4457/We Go

We Go
Date of Scene:	22 December 2020
Location:	Laundry Room
Synopsis:	Jubilee corners Noriko to investigate her night sobbing. Noriko reveals to Jubilee what happened with her family back in Japan and how she left her brother there. There is only one thing left to do. - Clearly though, one should only go to the Laundry Room if they want to bawl their eyes out. Cursed.
Cast of Characters:	Noriko Ashida, Jubilation Lee

---

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has laundry duty again.  It's better than getting stables duty since all the troublemakers get the shit jobs, literally, so she'll take it.  Typically there are more students assigned, but the only reason Noriko gets assigned anyone is not for functional reasons.  Instead, it's for sly social development (etc) reasons.

The laundry room is a great place to nap though, so Noriko is sprawled in one of the chairs, her hands resting on her stomach, elbows on the arms of the chair, and slumped down enough that she can let the back of the chair prop her head up.  It's a carefully thought out system.  Pssh.

The basement is certainly colder than the rest of the mansion, but that doesn't seem to bother Noriko.  Sleeping has not been an easy thing for Noriko lately.  She hasn't gotten much at all, so maybe it all just caught up to her.  She doesn't need what seems like much sleep anyways and generally cat naps throughout the day, catching rem much faster than her peers.  No snoring.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Typically there are other students assigned, but Nori's co-worker for the evening was bought out with a little plastic baggie about the size of a quarter. After buying some privacy, Jubilation Lee rolls into the laundry room on the wheels of her heelie sneakers. She zips around, weaving in and out between machines and tables before twirling in place in front of Nori. Ta-Da! ... Ta-Da! ... TA-DA!!!!

    "Unbelievable..." Jubes mutters before reaching out with her hand and snapping her fingers a couple of times in front of Nori's face.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It doesn't take much to wake Noriko.  After the first snap, Noriko's eyes shoot open.  Noriko only reaally wakes up though on the third snap, coming out of her jolt-awake-wha? state.  It's like some magic incantation.  Then upon seeing Jubilee, she grins weakly.  "Hey."  A quick scan of the room and she realizes her partner ditched her.  They were supposed to wake her when the loads got done.

"Did I miss something or something?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    When Nori comes to, Jubes smiles, raising her eyebrows in amusement. "Welcome, welcome, to the waking world, Nori," she replies with a smirk. What did Nori miss? Jubilee sticks her thumb in the direction of the door. "Just that your partner was of weak moral fiber..." she explains with a mock frown. "...Very disappointing..." Jubilee tilts her foot back and heelie-skates to the door so that she can gently close it. No interruptions.

    Jubilee skates back and then hops up onto one of the washing machines. She looks down at Nori and sighs softly. "So, what's up?" she asks. Her tone suggests that she's serious and that she expects the answer to be serious. She knows something's going on but was giving Nori the chance to come out with it before pressing the issue.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Guess you can count on anyone to be...who they are," to be people you can't count on, even at a school like this.  "Save for you."  Naturally.  Noriko rubs at her eyes and pushes herself up slowly.  Being fueled up in one way and not in the other has always made her feel like trash.

At Jubilee's question, there's the instinct to duck out, emotionally and physically.  Whatever it is, Jubilee's question immediately causes Noriko to shrink into the chair, her shoulders hunching forward defensively.  Fear, even to tell the one person in the world she considers her best friend, and really her only friend.  Silence stretches out for what must be ages for Noriko as her mind races and her perception shifts.

"I'm just fucked up like everybody else.  You know, parents."  Noriko shrugs it off, per usual, but her eyes tell Jubilee the truth, and even her words are a kind of truth.  She can't hide from the girl.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The bridge of Jubilee's nose wrinkles. "...Nori..." she begins, her voice softening. Any of the usual spunk and bravado that Jubilee normally presented has been replaced with genuine concern for her friend. Best friend. "...I heard you," she explains, watching the other girl carefully. For now, she'll leave it at that. "What's going on?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
That anchor around Noriko's heart drops.  Everything she's held back, kept at bay.  Things she's kept from Jubilee, one of two people in the universe that she cares about.  Her gaze shifts away from Jubilee and lifts her hand to rub at her eyes, though the metal just seems to make them red.  Force of habit forged long ago.

The jig is up.  Nori's face crinkles up as she tries to stop the inevitable flood of tears.  "A lot of shit went down before I ran away."  It's instinct, delaying, evading.  She knows it.  And so the tears break through, trickling down her cheeks.  But this time when she tells the story, she looks Jubilee in the eye defiantly, aimed at her own pain in truth.

"I showed my father my powers and he built...a cage for me."  Noriko's mind flips back to images that steal her attention here and there, fracturing her thoughts in a manner more akin to when she's hopped up on too much charge.  "Told the neighbors I was ill, homeschooled me," which means someone else, probably her mother, was complicit in all of this.

"I tried to run away, but that didn't turn out well."  Jubes knows that Noriko gets weak when she doesn't have enough charge.  In fact, Noriko has told Jubes what charge levels she needs to be okay, just in case she can't help herself.  "He-I never thought he'd-"  She never thought he'd do any of this.  "He beat me," something she's never told anyone.  "He tied me up."  Her breathing has picked up, heavy.  "He'd said before it was for my own good, for the good of the family...but I don't think it was ever for that...not after that.  Everything after that."

Noriko consciously takes a few deeper breaths.  "And then it was drugs..."  This is when Noriko looks down.  And then up again.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you..."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee hops off of the washer and takes a step towards Nori. "Hey...I know..." she begins once Nori mentions that a lot of shit has gone down. But...then...Nori elaborates. Jubilee takes a knee just a few inches in front of her roommate, always unsure when it's okay to touch her. She's taken to just reaching out and not making contact. The sentiment is the same.

    Jubes looks away as Nori elaborates on the mystery that hung over her for the past year. She opens her mouth, as if to say something, but then rethinks it. "Hey....Hey..." she whispers, leaning a little bit towards Noriko. "...You do /not/ owe me an apology, Nori. Not at all!" She takes a deep breath. "What's got you thinking about this?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko looks down at one of her gauntlets, a glance at her power gauge.  She doesn't close the gap between her and Jubes immediately.  Instead, she takes them off.  They looked flimsier than her first pair anyways, but when they clank to the ground, it's even more obvious.  She leans closer, but

Nori never initiates contact, but this is a signal.  It helps that no electricity is dancing along her body.  She leans closer, but doesn't touch. Even this is better than nothing.  Noriko looks up to Jubes again when she insists Nori doesn't owe her an apology.  Noriko reaches up to rub at her eyes as she feels more tears coming on.

"The last time I was gone..."  Her recentish absence from school.  "I was kidnapped."  Noriko doesn't know how much anyone was told.  It's not like anyone was going to tell Noriko, especially having been kidnapped not soon before that.  "They were doing lethal experiments on mutants.  Those things..."  Noriko breathes deeply as if she'd been holding her breath.

"I left my brother there 4 years ago, and I told him I'd be back for him."  It's clear this is something that has never left her.  That haunted look in her eyes.  "He needs me," her eyes raise to Jubes.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee takes a breath and reaches out the rest of the way, moving to take Nori's hand in her own. She falls silent for a few moments, first to take in Noriko's words. And then a bit longer to process them and sort out her thoughts. For a bit, Jubilee just sits there. But then...

    Jubilee stands up, still holding onto Nori's hand, as if there's an attempt to get her out of the chair. To urge her to stand. Jubilee smiles slowly and looks down at Nori. "...So, then we go," she declares. We.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
There is a light buzz at first, but not anything Jubilee wouldn't expect, nothing that would make anyone jump or uncomfortable, but it might make tiny hairs stand on end.  Her hands are warm, despite the metal.  When Jubilee remains silent, so does Noriko.

When Jubilee rises, Noriko looks up to her for a moment before rising.  She nods, no smile, but a determination in her eyes, sparking with electricity.  "Yes.  We go."  And yet, somehow, Jubilee doesn't experience any shock at all.