14974/Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing
Date of Scene:	21 May 2023
Location:	Jubilee and Noriko's Apt - College House
Synopsis:	Noriko confronts Jubilation about dirty looks in public. Things don't go well. The coffin is too heavy to move.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Jubilation Lee

---

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The night has been long, at least for Noriko Ashida.  The nights have all been long since she's been trying to ignore something eroding a little hole in her brain.  She sits on the couch as she flicks through the channels, watching two programs at least, at once, with the air of someone flipping through the channels aimlessly.  She doesn't even really care that some second rate Japan gameshow ninja ripoff show is that bad, or rather, not bad enough.  Or that the other channel seems to be...CSPAN?

Nori's watching it!  While her knee bounces and little crackles pop against her bare heel.  She's wearing her gauntlets (which make using the stupid remote ridiculously annoying), a pair of short cotton shorts she prefers for sleeping, and a tank top.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Do other vampires get tired? Can they? This is the question that Jubilation Lee asks herself on her way back to the on-campus apartment she shares with Noriko. There are varieties of vampires, that much she's sure of, with distinct sets of traits, powers, and weaknesses. But, what about her? She remains unique, the first of her bloodline, and charts an unknown path. Jubilee doesn't seem to get /biologically/ tired, but she's tired tonight. She's sure of it. She assumed she'd spend her twentieth year fighting off vicious Karens and enjoying a sweet employee discount. Dying and becoming an undead, vampire royal was never in her plan.

    Thump.

    It's the sound of Jubilee reaching the door to the apartment and making just slightly not enough effort to turn the knob and open it. There was a time when she'd burst into a room with a wake of colorful explosions following her down the hall, waving her jazz hands and snapping her chewing gum. Now? She didn't even get the door open on her first try.

    When Jubilee finally makes it inside on her second try, she gives the door a nudge with her foot to help it close. Her skin looks paler than usual. Her hair is frizzy, flat and lifeless. Her eyes are sunken with whites that are flirting with yellow. Her lips, typically soft and luscious, are cracked and pale, just barely a shade of flesh darker than the surrounding skin. Jubilation Lee is dead, there's no doubt about it, but she seems particularly dead tonight.

    Instead of going over to give Nori a kiss or even just to say hello, Jubilee immediately turns and makes her way to the kitchen. It's a clumsy, awkward kind of walk when compared to her usual silky smooth vampiric grace, but she manages to get to the fridge. The light from inside the fridge casts harsh shadows on Jubilee's features -- shadows that it wouldn't cast on anyone else. She stares at second shelf, front and center, where several plastic pouches of blood wait for her. She grabs one and begins to work on it.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko waits what she is sure must have been a passive aggressive amount of time for waiting when Jubilee enters the apartment, but really it isn't all that long, and she doesn't have the patience for real passive aggression in this context.  So, she ends up right next to Jubilation, leaning back against the counter.

"Hey...so..."  Noriko does not give Jubes a kiss.  Her eyes flutter up and down Jubilation's visage with slight confusion.  "What was up with all the stink eye?  When I brought you some blood?" she adds the last bit a half beat later, as if there were already context for this rolling around in her head and she forgot to let Jubilation in on her thoughts.  She /tries/ to make it sound casual, and she does, but she's not fooling anyone.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's fingers fumble with Sheila. Naming them is a little trick she learned from one of the older vampires. Drinking from a bag is obviously terrible, they said, but if you're going to do it, give the thing a human name. Maybe even a little back story. If you can pretend it's suffering, it goes down a lot easier. This one is Sheila, Jubilee decided.

    Noriko's interruption stops Jubilee's progress. She tears off a corner of the pouch with her teeth and looks up at the speedster. It's Jubilee's face, there's no question about that, but it's like someone took it joyriding through the Soviet Union in mid-eighties. Colorless. Dead.

    "What?" she asks, not even bothering to move any of her facial features in sync with her response. Dead, dead, dead.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I mean did you not want me to bring you some blood?  Did I grab the wrong flavor?"  Which is what Noriko calls the different blood types now.  "Was it all bubbly?"  Noriko can run things into a frothy state if she's not careful.

"Oh...go ahead.  I don't want-Jubes, you look like hell."  That's worse than death.  "Are you okay?  You aren't cursed...more than usual are you?"  Noriko reaches out to try and feel Jubes' skin to see if there's any kind of change in temperature, heat where it shouldn't be, aka, the signs of another life form or process.  She avoids the idea of taking a whiff of Jubilation's breath right now.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "What are you talking about, Nori?" Jubilee asks with no shortage of annoyance. A line forms across her forehead. As near as she can tell, she just walked in and grabbed a pouch from the fridge. Time is a funny thing when it goes on forever, but Jubilee is sure that she's only been home for a minute and it was she who snatched Sheila from her family in the middle of the night. Jubilation frowns a little at the speedster before stuffing Sheila's open corner into her mouth and giving her a squeeze.

    Whatever was troubling Jubilee up until this point seems to be fading fast. Each squeeze of Sheila's lifeless body restores just a bit more color into Jubilation's face. Her hair, dry and ratty when she came in, is conditioning itself right in front of Noriko's very eyes. Jubes keeps draining Sheila's -- wife and mother of three kids -- life force until the plastic pouch has been emptied and starts curling into itself like a caterpillar. Jubilation closes her tired, sunken, yellowed eyes and keeps them closed for a solid ten seconds.

    ...

    When they open, Jubilation's eyes are more beautiful than they've ever been.

    "What?"

    Life has not returned to her brain as quickly as her eyes, hair, and skin.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"At the housewarming.  You've done it before.  I thought it was like, no big deal, you'd tell me later, but you never did."  Noriko's calendar is a lot less full than Jubilation's.  She has to do stuff, but the Duchess has social obligations Noriko doesn't.

"You know, Marie and Mary?"  Noriko can't help but watch as the blood cinches through the artificial capillaries created by the plastic's own constriction.  It's always a cool phenomenon, but she's never seen this drastic of a comeback, and so Jubilation's physical changes steal her attention.  "Okay you look better.-Look I just don't understand why you're shooting me dirty looks when I'm looking out for you."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It's been, like..." Jubilee's brain goes to work figuring out how many nights it has been. "...multiple nights, Nori." Her tone is one that might suggest that she just woke up and hasn't had coffee yet, but that comparison would require her to sleep and drink coffee still. Jubes closes her eyes and leans back against the closed fridge. She presses her forearm against her brow and remains still.

    "You're not my servant, Nori," is the answer that comes. She doesn't address the rest of it. Did she really give Nori dirty looks? And if she had, wasn't that /multiple/ nights ago? And if she had, isn't she a vampire and Nori's just a --- stop it. Stop it.

    Suddenly, Jubilation spins around -- a bit more lively than she moved just moments ago -- and flings the fridge open again. Her second pouch of the night -- Timmy -- is kidnapped while he sleeps in his racecar bed.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"It has?"  Noriko knew it was more than one, but she'd lost count.  "I guess I've been busy thinking about it," she almost dejectedly grumbles to herself, unpleased with the notion of her stewing, even if that's exactly what's been happening.

"No shit I'm not your servant.  Which means when I bring you something, it's because I care, not because I have to.  Not because you're controlling me.  Just because you get me a sandwich does not make you my servant.  Unless it does?"  She cocks her head to the side at the absurdity, but can't quite get herself to grin just as much as she can't resist the playful twist of meaning.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Oh, hurry Jubes, hurry! Put little Timmy out of his misery quick, because if you don't, you're just going to---

    Jubilee's eyes narrow. "Don't lecture me on what it's like to do do something for someone you care about!" she fires back. "I know exactly what that's like." That could've gone worse, all things considered. Jubilee, pleased with herself, tears Timmy's corner with her teeth and begins to drink from the third grader she imagines has an adorable lisp and likes soccer.

    After a few gulps, Jubilee smacks her lips and resumes frowning, though it lacks the intensity from a moment ago. It has softened. "I /know/ you do that because you care," she insists dispassionately. After another hit from Timmy, the truth comes.

    "But, like, what if people see?" she asks, actually sounding a little worried. What people? See what?

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Just because you did this doesn't mean you get to stomp all over me.  And just because people are stomping on you doesn't make me the next target."  Noriko's brow is set, her jawline slightly tense, but the most obvious of all to Jubilation is there's a little kick in her heart rate that the speedster doesn't account for.

"That's even worse!" Noriko shouts, losing none of her intensity, but sounding baffled.  Her head tilts silently at Jubilation's question, subtle disbelief.  "Are you kidding me?  After everything we've gone through to be together and you're worried people might see me getting you a drink?"  Not to mention the fact that Noriko could do it so quickly that no one would notice the handoff, but that's not the point, and clearly not what has stoked the fires.

"You're worried they might see that I love you?  That I would freely dedicate my life to yours as you have to mine?"  It doesn't seem to matter what Jubilation intends.  The way Nori says it, these are the daggers she feels.  She just stares at Jubilation, trying to will herself not to cry.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Noriko earns herself a 'are you fucking serious?' look from Jubilee, who pauses from her meal long enough to give the expression its proper time in the spotlight. "Are you joking, Nori? Stomp all over you?" she questions. "You're getting on my case because I gave you a dirty look and that's me /stomping/ all over you?"

    Jubilee buys herself some time by sucking back some more of little Timmy. Each gulp fills her with a little more life.

    Jubilation's expression shifts wildly. She opens and closes her mouth several times, a clear indicator that she has a lot to say right now that isn't passing her internal censor. Every expression, every pause is a pregnant one. Finally, her eyebrows rise in astonishment, mouth gaping, before she shifts her weight to leave the kitchen and head to the couch. "Get outta my way," she says softly. It's not an order, she's not barking it, but it's purposely impolite. She could just as easily go to the living room without saying anything.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
But it is something Jubilation doesn't /have/ to say, and perhaps, that makes it that much worse.  And the fact that Jubilation doesn't even to be on Noriko's wavelength at all about this seems to grate at Nori's edges.  "I just don't understand what the problem is when I want to show that I care."  With her emotions running high and her heart rate elevated, and she's still trying to stay in this frame of velocity, it just doesn't play well and she doesn't articulate herself very well.

"No.  We're talking."  Noriko won't move to block Jubilation's progress, but she's also not getting out of her way either.  "What?  What were you going to say?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Nothing," is Jubilee's answer as she moves past the speedster. Their apartment isn't large and, thanks to the modern trend towards open floorplans, it's entirely possible to talk from the living room to the kitchen. But, maybe it's more about the point that she's trying to make. I'll go to the living room if I want to. By the time she gets to the couch, Jubilee is physically restored, back to her usual self. But, then why is her heart still so cold and lifeless? It's a figure of speech.

    "Did it ever occur to you that there are other ways to show you care if you think I don't know? Bringing me a pack of blood in that.../way/..." It's an incomplete sentence, but her tone and expression handles the rest of it. Disgust.

    Jubes closes her eyes and sighs. "Nori, can we just talk about this later?" she hopes, not realizing that, no, they can't.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko turns as Jubes passes her, frowning at the response.  What Jubilation is doing is /very/ rude.  Walking away in the middle of a conversation, moving rooms, though technically she did continue it, and this gives Noriko's culturally conditioned response to falter.  Though it makes her feel weak.  She grits her teeth.

"It's not about me thinking you don't know, for fuck's sake."  Noriko knows this is a species difference, but she can't let it go.  "You weren't going to have any food there, so I thought it'd be /nice/ to bring it since I was already coming from here.  What the fuck is wrong with that?  It's not like I dribbled it all over myself in public.  Am I not allowed to be fucking kind?  To care for you?"  Apparently they cannot talk about it later.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Record screeeeetch. "You think I'd show up to Marie's housewarming party /hungry/ ?!" Jubilation cries out. She stands from the couch suddenly, sending poor Timmy to wherever he'll be rescued when it's eventually time to do some spring cleaning. This has apparently struck a nerve, which is quite the accomplishment since none of Jubilee's nerves can fire anymore. It's unlikely that Nori could know, but a vampire showing up to a social occasion hungry is just about the rudest thing they can do. It has a stigma that knows no bounds.

    "What kind of a thing is that to say!" she continues, totally livid about it. "I swear, you're giving me this kind of hard time because, like, you didn't like the look my face made when you started doting over me in front of everyone!?" Jubilation's voice has reached a tone that could only be described as shrill. Social interactions among vampires are a complicated, subtle affair that could be mistaken for a kind of warfare. If there was another one at that party, Noriko might as well have dribbled blood on herself in front of everyone.

    Still, since when has anything like that embarrassed Jubilee to this extent? Since she entered a room and realized she wasn't the coolest one in it for the first time.

    Jubilee lowers her eyes and relaxes. "Nori..." she starts over. "...Look, I know you think it's all good and all that, but, like..." How can she explain this? How could anyone explain this? "...Can't you just trust me on this?" She sounds like she's holding back something huge, but maybe she can appeal to Noriko's romantic notion of trust? It's a dirty tactic and one that has probably lost all chance of working now that it sounds like she has an explanation that she's keeping from the speedster.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"That's not doting!"  Noriko has seen doting.  She's seen /beyond/ doting, and the fact that her examples of such thing are wildly askew does not occur to her in the slightest.  "I forgot okay?  It just feels like everyone else has something to hold when they talk and stuff," gah that's lame.  Noriko immediately despises herself for backpedalling in any way.

"Don't you understand that this matters to me?  It's like you're saying, you can't love me this way.  You can only love me that way.  I don't want us to be even giving a fuck about what other people think."  Apparently this is why Noriko couldn't let things go.  Because she cares.  She didn't even know it till she had this argument.

"That's bullshit.  That's a copout.  You have all the time in the world to justify why you want to control how I want to show you I care."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    There's a darkness brewing. The emotional landscape of the room seems to be shifting to make room for it and it doesn't take a telepath to take notice. Bad things are afoot.

    Jubilation stares at Nori, mirroring the speedster's anger with a silent glare. Would telling Nori the truth make this better or worse? In the eyes of her peers, Jubilee's relationship with Noriko is one of her many shortcomings. It has taken her a while, but Jubilation has finally been exposed to enough vampire subtlety to understand that she's a joke to them. At best, she's playing with her food like an infant. At worst, she's being romantic with her familiar, which is truly disgusting. But, how could she ever explain this to Nori?

    Even if they're having a fight, Jubilee doesn't want the speedster to feel bad. So, once again, she keeps this awful detail to herself. Jubes just keeps glaring at the speedster while her own anger grows. She doesn't know. She doesn't know. She doesn't know. Jubilation tries, really she does, to just let Nori yell at her, but there are limits to how much she can keep her Dark Passenger at bay in the face of such indignity. "Fine," she announces. "Fine!" With that, Jubilation storms into their shared bedroom and starts making some commotion.

    There's a sound of Jubilee straining to move something, and then the horrible grinding of wood on wood. "Wha...what is this made of... jeez, that's solid," she can be heard saying to herself. There's more struggling, more grinding, and then... silence. "Fine," is muttered quietly. She gives up moving the coffin...

    A pillow flies in from the bedroom on a trajectory to hit Noriko right in the face. It's her pillow. A blanket is thrown immediately after it.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has gotten vibes, but she doesn't understand the vampire response on a visceral level.  She never will.  She'd literally have to see the equivalent being done by a human to understand it that way, but such illustrations will never be on hand.

"Don-"  The floor...so scraped now.  Oh well.  Noriko shrugs, leaning to one side as she watches Jubilation try.  The speedster doesn't try to dodge the incoming bedding.  She secretly hopes Jubilation will miss when she's watching the vampire's wind up in slow motion, but she already knows she won't by the time it is released.

Noriko tries to remain calm as the blanket drapes over her head.  "SWEET DREAMS," Noriko says, knowing Jubilation doesn't have them.  Then she's got the blanket over her body on the couch and the remote in her hand again.  Flick.  Flick.  Flick.  Pout.  Flick.  Flick.  Flick.  Cry a river quietly.  Flick.  Flick.  Flick.  2 empty ice cream tubs appear and Noriko's bear gripping their last to her chest in misery as she knows it will run out soon.   The ice cream.  Isn't that just the cherry on top?