4389/Sparkle Shock

Sparkle Shock
Date of Scene:	13 December 2020
Location:	Dorms
Synopsis:	A week after Noriko arrives at Xavier's (2019 Thanksgiving), Jean shows Nori to her permanent dorm assignment. Jubilation Lee. Ever persistent, Jubes manages to chip away at a tiiiiny bit of Nori's storm cloud.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Jean Grey, Jubilation Lee

---

Noriko Ashida has posed:
2019.  Roughly before Thanksgiving, a homeless teen showed up at the gates of the school.  Julian was, well, Julian to her, so she left.  Not long after (not a week ago), a mishap with a local coffee shop owner in Salem Center left the owner in the ICU and Noriko in Xavier's.  Since then she's been outfitted with bulky metal gauntlets that extend up just over her elbows, and, she's died her hair blue.  Thanksgiving celebrations were today, and those who do not have homes to visit are the only ones still around.

Up until now, Jubilee has gotten away with being the only sophomore without a roommate, the odd one out of musical chairs who gets to play on a cell phone the rest of the game.

  But not today.  Noriko is carrying only what she's been given by the school.  She's been a walking brochure.  Noriko sighs at the lights guttering.

Jean Grey has posed:
The people who live at the school full time is still a decent number, so it's far from a ghost town even if the hallways are a little less crowded and the tables not completely packed. Jean's own family lives just an hour's drive upstate, so she's able to work in a quick visit around the school activities. It's one of those times where she doesn't feel bad about 'cheating' to take the moderate shortcut of flying rather than taking the Metro North.

"Are they working alright?" she wonders, as they walk down the hall and the lights flicker. "We'll have to work on that. There are options beyond physically restraining your power usage that we can explore, you know. Or there's precedent, anyway, for creating certain psychic blocks and limiters." Naturally, the then-Assistant Headmistress thinks on mindwhammy terms as opposed to Dr. McCoy's more technological solutions.

Eventually, they reach a door. "Ah, here we are." She reaches up to knock, and then calls through the door. "Jubilation?" its a little overly formal, but she's doing 'school business'. "It's Jean. I'm here with your new roomate."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Come on in, roomie!" a cheery voice calls from behind the door.

    When the door is pushed open, Jubilation Lee comes into view. She's sprawled out on her bed, on her back, with her head hanging off the end. The noise of the door brings Jubilation's head to lean backward so she's staring right at the opening. A pink bubblegum bubble about as large as her head reaches its decision point and *POPS* just in time to trumpet the new student's arrival.

    With the flattened bubble dangling from her mouth, Jubilation rolls backwards off of the bed and does a little spin move so that she's facing Noriko and Jean. Her two hands are brought up in a *ta-da* sort of gesture before she lowers them and thrusts a hand out for shaking. "Jubilation Lee!" she says. "Jubilee. Or Jubes, if you like. The school's split down the middle on that one!" The assistant headmistress is given a bright smile -- totally on her best behavior, tonight, truly!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"They probably are," Noriko mutters, not really making eye contact with Jean.  The girl hasn't said much since she got here.  Physically, Nori is still dealing with withdrawal from the drugs she'd been using to manage her powers, which has predisposed her to hide it all away.  But Jean's ideas around solutions actually prick the girl's interest.  Her eyes open wider and she looks to Jean, but doesn't comment.

Standing behind Jean, electricity ripples sporadically across her body.  "Sure.  I'm Nori."  She doesn't extend her hand.  "Pretty sure you don't want to be electrocuted."

Jean Grey has posed:
The rather lively and even celebratory greeting, complete with a gymnastics display, popped gum and all, brings a familiar smile to Jean's lips. There may be a reason, beyond simple space and logistics, that Noriko got this assignment!

... no, not that one!

Standing back to give the two room to say their respective hellos, she ends up leaning casually into the doorframe. Sometimes, it can be a little weird for her to feel like she's the adult in these situations, and her body language skews a little more toward dormitory RA versus proper authority figure. "So this is it!" she declares, presumably introducing the luxurious majesty of the room beyond. Which, while not actually luxurious, is still nice. Because school in a fancy old mansion! "Jubilee has been with us... its going on two years now, right? And she lives here full time as well. I'll let you two get into the details, but you've got some things in common, in how you came to find our little family, so I think this should work out."

Except for the whole electrocution warning. "Admittedly, we're still working on that detail. You got the message about your electronics, right?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Nori's pretty sure Jubes didn't want to be electrocuted...

    "Pretty sure you're right!" Jubilation agrees heartily. The hand is pulled up to rub conspiratorily against her chin. "Though, I gotta /say/..." Jubilation starts walking slowly in a circle with Noriko at the center. Her toes are purposely pointed at the ceiling and her heels are being stomped into the floor with each step. She's making a show of it. "You've hit the roommate lottery, here, because I am the absolute best -- a total charmer!" She flashes a bright smile, sharing it equally with Jean and Nori.

    "The school's totally kept me in here, all by my lonesome, because there just wasn't anyone /cool/ enough, really! Not until now, obvs!" Jubilation continues. Her declaration ends with both of her arms crossing in front of her chest. "I think you were /destined/ for this one!" she adds, nodding her head eagerly.

    With that decided, Jubilee turns towards her nightstand so she can grab the pack of bubblegum she had been working from. "Want some gum?" she asks suddenly, sticking the pack out for Nori to pull from if she wanted. Without waiting for a response, or even sure if it was safe that she offered, Jubes hooks her head towards Jean. "Yeah, I saw that..." she answers, the enthusiasm draining from her voice. "I thought it was just some form letter trying to get me to stop using my phone." Her eyes snap back to Nori. "My /phone/ -- can you even believe that!" she asks, gently rolling her eyes at the other girl as though they had known each other for years and years and years.

    "It went right into the... gar-bage!" she declares, pronouncing the word as though it was two separate words for emphasis.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Cool."  The girl has the faintest trace of a Japanese accent.  Noriko only met Jean not a week ago.  She has nothing to gauge whether Jean would make a cool RA or not, and she has no idea what an RA is either.  Or she'd probably have made a smart remark.  "Oh.  Well, better than a dumpster."  Of /course/ she didn't sleep in dumpsters.  Did she?

Noriko just stares at Jubilee, the whole situation surreal.  Being circled by a friendly sparkler shark, Nori suddenly darts away to the corner of the room.  It's the equivalent of a side step for a speedster.  She's blurred, but still visible.  "You don't even know me," Noriko points out to Jubilation's enthusiasm about Nori's coolness.  "But okay," she shrugs.

"It's okay.  I'm good."  Noriko doesn't try to take a stick.  "Yeah you might want to keep it plugged in."  And just, don't let her touch it either.  "What do you mean?  You threw it in the garbage just because of a letter?"  Noriko looks at her new roommate like her third eye has a third eye.

Jean Grey has posed:
"I know. It's been a real crime, keeping your shining personality locked away. But we do keep high standards around here. For academics and athletics, sure, but coolness too." Jean is happy to go along with Jubilee's grandiose version of things. And while it may not be technically true where it comes to the reasoning behind their room assignments, can she really argue with the rest? And when it comes with her ability to charm a new roomate, they may well be banking on the fact.

As for the electronics? "I hope she meant the letter. Er, wait." That was a very important memo to the student body that she drafted! She shouldn't be encouraging the casual disregard of school communications! "Don't throw out my memos!" Yeah, she doesn't have Charles' aura of authority all the way down, just yet. "But no, it was serious. The gauntlets we have should keep her powers in check, but there's still various issues. Both of her draining nearby systems, or of discharges, like she mentioned before. One way, your phone ends up dead. The other way it ends up fried. Do you need an extension cord for the charger? I'm sure we have some long USB cables down in the labs."

That all is a bit rambly, and Jean eventually wanders back to the topic, which includes noticing that Noriko has already retreated to a corner. "She might not know you, but she's not kidding when it comes to her personality. You're going to have to learn to put up with her being super friendly and nice, I'm afraid." Yeah, the sarcasm is also not hugely adult!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's accent, conversely, is that of a California mallrat and it's not faint! The bubblegum is practically used as punctuation. Better than a dumpster? "Aint /that/ the truth!" she agrees, glancing over her shoulder while unceremoniously stuffing her cellphone into her bedside table's drawer. She says it with the authority of someone who has slept in at least one dumpster.

    But then...zip. The speedster sidesteps into a blurry corner. "Well -- I guess you're going to be the school's new red-light-green-light champion!" she decides with a bright smile and thumbs-up. "But, even if you're not -- trust me, you're cool. I have a knack for that sort of thing!"

    Jubilee suddenly stands at attention and blows another bubble. *Pop*. "I solemnly swear that I will no longer throw away important school memos," she recites, bringing a hand up to show just how much she means it. Jubilee turns her head towards the cornered speedster and mouths a word: re-cy-cle! She turns back to Jean and gives her a bright smile. Malicious compliance.

    Jean's warning about her personality earns a shrug and a nod, both directed over at Nori. "I'm afraid so..." she adds, nodding again. She pauses, but only for a moment. For a normal-speeded girl, she did move a bit faster than others. She's still probably painfully slow to Nori, but still! "Hey!" she suddenly calls out. "Do you like skating? In-line, you know, rollerblades, not that two-by-two stuff!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Joy," the surly teen mutters in response to Jean being stuck with the barrage of nice.  "Yeah.  They say I won't blow up anymore," whatever /that/ means.  It's Nori, and while no one speaks Nori here yet, it's probably just as catastrophic as blowing up.

On the dumpster frontish, Nori really never /wanted/ to stay at Xavier's, but was convinced and really she knew they were right.  Plus her options were, limited.  "Red-light-green-light?"  That's not something she's learned from American entertainment.  "Well, I am cool, so I guess your cool meter isn't off."  She shrugs.  She finally sets her pile of Xavier's clothes down on the bed and sits on the edge.  She keeps her hands in her lap.  "Shredders work too," Nori offers back to Jubilee's mouthing.

"When I was a kid.  Long time though," and Noriko hasn't exactly skated around or anything since she found out she can go /way/ too fast.  "My thing is more softball," and probably would have been other sports (and can be now!)

"Why?  Is that your thing?  If you want, I'll slingshot you."  Because really Nori just wants to watch Jubes fly down a hill screaming her head off...probably excitedly, but that's part and parcel.  Gotta pay the toll.  Nori considers this all in her head.  It'd be a reverie to everyone else if she hadn't slipped unwittingly into her speed, something she's quite unaware of at this point.  "Do you need Adderall or something?" she suddenly asks Jubilee point blank.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean doesn't even require her telepathy to know exactly Jubilee's 'solemn' swear really means. So she rolls her eyes a little at the whole show. Which, again, is CLEARLY a very adult way of handling things, and not an impulse to respond in kind.

"Annnnnyway," she continues, giving up on that battle for the time being (while no doubt plotting further memos!), "for now you're stuck together. So you might as well make the best of it. Jubilee can give you a proper tour of all the school facilities, and explain some of the more day to day details of student life." Places to see, chores to do. And most of all, Jean is going to give the two of them a bit of space to do it. "So I'm going to leave you two to it. Nori, I'm sure your fabulous new roomate can help you with anything minor, but if you do need anything, you can go down to the faculty room and ask any of the teachers, if I'm not there." Her voice has evened out, the joking manner turned down as she gets a little more serious.

As part of this, she's pushed clear of the door, and now steps back into the hall. "And if you're going to propel said new roomate to extreme speed on roller-skates, wear a helmet!" She -may- have listened in to a little of Nori's extra thought process there. Or maybe she can just guess! She grins, at the last, and lifts a hand, before leaving them to their youthful devices. "G'night you two, try not to misbehave too much."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Well, if you're going to blow up... do it over there," Jubilee requests, pointing a finger and its brightly colored nail towards the bed that was undoubtedly reserved for Nori. "I got my side just the way I like it. Took ages, really!"

    Jubilee practically leaps onto her own bed, feeding into the mattress's natural bounce as she lands. Up and down and up and down. "Hey, skating is just a better way of getting around, you know? Why /walk/ when you could skate!" Jubilee answers, casting her hand out into the air as she describes it with some whimsy. She blows another bubble and retreats the hanging gum-blob back into her mouth.

    "Softball, huh?" she says in between chews. "You'll have to show me. I could show you skating, then. An even trade!" Jubilee falls backwards onto her bed and stares up at the ceiling. Another bubble. POP.

    The offer of a 'slingshot' brings Jubilee's hands up into the air, where she rubs her palms together greedily. "Well, /that/ sounds dangerous. I'm in!" she declares triumphantly. Jean's departure brings a fist pump. "I, and therefore /we/ will be on our best behavior!" she promises. It's all relative, really.

    But then... the question about Adderall. Or was it an offer? Suddenly, Jubilee sits straight up.

    "Why? Do you have any?" she asks, giving the other girl a mischievous look.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko nods to Jean as she talks about all the onboarding, but she's looking down at the gauntlets, pensive.  "Thanks," she says, lifting her gaze to direct the vestiges of a practiced, though strained, smile from yore to Jean, the kind kids use when facing pinched cheeks.  Noriko stands when she realizes Jean is leaving.  She offers a half bow of her head toward the departing faculty.  

Noriko pivots away from the door, still easily visible by Jubilee.  And then she pivots back as if just continuing through.  "Why would I do that?"  Wear a helmet or propel her roommate at extreme speeds?  Down a hill, skipping her across the lake, the sky is the limit...Indeed.

"Noted."  About locations she can blow up of course.  "Wait.  You mean I can't blow up over there?"  It's just another corner of the room.  She unceremoniously dumps the clothes into a drawer and flops back on her new bed which she should really be making, but.  Screw that.  She'll just watch Jubilee bounce up and down instead.  "I'm not sure I could stop on skates.  I mean I could stop."  She flattens her hand out and tries to make her two metal-legged finger person do a face plant.  It's hard enough with unencumbered hands.  She rolls her eyes and just rests them on her stomach, legs crossed at her ankles.

"I mean.  I haven't played in...I don't know," yes she does.  "Doesn't matter.  We could find some batting cages," which means, why don't you use all your energy to find batting cages so I can mooch off your research, but in a cool way.  Sure.

"Not on me, but I've got a stash of some things."  Unless Jean has ripped it from her mind and GONE TO LOCATE AND CONFISCATE IT!  "Do you want to slow down or speed up or...?"  She reaches up to brush her hair out of her face and it gets caught in the joints of the gauntlet.  "Do you have-ow...anything?"  She flexes her fingers, trying to loosen things up and find where they are caught.

"And..uh, what's her deal?"  Noriko up-nods to Jean's departure.  At least the girl is talking...to someone, about something.  It's probably more than she'll say the entire semester outside of this room.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Well, I mean, I guess I can't really /prevent/ you from blowing up wherever you want, but there's this whole roommate-roommate social contract, huh?" Jubes points out, nodding her head. "And, like, bulletpoint 39 on there says not to blow up on your roommate's side of the room!" She blows and pops another bubble.

    "So -- what's underneath those, anyway? Is your skin all shriveled up like when you get a cast taken off?" A sudden thought. "...Or were they blown off like Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump? You know, arms instead of legs!"

    She's onto the next thought. "Batting cages...Batting cages..." Jubes recites. She leans back so she's lying on her back and then crosses one leg over the other. She bobs it up and down over her knee as she thinks on it. "Nope! I don't know of any, but I bet we can find some. We can ask our magic rectangles." The phone.

    Did she have anything stashed away? Jubilee lets out a sudden sigh. "Nooooo," she drones. "Things have all but dried up recently. Story of my life!" With that settled, Jubilee turns onto her hip so she can watch her new roommate.

    "Jean's cool," she admits. "I mean, I wouldn't bring up Adderall to her -- she's not /that/ cool... But, she's good people, at least..." For the briefest of moments, Jubes lets the act off the hook for a second or two.

    "She told me you spent some time on the streets..." Jubes mentions softly, her eyes looking away for a second. "...I did, too..." She lets that hang there. Best to just put it out in the open.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"You're signing /my/ contract.  And bullet point 39 just says to see bullet point 1.231a which says to see 39a, which has a picture of this," her middle finger, and a heartwarming smile.  Aww, it's like she shoved Jubes on the playground!  Hi!

"If I blow up, I need to not...be here, in the school," Noriko explains rather easily, with a metric shit ton of sudden gravity and maybe /too/ much to be taken seriously.  Noriko looks down at her gauntlets, then looks back to Jubilee with a completely straight face.  "Other girls have to deal with fat thighs.  I have Darth Vader hands."  Utter lie, but just think of all the awesome rumors!  "I don't even need these.  I was managing shit just fine before.  Don't know why I have to wear these stupid things."  Of course she does.  "Probably so I don't creep people out with Vader hands right?"  She would have done better with Palpatine, but he's just not as cool and doesn't even have a suit.

"I can go get it tomorrow," Noriko says with a shrug.  She already seems more at ease.  "Has anyone told you that your inside voice belongs outside?" she teases.

Noriko looks back to the door, squinting slightly when Jubilee brings up...well, what was a Tuesday two weeks ago.  Her gaze slackens to the floor at her new roommate's words.  "How long?" for you, her tone implies.  This certainly isn't a contest.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Had people ever told her that her inside voice is meant for the outside. "Like a thousand times -- who cares?" Jubes answers simply. Nori's Candyland path to flipping her off earns a smirk from Jubilation. It was something she could appreciate. Others might get mad or offended, but not Jubes! Not now. Jubilee leans on a single elbow, still watching her new roommate. The point about Darth Vader hands goes by the wayside, pushed there by another sudden thought exploding in Jubilee's brain.

    "Well, look, if a fist-bump or whatever is going to electrocute me, we gotta come up with some kind of secret no-contact handshake or something, if we're gonna be friends," Jubilee points out before slowly blowing up another large bubble. She lets it hang there as she watches Nori for a moment and then.... POP.

    It was not long before the discussion on their street cred would turn serious. "...About a year. A year at an orphanage before that," she answers softly. "...How about you?" Her tone implies that Jubilee was in total agreement -- it wasn't a contest. She wanted to hear that it had been shorter but not so she could win -- it meant that Nori could.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"We could just...I don't know, whatever."  Noriko sounds maybe a little faster?  "It probably won't be secret for long...unless we only do it in secret."  She kicks off her...well her sneakers /really/ need replacing, and it seems with all of the festivities (and Nori refusing to wear the ones someone wanted to loan her), no one has gotten her to a store yet.  Those sneakers are sign to anyone who's been there.  Her soles are so thin it'd be easy to wonder whether they completely cover her foot.

"Never been in an orphanage.  I bet it sucks though."  Noriko wouldn't wish even two weeks of being on the street on anyone.  "Three, or a little more?"  She lost track.  "I was in Japan with my-" She hesitates and there's a flash of a micro expression (to Jubilee that is, if she sees it).  Sadness?  Anger?  "With my family.  How'd you end up there?"  Noriko turns on her side to face Jubilee.  But it's not that simple.  Her gauntlets are just sooo bulky and she tries to rest one at her hip to keep them from completely blocking her vision because they don't fit anywhere

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The secret handshake idea had been abandoned. By now, Jubes had lifted her own foot and squints, trying to size it up against Nori's, even from the other side of the room and without the right vantage. "...Hey, Nori -- you wanna borrow some sneakers? I mean, it's totally cool -- I've got some Vans -- blue ones, you know, if you wanna match that bitchin' hair-do..."

    Jubilee's foot remains sticking up into the air, her toes wiggling a bit as she thinks about the orphanage. "Well, I won't lie to you -- it wasn't great, so... I left, you know? Just flew the coop!" Finally, she puts her foot back down and blows another bubble.

    "Here, if your parents get shot and there's no other family... You get sent straight to the orphanage!" Jubilee announces, slamming her fist into an open palm. Straight to the orphanage! "How about you?" Jubilee asks, shifting onto her back and then turning her head towards Nori.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko looks down at her sneakers over the edge of her bed.  "It's okay.  We've got history together," Noriko says of her sneakers, though it's really just a defense of sorts.  Really she just doesn't want to wear through Jubilee's.  "It's better for everyone," she says cryptically.

The blue-haired girl keeps trying to get situated on her side and finally just rests one hand on the mattress and one on her hip.  "I...wasn't in a good place either, so I got away and came here, to the States...What happened with your parents?"  It's not meant to be a transaction between them, but every time Jubilee reveals something more personal about herself, Nori feels guilty enough about having asked the question that she ends up answering Jubes' questions, even if she's skirting the details.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "So you left Japan and came to the U.S... And went right to the streets?" Jubilee works it out. "That's badass." And there she goes, trying to liven their collective spirits. At the end of it, they're circling the drain on why they were homeless and that's never good. Her parents? Well. "They were killed," Jubilee answers with a forced smile. This lingers a moment before Jubilee springs up suddenly.

    From the edge of the bed, Jubes stuffs her feet into the sneakers down at the floor. "You hungry?" she wonders, looking over at the other girl. "I know it's late, but I'll show you where they keep the snacks. If anyone gives us trouble, we'll just say I'm showing you around! Piece of cake!" Jubilee stands and taps her chin a couple of times. "...There could actually be cake..."

    Jubilee lingers near the door and snaps her fingers a couple of times. "C'mon...I thought you were supposed to be fast!" she teases. She snaps a few more times, bringing her hand across the air in an arc. These snaps would produce a trail of globs of light energy -- a splattering of orbs, balls, streamers, and tiny explosions of every color imaginable. Harmless, really. She gives the other girl a wink. Fair's fair, after all. She saw Nori's powers, at least one of them, anyway.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah," close enough, but she doesn't sound as pumped about it as Jubes.  Noriko's eyes keep falling off into stares at nothing that bodes well.  Noriko's a little relieved when Jubilee saves them both from Noriko opening that can of worms with a simple answer that could have been gotten by deduction.  "That...sucks."  Parents.  A complicated subject.

Noriko is outright starving.  "Yeah."  She's not used to using her speed since it affects her metabolism and, eating on the streets can be hard enough for a mutant or anyone.  Does she tell Jubilee that she was already shown the kitchens and given liberal access to it?  Eh, that'd take work for no reward.

"Your power is like a ten year old's thrown up birthday cake?"  This /actually/ is a compliment.  Nori grins.  "Beautiful."  And then suddenly she's behind Jubilee.  "Hi."  Then she's down the corridor.  "I'll race you," but she just waits so Jubes can catch up and then lets her lead the way.