12430/Friend Of A Friend

Friend Of A Friend
Date of Scene:	14 August 2022
Location:	New Lots
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, April O'Neil

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Jubilation Lee has posed:
    It's a balmy summer evening in New Lots, Brooklyn, leaving the entire neighborhood pleasantly warm underneath a mixture of the dying sun and the rising moon. In New Lots, that means that it's time for the honest, hardworking people of Brooklyn to head inside, giving free reign of the neighborhood to the Others. Tonight, it's not just the twitchy man with the thin hair who sells packaged cold-cuts out of his jacket. No, tonight there's real trouble out there. Vincent Yoot, an up-and-coming street punk, small-time pimp, and general ne'er do well is out tonight. He walks with a strut in his step on his way to make a collection, only stopping to slide his switchblade comb back through his greasy hair.

    "Hey, who might you be, little la---" His voice, once full of amused mischief, gurgles to nothing as his voice box is crushed underneath a small, pale thumb with bright pink nail polish. Its owner presses Vincent's cheek against the cold brick wall in the alleyway they share. "Shhhh," comes a hiss from the shadowy form that's ruining all of Vincent's plans tonight.

    Tonight's plans require silence from poor Vinnie. Jubilation Lee, the duchess of the Great Vampire Nation of Westchester, is here on official business and it won't be disturbed. She spent the last couple nights fruitlessly trying to get in contact with April O'Neil, but the reporter might've been ignoring her messages. Then again, most reporters aren't used to getting contacted by a murder of crows and might not recognize it for what it is. Maybe Jubilee should've used Twitter?

    And so, Jubilation Lee waits quietly, her arm extended up and to one side to keep Vincent Yoot pressed in place and unable to alert anyone to her presence. Unable to cry out for help.

April O'Neil has posed:
Ding ding!

A bicycle bell rings at the end of an alleyway, as April O'Neil is pedaling her way home after Roller Derby practice. She looks both ways at a mostly empty street, then starts across it, her bike waving between a couple parked cars as she bunny hops up on to a curb, then turns down another alleyway... the Reporter not far from where the Duchess is now, her bike a yellow and black, the reporter in blue jeans, a Star Wars tshirt, and a yellow and black bike helmet on her head. With a backpack over her shoulders, April is just happily riding her bike through some nefarious sections of town... often prone to being a trouble magnet, the reporter is a bit cocky about it.

Angelo's Pizza is not far away though, and since it's Saturday night, she'd called in an order to pick up to take to her sewer dwelling friends...

The biker weaves around some garbage bags, her tires splashing through some gross alleywater, and she waves a hand toward some friendly hobos she knows, who wave back to her, as she turns around behind Angelo's to pull up toward its side.

The bike stops, and April dismounts it, taking a second to pause beside her bike to check her phone messages...

The pizza delivery car pulls away out of the alley, and April glances in its direction before she looks back down at her phone... all alone now...

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee's eyes rise a little above her Ray Ban sunglasses. "Holy shit, they were right," she whispers, leaning in a little to share the moment with Vincent. He makes a vaguely pained whine in response. Jubilation has asked her Master of Whispers for information in the past, but both times their intel ended up being hilariously bad. Almost like they were screwing with her on purpose...

    ...But not tonight. They gave her the right neighborhood. The right street. The right pizza place. The right time.

    Jubilee takes a step from the red brick wall, leaving what remains of poor Vincent Yoot concealed by the darkness of the long shadows of the alley. Her approach is quiet but sudden. Moments ago, her silhouette was almost a fixture of the alley itself, held back until it was time for the darkness to expel her. Jubilee casts no reflection on the glossy screen of April's phone as she waits just behind the young reporter. Her glossy lips curl into a smile just a few inches away from April's neck.

    "Hasn't anyone told you that yellow jackets are out of style?" Jubilation asks with a neutral smirk. And there she is, just at the border where the darkness of the alley meets the portion of the sidewalk kept bright by the streetlamps. She looks like she doesn't belong in the neighborhood. Her skin is too pale, too smooth. Her hair is just too silky for a summer night like this. There's something very store-bought and new about her. Something false. Something unnerving.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is smirking at a message from Harley about their plans for a party later this month. She's tapping out a response when the words from Jubilee behind her just catch her completely off guard! She jumps! She spins, she raises a hand up to her chest, as she steps backward over her bike, causing it to fall over on the ground.

"Holy moly." The reporter says, as she takes in the sight of the small Asian girl that just appeared out of no where!

Quickly, the Reporter looks left, then right, then back at Jubilee. "Christ. You scared me..." She says, with a suddenly summoned smile. "Are you lost, or something?" She asks, pointing toward the street. "There's a bus stop just down that way." She indicates, before looking back to the pale skinned young woman. "Are you all right? You look... a little--"

April makes a silly face, as she waves a hand in front of her own eyes. "Like you just got out of a car filled with carbon monoxide, or something." She says then, before laughing nervously then.

"What did you say?" She then asks, narrowing her eyes. "Scared me, and I completely missed it."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    In stark contrast to April's large reaction, Jubilation remains motionless, standing completely still without even the subtle thumping of a beating heart to give her presence a natural sway. She just waits patiently for the reporter to regain her composure. She has all the time in the world.

    Unfortunately, as stoic and intimidating as the duchess might want to seem, April's point about the carbon monoxide poisoning draws out a frown, even a barely audible scoff of indignation. "No I don't!" she exclaims, briefly yielding control to the teenage girl within before finding her way back to the here and now.

    "Your jacket. Yellow is out," Jubes repeats, her voice now taking on a more sinister tone. She points down at the yellow garment tied around April's waist. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that..."

    Pause for effect. Pause for effect.

    "...Would you?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April gets a weird feeling from the girl, afterall, who wouldn't? She looks like a corpse! The girl's pointing at her tied-off yellow leather jacket, has the reporter glancing down at herself, then back up at the young one before her. "Oh, right. Well. It's my favorite color." She says with a bright smile. "But, also... I've been riding my bike to work in Manhattan for like two years now, so I needed something that would make me stand out more in traffic, you know? So some jackass doesn't plow into me on the bridge."

She snorts softly, trying to be friendly? It just kinda seems to come naturally to her, in fact. April motions down to one of the elbows where she has had to do some sewing on it. "Damn thing is starting to fall apart though, and now that I got a car... I probably could get rid of it. But hey, the bike keeps me in good shape. Not sure I wanna drive in to the city..."

April's phone buzzes, as Mikey sends a text about how he's gonna absolutely die if she doesn't get his pizza to him pronto! It gets a glance, and a sigh as she lowers her phone again. "You uh, waitin on a pie too?" She asks Jubes next.