14760/Taking Flight

Taking Flight
Date of Scene:	24 April 2023
Location:	Back Yard
Synopsis:	Another night of Jubilee trying to figure out how to turn into a bat like all the other vampires. Warren Worthington pays the mansion a visit and the two briefly discuss some of the finer points of learning how to fly. Unfortunately, duty pulls Jubilee away so she can handle a minor territory dispute between two vampires who both work at the Salem Center Home Depot.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Warren Worthington

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Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The weather has finally abandoned winter for good in Westchester, NY, allowing anyone to have a comfortable time outside, even in the evening hours. It's a school night, though, so most of the students and faculty have already turned in, but there are still some warm bodies throughout the mansion. One body -- not a warm one -- is outside. Jubilation Lee stands in stark contrast to the shadow of night, standing in the middle of the Xavier's Mansion backyard in bright colors -- an oversize yellow hoodie that falls past her thighs, large enough to completely cover any shorts she might or might not be wearing under there. It's just that sweatshirt and a pair of cheap flip-flops.

    "C'mon....C'mon...." Jubilation runs across the lawn, flapping her arms at her sides. When she gets to the end, she stops in a huff. "C'mon Jubes..." It's a good thing she's out there all by herself. She looks pretty stupid flapping her arms. She sounds stupid, too, giving herself that little pep talk. Weird...

Warren Worthington has posed:
Having refused to live at the school for some time, Angel typically arrived un-announced and on temperate evenings; from the sky. Landing softly on the ground with a few carefuly timed wing buffets, the majestic man and his wings settled into place before her. "Jubilee?" he asked kindly, seeming for all the world to be free of judgement and curious about some value and meaning he applied to her actions. He smelled of exotic spices and the warm down beneath his feathers, his skin glowed even in the dim light of the evening, his eyes glassy with moonlight. "What on earth are you doing, your Grace?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation looks over her shoulder at the collapsing wingspan of Warren Worthington! There was a time, years ago, when his arrival would create a chorus of cash register noises in Jubilee's head, but things change. Now? There's something about Warren in particular that seems to tick her off. "You making fun of me?" she accuses. No one at Xavier's acknowledges the title forced upon her let alone call her Your Grace. Her initial reaction to this greeting is one that suggests she has been putting up with a variety of indignities while trying to keep up the appearances of her old life.

    "I'm trying to turn into a bat," Jubilee explains, sighing softly. The sigh is an affectation -- a carefully rehearsed series of actions to communicate something. It requires some preparation, too, as she rarely keeps a pointless pocket of air in her now vestigial lungs these nights.

    Before there's a chance for a response, Jubilation pre-interrupts. "I did it once before but I can't remember how... I swear, I'm like the only one who can't do it, I think."

    Instead of taking off again for another round of flapping across the lawn, Jubilee lifts her gaze, inspecting Warren from behind a pair of dark Ray Ban sunglasses. There's a smell she'd like to ask about, but instead Jubilation just says thank-you.

    "Thanks for getting Monet outta there," she says, lifting her hand in the air to make a vague gesture that suggests a rocketship taking off. "Last second airlift." While there might be others who have opinions on Warren's sudden decision to 'go loud' while the mission was still stealthy, that's not Jubilee.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Angel replied with gentle dismissiveness. "Of course." Then he is silent, allowing a long pause that is pregnant with expectation. Finally he shifted his stance slightly, lifting one hand to slide fingers through his hair. "Jubilee, you will fly again." he nodded very subtly, "I know you will find it again." he offered with a depening of his voice, "You have great...tenacity."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It's so /annoying/..." she complains. "/Normally/ I'd have a si---" She stops before using a vampire-specific term. The fact that was turned into a vampire is an open secret around the mansion, but there's no reason she needs to share the password to the clubhouse. "Normally there'd be someone to show me the ropes, you know, like how to do this, but..." She shrugs dramatically, making a big show of the gesture. There's no one who can teach her. No one who will.

    "So, whatcha doin' around the Mansion, anyway? Did your yacht get a flat tire?" she teases, grinning up at Warren. Her smile reveals a set of fangs that either haven't been retracted or simply can't be. Another thing she forgot how to do. Instead of taking off for another attempt at transformation, Jubilee reaches back and starts tying her hair up in a high ponytail. Instead of saying something appropriate for the conversation, Jubes falls into the trap of attention deficit. "Hey... Do you ever worry about getting sucked into a jet engine when you're up there?" she wonders. The tone is sincere. Oh, Jubes...

Warren Worthington has posed:
Angel smiled as she made her concerns evident. "No." he said softly. Then he glanced up to the sky, sharing it with her silently and returned his gaze to her pointy teeth. "If you like, we could accelerate this process for you a bit." he offered a palm out to her, "You have a lot on your plate, and as a student of the school it behoves me to offer mentorship where appropriate?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It's kind of different, Warren. I gotta first turn into a bat. That's the part I can't remember," Jubilee explains. "...I guess that's really the whole thing." She looks up at the sky again, still wearing those sunglasses to hide her eyes. "...Hey, you're going to do one of those 'time to leave the nest!' things and drop me, aren't you? Force the issue..." She does not take Warren's offered hand.

    "I'm fine," Jubilee lies. It's not convincing. She does have a lot going on. "Besides, I'm not even a student here anymore. I'm just... Here." Her voice rises a little and then falls flat, sounding as though her status at the mansion is unclear even to her.

    Jubilee changes the topic abruptly back to the recent mission. "That was so cool how you just swooped in and took off with Monet," she declares. "Like... whoooosh. Like you were delivering a pizza that would come out of your pay if it took more than thirty minutes!"

Warren Worthington has posed:
Angel nodded, "Very perceptive." confirming something she said, but not illuminating what precisely. He smiled at the compliment, almost preened, but then deferred "You'd have done the same thing if you were me." and then he chuckled. Despite it being quiet, the sound was melodious and pleasant. "I don't think Monet cared much for it. She is prideful one, most of you are in one way or another." He re-assured, "You have reason to be, even if you don't really believe it. Perhaps that is what will earn you your wings, Your Grace." and now he was being deliberatly sappy, in obvious self-characture. "Belief in ones-self is the quickest way to new heights."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Oh, forget Monet. She got home in one piece and doesn't have to eat her bitchios through a straw. I think she'll forgive you," Jubilation insists, grinning again. Out of nowhere, the cliche sound (*Bleehh!*) of a famous Romanian movie vampire comes from the front pocket of Jubilee's hoodie. She slips her hand into the pocket and produces a smartphone with a cracked screen, dangling between her index and middle fingers. Jubilee taps the screen a couple times and stares down at the addictive blue glow from the smartphone. Whatever's on that screen, it's not making Jubilee happy.

    "Oh what the crap..." Jubilee replies, practically broadcasting annoyance. She slips the phone back into her pocket and frowns up at Warren. "What are the odds that /two/ employees at the same twenty-four hour Home Depot are vampires? How was /I/ supposed to know they weren't going to be able to share it." The 'it' they can't share, in this case, is the right to all those necks.

    "Hey, wait a minute... Wasn't there, like, a situation exactly like this with King Sarumon?" Jubilation asks suddenly, totally confusing Solomon for a wizard from Lord of the Rings. "You know, like, the two wannabe moms kept saying that the same kid was theirs so he says he'll give them each half?" She's excited about her next thought. "...I could..." Her smile fades.

    "I can't cut a Home Depot in half," Jubes realizes aloud. She shakes her head and fake-sighs again.

    "I gotta go," Jubilee explains, sounding not-at-all happy about it. "I gotta take a rain check on that skydiving lesson, Warren. Catch ya later!"

    Without much of a delay, Jubilee starts to walk back towards the mansion on a route destined to bring her back to where her Vespa is parked. The duties of the Duchess of the Great Vampire Nation of Westchester are dull, rote, and mostly embarrassing. Tonight's duty would be to weigh in on a territorial dispute at a Home Depot. Joy.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Angel snorted audibly in amusement, laughing not unlike a pig oinking around in the mud for a truffle. Then he moved on toward the campus propper and about his evenings business. He disappeared from view around the side of the main building, a door audibly opened and shut. "The media is going to love her." he admitted to himself.