Twists of Change

by Pebblin

As she'd been prone to do for so long that she couldn't clearly remember a time when she hadn't, Ororo Munroe awoke with the dawn. She could feel it inside her, a gentle rush that urged her awake to greet the new day and to commune with her goddess during the purity of first light.

However, unlike so many times before, this morning, Ororo Munroe was not alone during this meeting, hence the muffled, groggy objection when she sat up and attempted to relocate to the roof - if only briefly - for her communion.

A lean, muscled arm around her waist held her fast. With a soft smile in the near-darkness, she gently lifted that arm up and away - the arm pressed itself back down and its accompanying body drew itself closer to ensure that Ororo would remain were she was.

Ororo had to chuckle to herself softly, and ran her nimble fingers through thick, mussed hair, scratching lightly. "Let me up," she whispered.

"Nngh..." came the answer. A firm denial.

"I must rise," she told the other quietly, smiling gently. "It is dawn."

"There's hardly any light out. Why do you hafta do this every morning?" The question was partially subdued by a pillow, but mostly from lingering drowsiness and a tad lilted due to the touch of a persistent South African landed gentry/Brit inflection that thrived even through more than fifteen years of Americanization. It was slight - just detectable - but thicker in times of anger - or when she's being 'funny'.

"It is my way. You should know this by now, hmm?" She ruffled disheveled hair once more as she attempted to slide out of bed, this time with less resistance, which allowed her to get up and out. Scooping up the robe she'd discarded earlier, Ororo slipped the simple, lightweight thing on.

A lascivious purr: "Oh, don't dress on my account."

"Awake now, are we?"

"Wouldn't you be?"

With a small smirk barely distinguishable in the shadows that fell over her, but were perfectly visible to her lover, whom lie on the bed, now propped up on one elbow, Ororo glanced over her shoulder.

The robe fell to the floor in a pool of silk.

A heart sped up, breathing joined, and teeth were slightly bared in a lustful smirk. "Tease."

"Coming from you, that is a compliment, no?" No answer was given for none was needed. Long legs carried her away from the bed, and several feet away from the foot of the bed, where she called on her powers and was lifted skyward.

"Hey, are you sure no on sees you when you do that?"

The answer? A soft, gentle - and amused - laugh. The reply to that? A louder snort, then a large grin.

When Ororo finally returned half an hour later, landing gracefully just at the same place she'd lifted off from, her hair was damp. She'd done the whole 'rain-shower bit'. If it weren't for a certain complication, Ororo wouldn't have been alone for it, but as it was...

"Took you long enough." Eyes twinkled in the shadows iridescently, almost cold and predatory, yet not if only due to the known humanity behind them. "I don't know why I stay. I could sleep in my own room so I don't hafta wake up at such an ungodly hour."

Lips turning up slightly at the crack, never minding it as she may have before, Ororo slipped back into bed and closed the space between herself and the other occupant lying therein - whom moved back a bit to give her the warm section of the bed. "If you cannot accept my ways, then I would prefer that you did," she murmured, now serious, yet at the same time recognizing the comment for the jest that it was.

"And you'd probably just show up in my room at a quarter till six or some whack time like that, anyways."

"So sure of yourself?"

"Oh, yeah - and you love it." A sly smile shining before darting forward, a kiss was stolen from soft lips, the smile reappearing in its full luster.

Drawing her lower lip into her mouth almost mischievously, Ororo tilted her head to one side just so, her own eyes catching small flickerings of illumination from the strengthening sun... It wasn't a definite 'yes', but neither was it a 'no'. Instead of verbal confirmation, she lifted a slender-fingered hand to the others face, stroking gently at the soft layer of fur, brushing her thumb over fine lips, her own lips just slightly parting - her small smile still held - then let her hand travel lower. Over an equally well-crafted neck, throat and shoulder - a breast. The corners of her mouth curled up even further, perpetuating her vivacity.

"Don't stop now, lover," the other woman murmured huskily, quirking an eyebrow encouragingly.

"I did not plan to. I see...that you are not as exhausted as you feigned to be."

"Oh, I don't need to fake anything with you, Munroe." She eased closer, slipping a long, silkily furred leg between Ororo's as she brought her lips closer. "But, right now, I'm feeling a second wind," she murmured as she puffed out her chest just a bit.

Ororo forwent any assumptions of a pun on the other's part in favor of allowing the procession to move on at its currently uninterrupted pace. Never did know when the siren - or the 'danger signal' as it was getting to be known as - would go off and spoil their...fun.

They slipped readily into one another's arms, lips coming together even easier. A long soft kiss quickly ignited into something smoldering - seething and encompassing, all joking left behind. The other woman - Sal, as she normally went by - as per her nature, turned Ororo onto her back, asserting a feline control, for the time being, over her partner. Pulling away just a bit to see her eyes, she drew Ororo's arms up above her hand, joining their fingers - careful of her own slightly retractable claws - stretching and arching lithely above her with a gentle and deliberate exhale against smooth, dark skin, causing a chocolate coated body to arc beneath hers.

Sal pressed a moist kiss at that throat before two pairs of lips met again and two tongues coiled - one longer than the other and a definite asset...which was proved this time around as it had been each time before this one, amidst soft and not so soft growls that hit the air and were joined by muffled and yet voluble moans - moans that bent and twirled and shaped themselves at times as if to caress the formers reverberations.

By the time Ororo was 'allowed' to draw her arms back down, she was spent - sated - and the resultant thunder and lightening outside had died down to occasional rumbles in the distant sky. And resting her head at Ororo's belly was an equally satisfied Sally Adebisi. Her long, thick tail - adorned with 5 black rings and ending in a bushy white tuft - lightly lashed against the tousled sheets in absent testimony of her contentment and lingering friskiness.

Ororo ran her fingers through that nearly irrepressible hair's of Sal's - thick and wild, the oval-spotted, yellow-tan of the feline her mutation imitated, the cheetah; similar patterns ran across her slender frame, which was in itself another attribute of the species - lean and sleek without the bulk of other known great cats. She knew that the other woman was rather found of having her head scratched, particularly behind the ears...

"It is eight o'clock," she murmured sometime later as they both lay there, languidly. The clock at the bedside actually had 8:03 when she'd finally noticed it, but she didn't go into particulars.

"...That's nice."

"Did you forget that we have a session at nine?"

"...And?"

"There is no 'and'."

"...Hmm."

"That means that we should rise."

"We just did, but if you give me another moment..." And just like that, the bantering was back.

Unsurprised by this by now, Ororo Munroe chuckled throatily, softly, tangling her fingers in Sal's thick mass of hair as her lover's lips slowly and softly kissed her skin quite thoroughly. "If we are to both be ready by then, we will need that hour to prepare."

"We can do that in half if we put a little effort into it - and speaking of which..." Those ministrations fell lower and lower -

Ororo gasped. "Please. We must..."

"They'll understand, Munroe. S'all good," her companion assured her with a quick grin. "New relationships and all... And besides, we're holding our own workout..." Liquid gray-green eyes disappeared back under a distinct mane.

"I...I have an example to set. I must not - "

"Shh. Working."

With all the willpower she could call upon, Ororo sat up, yanking herself out of the powerful, yet gentle grasp her companion had had on her. "Please?" she asked breathlessly and not for the first time, either. They went through this nearly every time Sally stayed the night.

Those bright eyes were first unpleasantly surprised, then upset... Then understanding when they met the near pleading look on Ororo's face. Sharp white fangs were visible through a small grin as she sat up, her unmarked throat and abdomen now visible. "Fine. Can't promise you I won't be all over you in the shower, though..."

"Which is why we shall take them separately."

Sally frowned, a sort of facial finger-snap. "Damn."

"Indeed."

A sigh of barely held frustration hissed from her nose, the nostrils slightly large for greater intake of air, as she ran her fingers threw her hair. "Fine. You're right. I should be...acting more responsible, shouldn't I? Finally?"

"Yes." Ororo smiled, now, glad that her denial of yet another tryst hadn't seemed a harsh rebuttal. Moving closer, she took the other's face in her hands before placing a single, delicate kiss on slightly parted lips. "Though I must admit: you are very attractive when you do not."

"Oh, I know," came the smug reply. Ororo allowed short-furred arms to be slipped around her, knowing the time for trysting had passed and both of them were well aware of this. "Free after practice?"

"For you? Of course."

She returned Ororo's kiss, a soft flick of a rough tongue as something of a parting gift. "Good. I think I can wait until then." Roving eyes fell upon smooth, perfectly unmarred skin. "Or maybe not..."

"Let us go now before it becomes anymore difficult."

"Good idea. Any longer and I might not be able to stop myself from pouncin' you."

Still smiling, Ororo pulled away first, a fingertip brushing along the cheetah-esque "tear mark" that ran from Sal's right eye to her cheek as she slipped easily from the bed to stand on the floor and headed for the shower at the other end of the room.

"You know how I said I should start actin' responsible?" Sal asked from behind her where she now sat up on her heels in bed.

Ororo paused and looked back over her shoulder to find a wry smirk to match waggling eyebrows. "...Yes?"

"Well... I ain't feelin' it too much, yet. Last one to the shower gets breakfast!" The soft sound of paws leaping deftly from atop silken sheets reached Ororo's ears just before furred nudity streaked past her to the bathroom.

With half a sigh, Ororo kept her grin, watching the furry form go. "Do not forget to remove your fur from the drain this time."

"Aiight!"

Ororo shook her head, unable to repress a smile. "I mean that, Sally."

"So do I!"

"If only..."

Sliding to a halt at the bathroom door, allowing her momentum to carry her over the threshold and inside, she glanced over her shoulder at Ororo and winked. "You know you love me!" Then she disappeared back inside.

Ororo paused in thought, her cerulean eyes reflective of that as she listened to the shower turn on. Knowing that it would be enough to hide her words when she whispered them aloud, she admitted only to herself, "Yes. I suppose that I do."

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Ororo stood in front of the stove as she stirred soup for her afternoon meal, reflecting over the Danger Room simulation she'd observed earlier that day. Most of her attention had been on the newest member of the household - but not necessarily of the team - though it should have been evenly divided up on all those on the floor.

Sally had a natural ability - her mutancy insured that - but she had yet to learn to integrate herself into team as a player - she had a loner's approach, more focused on herself and often overlooked an opportunity to help out another. There was little doubt as to where that came from - her near isolation before arriving at the Institute - and it seemed that even after the months she'd spent there, she wasn't very close to shelving such ways.

In such a respect, Sally reminded her of Logan, but the fact that she possessed only a fraction of Logan's feral ability and even less of his...abrasiveness didn't allow the comparison to ride too far. They seemed the complementary pair whenever together - him being the animal that walks like a man and she the woman in an animal's clothing, so to speak.

And speaking of which...

The kitchen door swung open as Sally entered in cutoffs and a tank top, her tail dangling behind her. She didn't grunt at the assorted people at the table - she smiled, waved and even said, "Hey. What's goin' on?"

They returned the greeting with nods of their own, short comments and smiles, having already accepted her into the group as a friend far easier than they could as a teammate.

"BATTLE!" Bobby bellowed suddenly, thrusting both fists into the air.

Sally giggled and threw her own fur-covered hand into the air. "Battle!!"

Bobby laughed. "Good movie, huh?"

"Damn straight."

"Next week..? 'Phenomenon'."

"Oh, I haven't seen that - how is it?"

"Oh, it's good. You'll like."

"Sweet."

Ororo wondered if more outbursts like those were forthcoming since Sally and Bobby would apparently be continuing on their movie-fests together as the feline woman made her way over to her, departing the other's company for hers without much hesitance.

"Hey," she greeted in her lightly accented voice as she had the others, only this tone was softer - just for her and no one else's ears, as was the look in her sparkling gray-green eyes that Ororo lost sight of as the shorter woman moved behind her, slinking slender arms around her in a warm, tight squeeze from behind. Rising up on her toes, she brushed a kiss against Ororo's neck, it being bare do to her pinned-up hair.

Ororo leaned back to nuzzle whatever portion of Sally that reached above her shoulder. "Hello," she murmured in return, smiling at the aural delight of Sally's lilting tone.

Releasing Ororo, Sally slipped over to her side to peer at whatever it was that Ororo was preparing, an arm trailing around her waist as she sniffed at the air. "S'that?"

"Soup."

"...Oh." She narrowed her eyes just a bit at the warming reddish broth that hid much of its contents. "What kind?"

"Vegetable."

Sally blinked at the potage in scrutiny a couple of times before glancing back up to Ororo. "No meat?"

"No meat."

"...None?"

Ororo looked away from the pot and at her. "None," she repeated, smiling just so to give Sally the vague impression she might be teasing.

She tried not to frown, but still blinked at the meatless food item. "Oh. Well. Can I still have some, then?"

"Of course."

Sally continued to stare at it for a moment before asking. "It done yet?"

"No."

"Oh." Turning, Sally pulled herself up so that she could sit atop the counter right next to the stove. Crossed her ankles and swung her legs a bit. "Done now?"

Ororo repressed the urge to chuckle. "No."

"'Kay." A pause. "Now?"

The girl was cute - in sight and action - but she could also be a bit of a bother... "Sally. Have you never seen a person cook before?"

Sally shrugged. "Yeah, lots. Mom and dad both cook."

"Then, why do you harry me now as if you never have?" Ororo asked her lover gently, meaning no offense and smiling to reassure her of that.

"I didn't know that you did cook, so I don't know if you're gonna burn it or something or - "

"I do not burn soup." She wasn't sure if she kept all the indignation she could out of that statement.

Sally grinned. "You don't have to, ya know."

Ororo paused. "Have to what?"

"Act like you're not upset. I like it when you're upset." She leaned in closer, pretty white teeth visible, her eyes on Ororo's lips before they slowly lifted to her eyes - so slowly and heavily that it was like a tangible caress. Ororo didn't move out of the way - didn't flash her the 'not right now' look that she had used once or twice before when others were present during such times at that one. "You're so cute when you're upset."

Ororo opened her mouth to say something - pass over the assertion or tell her she was being silly or that liking someone when they were angry was unhealthy - but Sally silenced her with a little shake her head. "What say..." Leaned in closer, her nose just barely brushing against Ororo's in a brief pass. "What say after this, we go..." Head tilted just to one side, she borrowed a soft kiss from her ladylove's lips. "Sunning?"

Sunning. One of Sally's favorite pastimes. In that way, she was very much like the feline her mutation had made her into. On several occasions, Ororo - and others - had found her asleep, lying in the path of the sun's warm rays, a smile on her face. One of the things she was unabashed about was taking a nap anywhere the sun 'told her to', as she'd explained it. Another thing that didn't seem to embarrass her in the slightest was what she was presently doing just then - playing the part of slinky seductress.

And Ororo didn't mind it, either. It was a relaxing activity, very stress-free and it was spending time with her newfound love... A newfound love that, while sunning, would spend much of the time pawing around for just the right spot, then lying down, then squirming about to further comfort, letting out a satisfied purr when she'd gotten it just right and finally, let her tail swish around her in such a way that always - with hardly any exception - managed to excite her in some way.

"I...I would like that," Ororo answered after a moment with a shallow nod, keeping her voice even and low, chest rising a bit more than usual with her increased respiration, the beginnings of a smirk on her lips.

Sally nodded her head slightly, her own lips - parted - curving into a more innocent version of her previous sultry look. "Oh, and, Munroe?"

"Yes?" she murmured expectantly, perhaps waiting for another kiss to arrive.

Sally's eyes flicked down once then back up again. She grinned. "You're burning the soup."

Ororo immediately snapped out of her haze and looked down. Sighed when she saw that it was true, jaw tightening and head shaking softly. After turning off the heat, she laid the spoon down between the burners. "Well. There goes lunch."

"Don't worry, 'Roe. I can take your mind off food."

Ororo arched an eyebrow. "Is that all you think about?"

"No," she answered with a mischievous grin as she hopped down from the counter. "But since you burned the soup, there's nothin' ready to eat." She winked before taking Ororo's hands in her own paw of a hand, squeezing it before lacing her furred fingers with Ororo's and drawing her towards the door.

Ororo allowed herself to be led towards the door without a glance over her shoulder to her friends or the expressions they may or not have on their faces at the small scene she'd just been a part of.

She noticed, perhaps for the first time, the lack of reserve she'd had. Usually, thoughts of how she would be perceived - not as a woman involved with another, but her being in a loving relationship, period, and public demonstrations of it weighed her down. What would it do to the carefully held dignity she maintained? Would it make her seem less competent somehow? Less the woman she used to be and therefore, less deserving of respect?

But, she remembered the talk she'd had with Jean - the question she'd posed. "Did it make Scott any less a leader when he and I fell in love?"

Ororo hadn't been able to say 'yes'.

And so, there she was. Being guided outside by the hand by the woman she was currently very attached to and she wasn't letting what anyone thought of her or them together interfere.

Sally's tail caught her eye and all thoughts of justifying her actions, such as they were, fled from her mind. She could think on it later, some time...as well as the question of a closer incorporation of Sally's skills into the team dynamic. There was something _else_ that deserved her full attention at the moment.

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"What are you thinking about?"

Sally shrugged as she lay back against Ororo, her head resting on the other woman's flat stomach. She twirled a long blade of grass between her fingertips. One leg was crossed over the other, bouncing at her knee. Her eyes hadn't been particularly focused or distracted. "Nothin'.

"Oh?" Ororo twisted a long strand of golden hair between her chocolate-brown fingers in an act akin to laziness, contented by the warm sun that fell on them as they reclined near the private lake.

Sally nodded. "What's to think about? It's a nice day out and I'm kickin' back with my woman. Do I really have to complicate things?"

"Your woman?"

Sally grinned. "Yeah. My woman." Her eyes sparked up at her. "Don't act like that makes you mad - I'd know if it did and you don't have that 'cute-angry' thing going." She wagged a finger up at her. "Can't fool me," she added with a widening grin.

Ororo narrowed her eyes in mock resentment. "So smug."

"I'm right and I know it and I know that you know. There's a difference," she said in a near-convincing display of sagacity.

"So you will not answer the question?"

Sally spread her hands. "I already did. I said 'nothin'."

"Hmm. Nothing."

"You act like it's a crime. I'm not thinking of anything - not a damned thing. I'm good." Sally paused, studying sharp blue eyes for an unhurried moment, then, "What? My father gets that look - what?"

Sally didn't sit up, but her brow did knit itself together, the rest of her very still. Moments ago, Ororo had been content to sun with her, laying back and enjoying the beautiful day that hadn't been of her own creation, but had actually grown even pleasant as a result of her good mood. And now, after about an hour of saying next to nothing, she'd gathered something into her mind that would most likely call for thought on Sally's part.

"Well... I have come to notice something."

Come to notice something... Sally didn't sigh, but instead held her breath. "Notice what?" she asked, her lips barely moving around the words.

"Your performance with - "

Sally sat straight up, head cocked to one side, her nose crinkled and lips slightly parted. "What?"

"The team," Ororo finished slowly and deliberately, her hands held up in the air in the same position they'd reflexively gone into when Sally had shot up a moment before. She knew exactly what Sally meant from the look on her face and unable to hide the hilarity.

Sally blinked, blushing red beneath the fur. Her ears laid themselves back against her head as she swallowed, gray-green eyes averted. Clearing her throat, she mumbled, "Oh," and slowly laid herself back down.

Ororo lightly shook her head, stifling a soft chuckle as she stroked her lover's hair. "I have no complaints about that," she assured as she made a possessive pass from Sally's hip and past her ribs.

Sally chuckled, attempting to hide her embarrassment though she knew it was little use. "That's what I thought."

"Hmm. Undoubtedly. But, that is not what I was referring to."

"Yeah..." She cleared her throat. "The team, you said."

"Yes."

"What about it?"

"Well. You appear to be in no hurry to assimilate yourself into the group where the X-Men as a team is concerned."

"And?"

"And... I wish to understand why."

Sally was tempted to toss her misappropriate piece of grass up into Ororo's face. "You already know why. I'm not here to learn to fight - I'm here to learn how to live."

"Yes, I know, but - "

"Munroe. I like workin' out in the Danger Room. It's weirder than anything I've ever done and it helps me to stay cut and I'm learning to defend myself like I never have before, but it's not why I came."

"If you are to do a thing, you should - "

"Give it my best shot?" she finished in a tone that suggested she was mimicking someone. Sally then sat up, slower this time, and turned to face Ororo, drawing her legs up beneath her. "I join in mostly 'cause you people wouldn't take a check." She grinned, but on seeing that the joke had been dead long before it hit the water, she toned it down to something approaching seriousness. "But, um, really... Fighting isn't really my thing, ya know? Henry thought it'd be best if I hung out here with the rest of you, living with other mutants and so on and it's cool - I really like it - but the only integration I'm interested in isn't with the X-Men - it's with you." Her voice fell, as did her eyes, which visually caressed Ororo's lips and chin before returning to her eyes, searching them to find what they would hold for her with her statement, be it disappointment or...

Acceptance.

Ororo sat up, too. "You have no desire to actively join the team?" Not an accusation - just a question. A simple inquiry in need of a solid answer.

Sally smiled brightly as she swept up Ororo's hand in her own and pressed it to her cheek. "You are my desire," she whispered. "The life I'm learning to live on my own and with you... That is my interest." She paused before continuing. "Can't that be enough? At least for now?"

Ororo didn't immediately react. Comparisons of Sally and Logan fled her to be replaced by an image of Cecelia Reyes, a mutant that didn't care to be involved in the good fight - that would rather be the doctor she'd been trained to be than the Homo Sapien Superior she'd been born to be. Could she begrudge Cecelia her wish to fulfill the lifelong dream she'd held? To be a doctor was a great thing, let alone a Puerto Rican mutant doctor. Perhaps that was her true calling - even if she was continuously pulled back into action.

But, surely, it wasn't Ororo's call to make.

Emerging from the isolation that she knew... Could it be so hard to imagine that, unlike herself, launching straight into battle after spending the last fourteen of her twenty-two years in seclusion just did not seem like the best thing for Sally to pursue? It had been something that had beleaguered Ororo for some time, especially since she'd discovered a romantic interest in the woman. That had...changed things, made Sally's choice seem even more ponderous - as if Sally's decisions directly affected Ororo, somehow... Reflected on her, too, as well, as one who had chosen to pursue said romantic interest.

But, it wasn't about how it would make Ororo look. It was about what Sally wanted for herself and nothing more, wasn't it?

Wasn't it? Enough?

It hardly took more than the space of thought to answer.

"Yes," she responded, stroking Sally's cheek, her lips curving upwards. "It can be."

"Good." Sally let out a medium-length breath and nodded her head. "Good. Now... About this 'integration' stuff..." She bent forward, hovering very close, her nose almost brushing Ororo's.

"You truly never cease to think about that, do you?"

"And you do?"

"There are...other things that occupy my thoughts, yes."

"Oh, of course. Leader stuff, plants and weather patterns. What joy!"

Ororo did her best not to frown.

Sally giggled. "I'm kidding, Love. You are wound so tight, you know. You need to relax." She snatched a kiss. "And maybe that's what I'm here for. Ever think about that?"

Ororo began to answer, 'no', that she had never quite thought of Sally's presence in such a way, but was quickly silenced by another kiss.

Sally shook her head after pulling away. "I swear - I have no idea why I'm in love with you. I ask myself everyday - and no, it's not just your body."

Ororo was torn between speechlessness at the unexpected admission of love and mock indignation at the intentional provocation at such a time. Surely she had planned that, which made it all the more potent.

Seizing the chance while she was surprised, Sally pounced, pushing Ororo back onto her back and straddling her. Pushing her hair back from her face, she said, "One day, I'll teach you to be stoopid like me and you won't be surprised by stuff like that anymore."

Ororo blinked, the surprise having done its work and left her, then grinned up at her 'attacker'. "It...will be a challenge, I assure you."

"Oh, I like a challenge, baby. Do you?" She quirked an eyebrow, seriousness slowly flushing away playfulness.

"Such as..?" Her eyes openly reflecting the changes she saw in her lover's face.

"Such as..." Sally left off a moment as her eyes averted themselves downward as if she were either pondering the words to express her thoughts or gathering courage, leaving Ororo to wonder which of the two she was engaged in. Then her eyes reconnected to Ororo's, clear and determined. "Such as getting used to the fact that your girlfriend isn't as down for this team stuff as you are?"

"Sal - "

Gray-green glanced away briefly, down to the grass, snow-white hair, then back to crystal, pupil-slit blue. "And that maybe it looks bad that all I do is slack around while you go out and bust your ass anytime the call comes in, but I'm still the one you kick it with?"

"You do not simply 'slack around' - "

"And, if it's a problem - something you can't hang with..." Wistfully, pulling away some as if preparation of retreat from the intimacy they shared if Ororo gave her cause to, "Then I'd really like it if you told me now instead of trying to get over it later, alright?"

"Sally - "

"And - "

"Listen." Stressed the word so that Sally's train of thought would derail long enough for her to get a second word in, but immediately softened the tone when Sally flinched, feline ears snapping back against her head, the single gold loop at the left tips gleaming brightly against the sun. Cupped the other woman's soft face with her own and pulled her back closer and locked their eyes. "I will not have to get over it later. There is nothing to get over."

Brows knitted in uncertainty - at Ororo's assertion or her possibly faulty perceptions, which were probably only showing her what she wanted to see. "Really?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Really."

"But, I know that it bothers you, and - "

"It does not bother me, though I will admit that I was somewhat...curious as to the status you would choose once you came to live with us here at the mansion, but it really is your choice to make, not mine."

Sally tried for a smile and was only half successful. "I hope you're not just saying that."

"I'm not."

Sally's smile was strengthened, but soon, after a blink, it dissolved completely. "You... You just used a contraction... Didn't you." Not a question - she'd really heard it, knew she heard that and could never have confused Ororo Munroe of using a contraction unless she truly had.

"Yes. I did."

Sally beamed. "You do mean it."

"Did you think I was lying?" Ororo asked slyly.

Sally smirked. "No - but, now I really believe you."

Ororo blinked.

Sally pounced again, burying her face in Ororo's neck. Then murmured, "I was lying, Munroe."

"...Lying? About?"

"I do know why I love you," Sally whispered before pressing a soft kiss to Ororo's neck, her eyes open and glancing back as much as she could at Ororo's face. "I always did."

She felt arms encircling her and tightening, but heard no further words. Sally didn't need them - the embrace, a tight one, too, was far more than enough. She let her eyes slip closed, drinking in the moment, having settled two scores this afternoon without intending to - Ororo's feelings on her team placement...and her feelings on Ororo.

All in all..? A very good day. Sally always did like sunning...

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Ororo, though not a large fan of it, didn't mind watching television. Sometimes, one could find something very entertaining - PBS and the History Channel were favorites of hers. When Sally turned on the Odyssey channel, she figured she might be in for a treat, something to do with great historic travels, or at least something related to Greek mythology.

Instead? She got an episode of the old 'Beauty and the Beast' show starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman.

"Vincent's so fine!" Sally declared toward the end, even while snuggling up close to Ororo's side.

"Yes. Quite fetching, I suppose," Ororo agreed, unable to not feel a slight amusement at Sally's bright-eyed gaze, a handful of popcorn held just before her mouth, forgotten in her 'appreciation' of the male lead.

She didn't let it bother her so much, though. After today, she felt that she could get through at least another...two whole episodes. And without excusing herself for suspiciously frequent restroom breaks.

"Dat's pathetic," Remy LeBeau commented brusquely at Sally's palpable fangirlism as he lounged on the two-seater adjacent to them, his long legs extended and crossed at the ankle. His arms were carelessly laid across the back of the furniture. He was one comfortable man right then. He was also a bit sickened.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed as he nestled even closer to his lover, head resting on a lean shoulder, arm around a slim Cajun waist. "Pathetic."

Remy pressed a lingering kiss to his forehead, his lips brushing warms skin when he asked, "Ne'er catch us doin' nothin' like dat, neh?"

"Nope, never," Bobby immediately concurred. Then his head snapped up. Sally was changing the channel, ignoring them with that same saccharine look on her face, only now tinged with nostalgia and a longing to see more. 'Beauty and the Beast' had gone off, and what Sally was heading for didn't look like the channel he'd been setting his hopes on. "Hey! We wanna watch 'Oz', lady!"

"Yeah," Remy seconded. "Put on HBO, chere."

"Keller can be so hot."

Remy shot Bobby a look that he didn't see, as he was too engrossed with imagining Keller on the large screened television.

Sally just shook her head as she looked at the two of them, lip turned up. Without looking away, she pushed in the digits that corresponded with HBO in their area, that look still hanging there.

"And we are the pathetic ones. Yes. Of course. There is no question of it."

"You tell 'em, girl."

Bobby stuck out his tongue.

Sally stuck out her own - a much longer tongue that could surely reach her nose and much further - then winked rather suggestively at Bobby and Remy both as she hugged herself closer to her own love, unhurriedly curling the oral appendage back into her mouth before she planted a protracted kiss at Ororo's shoulder.

Ororo pretended she hadn't seen it, though anyone would have testified that she had.

Bobby blinked at her.

Remy chuckled and shook his head, resisting the urge he had to whistle. *Wit' a tongue like dat, who needs a penis?*

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