4402/Salem Center Knows What Hit It

Salem Center Knows What Hit It
Date of Scene:	14 December 2020
Location:	Salem Center
Synopsis:	Noriko and Jubilee practice their unique form of tandem transportation to Salem Center and decide to raid the Baskin Robbins of all of its samples.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Jubilation Lee

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Noriko Ashida has posed:
Dinner has been had, and of course /Nori/ ate, but she didn't eat as much as she normally would.  Jubes and Nori had plans.  Those plans basically got so far as, "Let's ditch this place after dinner yeah?"  By now the two have a system that suits them both.  Well, Nori only groused a little at the start from having to go sooo slow.  Things have shifted though, or she'd no doubt still be complaining.  Instead, she's graduated to lame ribbing.

They are both shooting toward Salem Center at no rate anyone should travel on rollerblades, and faster than they have before.  It's a part of finding their mutual top speed.  Very important.  They've rigged up some kind of toe cable contraption.  Given how poor Nori is, it's definitely got a lot of duct tape going on and loops around her waist.  "So, I'm not sure if we should do the normal slowdown this time," which is basically Nori moving backwards to work as some kind of drag parachute for her roommate.

Yeah, perfect timing Nori.  Hello Salem Center!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Screams of delight peppered with bits of fear -- to give the sound some POP -- echo through the night as Jubilee is pulled on her skates. "I am never going to get tired of this-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s!" she shouts. Her last sound is broken up as her skates roll over the lines separating sections of sidewalk.

    She had spent the trip gripping the tow line, zipping through the night faster than she had any business going on a pair of rollerblades. When the opportunity to launch off of something presented itself, Jubes took it heartily. WOOOOO.

    "Drogue chute, Nori! Hit it!" Jubilee calls out, gripping the rope even tighter as she prepares for a sudden change in velocity.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko chuckles at Jubes' enthusiasm, but it's lost to the wind.  She's also thinking about, "I don't want to tear your arms off!  I don't know how much force it takes to do that!  I CAN'T HEAR YOUR SAFE WORD AT THAT SPEED!"  They don't have one, but true to character, Noriko does it anyways.  She has to start now anyways if she doesn't want to slow Jubes down without making her queasy.

The blue-haired girl whips around really fast, like someone bouncing off the baseline while running suicides.  Then she makes an arc to keep the line taught, watching Jubes adjust so she doesn't have to go down backwards.  Jubilee probably doesn't realize just how much Nori pays attention to her balance and all of the little things, even if she's so fast that she could prevent it all anyways /without/ such focus.

Okay time to see if Jubes' arms rip off.  Noriko slows dramatically to match velocity, coming into vocal range, "Just...uh, scream if this starts to hurt?"  Nori's gentle though.  Course, hopefully they have enough runway.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    If Nori was expecting Jubilee to have any insight on the forces needed to rip her arms off, she'd be very disappointed. No, Jubes has opened her smile so wide you could park a car in it, as they say, and happily whips around the tow line. Here it comes. "Hit the brakes!" Jubilee screams before bracing for the discomfort and g-forces!

    As Noriko and Jubilee pass each other, Jubes makes a point to -- very briefly -- let go of the tow line to show the other girl a thumbs-up. Here it comes...

    As the forces start to forcibly slow her down, Jubilee lets out a banshee wail. It's not a cry of pain, no, but almost a screaming siren that slowly slooooowly sloooooooooowly starts to build in intensity. When the scream reaches a crescendo, there's a sudden shower of *fireworks* trailing behind the young mutant. And then.... stop.

    Jubes drops the tow line and practically FLOPS onto one of the wooden benches that were splattered around Salem Center. "Shit!" she exclaims, leaning forward on her elbows as she tries to regroup from what she just experienced. "I didn't mean to do that!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Half of what Nori said was probably to trip Jubes up and just get a reaction, but yeah, probably /was/ a worry too.  Noriko's eyes widen at the sudden wail, expecting pain and then relief follows.

Noriko sees the fireworks bursting toward her.  She decides, at this point, her roomie can stop herself.  "What the hell Jubes!"  She brushes her hands through her hair to try and make sure she doesn't have an ember burning through her skull or anything.  She's smiling though.  She's not even winded.  She sits down next to Jubilee, her hands slipped into her damned poor excuse for a coat that's almost exclusively used as a windbreaker.  Electric colors and a style that looks like it belongs in the early 90s.  Probably from a thrift store or a Good Will store.

"I figured you had no intention of lighting me on fire or making me go blind, because you could totally do that while I'm sleeping."  Her speaking has gotten faster.  Either she's slipping on staying in this time frame or she's doing that /and/ building up a bit of charge.  "So if we went on a rollercoaster, would that happen?"  Her mind is buzzing quickly through all sorts of scenarios that may or may not get Jubes to involuntarily spray fireworks everywhere.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee reaches up to gently check her hair with her hands. "I'm /sorry/! Crimeny!" she nearly shouts. "I lost my concentration there for a second..." Her hands press against her temples and she stares forward. "...That was wayyyyyy faster than last time. Shit! Way faster!" Jubilee looks up and cocks her head to the side so she can watch her roommate.

    "You are /way/ faster than a rollercoaster!" she decides with some confidence. "...I think I was gonna pass out or something..." Jubilee decides before shrugging her shoulders with a faint laugh. "Maybe we'll take an Uber back?" With that decided, Jubes stands up and starts to skate in place, just doing a circle on the pavement.

    "So, let's see!" she says with some optimism. "...Wanna check out the ice cream shop -- the Baskin Robbins? We could pretend like we're gonna buy something and see how many free samples they let us have!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Fuck.  We forgot to stop the stopwatch."  Noriko pulls out her crappy burner 'smart'-phone.  One step above a flip-phone.  And the screen goes dark before she's able to get back to the timer app.  "Come on!  There was still sixty percent left!"  She considers not even putting it back into her pocket.  She could just chuck it into oblivion.

"I can just go slower or..."  Nori whips out without thinking after coming out of her reverie.  "Don't have the cash," for an Uber that is.  She shrugs.  She watches Jubilee, slumped back casually.  "Yes.  Ice cream in the dead of winter?  Absolutely yes.  Besides, no one's buying it so they have tons of samples to spare."  Nori-logic.

Noriko pops up onto her feet like bad stream glitching into place as it catches up.  It's easy for Noriko to keep pace with Jubilee's skating, but it isn't her body's natural rhythm and therefore a bit inefficient power use...except it isn't, because Jubes is probably one of the few people Nori spends time with that actually causes her to forget about how annoying it is.

She speeds through the door and into the bathroom so fast that the employees have their own theories.  The bell rings, the door swings.

"I'm telling you this place is fucking haunted."  Noriko walks out of the bathroom beaming and shoots Jubes' a wink.  Did she have to go to the bathroom?  Absolutely not.  This seems to throw more confusion into the mix.  A momentary bit of entertainment.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Don't worry about it!" Jubilee sing-songs, as she prepares for the change in footing when they go from sidewalk to the tile of the Baskin Robbins. "You got us /here/. I'll get us back!" She had burger-flipping money to pay for an Uber, but apparently none for paying for ice cream. It was more fun to push the free sample policy to its limit, anyway.

    Jubilee slaps her hands down on the glass counter-top. "...So, who died here, anyway?" she demands, looking up at the employees so unlucky to be working at a Baskin Robbins in December. "Ice cream shops don't just haunt themselves!" She gives Nori a grin before snap-turning back to the employees, giving them an accusatorial glare. "...Was it the rum raisin? Seriously, who contaminates a perfectly good rum ice cream with raisins!"

    Jubilation breaks this stare by pacing back and forth, dragging her fingertips against the glass as she passes by the different tubs of icecream. "...Tell you what, my good man..." she says to the boy working behind the counter. "...How about you set us up with a the first of many spoonfuls. First one...shall we say..." Jubes briefly glances at Nori and then back to the employee. "...Chocolate?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko recently lost her job slinging coffee after the whole getting kidnapped by the circus and forcing Nancy to work a double after 'walking out on the job.'  So she's been hustling a lot.  Like selling pumpkin bongs on campus during Halloween.  There was a whole pyramid of them in their room for at least a week.

"Cool."  Noriko doesn't sound as enthused about the car ride, but adds, "Thanks."

---

"I heard tapping on the pipes in there.  Might want to make sure no ghost girls are tied up in some secret room or something," Noriko delivers in deadpan.  "We can make you give us 50 samples or you could just give us a cone for free and we won't tell everyone in town how haunted this place is."  Why not take a few risks in life?  It probably won't work, BUT WHAT IF IT DOES?!

"First I'd like to taste the sherbet."  There are three kinds, but Nori doesn't specify.