet Belladonna's clothes aren't flame retardant."
The Cajun looked up sharply, then the corners of his mouth twitched in the beginnings of ile.ile. Amara shrugged innocently and took a large bite of her apple and he laughed outright. "Dat be de first ting someone say ta me odder den somethin' bout Jubilee since yesterday."
"The world doesn't revolved around Jubilee," Amara said plainly. "Now really...if I were to accidentally flare up near Belladonna's skirt..."
"You'd be in the Danger Room with me for the next three years, morning, noon and night," Logan said gruffly.
Amara made a moue of disappointment. "Worth a shot," she said. "I'm off. Lance has some strange idea about a double date with Todd and Rogue so I guess it's my turn to be nice."
Remy had enough presence of mind to wait until Amara sauntered off before murmuring, "Now dat be somthin' I wanna see..."
Beast smiled in mildly guilty amusement and toyed with the handle on the teacup. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about, Remy?"
"Oui, anythin' 'cept Jubilee an' dis whole marriagesco.sco." He spun the apple like a top, not as hungry as he had thought but more distracted.
Logan sighed. "I have to be honest with you here, Gumbo. Jubilee is a special kid and she means a lot to me-to us. Aside from being one of Kitty's best friends, I respect the kid because she survived on her own for so long and I know she could do it again in a heartbeat, no qualms. The only reason I didn't gut ya for breakin' her heart is because I've developed an annoying nice streak and I think you can work it out with her."
Remy raised a disbelieving brow and sent the apple spinning on a trajectory that took it towards Beast's teacup, hastily lifted away to prevent spillage. "She don' wanna work it out wid me, Logan. I wanna try... I was wrong an' I know it. But dis ting wid Bel...it a part a my life I want to shut off, ya know? Tings in Nawlins can not be like dey were 'fore I come here. I went back cause I tinkin I be able to fix tings, be able to go home once in a while leastaways." He sighed and retrieved the apple, staring at it as if he were Hamlet and it were a skull. "Now I see dat, once I get tings fixed up wid Bel, I can't go home 'gain."
Beast looked at Logan with an expression that pleaded, 'Well, say something!' but Logan shook his head and drained his beer, but did not leave the table. Finally, the doctor said, "Remy, Jubilee is a hard headed young woman. You hurt her pride by not trusting her enough to tell her about Belladonna in the first place and you have made it very, very hard for her to put trust in you again. You know better than anyone how precious her absolute trust is." Remy seemed to wilt a little at that, looking more like a defeated boy than the suave charmer he usually presented himself as. "To get through to Jubilee, you're going to have to make her listen."
Logan finally spoke, catching Beast's thread and running with it. "Corner her or something. Get her in the Danger Room during a training session so the doors won't open while the sim's running. Keep talkin' until she hears ya."
Beast frowned. "Or for a less _Fatal Attraction _ approach, just ask her to give you a few minutes and tell her what she wants to know. Tell her everything."
Remy made a face is displeasure but knew they were right, in their own odd ways. "I talk to her. I talk to her 'fore I talk to Bel. When the Professor friend getting' here?"
"Sometime today," Logan said. "He's coming in from the city and wasn't sure how long he'd be with traffic and all..." Remy nodded with growing resolved and stood. "Go get 'em, Gumbo."
Beast snorted softly as Remy marched from the room, his apprehensive expression telling the tale his defiant posture did not. "Go get 'em? Is he making up with her or going into battle?"
"With those two, you never know."

"Kitty, the human body was not meant to bend that way!" Tabby had been watching her ersatz yoga instructor in silence for several minutes before making her presence known.
Kitty collapsed out of the backbend and glare the the blonde, rising to her knees and dusting off her bottom. "Nice of you to give me some warning, Tabby! And the human body can do all _sorts _ of things you wouldn't think it could do."
Tabby smirked and winked, laying out her mat a few feet away from Kitty. "I know...I heard you and Kurt last night."
"Did not!" Kitty hid her face, busying herself by digging through her gym bag so Tabby would not see her blush to the roots of her hair.
"So did. You two are so not subtle." Tabby felt strange joking with Kitty like that. In the week she had been at the Institute while Kitty and the Professor worked on finding her another apartment, one with greater security and less likelihood of her being traced, she had grown exceedingly comfortable with certain residents of the mansion, namely Kitty and Jean. Kurt was a different story, Tabby thought. He had checked on her once by phone when Kitty asked him to over a week ago, but since then, he had avoided her like the plague, as had Amara and Lance.
Kitty took several deep breaths and faced Tabby again. "So do you feel any better today?"
"Only puked once so far," she said brightly. "Jean coming?"
"Yep. She and Rogue wanted to start doing this with us...here they are. Oh." Rogue and Jean were indeed entering the gym, but with Jubilee in tow. "Hey, Jubes."
"Before you say anything remotely comforting, just know that I'm here because Jean threatened to levitate me here if I didn't walk..." Jubilee plopped down on the floor with a disgruntled sound, her legs straight out in front of her and her arms crossed over her chest, like a petulant child.
"She needs to get out of her room," Jean sighed, sitting on the floor at a safe distance from Jubilee. "She was turning into a turnip."
Rogue rolled her eyes and sat cross legged next to Kitty. "Jean has a theory that exercise boosts your mood."
"It does!" Jean was moved to defend the New England Journal of MedicineLookLook it up!"
Kitty could not help the smile that crossed her features. "Okay, _children _, let's start with something easy. I've been going kind of light since Tabby's pregnant." She led her friends in a simple asana, getting them used to the feeling of holding stretches for long periods of time, her pacific tones drowning out the soft hiss of the door across the thickly padded floor on the far side of the gym. Kitty was not aware anything was amiss until she heard Jubilee's sharp intake of breath. "Did that hurt?"
Jubilee was not looking at Kitty but rather past her, at the far wall. Jean, Rogue and Tabby all went wide-eyed, making Kitty half afraid to turn around. Slowly, she faced the direction of Jubilee's stare and nearly giggled with relief. Rather than Magneto or Mystique or Principal Kelly, Remy stood even with the row of weight benches, not moving except a slight shift of his weight from one foot to the r. r. "Remy...care to join us?" Jean asked with too much cheer in her voice. She edged towards Jubilee, ready to tackle her if necessary, to keep the damage to the gym to a minimum.
"Non, I jus' wanna talk to Jubilation." He took a few steps forward and paused, one hand held out, palm up. "Jubilee?"
"Talk if you want to talk. I'm not going anywhere with you." Jubilee made a small hiccoughing noise and shook her head as she spoke, not quite looking Remy in the eye.
"Why not?" he asked, taking another few steps forward, making room for Kurt and Scott as they slipped through the door in search of their girlfriends.
"Because," Jubilee said, choking back the urge to flee, "you'll get me alone and talk all sweet to me and be all charming and...and you and I'll say yes to whatever you want me to!"
Remy looked even sadder than he did before. Rogue, Jean and Tabby moved to stand behind Kitty as Scott and Kurt edged past Remy, unnoticed by the Cajun as they joined the huddle. "You be tinkin' I force you to say oui to me all de time?"
"No! It's just...damn it, Remy, let me be mad at you!" Jubilee stalked towards him, stopping several feet away and glaring, her hands on her hips. "You were _married _! You didn't tell me! I told you everything about me, things that would make even Logan's toes curl if he knew, and you hold back this rather significant detail of your life. Fucking hell, Rem, why didn't you tell me?"
"It's like watching a tennis match," Scott whispered. Indeed, the observing mutants looked first at Remy, then at Jubilee, back and forth and back again, as the conversation rattled on.
"Shhh!" Kitty elbowed him in the ribs. "This is important!" She found Kurt's hand behind her and squeezed. "Did I ever tell you thank you for not being married, Fuzzy?"
"Ich verspreche dir, dass ich sowas nie tun werde,"1 he whispered against her hair.
She settled back against him and sighed. "I know..."
"Shhh!" Tabby hissed. "This is getting good!"
Remy had moved closer to Jubilee, an arm's reach from her. "Cherie, I didn' tell ya 'bout Bel for de same reason I didn' tell ya bout why I leave Nawlins in de first place. It's a long, horrible story an' I almost 'shamed to talk 'bout it."
"Remy, if you don't start talking now, you're not going to get the chance." Jubilee closed her eyes and took a deep breath, swaying slightly on her feet. "You have no idea how much this hurts me, Remy...but if you don't tell me by the end of the day exactly why you hid Belladonna, your marriage and whatever the Hell happened in New Orleans from me, you're not getting any more chances."
"Jubilation," he breathed, not sure what to say.
She held up a hand to stop him from talking. "I'll give you until ten. Figure out what you want to say, and I'll know if you're lying. I'll have Jean with me."
"You will?" Jean asked, startled.
"I will," Jubilee confirmed.
"My strength is really telekinesis," Jean murmured.
"Red," Jubilee snapped, "roll with it!"
Remy's mouth became a thin line as he nodded. "Fine. But Bel comin', too. She part a dis story an' she can tell her side."
"Whatever. Just don't let her near me!" Jubilee turned on one foot and stalked out the door on the opposite side of the gym.
Rogue looked first at Remy, then at the swinging door, then sighed. "Damn. I'd better go check on her then get ready. Todd has some cockamamie idea about a double date with Lance and Amara...see y'all later!"
Jean sighed and turned to Scott. "You know what? I think we need to start writing this stuff down. We can sell it to a network later and bankroll the kids' college..."
"Kids?" Scott laughed, taking her by the elbow and leading her away. "How many do you want?"
Kitty, Tabby and Kurt exchanged looks. Remy was still standing, silent and still, in the middle of the gym. Tabby rolled her eyes and said, "I'm guessin' were done here. I've got to go be sick and see that blue behemoth for some sort of exam. I swear, if he touches my goodies..."
Kitty cleared her throat. "Good luck then..." She nudged Kurt gently. "Go talk to Remy!"
"About what?" he asked, trying to pull her towards a bench. "He's got enough to worry about without me pestering him about feelings and stuff."
"Kurt! He's our friend!"
"Exactly. Kitty, he's not like you or Rogue or even Amara-Remy doesn't want to analyze every feeling running through his mind as it happens!"
Kitty let herself be led to the bench and frowned as Kurt say down. She stood between his spread knees and glared. "Are you saying it's some sort of antimasculine statement to want to discuss feelings? You don't have a problem talking about your feelings with me..."
"That's different, Katzchen," he sighed. "Speaking of which...you understand how I feel about my faith, ja?"
"Yeah...why do you ask? Did I make a Catholic faux pas or something?" Kitty tried to think of any major religious holiday that she could have erred on, but came up blank.
"You know you're cute when you make that face? You didn't do anything wrong, Liebes, but I want you to know how strongly I feel about this..." He fumbled in his shirt pocket and withdrew a small book with a piece of a Post-It note sticking out of the top. "Um, I don't know if this is impolite of me or not, but here...if you get the chance, could you read the marked bits? It'll help you understand what I'm going to do the day after tomorrow..." Over Kitty's shoulder, he saw Remy swing towards the door and, against his better judgment, Kurt felt moved to follow. "I'll see you later, Katzchen. Love you!" A quick kiss on her jaw and he was gone, porting ahead of Remy into the hallway.
Kitty frowned slightly and looked at the small black book with red letters on the front "Missal? What's a missal?"2 Kitty flipped through the pages and found the one Kurt marked. "Lent..." _Oh, that thing that runs around the time of Passover... _ Kitty skimmed through the passages, trying to figure out what was so important for her to read in there. _The season of Lent is a season of penance. The devout are asked to give up meat, at least on Fridays, and to choose something to give up as a penance for the forty days of the season. _"I swear...I will never understand Catholics."

1 I promise that I will never do anything like that to you. (Thanks, Foxfeather!)
2 Catholic Mass book. Usually has the order of Mass for major feast days, High Mass, Low Mass, Funeral Mass, the sacramental prayers and some Bible passages, esp. in the ones for kids. Old ones used to be in Latin and English, before Vatican II anyway...