13605/An Unpaid Debt

An Unpaid Debt
Date of Scene:	19 December 2022
Location:	Salem Center
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida

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Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The evening air is crisp, with that unique balance of humidity that warns of a sudden light dusting of snow. Jubilation Lee, the former mutant teen turned vampire figurehead, shoved all of tonight's responsibilities to the side and insisted that Noriko take her to the movies over in the Salem Center. Jubilee made her intentions obvious, first by dressing in the very same outfit that she had on for Noriko's first official Xavier's X-Mas Caroling Walkabout: A yellow wool peacoat, buttoned up, with the hem of a black skirt just making it past the bottom of the coat, ending halfway down her thighs. Her legs are covered in sheer, black tights, though her shoes -- for better or worse -- are her Heely sneakers.

    "The movie starts at ten... It's a foreign one, you know, like, from Europe and stuff. It's in French!" Jubilee explains with a fangy grin. She tugs at Noriko's gauntlet as she leads the way towards the movie theater. As the couple stop to wait for a crossing signal to switch to WALK, Jubilation leans in to further elaborate on her intentions for the night. "...And there aren't any subtitles..." Her eyes lift so she can make sure the message is read loud and clear.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Oh Noriko remembers.  At first sight of Jubilation in that skirt with the yellow against it floods back a waterfall of memories she can't reign down to the frame of velocity she was trying to stay in, with Jubes.  Her mind suddenly twists away toward alarm as she realizes she has no memory of what /she/ was wearing that night.  This is Jubes' fault, she determines with a fond smirk at her lips.

Noriko has also dressed up the part in that she too does not need so many layers.  For their movie date, she's broken out her worn leather jacket like a strange security blanket (given how at odds she is with her sharply fractured old life).  Why would she need one?  Well she's trying to wear a skirt of her own for once, but she keeps looking down to see if physics have betrayed her, afraid she's giving other people more than she wants them to see.  But this isn't the only part of her outfit that is giving her trouble.  She also bought a new scarf atop a deep blue, vertically ribbed turtleneck.  Noriko obviously went into a nice place and bought nice things, a first to do alone.  The scarf keeps ending up situated in different positions between moments, gently reflecting her indecision at how it should be worn.  WHY DOES EVERYTHING LOOK WRONG?!

Foreign?  Noriko tilts her head and smiles gently.  It puts them on equal footing in a way.  Neither of them are familiar with French customs, and Noriko often has time to figure out what people mean when she doesn't know what is going on.  In other words, sometimes she just seems like she's familiar with something American or a word in English.  She doesn't possess the resolution of nuance she does in her native language.  Plus she can read the subtitles super fast and then notice all the stuff no one else does.  Well at least the visual stuff.  Or she can use the rest of the time to try and experience it like everyone else, transpose her natural way of ingesting the material on top of everyone else's to just try and be with them, feel as close as to what they might feel.  Noriko doesn't remember what it's like to be slow naturally anymore and that thought suddenly smacks her.

The tug at Noriko's gauntlet yanks her out of her reverie.  "Oh yeah-ten?  Wait what?"  No subtitles?  That takes Nori a second.  She looks down.  "Oh.  Are we going to be surrounded by French people and French language students?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Noriko's outfit that night was hard to forget. She looked ridiculous, sporting a head-to-toe accumulation of festive decorations that might've signaled that she was getting into the holiday spirit. By that point, Jubilee had worn a similar outfit countless times at Xavier's, but she wanted to mark the new year with a serious outfit befitting someone who had grown up. Mostly. A little.

    Jubilee rolls her eyes good-naturedly at Noriko's obliviousness. "No, stupid!" she answers, shoving her shoulder gently into the speedster's arm. "It's gonna be a dark movie theater with something on the screen that neither of us are gonna be able to understand... And if I have to explain further..." She shakes her fist in the air with a big, joking smile.

    There are a few other groups heading to the theater on foot, each with their own private conversation happening. None are particularly interesting, just the usual chit-chat about the movie they're about to see and arguments about whether the Butter Type Flavor Lotion that the theater puts on the popcorn is technically butter or not. One particularly pedantic kid is trying to make the point that $12 for a soda is not technically highway robbery because the theater, as it happens, isn't on a highway. While none of the conversations is particularly worthy of an eavesdrop, some words start to emerge from the noise and just can't help but stick out.

    Abomination. Duchess. Pet.

    Whispers in the shadows. Vague movements. Even after the last group of teens enter the theater, there's still that weird feeling of not being alone... Of being watched. Even Jubilation Lee, a creature of the night herself, can't help but take notice. "Well, things got a little eerie, didn't they...?" she mutters.

    Suddenly, Jubes hisses and spins around to confront an unseen figure caught by her supernatural senses. A gloved hand emerges from the shadows and stuffs a fist full of garlic into Jubilee's mouth. It immediately takes effect. The vampire teen starts to gag loudly, desperately trying to defend herself. She starts to frantically shove at the hand pressed against her mouth, but it's all in vain. After just a second or two, Jubilation is on the ground -- out cold(er) -- with chunks of garlic and foam dribbling out of her open mouth. She'll be alright, but down for the count long enough for...

    Four vampires, each with menacing fangs, slightly pointed ears, and pale skin emerge from the shadows. They're hunched forward in a readied stance... and begin hissing at Noriko Ashida. They didn't come for Jubilee. They came for Nori.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well yeah I got that part," Noriko tries to recover.  She did!  Maybe it took her a second, if she were human, but she's not! Of course Jubilation can probably just sense these little off bits of timing at this point.  Humans are good at incorporating such things into their intuition, and vampires have even better reaction times.

Nori lifts her arm to drape over Jubilation's shoulders, drawing her close.  "No need for that."  She steals a moment to quickly nuzzle Jubilation's neck for a closer whiff of her scent.  The blink-fast wisp of a nuzzle is for Jubes, the sniff is for Nori.  The speedster just can't help herself.

The words begin to invade the bubble the two had constructed for themselves.  Who cares right?  But the words are like an infection.  They are rot.  Noriko feels uneasy, only confirmed by Jubes a moment later.  "Yeah."  When Jubes turns first, Noriko keeps her eye on Jubes' back.  It just feels like an ambush.  So what she can't see, she can't prevent.  If she were smarter she'd already be back at speed, but there is something about still being with Jubes in the moment that brings her peace- IMMEDIATELY SHATTERED at the sound of gagging.

Noriko looks down, now turned to see Jubilation at her feet.  She stoops without thought; she has all the time in the world.  She immediately tries to fish the garlic out of Jubes' mouth, mumbling, "It's okay-it's okay."  She'll get Jubes back to the school, she'll get some friends, then beat whoever these hatemongers are up.  Make them wish they hadn't.  But then Noriko looks up.  She realizes if they wanted to kill Jubes, she would already be dead.  If they wanted her, she'd already be kidnapped.

And suddenly, Nori realizes that if she doesn't survive this, neither will Jubilation.

"One step closer and I will rip every single one of you down the center with my bare hands."  Ugh.  She's going to have to flash these vampires.  Nori suddenly breaks from the standoff with the vampires to try and scoop up Jubes to make a run for it.  She's not even sure if she's going into the theater or out into the corridor.  Like a cornered fox, she's just darting.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    An ambush indeed. The vampire duchess is out of the fight and won't be able to identify whose hand pressed that garlic into her mouth. It's just Noriko Ashida -- the pet, the abomination -- against four vampires ready for a fight. From their appearance, these are not important figures in the community. It's also highly irregular for such an attack to happen in broad moonlight... in Westchester. These four are not the sharpest fangs in the mouth, but they are dangerous.

    Noriko's warning about what might happen if they step closer earns the mutant teen a chorus of sinister laughter. "It can talk," one of them jokes.

    "For now."

    When Noriko makes a break for Jubilee, the nearest vampire leaps forward and swipes a razor sharp claw at the speedster!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The claw tears into the metal of Noriko's gauntlet and hooks into her elbow for a moment.  Is Noriko getting slower?  Is she tired?  The vampire goes on the ride of its life and the speedster reaches back to shove a glowing, crackling palm into the vampire's face.  "Get off of me!"  Electricity jags and shorts from the damage to her gauntlet.

Nori grumbles something about the gauntlets already being ugly enough.  She really thought the claw would glance off her gauntlet.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    If only those gauntlets were made of silver...

    The clawed vampire snarls in time for Noriko's charged up fist to clobber him right in the mouth. He's dead as a door nail, but the sudden surge of electricity causes his muscles to spasm violently, arms and legs flailing akimbo as he topples to the ground and rolls into the shadows. A loud hiss rings out into the night and then... silence.

    Ironically, the attack has introduced some signs of life in Jubilee. Instead of lying there like a motionless corpse, which would be expected, her body stirs and wretches to try and clear the garlic from her mouth. Two of the attacking vampires rush over to her and squat on either side. One holds her down by the shoulders and the other presses the palm of his hand over her mouth, keeping the garlic right where it is.

    The fourth vampire lowers himself into a readied stance. Either he doesn't care, didn't notice, or is simply too feral to understand what Noriko did to his colleague. He launches himself in the speedster's direction, mouth wide open and ready to latch onto her flesh!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
If they were made of silver they'd be heavy as-INCOMING.  Noriko was kind of busy watching to see if the first vampire got back up and didn't realize how far time had advanced till the fourth vampire totally came out of nowhere, she would swear to anyone who didn't have video footage.  But Noriko doesn't even see this vampire.  She really only sees the two flanking Jubilation.  Her eyes crackle and she launches forward in the blink of an eye.

The vampire who is pressing his palm to Jubilation's mouth gets hit first.  No charge necessary.  She creams the vampire's head into a curb of concrete in a burst of untempered defensive rage and total judgement.  Then she rips the useless gauntlet off her arm to grab the second one with her live wire grip, well, more like level of energy that fuels the sun.  There's a bright bloom of electricity that engulfs the vampire in an instant like prey stuck in a web.  She's going to get an earful for this one.

That last vampire, or is he now the first vampire, Noriko lost track of that one...

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Though the creature commonly called a "vampire" comes in several unrelated varieties, each with its own unique gifts and curses, there are a few methods of killing them that tend to be more common: destroy the head, stake through the heart, fire, the sun. Noriko is no doubt familiar with them.

    The force of having his head slammed into the concrete by a speedster is enough to leave the poor vampire attacker a (more) lifeless body, split apart where the head meets the neck.

    The next one shrieks loudly as Noriko's grip sends current through every part of his dead body. His muscles flail as they contract against his will until, finally, the current is enough to cause him to catch fire suddenly. He screams until, finally, the embers are enough to do him in. Noriko's grip has no choice to loosen as the vampire's form begins to slide apart and transition into a pulpy, grey mess of dust...

    That leaves Jubilation on the pavement, held down by nothing and no one -- just the oppressive weight of a mouthful of garlic...

    ...But, the last vampire? The first vampire? Whichever! /A/ vampire emerges from the shadows, at long last, after getting thrown there by Noriko. With her attention held captive by something else, the vampire takes full advantage. He lowers his mouth to the mutant's neck, ready to tear into her flesh from behind...

    The bite that comes is nothing more than a brief touch of his fangs. He doesn't even break skin. Instead of feeling her lifeblood spill from her neck, Noriko would instead feel the back of her head, neck, back, legs, and shoulders suddenly get covered by a thick cloud of dust.

    Severina the Necromancer -- the vampire bride (or, perhaps, widow) of the former Duke of Westchester -- stands behind Noriko holding a wooden stake in her hand.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is breathing hard and fast as the vampire's form disintegrates in her gauntlet.  She pulls it away, shocked, completely vulnerable to the final attack for an instant.  That's all it takes.  That's all it would take.  Speedsters die just like everyone else, in an instant, a finite piece of time.

"Jubes," Noriko whispers, jags of electrified tears across her cheeks already.

POOF!  "EWW!"  The speedster flails her arms up and shakes her legs out like she ran through a spider's nest.  "What-"  She sees Severina and rolls her eyes.  "Geeze.  Thanks for having my back."  She sounds less than enthused and uses her fingers to fish the garlic out of Jubilation's mouth.  Her fingers are slightly pruney from being in the gauntlet all the time.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Severina remains stone-faced in response to Noriko's chilly attitude towards her. "She'll be fine," she replies, her tone absent of any feeling or emotion regarding the matter. "Not that it's any concern of yours, I'm sure..." What does /that/ mean!?

    "It's just so lucky that I happened to be here to stop them. I hate to think what could have happened to you, Miss Ashida. You are, after all, her favorite." Severina's gaze lowers to Jubilation. She shrugs one shoulder indifferently.

    "Just how many favors am I to allow you to accumulate...?" she wonders with amusement, flashing a subtle smile towards Noriko. There's just something unsettling about the thought of being in her debt.