4576/We're Going on a Trip..

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We're Going on a Trip..
Date of Scene: 02 January 2021
Location: Student Gardens
Synopsis: Ruth mistakenly goes on a trip and drags Noriko and Jubilee with her.
Cast of Characters: Ruth Aldine, Noriko Ashida, Jubilation Lee




Ruth Aldine has posed:
Peas.

Who would have thought that this entire night would have started because of a bowl of peas. Peas that were flavored with salt, pepper, a little bit of adobo for the masses, a tiny pinch of sugar to off balance the.. well, no. No balancing because Ruth is just weird like that. But peas gave way to a song.

The song gave way to a performace.

The performace gave way to a few little items that were passed in between telepaths; to one who had no business even -trying- this alone.

And this is where we are.

On the heels of a series of events like the bowl of peas, from the ski party that she purposely missed, to the kareoke evening she had with the pink haired one, to the New Years party that the younger ones shared. Granted, she's probably older than most and knew better.. but Ruth always did things that benefited her which didn't hurt others..

Until now.

Pills were popped; Ruth broke bad as soon as Jubilee left the area, popping the entire baggie because why not. Swaying and singing an idle song to see if that is the one that would get her the prize for the Talent Show, swaying and near ripping plants from their station. Swaying and then falling.. not knocking herself out upon a rock and causing herself a concussion, but a slight little overdose that drew her down into the 'jungle deep'.

Mackey Tag, the poor rottie, was alarmed. The usual voice he used with his keeper went unheard. Whimpering, nudging at her cheek, tugging at her blindfold as she would usually rouse with that had no results. And with a grump and a howl, Mackey Tag ran off to gather those who would seemingly -know- Ruth best..

But did they know that she would do -this-?

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko just so happened to be on her way to the gardens to chill.  She tries to pick times that aren't busy, but more often than not, her desire to be alone puts her in the garage until off hours.  So she's on her way to check when she notices a pup on a mission.  A particular one.  She stops a few feet away to get the doggy message, not really sure, but having seen the trajectory from the gardens, she sprints in with the intent to systematically look for Ruth.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubes has been spending her Saturday peppering the mansion with obnoxiously pink flyers meant to draw interest in the upcoming talent show. She recently completed the student garden and was well on her way to cover the back yard in her propaganda. She's blasting tunes to her earbuds that undoubtedly spill over into the world, as is her custom, and sings along to the music. That's how you go deaf, Jubes!

    Forever young
    I want to be forever young
    Do you really want to live forever?
    Forever, and ever...

    Jubes snap-turns to watch the dog gallop through the back yard. Weird. She just saw him with Ruth. Ruth. The flyers are set down on the grass with a roll of packing tape placed on top to give them some chance against the wind.

    "What's going on?" Jubilee asks, obviously arriving on scene much later than the speedster.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
The weirdness of the situation wasn't the fact that Mackey went off to find others to help Ruth. It was his designated job even though she didn't train him for such. But he did what he was supposed to do, because overdosing students in the student garden was not a 'Good Thing (tm)'.

The weirdness was that once he had gotten people to the garden and approached Ruth, that his body grew stiff and rigid, and flopped over as if he were really a stuffed toy. A stuff toy who thumped loudly against the ground without a yip or a grunt, his legs giving out of him and flopping to the left in a pile of broken plants and upturned dirt.

Keen eyes would be able to see it; that bubble that surrounds the main area that Ruth had wandered and fell into. A ripple effect that makes it seem as if there was a heater right in place of where they would step. The world within that bubble all looked the same, save for the sleeping Mackey and the unblindfolded girl whom no one could tell was sleeping at all.

They looked like statues untouched by time. Nothing pretty, nothing princess-y. No prince to kiss the girl awake or no flavored and meat scented bone to rouse the dog to its senses..

And chances are, should Noriko and Jubilee step close as well, they would suffer the exact same fate.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori thought she'd be faster than the dog.  She was, but she waits for him to help maybe give some kind of indication as to what's going on with Ruth and that bubble.  Nori's seen people OD before, but not in a weird bubble.

"What the /fuck/?"  The Japanese girl blinks when the dog flops over.  WHERE IS SENOR SCRATCHEZ AND AN EXTENSION WHEN YOU NEED ONE?!

Nori looks back to where she hears Jubes.  "Jubilation!  Ruth is...well," she points.  "Maybe I can get to her fast enough to get her out!"  She's running on all cylinders, her words spitting out where some of them are probably dropped to normal brains not being able to keep up with filling in the sounds in places.

ZIP! without even discussing it.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Ruth is trapped in a well?" Jubilee calls out to the doggie as she chases after him. "Where is she, boy?" She turns the corner into the garden and gets a good look at what's going on. The fuck. Jubilee's nose wrinkles as she stares. "...What th----Nori, no!" she shrieks. But, it's too late. Without even a thought, Jubilee runs after the speedster, as if she could ever catch up in time.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
REAL WORLD:

Imagine a speedster that trips over her own shoe strings; that's how Noriko would look. She wouldn't feel the impact of her landng upon the grass like someone who switched off her lights. It would be an instant thing as soon as she crossed the barrier.

Jubilee would be the same; her outstretched hand reaching, as when it comes to the three of them, she would seem to have the more sense. But even a finger that penetrates the bubble would cause her body to go limp.

Like a grabbing of the soul.

ASTRAL PLANE:

Why was everything lilac? The color of the plane.. it's surroundings, had a slightly pinkish and flowery hue that made the colors themselves a shade darker than it really was. Where the two would stand.. (Mackey is gone elsewhere) would be in the middle of a livingroom. The carpet appeared to be a slightly tan but the color overlay made it seem like it was a darker hue of lilac, the walls were a bit plain and spartan. Nothing out of the ordinary save for music, distorted, blaring in the background.

A woman moves through the room, tall.. dark haired, carrying a basket of dried clothes, which were dumped out upon the couch. She was quiet at first, until she hears the pitter patter of small feet behind her.

'When I see, the way you look'
'Shaken by how long it took'
'I could do about anything'
'I could even learn how to love like you'

The womans voice was soft, yet loud enough to drown out the music in the background. The little girl approaches, her arms outstretced, her eyes non existent but she looked extremely happy!

So happy that, when the woman turned around to scoop the little girl up into her arms, she missed the fact that there was a hand.

A hand with rings..

..rings that gripped a brown handle which led to the edge of an axe..

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori's going fast, but her angle isn't good.  She really didn't think about that and if she had the angle of a fall right, she might actually skid them out with her momentum.  That angle insures she probably slammed her head on the ground pretty hard.

Oh yeah.  The speedster does, but someone has left a thick ass gardening mat next to some meditation pillows Ororo /probably/ set out.  Noriko goes down and skids like a hockey puck with a lot of friction provided by Tag.  Luckily, the angle is pretty sweet and no puppies were hurt in the making of this skid.  Nori?  Time will tell.

Now in the astral plaaaane...

Noriko blinks and looks around.  Her first, and self-admittedly unfortunate, thought is...eww.  Lilac.  Not that she hates the color in general.  But everywhere?!  Her eyes widen as they catch the axe, because axes are pretty distinct.  So Nori tries to get close enough and kick the hand hard.  She's fast to adapt.  She's used to being fast in thinking and even with the unknown of this plane and how she might exist here or what the hell it is, she still follows those mental grooves and her quick instincts.

Axes are /bad/.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
REAL WORLD:

    Jubilee's fall is made even more awkward by the wheels of her heely sneakers engaging by accident, sending her rolling forward into the chaos. She's powerless, moving far too fast to stop and far too slow to help Nori. Nori.... No... Rolling, rolling, rolling right into... yard waste. "No, no, no!" she shrieks, bringing her hands up to protect her moneymaker. "Nooooooooooo!"

ASTRAL PLANE:

    "Sup?" Jubes says, rolling to a gentle halt on her heely sneakers. She tilts her head forward and pulls her sunglasses down her nose to get a good look at this. "...What...the...fudge..." she mutters.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
What the fudge was right.

The black boots softly touched upon the ground as the hand rises with the axe handle, soon joining with the other. The baseball grip was tight, cocked back as he seeks out his tiny target which was being engulfed by his mothers body.

'I hate you...' He screams out, raising the axe high..
The little girl is thrown across the room'
The axe touches point.. repeatedly..'
The only sounds amplified throughout the entire house is the wet thuds that seemed to blast on repeat. A broken record of death..'

The black boots softly touched upon the ground as the hand rises with the axe handle, soon joining with the other. The baseball grip was tight, cocked back as he seeks out his tiny target which was being engulfed by his mothers body.

'I hate you...' He screams out, raising the axe high..
The little girl is thrown across the room'
The axe touches point.. repeatedly..'
The only sounds amplified throughout the entire house is the wet thuds that seemed to blast on repeat. A broken record of death..'

The black boots softly touched upon the ground as the hand rises with the axe handle, soon joining with the other. The baseball grip was tight, cocked back as he seeks out his tiny target which was being engulfed by his mothers body.

'I hate you...' He screams out, raising the axe high..
The little girl is thrown across the room'
The axe touches the tip-heel of a boot, the hand gone limp as the axe clatters loudly to the ground. The young boy looks shocked, afraid, which turns to quick anger as he scowls, emo kid that he is.. 'What the hell are you doing here?! What did you do?!'

The front door to the house opens and stands Ruth, brows lowered in anger. Her fingers snap rather quickly towards Noriko and Jubilee, attempting to quietly usher them out of the house so that her 'problem' doesn't become 'theirs'.

The astral plane is what you make of it, and it almost seems that now, Ruth has no control.

"Lets gooooooo..."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    THUD SPLAT

    THUD SPLAT

    THUD CLANGCLANGCLANG

    "Ruth isn't trapped in a well at all..." Jubes mutters, her eyebrows hiked up and eyes wide. She's no speedster, but instincts quickly place the mutant between the boy and his axe and Noriko. Two hands are held out in front of her, fingertips at the ready. Did her powers actually do anything in the astral plane? Do they even do anything in the real world? When the door swings open and Ruth is there -- posing like some kind of surreal Sarah Connor -- Jubilee reaches a hand out for Noriko's, desperately seeking it in the midst of this horror show. "C'mon!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It's probably a good thing for Jubilee that Nori got her boot out first.  She whips her foot back fast and then Jubilee is there, making it more seem like the guy stops against his will to astral 'air.'  Noriko doesn't have enough time to push Jubilee out of the way because first Ruth, then dude.

Noriko's reaction is lightning and full of rage.  As Jubilee is taking her hand, she simultaneously lunches forward and /swiftly/ tries to kick him in the junk.  The word 'DICK' wouldn't do him justice.  "YOY-FUCKING-__-__-SUCKING-___redacted_for_rating___FUCKHOLE!" she chipmunks out as Jubilee's pull changes her direction.  It was meant to be a hit and run anyways.  On her turn, she spins to Jubilee's front as she dislodges her hand, slipping her arms around Jubilee in her 360 to sweep her out of the wake of her ball-kicking to where directed.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
All the while, things were changing.

Ruth hangs in the door, waiting for the two to come.. outside (behind her), the canvas morphs from a field of grass into a desolate street. It was a quiet, and subtle change. Much like someone taking down a picture and hanging up a new, uglier one in it's place.

"Hoo shit.." Ruth whips out in the highest voice possible, ducking out of the door and out of the way if they decide to blast through. Only, she begins to run down the street, leaving her younger, affectionately called Baby Ruth in the scene, frozen mid-air, arms stretched out.

(SLOW MO!)

The young man barely even got a word out, for he's kicked and hunched over, grabbing his junk and falling to the floor without a catch of his hands to aid him.

'I'm going to kill you!' The young man hollars out, rockiing back and forth upon the ground. The mother? She seems frozen in place as well, one hand stretched out as if she were shielding herself, one foot in the air, the other at a tilt that predetermines the way she'll fall.

Why aren't they moving?

Noriko Ashida has posed:
This world isn't the same.  That was obvious from the get go, but to have something around her that isn't another speedster change at the speed of thought or faster, it makes her want to go faster.  She wants to feel more control.  She wants things still.  She doesn't want this shifting landscape invading her world of velocity.  Still?  She spins round, snagging Jubilee's glasses to put on herself and slips into a brief backwards run to kiss to the air and flip the fucker off.  She'll take her chances that some curb might screw her up and send them flying.  Worth it.  Which is how she notices all of that stillness...toooo much stillness.

But Nori needs to deal with her surroundings more, them being so slippery and all.  She stops, holding Jubes, but still wearing her sunglasses and smiling.

"Don't lilacPuke on me."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    In this brief showdown, Jubilee's fingertips begin to sparkle, spark, whistle, explode, as her fireworks begin to charge up. They don't normally need to, but she's trying to gather her concentration. She could make something happen with these, she's sure of it, if she just concentrated a little harder. They could be used for more than just pretties. C'mon Jubes... But, then, everything changes. Before she has a chance to find out what she can do, she's reaching out for Nori, wanting nothing more than to protect her from this. Do something. Anything. But then...everything changes AGAIN.

    Before she knows what's happening, Jubilee is held by Noriko in a princess carry and on a ride out the door. The man is writhing around on the ground, lamenting the loss of his fathering capabilities. He's given a lewd gesture. Jubilee's sunglasses are on Nori. She's speechless. Jubilee started wanting to protect but, thanks to their speed imbalances, she can't. She's being protected. Perhaps Jubilee's way of protecting the speedster would always be later, after the dust has settled but the demons remain. Jubilee slips her hands around the back of Nori's neck and stares. STARES. STARES. Holy shit.

    After basking, briefly, in her charmed life, Jubilee leans her head back to peer at an upside down Ruth. "What the fuck, Ruth!"

Ruth Aldine has posed:
They were running. Hopefully all of them. Ruth wasn't moving very fast, but just as fast as the real Ruth would in the real world that they were locked out of. But thankfully, with her two friends at her side, the house was slowly becoming a distant memory, even though the blind girl was practically winded by running through a different plane of existence where she -shouldn't-.

So weird.

But what the fuck? "That was my house." Ruth manages to get out, coughing just a little, her run slowly dying down as she leans forward, arms at a dangle. "That was my house, why were we at my house.."

She was freaking out. She didn't want to go back there, and she also wanted to get the two girls out before..

A loud, ear piercing howl comes from the direction of where the house was. Large pieces of wood begin to crack along the scream, the scream that seemed to be mixed with a million animals who all shared the same frustration and anger.

'I WILL KILL YOU!' The voice rings out, the wood still cracking and splitting as a fifty foot tall version of the young man emerges, frothing and drooling with rage. The near fifty-foot young man begins to chase them, each foot landing upon the ground leads to a quake in the plane.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Ruth repeats, attempting to pick up the pace!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko shoots Jubilee a warm but cocky grin without an ounce of shame as if to say, 'Yeah.  I borrowed your sunglasses.  What you going to do about it.'  As Ruth surpasses them in that moment, Noriko plants a quick kiss where she pauses on contact.  Jubes, you know the one, that timing.

Nori notices Ruth is winded, but she doesn't know the girl shouldn't be.  She looks back when the house explodes with ginormous asshole.  "Oh shit."  Noriko sprints forward to catch up to Ruth on her second windedness.  "Get on my back!  Tuck head!  Hold tight everywhere!"  She squats.  If Ruth takes the ride, she'll shoot off and maybe she's thinking...can we go between his legs?  But she doesn't chance it, given the shifty landscape.  He might create a sinkhole just by stomping!  If it were just her?  Fuck yeah she would!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Your /house/?" Jubes demands. Her eyebrows hike a bit and she leans her head forward so she's no longer looking at everything upside down. "...This is some Nightmare on Elm Street stuff... Am I like Freddy Kruger, with my face all me---" Jubes stops talking as deja vu creeps up. She looks at Noriko for a second, checking for any signs that she's Edward Scissorhands. Rolling with Ruth is weeeeeird. When her head comes up, she's staring right at Noriko's smug smile. Jubilee's goofy one is reflected back at her in her own sunglasses. And then there's a kiss. This is too much. Jubes tightens her grip around Nori's neck, just happy to let her carry her for now.

    "Oh shit..." she murmurs in sync with Nori. "Uh, Ruth.... Ruth.... Get on. We're going for a ride." Jubilee stretches one of her hands out and points it at the fifty-foot thing of nightmares. Bright sparkles, explosions, and bursts of all color start to burn up in the empty space between the three girls and the giant nightmare. The balls of light and color grow, rise, and explode in a thick cloud in front of the man's face in a flashy attempt to blind them.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
That was one thing Ruth was -not- going to do: Avoid a ride. With Jubilee's hand outstretched, she 'hops' on where ever she could get on, effectively winding one arm around Jubilee and the other around Nori, at least hoping that she doesn't knock Jubilee onto the ground or.. something. Nori was going to be in the middle of a girl sandwich, and there was no metaphors about that.

"My house. That's my brother!" She manages to get out, ducking her head to hide herself from a windless astral plane. Yes, there was no wind here if you do not wish it, and Ruth wishes to not be itchy due to the random whips of speed wind.

The large man already had a hand reaching back, swinging forward near the hips so that he could swipe up the heroic trio, only to crush them in his finger tips. Or.. at least try, he is not ready nor prepared to see the speed that Noriko possesses. Cause.. like most people would think, the kick to the balls was just pure luck!

All the while the landscape in front of them changes. The desolate street soon returns to that hilly landscape. Only, everything looks as if it were scorched in the apocalypse. The world had died before their eyes.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori slows down enough to say, "Your home is wrecked and your brother is a motherfucking prick!" and then a string of something or other in Japanese.  "This lack of wind is sick!  Don't take away the friction!"  Because...yeah.

The speedster slowing might have also added to 'big' bro's false sense of confidence.  Noriko slows after the timed near miss to whistle like she's calling a dog and then shoots off!

But when the landscape starts to change, Noriko waits for it to be evident as indicated by keeping an eye on Jubilee's reactions.  She comes to a stop still in that velocity and turns to look back to see if they shook the bromonster.  Then she turns back and pulls out of the velocity with a more gentle slowing for the sake of her passengers.  "Ruth.  This world is dying."  More like dead.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee's hand reaches around to hold onto Ruth as best she can. Her other hand continues to feed the cloud of blinding lights and explosions in front of Brostein in a last ditch effort to disrupt his vision well enough to cover their escape. "Your brother sucks!" Jubilee shouts at Ruth, doing her absolute best to hold on. In settings like these, and in others, Jubilee was good at clinging to the speedster, so she focuses on keeping her arm there to help Ruth out.

    For her part, her reaction, Jubilee's head cocks back and takes in the changes happening all around them. "...Woooah, you all remember Terminator 2 when Sarah Conner dreams about a nuke going off?" Her voice trails off from there.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
"My mom is dead.." Ruth, with the changing of the scenery fell into a despair, much like changing of the guard of emotion, it was time to cry. Though, lacking the necessary eyeballs to do that, her tears were moot.

The swiping of the brothers large hand was bound to miss. The large flashing of lights shielded his vision of where the three girls were, along with the swipe that was intended to hit being mistimed by Noriko's slowing and sudden burst of speed.

The girls were not going to fall, and Noriko's steps would not falter. Their collective savior dashes into the apocalyptic landscape with a loud bang of a large foot hitting -something- and soon falling.

But that fall does not move fast as Noriko does. But if they were to look, they would see him advancing at an odd angle, arms slowly failing.. then a cloud of smoke erupting from where he once was.

He went down!

Their observations were spot on, however. And Ruth knew it. She had always thought that she would return here for comfort in that time, to make it all easier. All of the roads in her life ended with her in a dirty bath-tub, wrists split open with a razor, various messages scrawled upon the broken ceramic walls for each situation and life that she saw for herself.

But this life? Deviated..

This is the good life.

"Stop!" Ruth manages to say. "Stop right here.." She tries to pat Noriko's shoulder, but instead, uses her forehead to headbutt instead. She didn't want to fall off and break her butt or legs.

In the Astral Plane.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
When Ruth says her mother is dead, Noriko looks up for cloudless rain, a storm, something, but none forms.  The girl has already processed through her emotions, her face set in a steely expression reserved for people she'd like to punch going at /least/ 120mph.  Too bad it'd destroy her arm and everything else.

The headbutt is a good signal, just tactile enough to clue the speedster in.  When the NorikoTrain comes to a stop, it squats down to let the passenger riding caboose de-train.  "Everyone okay?"  She forgets to put Jubilee down.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Unlike Ruth and Noriko, Jubilee has the misfortune of being able to see their pursuer. The lightshow continues to explode and swirl in front of the monster. It's unclear what use it is, but Jubilee keeps it going -- keeps the fires stoked and piping hot as they continue their escape. Her eyes briefly widen as the towering brother's angle gets awkward, but her features soften as she realizes what's happening. "Timberrrrrrrrr!" Jubilee calls out as the BroMonster begins to fall and a dust cloud forms.

    And so, Jubilee hangs there, suspended in that princess pose, her hands sliding back to link behind Noriko's neck. "Not even a hair out of place," Jubilee answers with a nod before tilting her head to look at Ruth. "...Are you okay, Ruth?" she asks.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
To emphasize how big the bastard was, long after he had fell, the ground around them begins to shake. It didn't matter how the scenery changed, that impactful monster clearly carried on as a figment of her dreams when she cannot control him, and a shadow over her shoulder..

But Ruth really wasn't okay, and if they remained with her here either, neither would they.. so she did the best thing she knew would get her out of that slump..

As she slides off of Noriko, she immediately shakes herself off, walking in an odd direction, but not too far away from her two friends. The world around them was dying, getting progressively worse. If they were to look out into the horizon, they would see whatever light there was dimming.

"I'm not okay. I'm dying. I'm finally dying.." Ruth would almost seem bewildered by this, and near excited..

Editors note: Cheese incoming!

"I got it! Run! Run that way!" Ruth's arm snaps out, pointing right into the direction of where they had just came. Where her brother had murdered their mother. Where the sound of the axe thumping into flesh would probably be the most prominent thing out of everything else. "Go that way and go fast! Don't stop for anything! Don't save me! Just keep -going-!" Probably the cheesiest shit that she'll ever say, which is truly frightening in itself.

Go go gadget.. SaveRuthFromAnOverdosebySuperRewindoftheSoul!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee saw all of this from the reverse perspective. A different way of looking at this. Because she was looking backwards, it wasn't that everything was getting WORSE, it was that everything that was better was going in the wrong direction. Backwards. The points about Ruth dying are totally washed over by this detail. Ruth had a way of saying things that would only make sense later -- or never -- so Jubilee isn't putting /too/ much stock in it. Ruth was saying that they should escape... but, maybe there was a better way.

    "Nori..." she mutters into the speedster's ear. "...We gotta...go. Fast." Jubes gives Nori a sudden squeeze, perhaps to silently communicate what she means by 'fast.' She sticks her arm out in the direction that they just came from. Where it had been nicer. Less horrific.

    "That way!" She takes a breath and hopes with all her might that Noriko could be so fast that they get there before they left... Woah.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko stares at Ruth.  To her it feels like forever.  Her head whips back to the way they came, then to Ruth, then it's all creased worry.  She takes a deep breath in her companions' 'time.'  Then she seems stuck there.  Stuck with the idea that Ruth is telling them to leave her.

"NO!" Nori spouts stubbornly, wrapped up in the emotion of the idea.  She doesn't move.  There could be lots of reasons, there probably are, but ain't nobody got time for that.

Jubes knows.

At the sudden squeeze, Noriko's mind unravels what was just said.  "Backpack!" because Noriko was going to have to take Ruth and RUUUUUN.  Noriko provides a quick single hand platform to aid Jubes in her swing around to Nori's back while the speedster moves to scoop Ruth up in a bear hug.

Noriko can't go faster than the speed of light, not by a long shot, but she /can/ go faster than the speed of thought, by a LONG SHOT.  So she takes off fast.  They aren't entirely physical in this world, and Noriko runs as fast as her heart will carry them.  Back to a better place.  Back to before the thwacks, the cries, and the rage.  Before the pain.

It will catch up again, but not today.