11419/Night Miling

Night Miling
Date of Scene:	31 May 2022
Location:	Back Yard
Synopsis:	The evenings are finally warm enough for Jubilee to break out the Crocodile Mile! Unfortunately, it's just a bit harder to get the students excited about it, this year. Fortunately, Zandra has a solution and it's... her.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Zandra Mitchell

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Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The sun has set for the evening, but the vast lawn of the Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters remains fairly bright thanks to the summer haze that allow the daylight hours to stretch just a bit longer. Rumors have been stirring that tonight's the night. The Crocodile Mile, an ancient relic from decades gone-by that was saved from destruction thanks to a particularly strategic eBay auction, has been taken out of the closet and laid out on the lawn. It may just be a long stretch of plastic, but in the right hands... it's magic.

    Those hands, tonight, would belong to none other than Jubilation Lee, the former R.A, former student, former mutant, former warm body. Rumors have certainly found their way to even the newest of ears. The girl who died last summer is absolutely, positively, setting up the Crocodile Mile in the back yard. Jubilation stands at the base of the plastic, arms folded in front of her bikini top. Her long, flowing hair falls halfway down her back, spreading wildly from a single ponytail. She wears a pair of dark Ray Ban sunglasses despite the evening hours, though her displeasure is obvious even though her eyes are hidden.

    "I can't believe the hose is gone," she can be heard saying. "What good is this thing without water?"

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    It's been a rocky start to the end of the school year for Zandra, what with falling behind in academics due to playing hooky from homeschool, then getting possessed by one of the astral gatecrashers at the seniors' graduation party during her first couple of days. Worst of all, she had to read all of 'Catcher in the Rye,' and still doesn't get why a character was nicknamed 'Sunny' when they were kind of mean.

    On top of getting used to attending school with other classmates for the first time, it's set her back from her usual outgoing, inquisitive self. Tonight, though, she's heard that there's a Crocodile Mile, and that a Crocodile Mile involves wearing a swimsuit. Anything that calls for a swimsuit means that Zandra's sure to be in her element. Literally.

    "Hey, y'all!"

    Bounding up in flip-flops and a white beach dress comes the turquoise-fringed teen, a big smile on her face as she waves to Jubilation Lee that slowly turns to a more normal-sized, confusion-masking smile as she nears and looks up and down the stretch of plastic.

    "Where's all the crocodiles at?" she asks without any hint of irony in her tone.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    It's a good assumption that there would be a ya'll when Jubilee is setting up for some nonsense, but she is presently, emphatically, alone. The shadows bounce and twist through the trees and the wooden decking, giving the whole area a 'you're not alone' kind of vibe, but surely that's just... evening creepiness, right? The day's twilight creating a feeling of presence when there isn't any? Or... is there something else? The undisputed fact is that students are not stopping to check out the Mile or its patron. No one wants to be around a dry Mile, maybe?

    Jubilation turns towards the voice and stares. "Crocodiles need water," is her answer. Jubilee's skin is pale, extremely so, and seems absolutely free of anything that might be considered an imperfection or blemish. Her movements are smooth and broadcast a grace that is equal parts off-putting and sexy. When she speaks, there's just this slight suggestion that she has a set of razor sharp fangs, right where her canines should be. But, that's just rumors feeding the imagination, right?

    "We gotta charge this thing up with a hose or a bucket or... /Something/!"

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    Where Zandra comes from - or at least where most of her family comes from - you only need one person to be a 'y'all.' Coincidentally, it's also a frequent contender for being the worst-scoring state in the union, academically speaking.

    The newest student gives Jubilation a long look, head swaying a little to one side as she seems to be trying to connect some of the dots that her brain has been filled with in the first week or two on campus. She's been told something or other - oh, right.

    "Hey, are you that girl that died or somethin'? One of the other girls told me that, but I figured they were just joshin' me. Like when you make up campfire stories!"

    She doesn't seem quite as nervous about it as you'd expect, for whatever reason, but she does seem to move back to the subject at hand somewhat quickly.

    "Anyhow, I reckon I might be able to help y'all out! 'Specially if we can get us some more water over here. Let's see. Has the sprinklers been on yet?"

    She kneels down in the grass, pulling her dress up above her knees before assessing the amount of moisture on the blades by running her hands through it.

    "I'm Zandra, by the way."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "No, I'm the girl who has two birthdays," Jubilee replies, shrugging one shoulder. Technically, it's true. She reaches up and rakes her fingers through her hair and silently, breathlessly sighs. "I'm Jubilation," she replies, trying to summon a smile. She finds one and it is unmistakably...fangy.

    "They don't turn the sprinklers on this early," Jubilee replies, folding her arms across her chest again. A long, uncomfortable moment extends the silence before Jubilee clarifies. "....I mean, late. They don't turn on the sprinklers this late."

    "Why?"

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    Zandra's eyes light up with curiousity when Jubilee tells her about the two birthdays. She lets her backside rest back on the grass.

    "Two birthdays? D'you mean you were born again? Me too! I never thought of it that way, though. Your teeth are real pointy."

    The Southern gal laughs awkwardly.

    "I guess you already knew that, though! Who am I, Little Red Ridin' Hood? Anyhow -"

    Turning her hands over so that her palms are up, she seems to have gathered a fair bit of moisture between them - an amount that's a bit more than one might expect, but hardly enough to water the whole slide.

    More peculiarly, the water gathers up from her hand into a small, aqueous orb.

    "I can't make water outta nothin', but I'm good at makin' it do whatever I want it to! Actually, maybe I could be the water, if the crocs don't mind comin' one at a time!"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah, so? Why shouldn't they be?" Jubilation un-slouches, standing proud. She is vampiress. Hear her roar! (Or, hiss?) Jubes and her pointy teeth and the indignity that comes with living as an undead girl in a mortal world. She bends forward and grabs the end of the Crocodile Mile and shakes it out. Dry as a bone.

    Jubilation drops the end of the plastic and frowns at it. "This thing needs water and it needs it yesternight!" she insists. But then... Zandra! Jubilation's eyebrows rise above her sunglasses as she nearly reaches out with both hands. "Yes! Yes, do it!" she demands.

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    "Well, alright!" Zandra shares Jubilee's enthusiasm as she stands up, tossing the orb of water onto the slide. Once it's left contact with her, after a couple of moments, it seems to regain the normal properties of water - and it splatters where it lands. She then reaches down and starts pulling the skirt of her dress up and over her head, revealing that she's wearing a turquoise one-piece swimsuit beneath it.

    "We just need folks to bring some buckets - wait, nevermind!" She gives a little laugh. "I got a better idea!"

    That, of course, remains to be seen.

    "Be right back!"

    She takes off running across the lawn in her stylish dollar-store flip-flops, dress thrown aside for the moment - headed in the direction of the pool. Hopping the fence as a shortcut, she shouts "Crocodile Mile's 'bout to be open y'all!" - then promptly dives straight into the water, disappearing completely under the surface.

    A moment later, the pool seems to come to life - a spray of water rising up in a vaguely humanoid shape from the surface as the water level sinks slightly. Then, most of the water in the pool surges outward over the edge - splashing through poolside furniture and the gate, roiling and flowing straight toward the Crocodile Mile with a trail of damp grass and soil left in its wake.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "This was so much easier last year," Jubilee points out to no one as Zandra runs off towards the pool. It's true. Getting everyone rallied around vintage plastic and a big, goofy cartoon crocodile was a lot easier when she was alive and walking around. It's a lot harder when one is dead and... still walking around. Jubes folds her arms across her chest and taptaptaps her flip-flopped foot. She even rolls her eyes a little, totally counting Zandra among those who now run from her. Typical.

    And then. Not typical. A not typical wave of living water coming right for her! Jubilation looks up at the evening sky, both arms extended from her sides, as though all the myths and stories are about to come true. As though she's about to transform into a bat and fly away from the wave of chlorinated water that threatens to ruin her hair. But, that's not what happens. For a moment, she can be seen flapping her arms a little before she totally doesn't transform at all.

    "I'm never going to learn how to do that," she mutters, filling up that brief moment before she starts running away from where she expects the splash to hit first!

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    The wave of water crashes on through to land on the plastic slide. It's not trying to sweep Jubilee away, but the sentience conducting the wave isn't entirely experienced with trying to maintain control over this much H2O just yet, so there is the risk that it might! At the least, she probably at least gets a little wet as the sizeable undine splashes onto the Crocodile Mile, taking on a more-or-less humanoid shape, though a shape roughly twice the size of Zandra herself. No doubt some of the other students will have noticed - and likely some staff.

    As the pool of water flows in a puddle toward Jubilee, a psychic message is sent, attempted to be delivered into the vampire's mind:

    <<Hey! This is Zandra still! I went ahead and borrowed the pool, but I can give it back when we're finished. Here!>>

    The water flows out in either direction along the plastic pad as the humanoid shape at its centre shrinks, lubricating the whole thing before long.

    <<Hopefully the crocs'll be happy. Wait - are they alright with chlorine?>>

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    She was once told she was hard to read, hard to 'hear', hard to... whatever. But, Jubilee's brain is remarkably open these nights. It's not hard to sync up with the vibrations of a brain that is, technically, dead and lifeless. Message received -- signed, sealed, and delivered. Jubes stares down at the plastic of the Crocodile Mile and the water that flows across her feet. Blink.

    "That's... you...?" she, uh, replies. Blinkblink.

    "Ew!" the vampiress shrieks. Jubes sticks her foot into the air and shakes it, sending her flip flop into the air. Jubilee blurs a little as she speeds up in a tiny burst of vampire quickness. It's fast enough to catch the flipflop before it hits the ground. A fine display of coolness meant to play off her sudden totally-uncool reaction to the Zandra-is-the-water moment.

    "Great, okay, okay, great!" Jubes exclaims. She keeps moving in whatever direction she's going and throws her fist into the air. "I'm going to get the word out -- the Crocodile Mile is finally open for business!"

Zandra Mitchell has posed:
    <<Sorry! Can't talk unless I'm tou->>

    Jubilee's little dance and the resulting dispersal of the water is a bit akin to hanging up the phone on Zandra's psychic hotline, but the watery elemental doesn't make any attempt to call back. Instead, the humanoid shape gives what looks like a wave of one of its liquid arms - before taking the first turn on the Crocodile Mile, flowing along the plastic surface at high speed, thinking what a clever game it makes for, and wondering when the crocodiles will get there - though a little suspicious that the other students were pulling her leg about that, the way they were about Jubilee...