4497/Presents and...Presents

Presents and...Presents
Date of Scene:	26 December 2020
Location:	Jubilee and Noriko's Room
Synopsis:	Jubilee and Noriko exchange Christmas gifts and go on an adventure to repay Tabitha's Christmas hate crime against Nori. Also, hot Troll doll.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida

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Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The door bursts open, practically coming off of its hinges as Jubilee gives the door a stomp. She barrels in, laughing at the top of her lungs. "...Did you see that old lady?" she cries out, her words shuttering in between laughs. Jubes traces a path from the door to her bed, unbuttoning her yellow peacoat as she moves swiftly. The peacoat is tossed to the side, revealing a long sleeve, yellow crew-neck that says WORLD CHAMPION. That shirt paired with her black pleated skirt and tights suggests that Jubilee never intended to take off the peacoat and, therefore, didn't bother with anything special underneath.

    Once the peacoat is tossed to the floor, Jubilee LAUNCHES herself onto her bed, bouncing up and down a little as the mattress pushes back. "We may have committed war crimes," she says with another laugh. "With our strike-first diplomatic policy..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko lets out a huge yawn as she walks through the door at a normal pace, telescoping rod resting against her shoulder, mistletoe dangling behind her.  She rests it in the corner by the door and sloughs off her jacket.  That gets tossed in the corner more haphazardly than the weaponized holiday tradition.  Underneath is nothing all that special, just a two toned raglan long sleeve, heavier weight.  Red with green sleeves this time.

Nori's elf ears fall off when she pulls off the homemade curly ribbon rainbow beard thing and tosses /that/, though it hooks itself on the post of her bed.  "Not enough crimes.  I didn't even get to show you the, the-" She gestures back behind her. "I don't have a name for it-in action."  Noriko holds up a finger, takes off her socks, and then dashes out, back in an instant with some milk and cookies.  Were those for 'Santa?'

Noriko moves over and lazily kicks her leg out a little to signal Jubes to move back and obviously not rock the boat because naturally there will be sharing (not that Noriko couldn't keep everything just level or in place with Jubilee doing backflips next to her, but it would get old quick).  Without waiting, Noriko hops on the end of Jubes bed and holds out a glass of milk.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation leans up to inspect the pole bearing mistletoe. "Oh, we'll come up with a name. That thing is DANGEROUS!" she declares, grinning as the vast possibilities make themselves known and hypothetical student pairings flicker through her mind. "We still have a few hours before Christmas. We can figure out a name before then!" And then... *zip* Nori is gone. Jubilee barely has a moment to put her hair back into place and grin at the speedster's exit before she's back.

    Jubes's eyebrows rise and she scoots back to give Nori some room. "Cookies!" she nearly screams. She gives Nori a sideways glance. "...You spoil me," she adds with an appreciative smile as a hand goes to take the glass. After a tiny sip, Jubilee suddenly REMEMBERS.

    "Oh! Speaking of...."

    Jubilee sets the glass of milk on her bedside table and swings her legs around so that she's lying on her stomach. She bends forward, sending her butt into the air and her head and hands searching under her bed. Jubilee's legs slowly kick up and down as she searches underneath her bed...

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko smirks at Jubes' nearly ear-piercing nearly-scream.  She folds her legs up and tilts her head.  "You know you can hog the milk right?  It's easier for me to run and get-" and she's off and back.  A gallon of milk appearing in her hand which she opens and drinks straight from the plastic jug.

As Jubilee lies bends forward Noriko just grabs a handful of cookies and stuffs one, munch, two, munch, three, munch...wait now her mouth is too full.  So she just keeps trying to keep it all in her mouth while she stares blankly as if she's fallen into one of her speed space-outs.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I know..." Jubilee says as she comes up from under the bed -- this one has the core strength of a planet. She scoots back, dragging her stomach against the bed as she pulls a wrapped preset up from its hiding spot underneath. Jubes bounces a little against the mattress and uses it to spring up to a kneeling position. The box is wrapped -- pink paper with blue lightning bolts on it -- and about the size of a shoebox. There's a second gift, wrapped the same as the first, that's smaller, only about an inch or so thick.

    Jubilee looks at Noriko and smiles. "Merry Christmas, Nori..." she says, genuinely, and sets them on Noriko's lap. "...Now, it's No Big Deal...." she begins. "But...... They're also the greatest presents anyone has ever gotten in the history of the Universe...But...again, no big deal!" Jubilee brings her hands down to smooth out her skirt and grins as she waits for Nori to rip off the paper.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Munch munch munch.  Luckily, Noriko blinks when Jubilee starts talking, having that lovely ability to do so before she truly misses anything, if she's engaged her listening skills when she comes out of a trance.  "Huh?"  Tell tale signal.

Noriko has been pasting pictures of kicks in her spiral notebook, trying to draw different renditions of them horribly.  She has bought so many pairs of sneakers that she knows the shapes of those boxes, but she still tilts her head.  "Two?  You said one!"  Jubes gets a look tinted by sharp approval evidenced by a slight squint.  
"Well I definitely believe they are the greatest presents ever."

The teen opens the smaller present first in real time, probably for Jubes' satisfaction.  Naturally, though, she's still ripping through the wrapping paper.  The first one she opens is a selfie of the two after their first tandem experiment.  Momentous!  No one died!  What a great time to not be splattered all of the pavement?  The selfie is framed in a hand-decorated picture frame made up to look like the cell phone with the largest screen in the world.  Some would call it a tablet, but THEY WOULD BE WRONG.  This phone won't be sapped of electricity or overloaded.

Noriko tries to keep a straight face, but she's horrible at this.  Experiencing emotions faster is easier on so many levels, and she can keep those feelings mostly a secret encased in that world.  She remembers back to this time.  It was the first time she'd felt unspoiled joy in a long long time.  Her hand darts up to swipe under her eyes and she smiles, then /ever so suddenly/ bursts into a hug /at/ Jubes, because at any velocity beyond a human capacity is more like launching an assault, but this one is friendly at least!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee grins in anticipation. She bounces up and down anxiously a couple of times before reaching over Nori to claim a cookie for herself. No...Not that one. Yes, there. She grips the cookie between her index and middle fingers and brings it back over for munching. "Don't you worry!" she says. "They are." So confident. So boastful. Jubes takes a bite of the cookie and starts chewing.

    "No, not that one first---" Jubilee tries to get out, cookie chunks flying out into the air as she does. But, like always, she's too late.

    While Noriko is looking at the picture, remembering that awesome time that they DID NOT DIE, Jubilee provides commentary with a smile, cookie crumbs balancing perilously on her lips. "...That's my favorite picture in the world!" she says. "...Remember that day? We weren't sure it was going to work out, but..."

    INCOMING! Jubilee laughs and closes her eyes as she's suddenly hugged. With a speedster, there was never a moment to prepare, so Jubilee was just suddenly hugging her roommate in return. She gives the other girl a squeeze.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko hugs Jubilee tight, closing her eyes for a moment or two before trying to pull back before it gets too awkward.  She quickly bounds off the bed and whole bunch of useless random crap goes flying off of her bedside table where the picture is placed carefully before she's back again, ripping through to the next present.

There's a stop motion moment of her looking at the outside of the box, like she can't believe what she's seeing, perhaps even a bit incredulous.  "Love the wrapping job."  Smirk.  A tiny part of her might be expecting some kind of wonderful ruse.  Surely Jubes didn't spend this much money on her.  Does Jubes have this much money?  Noriko doesn't even know.  A thousand thoughts fly through her head as she heart beats a little faster.

SNEAKERS!  Kicks to be precise if one wants to get snobby about what Noriko prefers to call this style of shoe, which provides a lot more ankle support for her.  But enough about that, more about Noriko staring at them, not even taking them out of the box.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e4/ca/5d/e4ca5d1fedde73760a9398bba6088252.jpg

"They're even more beautiful in person..." Nori whispers, transfixed.  Her eyes widen and a big smile appears.  "I don't even know if I should /use/ these."  Maybe Dr. McCoy can somehow help her protect them from all the extreme forces.  Maybe she won't have to rely on him trying to ape her fashion choices!

Laced up and ready to go!  She couldn't resist.  "Jubes.  These are too much," she mumbles as she looks down at them, her legs hanging off of the girl's bed.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee grins, watching their room reach category five hurricane status as Nori zips back and forth to deliver the photo to its new home. And now, the main event. The only box remaining is the one with the sneakers. With the knowledge of what's inside, Jubilee waits in anticipation for Noriko to open it. "C'mon!" she demands. "Open it, open it!"

    If Jubilee's smile could go beyond the range of her face, it would. These two girls had a rough go of it, with Nori's life up to this point being unquestionably rougher. It was nice to be able to make Noriko happy, even if for just a little while.

    "I'm no math wiz, as we know, but I estimate that I sold over nine thousand cheeseburgers to pay for those!" Jubilee adds with a grin, now that the box is open and the sneakers are free to breathe. "I don't see what the /big deal/ is with those, anyway..." Jubilee points out. She flops onto her back and stares at the ceiling. "But... They're not for me."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Some of those cheeseburgers ended up in my stomach," Noriko adds, as if she contributed to Jubes' success at...selling burgers.  Course Noriko slings burritos from a wagon now.  "It was worth it.  Well..."  Still, Noriko seems a little tentative in accepting the gift.  She hasn't given them a spin, but maybe she's just enamored with them too much.

"Have you /seen/ my gauntlets?"  It's no secret that Nori thinks they're bulky and go with absolutely nothing.  "Dr. McCoy designed those," as if that says it all.  "I want to see if he can trick these out with his weird molecules so I can keep them for longer than a week or two."  Or less.  It all depends on her activity level.

"You know.  You just don't understand how cool they are because you haven't seen them on /me/," Noriko says with a laugh.  "So...I did get you something, kind of."  Noriko zips over to dig through a bunch of the crap on the floor that mixed in with her impulsive clearing of stuff.  Various objects of little value go flying up and behind her like a wood chipper.  Finally some little booklet flutters over her shoulder and she turns quickly enough to snatch it midair.  She hops over to flop unceremoniously on the end of Jubes' bed and hands it over.

"I totally sold about three burritos for this."  It had to be more than that even for the construction paper.  All different colors, each strip made out like some kind of weird ass currency.  Most of the symbols are food related.  There might even be little hidden faces that blend in with the other parts of the drawings because, well, Noriko gets bored.  But every single one is unique and chalk full of painstaking application of colors, Jubes' colors.

On each, in the center, in as fancy of lettering as Nori could pull off is written, 'Ticket to Ride,' and then in tiny text it gives more details.  Offer never expires.  Good for one roundtrip anywhere in the world.  There are...a lot of them.  Finally, at the back, there is a cardboard backing from a box that has a WARNING label on it about whiplash, keeping your arms and feet inside the 'vehicle,' a lack of liability for failing to dress for extreme temperatures, and that it isn't her fault if anyone dies of fun.

Batteries not included.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    While Nori woodchippers through the odds-and-ends on her side of the room, Jubilee takes a piece of the wrapping paper that previously covered up the sneakers. She holds the piece up in the air and peppers it with flashes of light and color -- little ones about the size of paintballs. They linger in the air as Jubilee positions the paper in the center of the little nebula. Suddenly, the balls explode, pop, and crackle but... the wrapping paper is unharmed. "I haven't been able to do it again..." Jubes admits with a sigh. She flops back down onto her back just in time to avoid getting wacked in the face by one of the baubles getting tossed across the room.

    When Nori flops onto her bed, Jubilee suddenly sits up with a grin. She swings her legs over the side of her bed and crosses them. "Holy shit..." Jubilee exclaims, staring down at the intricate details that fill the empty spaces of the drawing. She holds the booklet in both hands, gently dragging her thumbs against the paper. She moves a thumb to the edge of the booklet and begins to fan it like a flip book. "This...is so cool!"

    After fanning through it, Jubilee begins to slowly move from page to page, staring down at the surprises hidden in the designs. "...There's a burger... And a taco... And fries. Basically the whole food pyramid right there..." she muses. Jubilee looks up, suddenly, and smirks. "...Were you hungry when you drew these?" she accuses, grinning from ear to ear, before looking back down to find more treasures in the lines.

    "Thank you, Nori..." she says, finally. "This is awesome!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"When am I /not/ hungry?" Noriko reminds Jubes with a smile.  "You know those are actually usable right?  But every time you use one I have to obliterate it with lightning so you don't try to re-use them," she teases.  When Jubes fans through the book, she might notice a small animation of a hamburger face with pickles for ^__^ eyes grinning and then sticking its tongue out.

"Those took way too long to torch."  Of course Nori saw Jubes' attempt at the paper.  "Eh.  You'll get it.  You're already great at you powers."  Noriko has never expressed any open jealousy of Jubes.  The girl isn't a direct threat to the people around her (unless you count flashbanging them while being towed at extreme velocities), she can put on sick light shows for people, and she seems to have more control than, well Noriko.

"We should just keep practicing...oh!  What if you just need to get really pissed off?!  Maybe that will work!" Noriko says with unusual (for her) brightness about her demeanor.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "That's a good point..." Jubilee agrees, staring down at the hamburger sticking its tongue out at her. Again and again and again. Noriko was hungry a lot. It was probably pretty tough to room with Jubilee, who would come home from her shifts at the burger place unintentionally wearing fast food perfume. After flipping through the booklet a few more times, Jubilee leeeeaaaaans over towards her bedside table, opens the top drawer, and slips the gift in there for safe keeping. The drawer's contents were immune from the chaos.

    Jubilee rises to her feet and uses the privacy of her skirt to pull her tights down to her ankles and then off entirely. She tosses them to a small pile of clothing that she has mentally earmarked to be washed, eventually. "It's probably better if I can't light things on fire," Jubilee says. She tries to mean it, really she tries! But, isn't it cooler to light stuff on fire than...not lighting stuff on fire?

    There's a rustling at the door -- no one is knocking, but it's clear that there's something going on outside. Jubilee raises her eyebrows, glances over at Nori, and then looks back at the door. "It appears that a ne'er do well is rapping at our chamber door, Nori!" she exclaims, pointing her finger at it accusingly. Jubilee tip-toes towards the door, reaches for the knob, and......

    "Huh..." she says, looking down at the ground. Two small presents lie in wait. Jubes sticks her head out into the hallway, looks left, looks right, and then pulls herself back in. "Weeeeirddd," she says as she bends down to pick them up. "This one's for you..." Jubilee holds a square-shaped package, about half a centimeter thick, and frisbee-tosses it at Noriko. "And this one's for me..." she says, holding something oblong and lumpy. Jubilee kicks the door closed with her bare foot and springs for the bed!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Between Jubes and her own job, Noriko is constant torture cycling between eating like it's hibernation time and the tummy rumbles.  "You already room with someone who might light our fire hazard room on fire in the middle of a bad dream," Noriko points out.

"I'm an expert at destroying things."  About the only thing Nori's an actual 'expert' at regarding her powers.  She hops over to her own bed, one leg propped up on her knee, foot bobbing, her hands behind her head.

"Uh...they aren't rigged are they?"  Look.  Noriko doesn't have the best manners.  The present is caught!

The mystery gift is opened in a flash and Noriko is just staring down at the gift.  'The Music of Calm Zen' and 'The Best of Yanni.'

"Who the fuck left these?"  Noriko suddenly dives for the paper and turns it all around, looking for a clue.  "What'd you get?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "They're from Tabby..." Jubilee says, staring at a little tag dangling from the end of her lumpy, oblong present. She rips at the paper and pulls out a pair of pink, 90s-era sunglasses. "Hellooooo beautiful..." she says, holding them up into the light. "These are pretty cool...." With a smile, Jubes turns her attention to Nori.

    "What'd you get?" she wonders, smiling and totally expecting to hear about something good and not at all upsetting.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Fucking meditation shit and some guy named Yanni who looks like a brunette Fabio."  Even if Yanni is an internationally known artist, there's no way Nori would have ever heard of him.

Noriko's jawline is tense and and she nearly looks like she wants to melt the presents with lightning eyes, but instead, she just frisbees them over to Jubes' bed (as they are apt to do on any and every occasion).  "Those are cool though."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee's grin fades a bit as she notices Nori's reaction to Tabby's gift. She catches the frisbee'd CD effortlessly -- they do this all the time, after all -- and sets it onto her lap. She stares down at it, raising her eyebrows a bit. Jubilee stares at Yanni. Yanni stares back. Jubilee frowns at Yanni. Yanni stares back.

    Jubilee takes a breath and then.... reaches for the wrapping paper that she tossed onto the bed by her side. She brings the wrapping paper up to her eyes, squints, and then puts on a show. "...Shit!" she hisses. "I'm so sorry, Nori. I got them mixed up... 'To Noriko, From Tabby'.... I got them mixed up. The sunglasses were yours," she explains. Jubilee gives the pink sunglasses a gentle toss over to the other bed and establishes her status as World's Greatest Roommate.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"No they aren't," Noriko calls Jubes out.  Noriko has no doubt that Tabby would likely get her a color that she isn't into.  It's an easy mistake, but why would anyone get Jubilee anything about Zen?  Clearly, the damage has been done.

When the sunglasses sail her way, she looks like she's batted it back to Jubilee but it's just a quick flick of her wrist.  Whether Jubilee is trying to throw Nori a bone or not doesn't seem to matter.  But as she bobs her foot again, the sneakers seem to bring her back down a little.  She won't let it get her down.  Not this time.  "I mean, what is the likelihood that she thinks /you/ should listen to that?  Whatever."  Okay it might take a little time to completely let it go though.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Maybe she's not good at picking out presents for people..." Jubilee suggests, her face going flat as the sunglasses sail back to her and bounce off her pillow. "I mean... We can't expect /everyone/ to be as good ats us..." Jubes sighs and crumbles up the wrapping paper and evidence of her ruse.

    Suddenly, Jubilee's eyes go wide. "We didn't get her anything!" she realizes.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well obviously...I'll play it by ear," which is probably the most gracious Noriko can be for anyone who isn't Jubilee or her own brother...or maybe Ororo, but that has yet to be proven.  "You're right though.  No one can be as good as us," she says with a smirk.

"Yeah, because we hardly /know/ her.  Clearly she should be pranked as a part of the reveal...of whatever.  Should we just get her a bottle of liquor?"  That seems entertaining in a lot of ways to Noriko.  She looks over to Jubes for her reaction.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Absolutely we should," Jubilee answers effortlessly.

    Grinning, Jubes stands up and walks over to her dresser drawers. She pulls out a pair of comfy pajama pants and threads each leg into them. Jubilee pulls the pajamas up to her waist, drawing her skirt up towards her belly as she does. With the pajamas now on, she slips the skirt down to her ankles and kicks it into the corner.

    "We only have a couple more hours before midnight, though..." she points out, bringing a finger to her chin. "We'll have to be quick..." Jubilee looks over at Nori and smirks, realizing her error. "...I mean... /I/ have to be quick."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko isn't like Jubes for multiple reasons.  Her skills at getting around are nothing compared to the legendary Jubes.  Mostly because Noriko could always make do scrambling up something a thousand times over till she got it...and a thousand bruises all over her legs.

"We /both/ have to be quick.  You're the brains of the operation anyways," Noriko offers as if trying to get out of thinking out the prank.  "If we go with my idea, I'll just spoil your budding friendship."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I say... " Jubilee starts. She hops up onto her bed, now standing up there, and gently bounces up and down now that she's wearing pants. "We... find a bottle of something and we glue some earbuds on there -- I'm pretty sure I have extra after those phones...uh... you know -- and we make it seem like the bottle is listening to the CDs." She points her finger at the CDs, currently bouncing up and down on the bed as Jubilee does.

    "...'cause those are clearly an act of aggression," Jubilee adds. "So...an eye for an eye."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
There's a big jar that is now behind the picture of Nori and Jubes.  Noriko puts money into it every time she fries something of Jubes', and if it happens out of Jubes' presence, things are usually replaced by the time she finds out anyways.  Usually.  Nori gets up to check around that mess for some broken earbuds.  "Oh yeah.  Here are some!"  If they weren't before...oh wait, she doesn't fry them for once!  Of course, always when something is already broken right?

Noriko tosses the earbuds to Jubilee just so she can verify.  She's already on board, eyes gleaming.  "Yeah we're so doing that.  Pay-and-dash?  I've got like seven bucks on me after fueling up in the city," Noriko suddenly produces the bills.  Some things rattle in the wake of her searching.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee catches the earbuds and brings them up for inspection. "Yup!" she says cheerily. "Good ones. Well, bad ones. You know what I mean!" Jubilee starts wrapping up the earbuds and hops off her bed so she can pick up the Yanni CD. Her smile fades a bit as she watches Nori's flourish of cash.

    Jubes's eyes zero in on the new sneakers. "Oh..." she replies softly. "I guess it's just seven bucks, then. I'm broke." The bridge of her nose wrinkles a little as she considers their next steps.

    "I guess the best we can do is, like, cooking vodka... The kind of stuff restaurants use. Majorska!"

    With that decided, Jubilee bends down to pick up her yellow peacoat. She starts fastening the buttons. It wasn't necessary for her to go but part of being a partner-in-crime is being there.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Jubilee has the Yanni CD, so Noriko fishes up the meditation CD in her wake.  "Okay.  I got it." Noriko grins at Jubes and winks.  She probably knows a guy.  Sure that guy might be a bum this time, but he was always an expert in panhandling, and he owed Noriko.  Nothing like a lightning ball to protect you on a bender.

"Well I guess we could go with that!"  Noriko beams.  She grabs a hoodie for extra layering.  Practically everything she wears has some kind of snaps or ties she's figured out how to hack in.  She's not a seamstress, so often she opts for messy ties, like wraps, which is what she figured out about thirty minutes ago.  Her 'mittens' are in tatters from trying to get them off on her way back from caroling, so she's made do.

"Tow or ride?" Noriko offers with a raised eyebrow.  Her new sneakers are swapped for some more beat up ones, a true sign of her respect for them, her love.  No way is she chancing running these things raw before she can get them to Hank.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee returns the grin. She reaches up to remove her big, gold hoop earrings and tosses them onto her bed. Jubilee practically bounces over to her desk and then starts sweeping things off of it in an attempt to find something. The room had been so much neater before Nori, but the mess was shared. She finds what she's after -- a pair of snowboarding goggles: a key accessory on these tandem speedster adventures.

    After stuffing each foot into her heelie sneakers, Jubilee brings the goggles over her eyes and makes her way behind Noriko. She reaches up to bring the goggles into position and then wraps her arms around the other girl. "Ride," she answers, grinning from ear to ear.

    "Mush!" she exclaims, gently smacking Nori's forearm a couple of times.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko grabs some glasses.  They don't even have glass lenses.  They're plastic, kind of round, and clear, like kids' playthings.  Not even hipster glasses, but she only wears them at night.  She isn't exactly Superman or anything and it's harder to dodge at night.  Okay, really she almost ran into a pigeon because she wasn't paying attention.  She didn't want to mess up her shades!

Noriko bends down to grab under Jubilee's knees and they stop at the door for Jubes to open it.  Noriko could probably do it so fast she doesn't need to stop from Jubilee's point of view, but she's not sure if Jubes would be able to react fast enough to keep her body rigid enough.  There are lots of little details that race through Nori's mind like this.

Plus, it's fun running around like they're a single monster with two heads and four arms right?

AND THEY'RE OFF!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Okay, this time? Let's try to avoid the puddles. I know they're /fun/ but I'm wearing jammies and they do /not/ dry easily," Jubes warns, grinning. She reaches up to adjust the snowboarding goggles and squeezes Nori with her arms and legs, trying to make it easier to carry her. "I never should've changed."

    Jubilee gives the door a push and then takes a breath. "Alright. On your mark. Get set. Goooooooooooo."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko salutes before they are off!  Noriko just spirits them to the closest corner liquor store.  Not the one closest to the school, because there's always a chance that someone will see them, and how will they explain Jubes in her jammies?  Well they'd come up with something.  Sleepwalking?

"If we see anyone we know, I'm just going to say I found you sleepwalking."  It is after curfew after all.  They are coming to a slow, a courtesy for Jubilee to ease the journey.  "You're fine."  Noriko was mooostly Jubes' windbreaker, but an idea pops into Nori's head.  "You know, I should really get some kinda thing that I don't know, protects other people better or something."  Okay, not fully formed idea at all.  They stop in the alley around the corner.

"Welcome to your-not your final destination."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee keeps her eyes open. It only took their first time doing this to make Jubes buy them. It beat keeping her eyes closed the whole time. Her mouth, though? She keeps that closed. Have you ever swallowed a fly at these speeds? It only takes one. Jubes opens it only to say one thing.

    "My braaaainnnnsss....are going.....into.....my feeeeeet!"

    When they putter to a halt, Jubes hops off and takes a second to get her bearings. "...I guess they'll totally believe it -- check out this bedhead!" Jubilee raises both hands to gesture to her hair. "I am...the /hottest/ Troll doll..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko chuckles and reaches out to pat the crown of Jubes' head once gently, which only makes her look weirder, though unintended.  "You clearly still got some limes left in your coconut.  "Naturally..."  Noriko whips out a manual disposable camera to take a snap.  Hahaha, already wound!  She stows it away in her jacket.

"Back in a sec," Noriko says, spreading the 7 bucks in her hand.  POOF!

Noriko keeps a wooden pencil on her at all times.  She also knows what velocity she needs to go for CCTV not to catch her in any identifiable way, even as a humanoid.  She zips in to pull off the Pay-and-Dash.  This basically consists of doing a magic trick where the store is paid and the goods are got before they ever knew what hit them, if they ever figure it out.

"Hey hot Troll doll," Noriko waggles the bottle.  "Now we just have to get back and then sneak into her room.  I think we should put it on her pillow?"  Noriko looks around furtively.  "Hop on hottie-err hahaha," aaand Noriko turns around quickly, squinching her eyes.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    And that's the story of how the last photo development outfit in the state would later print a dazzling picture of Jubilation Lee, staring cock-eyed at the camera, her hair off in every imaginable direction, wearing bug-splattered snowboarding goggles. Awesome.

    "Cherish that," Jubes says with a smirk. She reaches up and starts to straighten out her hair. She leans against the brick wall that lines the store, whistling jingle bells to herself as she waits. She's only able to get through a handful of notes before Noriko's back and saying hello to the hot troll doll.

    "You got it!" Jubilee whispers. She reaches out to rest a hand against the bottle, patting it affectionately. "...Don't be afraid, little one," she coos. "We'll be home soon..."

    Jubilee smiles at Nori -- nice going! -- and moves to her back. "Hopping on!" she exclaims. Jubilee hops up onto Nori's back, her two legs sticking straight out in front of them. With her chin on the other girl's shoulder, Jubilee smiles. "I don't care -- I make this look /good/!" she declares before straightening out the goggles.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It's going to be easier for Noriko to hold the bottle since it's more important for Jubilee to hold on to.  She snickers a little at Jubilee's affections for the booze.  "We'll make you pretty," she promises.  Noriko catches Jubilee easily.  "Damn right," Jubilee does make 'sidecar-ring' look good!

As soon as Jubes gets situated, they're off!  At Jubes'-fun velocities.  It takes her longer, but Jubes keeps her head and her dinner.  She takes them all the way up to their room and drops Jubes off on her bed, "Bed!" she declares so Jubes can hop off.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee nods her head. "Ready, steady!" she cries out and braces for a sudden jolt. This time, the girls would leave a brilliant trail of fireworks -- brilliant blues, deep reds, radiant purples, bright yellows, all trickling off into the darkness with fun pops, micro-explosions, and whistles.

    And then... almost before she realizes what's happened, Jubilation falls onto her mattress. She reaches up and plucks a couple of dead leaves from her troll-status hair. "Next halloween -- sexy Troll doll costumes. You and me!" she declares as she sits up and swings her legs over the side of the bed.

    "Did it make it?" she asks suddenly, her eyes darting to find the bottle they spent their last dollar on.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
So much for inconspicuous.  Hopefully the comet tail does not end up in the news.  Likely it will be written off as some kind of thing about kids fooling around.  It wouldn't be wrong!

"Totally.  Wait.  What are sexy Troll costumes?  Can we be like ugly trolls in sexy costumes?"  Because /of course/ that would appeal to the troll in Noriko.

"Huh?"  Noriko tosses her plastic specs aside and lifts her hand with the bottle.  "The baby made it.  Let's make it look ugly cute.  I think it deserves a mustache and I think I have some googly eyes somewhere."  Precious googly eyes.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "We have, like, ten whole months to figure out the logistics of the sexy troll costumes!" Jubilee reminds, grinning. She starts raking her fingers through her hair, trying to make herself look sane, capable, and not-at-all like the Asian Doc Brown.

    Jubilee hops off of her bed and moves to her desk. "Googly eyes...Googly eyes... We have to have those, right?" she asks. Pause. "...We do, right? Leftovers from when we googly-eyed all the outlets in the Mansion..."

    "Here!" Jubes exclaims, holding a little baggie of them high into the air.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Yeah but Nori's mind is already racing!  Noriko doesn't even bother with dealing with her hair at this point.  She hops over onto her bed and kicks off her sneakers while fishing around between the bed and the wall.  "Oh!  Yeah.  That was awesome."  There are just so many good pranks they've been able to pull off.

"Okay, I got a sharpie," when?  Who knows.  Everything is magic, between Jubes' light shows and Nori's blast offs, they've got it covered.  She sets down the bottle and a mustache with elaborate elaborate twists.

"Your turn."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee approaches the bottle like Doctor Frankenstein approaches a corpse. She stares down at it with an evil smile. "This isn't going to hurt at all on account of you being a bottle of vodka..." Jubilee murmurs. In each hand, she grips a googly eye between thumb and forefinger. "We're going to make you pretty..."

    Jubes leans forward and presses each eye into position. "We're going to make you /pretty/...." she says before pulling the earbuds from her peacoat's pocket. "Just some final touches..." she adds, reaching for the Yanni CD. "Hope you like Yanni....."

    "You poor bastard..." she whispers.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Don't forget the other one.  I don't want to listen to this shit," yeah, there are two.  Yanni did /not/ release an album entitled Zen anything.  It's as bad as Noriko intimated.  She hands Jubes the last one and then pats the vodka on the 'head.'

"Ready for his close up!  Now we've gotten her something!"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Can't forget the sunglasses!" Jubes shouts, scrambling to find them. "A big star like this can't be seen out in public without her sunglasses!" Jubilee returns holding the sunglasses and a tube of super glue. The glue is used to (carefully) stick the earbuds into their proper positions on the bottle's ears.

    After sliding the sunglasses down the neck of the bottle, balancing them on the wider part, Jubilee looks up at Nori and grins. "A star is born..." she announces. "C'mon... Let's go leave it by her door. Knock and run away, natch..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko lets Jubes do all the things that require fine manipulations. Her gauntlets aren't suited toward such things and the last thing that seems sensible is shedding them to melt something down or destroy the bottle of vodka.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko lets Jubes do all the things that require fine manipulations.  Her gauntlets aren't suited toward such things and the last thing that seems sensible is shedding them to melt something down or destroy the bottle of vodka.

"I want to put it in her bed!"  Noriko declares.  Oh she's going to do it!  Even if Jubes tries to stop her!  She's just not smart enough or reflective enough to realize she shouldn't keep mentioning it.

Off they go!