18431/Multi-Generation Recreation (Room)

Multi-Generation Recreation (Room)
Date of Scene:	25 June 2024
Location:	Recreation Room
Synopsis:	Alex discovers Jubilee has a baby and is really, really, really against it. Noriko starts to soften to the idea.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Alex Summers, Noriko Ashida

---

Jubilation Lee has posed:
The Recreation Room, normally a bustling hive of activity, is mostly empty this evening. Now that the school year is at an end, the majority of students and teachers have left the school for the summer. There are a couple of younger students playing an approximation of pool over at the billiards table, but that's about it. An old episode of Sesame Street is on one of the larger televisions.

On the rug in front of the television is a familiar sight: Jubilation Lee, seated in a 'criss-cross-apple-sauce' position. She's with a very /unfamiliar/ sight: a baby boy wearing a lime green onesie with fake cat ears on its hood. He's busying himself in that way that babies do, lightly smacking Jubilee's legs, making non-specific noises, sticking his fingers in his mouth, etc.

"Look, that's the Count!" Jubilee announces, pointing her finger at the vampire muppet counting something on the television. "Just like mommy!"

The baby doesn't care.

Alex Summers has posed:
Wearing khaki cargo shorts and a blue t-shirt with sneakers, Alex Summers has taken the casual approach to today's adventures. Walking through the mansion; he hears the familiar sounds of the Count, counting, and then Jubilee's voice as she talks to someone in a cutsie voice. He gives pause and then makes the turn to enter the room where he might see what's going on.

Moving around the room, he's not trying to be sneaky, so the footfalls of his sneakers can be heard on the hardwood transitions to rug and back again. Then to see just who and what is going on.

Alex comes to a stop a few feet to Jubilee's left where he can see the baby and she on the floor/rug. He's got no clue what's going on and says quietly, "Hey Jubilee... where'd you get the baby?" It's pretty apparent that he doesn't even know who the baby belongs to.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilee leans her head backwards and looks up at the upside-down Alex. "...Alex, aren't you a little old for the 'where do babies come from?' talk?" she jokes. She lifts the baby a couple of feet into the air. He flaps his little arms a couple of times. Jubes gives the baby a little wiggle and grins. "Alex, this is Shogo."

Shogo looks up at Havok and reaches up with both hands, flaps his arms again, and then sticks one of his hands into his mouth.

"Found him," Jubes explains with a shrug. "Now I'm his mom. Life moves pretty fast around here, huh?"

Alex Summers has posed:
Alex isn't really a father-figure. He's not really into kids. But he does find them cute. He smiles with a slight tilt of his head while looking at the child. But then his brow furrows as Jubilee says that she 'found' him. "I'm sorry, what? Hang on, you found him? Like, ... Okay, I'm not trying to be accusatory, but you didn't by chance eat his mom and realize that he's now and orphan and you feel guilty. It's not that sort of thing, right?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko parks a broom in the corner of the recreation room when she blurrily enters and sheds a weird kind of poncho-like apron that's been...cargofied, lots of pockets here and there.  She sheds this, draping it to rest just so and balance impossibly on the broom handle.  Next she centipedes over to the snack table, snatching up three bags of chips and sending them sailing to her destination as she picks each of them out...that destination being the couch behind Jubilee and Shogo.

The chips are falling!  The chips are falling!

The last thing to pop over the back of the couch is Noriko, with a soda.

"Did I miss the Cookie Monster?"  Then Nori looks from Jubes to Alex, back to Jubes.  "What?"  Yeah she missed the whole thing, but something is - going on.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"Yeah, finders-keepers, right?" Jubilee adds with a little shrug. She's joking. Now with Alex here, Jubes moves her Ray Ban sunglasses from her hair and slips them over her eyes. She doesn't want to risk an accidental glamour. "No, Alex, I didn't kill anyone," Jubes answers joylessly. "They were like that when I got there."

She picks up the baby again and moves him around like she's playing with a doll. "Boopbooboopbooboop," she coos with each fake step she's making him take. His feet aren't really even touching the floor. "This isn't so hard. He's like... mommy's little fidget spinner," Jubilee jokes. She brings Shogo right up to her face so she can make little kissy noise against his nose. "Aren't you? Mommy's little fidget spinner...."

It's sickening.

"Cookie Monster goes on in five minutes," Jubilee answers Noriko, recognizing the speedster's voice but doesn't bother to turn her head to look in her direction.

Alex Summers has posed:
Alex hears, he watches, he looks concerned.

Alex asks, "So you /found/ his parents dead and decided to take the baby? And now you're calling yourself the baby's mom? You know this whole situation isn't something that should be happening, right? There's a whole system of checks and balances for children who have been orphaned. Where the kid can get the care they need so they don't grow up to be Dexter or end up being tossed aside when you get bored with your new toy. And Xavier's really isn't the place."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
CRUNCH!  Noriko was wondering whether she should interrupt Alex's lecture with the opening of the chip bag or the tasty tasty Dorito.  She realized she couldn't hold onto the suspense of waiting to put the chip in her mouth.

Crunch-crunch.  Noriko isn't watching the TV.  She's watching Alex and Jubilation.  She might as well be whistling.

Crunchity-crunch.  This is the slowest she's ever eaten any food, but the suspense is TIGHT!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"/Well/..." Jubilee begins, really emphasizing the word. "Let's pretend that I owe you an explanation." She leans forward and makes baby-talk in Shogo's face again. "But I don't, do I?" she coos. "No I don't, no I don't!" Shogo loves it.

Jubilee closes her eyes. To anyone nearby, something just feels off. The emotional landscape of the room starts to darken as Jubilation struggles to keep her supernatural nature in check after hearing Alex's questions descend into downright insults. Her lips curl inward, eyes closed. Shogo stumble-crawls towards Jubilee and gently smacks her leg with one of his tiny hands. She opens her eyes.

"/I'm/ the checks-and-balances for him," is Jubilee's answer to that. Her fingers curl inwards and starts tickling Shogo's stomach. Like most things like this, he loves it, and starts laughing! "And I guess it's 'bring your baby work day' today," Jubes adds, shrugging her shoulders.

After a few seconds, Jubilee gently places her hands over each of Shogo's little ears. She looks up at Alex. "And, fair warning, Alex..." Jubes starts, yielding to her vampire nature a little bit. Her expression is cold, monstrous, and very not-at-all like Jubilee. "...You might know, you might not... I don't know, but, it takes a lot of effort for me to just, like, exist... pretending to be normal and all that... to fight what I am and what I want to do. What I /need/ to do. So, like, if you /ever/ say anything like that again, that I'm gonna toss him aside, or you call him a toy, or whatever... I'm just gonna be what I am. And I promise, you're not gonna like it."

With that unpleasantness out of the way, Jubilee removes her hands from Shogo's ears and smiles at him. "Look, Shogo! Cookie Monster!" she announces, pointing up at the television again.

"Nori, Cookie Monster," she adds with significantly less joy in her voice.

Alex Summers has posed:
Alex's look of concern shifts. He clenches his jaw and his blue eyes narrow. He also grows warmer - as in giving off heat. Or in his case, fiery plasma wanting to escape the confines of his 'insides'. It'll will bring the room up in temperature as well. He glances at the child, then back to Jubilee. He knows that it's not the place to have conflict. "Apparently you just don't get it. You've lost touch with humanity and cannot see or understand that the baby is at risk in many ways. Developmental, nutritionally, emotionally, physically..." and then he pauses thinking about all the other risk factors. Then he states, "How about we let the powers that be sort this out. Now that Xavier is back, let's see what he has to say about the situation."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko doesn't butt in to save the day.  The only fingers she lifts are the ones in her squeaky gauntlets she's using to slowly eat chips as Jubilation's maternal instincts gently unfold before her eyes like giant mythical bat wings, then proverbially fold back.  Damn.  She downs the rest of the first bag in three seconds after Jubilation releases some of the tension in the air, but it doesn't last long.

The pre-show is good.  Maybe Noriko should show up early more often.

But when Noriko feels the heat rise, she stops tearing into the second bag.  She senses it very early, because she was eating with speedy vigor.  Then she chokes on a piece of chip.  Panicking suddenly, she doesn't think to slow herself down and ask for help.  Instead, she does the comic thing of jumping up and down and coughing until the chip shard dislodges and shoots out at dangerous speeds as her body flares with a crackle of electricity like sometimes happens when she sneezes.  Luckily she aimed it at a cushion.  Mind you, this all takes place in the span of like two seconds, so it's over before it ever begins for anyone else.  It leaves Nori looking red faces and serious for just long enough to look like she might seriously agree with one of the parties here, but it's not clear who.

But despite Noriko's grave looks to the parties that be, THAT INCLUDES YOU SHOGO, she adds nothing verbally.  She's really too busy checking to see if everyone is still not bleeding.  Okay check.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"No, no, I get it," Jubilee protests. By now, she has Shogo bouncing up and down in her lap. Each of her hands holds each of his so she can help him clap for Cookie Monster. Clap clap clap.

"For some reason, you think I can't take care of a child," Jubilee summarizes. She doesn't bother addressing each of his risk factors. In between sparring with Alex on this, Jubes still makes time to hype Sesame Street for Shogo. She leans in and rests her chin on one of his shoulders. "Look, Shogo, Bert & Ernie. Bert is a jerk, huh?" She plants a kiss on one of his cheeks and immediately makes a face. The taste of mystery baby sludge.

Alex's proposed 'how about...?' gets an unkind answer. "'How about'.... you butt out?" she suggests.

"Uh oh! Mommy said 'butt' !" Jubes tells Shogo, laughing quietly in his little ear.

After enjoying that moment, Jubes turns and gives Noriko a little glare. Her expression says it all: thanks a lot.

Alex Summers has posed:
Alex is only momentarily distracted by the blur of motion that is Noriko before Jubilee's words pull him back to the bite of the conversation.

He slowly shakes his head and says, "No, Jubilee. There's no butting out. I've seen these movies before. Stake Land, Daybreakers, and Hunger. Vampire starving, can't control their hunger or urges. Baby gets eaten. Fuck that noise. Or worse, turn the baby, toddler, or child into a vampire. Yeah, we're not playing this game."

Alex is done with the conversation. He mutters something about Xavier sorting it all out as he turns on his heel and starts walking toward the exit.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko coughs, a little slower this time, but more to clear her throat.  It doesn't really count since Jubes already glared at her, but she says, "Um, you may not think Jubes not going nuts and turning me or not drinking my blood all the time," like that's any of his business, but apparently she doesn't! "doesn't count because I can zip around?  I've been kidnapped more times than I can remember, so it's not that hard to get the drop on me," she actually admits genuinely.  "Plus it's not like I'm going to let a baby get turned into a raisin."

"I hate to break it to you Alex, but this is real life and not a movie," Noriko calls out as he's walking away.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"Oh, great, you've been to the movies. Since you know everything, then you must know what's gonna happen to you if you don't get out of here!" Jubilee fires back. "When you find him, be sure to tell him about all your prejudice against vampires. And say 'hi' to Corey Feldman for me, too!" she adds for good measure.

"'It's not like I'm going to let a baby get turned into a raisin,'" Jubilee mutters, imitating Nori. "Thanks a lot, Nori. Really cool. Really. I really appreciate you keeping an eye on me." She sounds very, very sarcastic about it.

Jubes closes her eyes and leans forward, gently pressing her face against the top of Shogo's head. Though she's no longer watching the television anymore, Jubes still claps Shogo's little hands for him, cheering for whatever dumb muppet is being dumb right now. He loves it.

Alex Summers has posed:
Alex ignores the last few comments and exits stage left. He doesn't even bother to acknowledge the challenging words. Instead, he leaves the room and the conflict. He's a man on a mission to keep the baby nomming from happening.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"What?  You had it handled," comes out before Nori can stop herself.  "And it's true.  If I was walking down the street and saw a baby turning into a raisin I'd stop it!"  She doesn't understand all of the implications immediately, nor that there is probably something to them.  She probably /is/ keeping an eye on Jubes.  "Do you really think I think you'd use him for food?  All you've done is play with that thing since you got it."  At least Noriko doesn't instinctively say stole.

"I mean, it's kept you /up/.  I don't even know how that is even happening," Noriko says between chips as if it is some sort of voodoo.

"This was why I was trying to keep my mouth full of chips...."  This being the unfortunate words coming out of her mouth that have gotten her into and continually get her into trouble.  "I mean, what did you really want from me there, to swoop in and save the day?" she asks genuinely...with genuine skepticism.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilee closes her eyes so she can roll them in private. "He's not a thing!" she snaps suddenly. "He's not an it! He's a little baby...." The sudden change in tone startles Shogo. He looks up at Jubes and finds an angry face. In an instant, her expression softens and she draws him in with her arms. "It's okay, it's okay," she soothes.

"Yeah, I don't get it, either," Jubes answers, as simple as that. Truthfully, it's really weird how she's been losing 'sleep' because of him. She doesn't sleep. It's more like a return to death, but she hasn't really been doing that recently, either. It's possible that the ability for a baby to keep someone up is stronger than whatever dark magic makes vampires return to their coffins during the day.

When the speedster questions what Jubes wanted from her in this interaction, she looks down for a moment so she can chew on it briefly. "...Well," she begins. "Yeah, Nori, I did."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Shogo's mysterious powers over Jubilee and the forces behind her only give Noriko more reason to look at him like he's a three eyed toad about to hop on her.  "Yeah I know it's a baby, you know it's a baby-he-he's a baby."  Noriko's subconscious distancing is even stronger than the knots in her stomach she's consciously aware of.

The realization that Jubes really needed her only makes Noriko feel even worse.  She doesn't finish the chips.  She takes a heavy breath.  "I think if I get involved things are going to go even worse."  Than they already are?  Is that the implication.  Noriko doesn't expound, doesn't clarify.  The words don't come easily.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Shogo stirs a little, which draws Jubilee's attention to the television. Sesame Street is over and has been taken over by a show about woodworking. "Gross," she mutters. With Sesame Street no longer in the mix, Jubilee stands up with Shogo in her arms. She doesn't bother asking Noriko to elaborate on that. Instead, she takes a step towards her and offers her baby.

"Can you take him for a second? I gotta go to the bathroom," she lies.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It is rather strange.  It's not like Noriko doesn't have a maternal bone in her body.  She actually gravitates toward the younger students ever since she got here.  Anyone looking on would swear she's fantastic with kids.  Anyone looking on today would swear Noriko thought she was being handed a WMD.  It doesn't matter how fast one is, when one's fiance is coming at them with a baby.  One simply can't pull a Roadrunner and beep beep the eff out of there.

One can't let the baby drop on the floor either.  Noriko reaches out tentatively holds Shogo away from her body.  It takes her a whole half second more to realize, "Wait, why?!" she calls after the retreating vampire.

"For the record, I think you'd be better off with the floor watching you," Norio says to Shogo's soft spot, because she still won't look the baby gorgon in the eyes.  Anxious, Noriko can't help but keep falling back into a faster rhythm, which just means the whole process takes longer.

"Buh!" This wasn't an answer, but an exclamation, no a demand for Noriko's blue hair.  He's a hair guy.  Shogo's little sausage fingers wiggle, outstretched toward their neon prize as if this would somehow bring the hair closer.  It doesn't.  Her hair starts to rise up as the charge on her body migrates and crawls with her rising anxiety.

Noriko's hair starts to float upwards with static charge, which gets a huge clap-clap-clap-giggle from Shogo.  This seems to clue Noriko in, plus the subtle sensations in her body.  "COME BACK!"  Noriko sounds fearful and then she deposits Shogo in the center of the rug, away from her body.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
The door to the Recreation Room doesn't even close behind Jubilee before she's already returning through it. If she was traversing at normal speed, she'd be able to maybe tell her to just wait a second and that she's on her way, but Jubes vampire-blurs across the Recreation Room and appears sitting next to Shogo down on the rug.

"Did you enjoy playing with Nori?" she asks Shogo, grinning a little as she scoops him into her lap.

"Three and a half seconds," Jubes confirms, briefly glancing up at Nori. She held Shogo for a fair-and-square three and a half seconds. Not bad.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko feels relieved just to sense Jubilation's movement, the flicker of that shadowy presence appearing on the edge of her vision.  She didn't like even leaving Shogo there alone.  And suddenly, she finds herself inexplicably out of breath and shock painting her face.

"Wha-"  Noriko knew she had issues with Shogo's presence, his concept.  She knew she wanted nothing to do with his corrup-trajectory.  "I tried to hold him.  I really did," Noriko insists, still panic ridden and out of breath.  She leans over, bracing herself against her knees, finding the sensation foreign and strange, even if humans experience these symptoms every day from things like...jogging.

"Shogo, it's not you, it's me okay?  It's me," Noriko rapidly tries to assure the baby.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"You'll get it," Jubes assures, shrugging off the apparent failure as evidence of progress. "Aw, Shogo, it's not you. You're perfect," she tells him, leaning in and making yum-yum-yum noises as she pretends to taste his cheek. Jubilation has a lot of anger right now. The prejudice against vampires had fallen below the surface, or so she thought, but that exchange with Alex was evidence that it's not actually gone. The accusation that she'd hurt or ditch Shogo was a particularly hard blow. But, with all of that swirling around, Jubilation rises to her feet. With Shogo held in one arm, Jubes slips the other one around Noriko's shoulder.

"And you're perfect, too," Jubilee tells Noriko, dragging her fingers against her back. "It's okay. It's okay." She's not sure what's okay, but Jubes is sure that it is.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has her doubts, but she doesn't reshare them.  A part of her is hoping some authority figure will swoop down, mind-rake a whole bunch of people, and it will be like nothing ever happened.  Noriko won't have to come to terms with anything, and everything will be brilliant!  It's a glancing hope she clings to in her immediate fear that she doesn't realize grips her.  A reflex.  Like the impulse to want to rewind one's life.  She doesn't even /like/ telepathy.  Really, she has no idea why her heart is racing.

But when Noriko feels Jubes' arm around her, her mind begins to calm.  Jubes doesn't just ground her, she /grounds/ her.  The vampire's words are a balm, melting away the peaks of the situation.  "I'm sorry...for not standing up for you."  Nori, for Shogo too.  For Shogo too.  He exists.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"It's okay," Jubilee says, dismissing the whole thing. She lowers her eyes and shrugs. "...It's not even really about that. You've just been kinda... weird, I don't know. I get that I just sorta dumped this on you, but..."

They're alone for the most part. Besides, why do they have to be alone? Jubes leans in and buries her face into Noriko's shoulder, still gently rubbing the speedster's back. Shogo, meanwhile, reaches up and grabs a handful of Jubilee's hair.

"I can't change what I did...but I wouldn't change it if I could. Shogo is a Lee now. Jubilation Lee and Shogo Lee," she explains. That's it. They're a package deal.

"Will you be a Lee with us, Nori?" she whispers.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Is it okay?  Am I okay?  There's a part of Noriko that has asked this question for  most of her life and it seems to come up like a bell echoing through time.  When Jubilation points out how weird Nori has been acting, her gaze drops knowingly, aware of her own strange behavior, but not entirely able to grapple with it, articulate it.

As Jubilation continues to talk, Noriko at first is seized with the fear that she might be having knots in her stomach again, but is relieved when they are just butterflies.  But Jubilation is a Lee, Shogo is a Lee.  Noriko does the math in the gulf of a moment between Jubilation's explanation and question and it changes her world.

The blue haired speedster pulls back and looks at Shogo and Jubilation together, Jubilation and her son.  She nods, unable to say anything, tears crackling down her cheeks.  Then she wraps her arms around the Lees for their first family hug.  "Yes."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilation closes her eyes and smiles, hugging Noriko back with her free arm. "In case you're worried, you can still be a b-word towards me for a while," Jubes whispers, censoring herself for Shogo's benefit. "I still deserve it."

Evidently, despite Jubilee's performances for Shogo, Noriko's general chilly attitude hasn't gone unnoticed. But, Jubilee forced a baby into their lives, so it's not like she has much of an argument to make about it.

"But you gotta stop at some point," Jubes adds.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilation closes her eyes and smiles, hugging Noriko back with her free arm. "In case you're worried, you can still be a b-word towards me for a while," Jubes whispers, censoring herself for Shogo's benefit. "I still deserve it."

Evidently, despite Jubilee's performances for Shogo, Noriko's general chilly attitude hasn't gone unnoticed. But, Jubilee forced a baby into their lives, so it's not like she has much of an argument to make about it.

"But you gotta stop at some point," Jubes adds.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well, this kinda changes things a little," a LOT.  The fact that Noriko is outright saying something means a lot.  Noriko chose this, quickly, but she chose this.  "I can't set such a crappy example for Shogo."

"So I'll work on it quick," that is, the whole b-word thing.  "I don't want to be a b-word," it feels so awkward to say, "to you.  I just want us to do things together, to make decisions together.  I want you to come to me first when you need to smuggle a baby across international lines...because I could really help with that okay?  I've got experience," she says through her emotional, crackly tears.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
"Yeah," Jubilation agrees. "We're supposed to. This one just sorta happened in just a second, though." She releases Nori from the hug and uses her newly free hand to gently pry Shogo's hand from her hair.

"C'mon, I think you need a nap," Jubes points out. She grins and turns her head towards Shogo. "And I think you do, too, mister!"

"And I gotta watch some TV without puppets for, like, ten minutes to balance myself out," she adds before motioning towards the door to go.