4593/Down in the Garage: where all the cool kids hang out

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Down in the Garage: where all the cool kids hang out
Date of Scene: 04 January 2021
Location: Garage
Synopsis: Emma takes Noriko for a drive and has a teaching moment.
Cast of Characters: Emma Frost, Noriko Ashida




Emma Frost has posed:
    It's been some time, but Emma's finally made her way into the garage after getting back from her trip to Germany and she's ... not exactly acting as pleasant as she might have been before going. Not that she was ever all that polite, but at the moment she's standing next to a silver vehicle and has her hand pointed at it and is waving furiously, while her other hand is holding a glass rectangle against her ear.

    "I don't care if it's what you had on the lot, it's not what I wanted, and it's certainly not what I ordered." Emma says into her device before she rolls her eyes. "I will be out there within the week and I expect the exact fit and finish I requested in the dealer options this time." Emma says with a snarl, her hand moving away from the CUV she's disappointed with and pulling to her abdomen to undo the button of her jacket with a simple motion to allow herself to breath better before taking the phone away from her face and pressing the interface and then looking at it briefly before looking at the car and with a motion, she slips the phone into the rounded back pocket of her pants, the coat carefully tailored to hide the flat side of her bottom when the phone is put away. She's thought of all these things.

    "You, I'm going to beat to hell. Sorry, not sorry.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko only thinks of color and shape with her attire.  She can't afford to think of function.  Clothes that cheap only have one function.  It's widespread rumor by now who got in trouble for the whole partyhard New Years Eve adventure.  Unsurprisingly, Noriko was rounded up.  She probably would have been rounded up no matter what, even without telepathy.  The girl has a lot on her mind though, and it has nothing to do with the weeks of detention she received or whatever they gave her.  She wasn't paying attention.  She just goes to detention anyways.

Today, now, Noriko is looking for a place to hide that does not require her to ruin her new kicks she got for Christmas.  But the fact of the matter is, there's just not much Noriko can do on her own.  Read a book?  Have you seen those gauntlets?  Text?  Never mind the risk of overload or draining, it's not like her the metal tips of her gauntlets work on the touch screens or are small enough to deal with any kind of physical buttons.  And everything is virtually un-doable without the gauntlets.  But at least she can be alone here.

At least Noriko can nap in private.  The berating causes her to wake, quickly as usual.  She slooowly uses the electronic seat adjustments to raise the back of her seat in a Porsche.  It's not like Emma didn't know she was there.  It's not like Nori didn't know Emma is there immediately when she woke up.  She lifts her hand to give a single wave to the side, cocking at her wrist.  She looks tired or sleepy.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Seriously..." Emma says to herself as she knows the girl inside the car can't hear it. Reaching out, the driver door is opened and Emma looks across the length of the silver porsche towards Noriko and frowns deeply. "Sleep in anyone else's car but mine..." Emma says making the motion for the girl to climb out of the passenger seat.

    Then with a sigh as if she's sounding defeated, Emma holds her palm towards Noriko, the sign for 'Stop' and then the blond climbs into the driver seat with a sigh before starting the CUV and reaching across herself to buckle up, and mindful to move the cross strap behind her back, she doesn't explain why.

    "We're gonna talk." Emma says, looking forwards as she presses the garage door open button and adjusts her grips on the steering wheel.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko didn't even know it was Emma's.  She had no incentive to find out anyways.  When Emma opens the door, Noriko is about to climb out, luckily not having used her speed, since she would have probably smacked into the woman's palm.

The last thing Noriko wants to do is talk, but she doesn't have the fight to protest.  Plus, the shoes.  She vaguely hopes Emma's just going to talk /at/ her, but whenever someone of a 'teacher age says those words, Noriko knows she's going to have to listen or talk sooner or later.  Might as well get it over with.

Noriko shuts the passenger side door and buckles up.  "I might fry your electrical system," is her only warning.  "Or fuck with the onboard computer."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "That's fine, this is going back to the dealership either way." Emma says as the car rumbles to life and she puts it in drive and then clicks the paddles at the wheel and the thing begins to move slowly.

    The silver Porsche is out and on the road and Emma is an attentative driver, even if she doesn't wear her seat belt perfectly. "You like iced syrupy drinks, don't you?" Emma asks as she smirks to herself. Of course Noriko loves an Icee or Squishy or Slurpy, everyone does. Seems Emma has a plan in mind already. "Tell me..." Emma says, sounding a bit more serious, "Did you have fun new years?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Well, they'll probably charge you an arm and a leg...that's assuming that we don't die," but Noriko flattens her lips slightly, remembering what happened when she inadvertently shocked Emma the last time they spoke.  It was a time ago, long before the holidays.

"I could use the calories," Noriko says as if food were more caloric intake than enjoyment, slave to the leash of her own powers.  "No."  There were parts of it there were fun, but the girl is obviously trying to avoid thinking about it.  She leans her head against the window as she looks out at the world whirring by as she tries to maintain in sync with Emma's time frame.

"What do you want to know?"  And why does Emma sound serious about it?  Moreover, why does she care?  Thoughts drift through her head but are let go, unlike the typical grip of her mind, that insatiable curiosity.

Emma Frost has posed:
    "I want to know about it. You noticed you didn't see me at all the entire night, and I'd rather hear about it directly from you." Emma says rather bluntly as she drives and zooms down the winding roads away from Xaviers. "I want to know what you took, where you took it from, who all had some, and how drunk or high you all got." She doesn't say she's going to get any one in trouble, but while her tone kind of promises that outcome. She looks over to Nori as she's looking out the window. "And you let me worry about the costs of this thing, and as such, you simply ride along."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko keeps her gauntlets to herself as much as possible, not touching any metal, even if it really wouldn't make a difference.  "I was avoiding people who would care about what I took."  Even if the rest of the kids have been rounded up, even if Jean knows exactly who was involved and how probably, the girl won't give anyone up.  "Just beer and liquor and some stuff from Ororo."  Nothing she has said is untrue, except for the omission that it was Ruth who got the psychedelics from Ororo's and the others (save for Gabby) that infiltrated Logan's cabin.  "Only Seniors and I had any of the shrooms or alcohol."  There were disposable vape oil pens, but only two had those, and Noriko doesn't mention Gabby.  "I had a disposable vape pen.  But I didn't steal it or anything."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "I'm not going to tell Jean." Emma says, looking towards Noriko as she pulls into the gas station and parks at one of the pumps, and quickly unbuckles, but she doesn't turn off the car, or open her door. Not yet. "I'm here to get you some hangover stuff for you. For next time. I know there will be a next time. I expect you to think more to the future than you have." Emma says, turning in her seat to face Noriko more fully, thankful her suit is unbuttoned to allow the turn to be more natural.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"She already knows everything anyways," Noriko assumes.  She straightens up slightly to see where they stopped and then looks over at Emma.  "I don't have a hangover, but thanks.  Don't really get them," but Noriko's a bit preoccupied with the effort it takes to 'keep up' with Emma and only realizes after that 'hangover stuff' might be good for her 'friends,' if anyone can call them that.

Noriko turns more toward Emma, pulling her knee up to the side on the seat, but not her sneaker.  She doesn't feel like she has to ask much.  Noriko saw her stash.  "I don't care."  More jadedness and sadness than anything, not directed at Emma.  "Other people can't keep their traps shut anyways, but I knew that already."  In so many ways.  There are layers of meaning there.

"So I don't need the hangover stuff."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "Always thinking about yourself." Emma says with a deep breath through her mouth as she turns to look out the front windscreen. She flashes a hint of a smirk across her red lips and returns to her stoic stare as she turns back to Noriko. "Would you have actually gone around getting yourself into more trouble, just to show people you don't care about a good time? A time you never got... A time you had to take and enjoy for yourself." Emma says, looking down at Noriko's leg on the chair and how careful she is with her feet, or -the shoes- "New shoes. A gift for someone who does a lot of 'not caring'." Emma says, leveling those icy eyes at Noriko.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Detention is detention," Noriko hides inside herself.  "Looks like you know everything already."  Although facing Emma, she doesn't maintain eye contact through this.  Something swirls up in her mind, dark and consuming, embarrassment, shame, and Noriko shuts it all down with what might be a surprising amount of control and force before any thoughts emerge.  It's bound to seep out again eventually.  Noriko's armor is a repetitive surge and isolation.  Even if she did open up to Emma before, her reticence is obviously nothing personal.  It's reflexive.

Dark eyes flick toward Emma's faster than perceivable, faster than thought.  "What the fuck are you getting at?"  The darkness spills over, easily manipulated by not wanting to be toyed with, manipulated.  How she sees it, even if Emma might be doing nothing but beating around the bush, an elegant confrontation.  "Just because you can read people's minds and rearrange them however you want doesn't mean you have everyone figured out."

Emma Frost has posed:
    "You're right, I don't have everyone figured out, because of my powers. I don't use them as a crutch like several mutants do." Emma says, and remains totally calm, as if she's heard all this before from other students, other people, friends, even family. She has, and she's learned to become the stone in the river when she needs to. "I'm getting at you. I expect you to stop lying to yourself, becuase you can't lie to me." Emma notes with a deep look towards Noriko, she's not only a psychic, but she's a /damn/ good people reader and this girl, her movements, the subtle faster than thought gestures, and blurs. They're all tells, like a poker players.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
And Noriko is /awful/ at hiding things.  She's used to being able to skip all of this.  She had to hide things from her father, her mother, her brother.  She hid the pain from them all, when she could.  She wouldn't let her father have the pleasure and she didn't want her brother to worry more than he had to.  Surely he knew what was going on.  She never healed so fast when she was drained, but she always had some semblance of a smile for him when they were allowed visits.  She'd ask him of his day.  She wanted to know because she loved him, but also because her world was so small and horrifying.  She wanted to see the world through his eyes.

But Noriko was never really good at it.  Her speed is her crutch.  It's her way of healing, but it's already started its irrevocable work on her entire being.  How she thinks, how she relates.  It always has, just now she's living with the rhythm of her body instead of at odds with it.  Her breathing begins to calm simultaneous with her coming back from a slip into a higher speed.

"Well I don't know what you want from me.  Do you want me to say I care?  That I wanted them to have a good time?  I did.  They did.  Sure.  We all got caught, but that was going to happen anyways.  Jean can sniff out anything and it was worth it."  For them.  "I don't care if you approve or not."  She's always going to follow her own path.  Her horrible past has only steeled the independence wrought in her since conception.

"~Fucking Americans,~" Noriko spouts in Japanese.  Never mind the fact that she already held a dual citizenship when she got here, that she was born here.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma was going to let her be angry, upset, and yell and be everything she wants to be. But then there's a line Noriko crosses and even with the self control and the discipline Emma has taught and learned herself, the back of her hand, maybe not lightning, but certainly not slow in it's brazen and maybe even surprise of it, flies towards Noriko's cheek. It's not a soft baby spank, it's a firm, teaching moment kind of a thing with her hand, and thus her whole self shifting into diamond as she touches Noriko, or plans on it.

    "This school may tollerate many things, but I will never teach a racist. I'm here with you now, reaching out to you to help you become the best version of Noriko you can, and you insult me, and worse of all, you insult yourself." Emma's voice is different, the sounds bouncing off her diamond mouth, tongue, esophogus, teeth, lips and she sounds hollow, but the hint of disappointment, more present than anger or rage, coats Emma's tone.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Turning into diamond is probably a smart thing, as Noriko's body reacts defensively with a ripple of electricity involuntarily at the slap.  She was so busy stewing to herself that she never saw it coming.  A speedster she is, experienced she isn't.  She reaches up to rub her cheek and jaw, glaring at Emma.  It's an uncomfortable gesture, the plates' edges dragging across her skin and only adding red to red.

"I AM NOT A RACIST!  It's called fucking xenophobia," Noriko lashes out.  It's obvious she is well educated, perhaps even more than she want to let on to people.  She catches on in an instant, even at this speed, that Emma picked up what she was saying.  "It's not your /right/ to pry things from me.  It's not your right to tell me how to deal with things.  And I didn't ask you to mold me into what you think is the best version of me."  Teenagers.  "There's nothing to insult.  It is what it is."  Nothing to insult.  Is she speaking of Emma or her?  This seems to have some kind of deeper meaning.  She doesn't even blink.

"Caring doesn't help.  It doesn't make me better.  It makes me broken.  If I cared, I wouldn't be here today," Noriko says firmly, her gaze hardening.  "If I care, I won't be here tomorrow.  Don't you get it?"  The last part really does have a bit of incredulity in it.  It isn't a front, even if her tones are bleeding over from moment to moment, tainting everything she says.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma stares at Noriko, she knows the girl is trying to get pushed away, instead of pushing away. That's why the wording is all wrong. "If you think I pried into your head, you're still a novice and a petulant child who's never grew up past putting things in your mouth stage of mental development. Like I told you earlier, you can't lie to me, stop trying. But more than that: stop lying to yourself. You care about the people here. Maybe not the teachers, but the other students. Tabitha, Kitty, Jubilee." Emma says the last name with a knowing look in her crystal eyes.

    "You can be mad at me. You can fucking hate me to the ends of the universe, but you're someone the other kids look to, and if you're going to influence them as much as you can and will, in a way where they work with others like you work with others that are trying to teach you to be better..." Emma motions towards the door, even reaches across the car to grab the handle and with the enhanced strength of her dimaond form she opens it and points outside the Porsche, inviting Noriko to leave. "Don't come back."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"You don't have to look into someone's head to pry things from them," Noriko says knowingly.  "I'm not an idiot and I'm not lying to you.  I told you I cared.  I'm not lying.  I won't be," here.  At the names, she wipes the beginning of some tears with the back of her sleeve, quick as can be, but the evidence of wet lashes tells a story different from the one she wanted to tell.

"I'd never do that to them," Noriko says before she reaches reaching for the open door as she takes the exit, shutting it behind her.  She walks over to an iffy patch of grass and sits down at the curb, starting to take off her shoes.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma watches Noriko's body say the exact opposite of what her mouth is saying. Confusing girl. Is all Emma can think towards the speedster electric girl, person. Weird.

    Emma blinks twice towards the girl before taking another deep breath, again finding it weird she doesn't have to in this form, so she shifts back to flesh and bone with a release of the breath she didn't need moments before. She stays in the car, not moving for a moment, to see if Noriko catches onto what she just did, leaving the car under the orders of never coming back to the school... One pause. Two pause.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
To Noriko, this all feels too familiar.  A rejection of who she is.  In this case, who she thinks she needs to be to see tomorrow...to feel like she wants to.  No, to ignore the things that make her feel like she doesn't want to.  It's an extreme form of self-pity, self-rejection, as if a part of her can't shake some belief drilled into her.

But there's something deeper, something that only comes from herself that Emma has pushed her toward.  She already ran away before.  She left the person who means the most to her.  This, here.  It isn't about her.  It's about them.  She could easily leave all the comforts of an easier life behind, but she won't leave them.

So Noriko, after wiping her face, gets up, holding her shoes, and comes back to get into the car.

"I'm sorry.  I'm really fucked up and I'm an asshole."  Noriko doesn't look at Emma.

Emma Frost has posed:
    Emma doesn't look towards Noriko as she gets off the grass, or back into the car. "Don't apologize to me. Don't lie to me, but more than any of that, apologize to those you /do/ care about. And, be true to yourself, even if you don't like who she is, acknowledge her, and work on changing her to be who you want her to be." Emma says, pursing her lips and then putting the car into drive. Seems neither of them earned the hangover cure, or the slurpee, not today. But Emma wont drive directly back to the school for now.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko doesn't feel like arguing anymore.  She feels defeated by herself in so many ways.  She doesn't regret getting back in the car.  That isn't the self-defeat.  Emma may not want to be apologized to, may not think it's necessary or right, but Noriko's going to agree to disagree here on their perspectives.  Though, the truth of it all?  She doesn't really know /who/ she is...and she's afraid.  She's afraid that if she opens herself up, she'll feel all those old feelings again, and that intense desire to escape any way she can...those dark thoughts that hounded her in that metal cage.  How she wanted to die, just so it would be over.  She didn't though.  She pushed on, and so she will again.

So, Noriko's to look more to the future than she has...next time.  She knows there's still a sizable stash because she's the one who stashed it.  So, more discretion?  Not get caught?  This is problem Noriko has no idea how to solve.  The only way she could do it is if everyone listened to her.  She chews on these things as the car zips along, not paying attention to their destination yet again.

At least it's a sign of thought as they leave...without having refueled at all.