4620/Furby Or Bust

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Furby Or Bust
Date of Scene: 05 January 2021
Location: Chinatown
Synopsis: Conner Kent, Ruth Aldine, and Jubilation Lee meet in Chinatown, purely on accident, and go in search of the regional distributor of Furbies. They instead find a dusty little shop where the shopkeeper gets more Ruth than he bargained for!
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Conner Kent, Ruth Aldine




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Dateline: The final hours of winter break.
    Chinatown, NYC. Earth.

    With mall culture on the outs, there's just one place to go if you're looking for a true oddity, something vague and forgotten. Something cute. Chinatown. And so, after forking over some wrinkled bills to pay for a fare, the mutant called JUBILATION LEE was on a grungy bus on its way to New York City. A white cord connected the earbuds in her ears to, presumably, a phone hidden in her jacket pocket. Or, it's just dangling loosely in there and she's just rocking out like a maniac. Either way.

    There's a faint whine as the bus's aging brakes slow the vehicle to an eventual halt. As the doors start to open, Jubilation squirms her way out, using both hands to assist the door in its quest to be a doorway. She hops onto the sidewalk and adjusts her pink sunglasses into position, taking stock of the city. She takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with the essence of the city.

    "Ugh..." The bridge of her nose wrinkles a little as her face sours.

    "Well. Now what?" she says out loud to herself. "I /think/ this is the place..." Pause. "Who are you talking to, Jubes?" She reaches an arm out at the next person who walks by. "...I /think/ this is the place!" she insists at them. Whoever they are...

Conner Kent has posed:
Chinatown. Just around the corner for students in the ESU. At least those with the ability to fly. Not that Conner has classes yet, but there is tasty food here, and since he recently discovered he can speak Cantonese (arguably speak - but at least he can understand it and that is half the thing, right?) so, he comes here for lunch often.

Besides, it is a nice day. Well, it is not freezing -right- now, so it is not too bad. Better than Gotham for sure. Not that he cares much about the weather, he wears his usual leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans combo, only he has zipped up the jacket to blend better with the typical New Yorker.

The young clone's ideas about the food get interrupted by... Asian girl with a canary yellow coat. Blink. Beat. "Right, the Place." He peers over Jubilee's sunglasses, bemused.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
It's hard being Ruth.

Hard knock life, and alla that. On top of her having -no- eyes, there was hardly any perception of time -ESPECIALLY- if she decides to ignore it all to focus on other things. Other things like attempting to contact the dead through dreaming-state, which she could hardly ever force, it just happens. And it happens when one would least expect it; not when she's trying to force it.

So time. Time was out of wack.

Right now, she's in Chinatown, carrying a bag of fish cheek soup with the debit card that was given to her by her silent benefactor. The second bag, because of course, was a container of egg foo with shrimp, fried rice, chicken nuggets and pad-thai. Granted it all came from different stalls, but placed in the same bag.

And in her right hand? Her walking stick and three meat sticks of nearly charred (yet flavorful) chicken sticks.

Right now though, she wakes up from her brief allowed nap, it's 10pm. Her stomach hurts and she needs to find the bathroom to throw up. There isn't a moon in the sky but overcast, and her window is open to let the chill of the air in.

Right now she's standing behind Conner, who happens to be nearby Jubilee. She's eating her chicken stick, 'watching' the two.

"Conner. Jubilee." She says, calling out as she does. "Pardon. Sorry. Hello. It is I, Ruth. Sorry."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Oh!" Jubilation had honestly been expecting whatever unlucky stranger her antics found would just keep walking. A reply seemed outlandish! Her hand reaches up to slide her sunglasses down her nose a little bit so she can peer up at the stranger. "...You know, for the Chinatown welcome wagon... I thought maybe you'd be a little more..." She raises her eyebrows and shrugs. "...Asian." She grins and sets her sunglasses in the right spot.

    "But I bet you get that all the time!"

    The third voice -- not Conner's, not her's -- causes Jubilee to jump a little bit. "Ruth!" she exclaims, grinning from ear to ear. "You should've /told/ me you were coming to the city!" A happy accident. She grins and sticks one leg out, posing like that for a moment before peering up at Conner. Ruth had introduced them, whether she realized it or not.

    "Jubilation," she adds, perhaps explaining the whole 'Jubilee' thing. "So! Being that you're the Official Chinatown Welcome Wagon, I presume you've got your finger on the pulse of this neighborhood." She reaches a hand out and gestures vaguely at the throngs of shops and people. "...So, naturally, you could tell me where I might find the regional distributor of the venerable Furby..." She tilts her head towards Ruth. "Sorry, Ruth, don't mean to count you out of this one, but, well, he's the Welcome Wagon." Given Jubilee's inclination towards perkiness, it's unclear if she's giving Conner a hard time or if she really thinks this.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Well, I am from Metro..." starts Conner, giving Jubilee an easy smirk. Only to be 'ambushed' by Ruth. He has super-senses and stuff, so getting surprised by a blind girl is weird. Then again. he is pretty sure Ruth full name is Ruth McWeird.

"Oh," he turns around, pretty quickly. "Yes, Conner. I mean, that is my name. Er... hello." He is vaguely aware Ruth is some kind of telepathic seer person. It wasn't very clear last time. But he has decided telepathic seers are better not messed with. Or flirted at. "Nice to see you here, Ruth. Ah, you know each other? Wait. Jubilation is a name?"

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Tomorrow the museum. There she has caramel coated pecans with a very large soda. Some redhead was leading her around to make sure that her -entire- experience was enjoyable. Verbally.

Instead, a moment of forwardness comes over Ruth, since they were going to be looking for..

"Mm. Furbies." Ruth says..

..she takes the crook of Conner's shoulder since, being a telepathic-seer, one shouldn't dare mess with her!

The rest of the chicken stick was devoured and tossed to the side (into the garbage can, no less), the cane switched to the bag hand as Ruth turns. She was already ready to go even while Jubilee made Conner the guide.

"Sorry. Yes. Jubilation is a name. Thank you. Like Ruth. Or Apple." Cause, who would, right? "Welcome wagon is tour guide, yes." She says to Jubes, nodding her head and canting it down the street. "We are going to eat furbies, no. I am still hungry."

Overeating is a clear sign of depression, folks.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Conner from Metro, the Chinatown Welcome Wagon!" Jubilee restates, twirling her hand in the air in front of her, as one might do when addressing a king. She folds her arms across her chest. "Jubilation is a name," she adds with a nod, grinning at Ruth. "Jubilation Lee. Jubilee to some. Jubes to others. But never Jubilee Lee. And never Samantha, because that's not even /close/! But! Cobra Kai is great, so, maybe Samantha is alright."

    "Nah!"

    Jubes stares at Ruth and her comment about the Furby's. There's a normal reaction to hearing someone say 'mmm, Furby' and that she was going to eat them. That's not this reaction. Jubilee's eyebrows rise and her cheeks fill with warmth. She takes a breath and tries to get back on the Jubilee saddle of snark. Yep. There. Got it.

    "Yeah, so, say we've got a huge hunger for these Furby's. We're going to need to find the local distributor. Off-the-shelf isn't going to work." A hand is brought nervously up to her ears so she can remove her earbuds. She's suddenly a little bit awkward, as if she just saw a dog walk on its hind legs or something.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Jubilee is better," decides Conner. "Maybe better than Apple too," he sidenotes. And suddenly he is appointed Furby's seeker, for some reason! "Furbies? Seriously," he pulls out a Starkphone, "aren't these some toys for the 90s?" He does a quick search. "Unless you want to go to Sweden," he mutters.

"Okay, this is Chinatown and everything can be found, I guess," also, it says there they released more furbies in 2010s, it must be... "alright, now I am curious," he glances at Jubilee. "Why do you want one of these?"

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Conner is a strong one, that's for sure. At least measured up to the Mighty Ruth Aldine, of course! Her 'beginning' to walk was held up by the fact that Conner himself didn't move, in which she keeps in place to wait for him to actually go.

Though, something makes her hairs stand on end, her chin lowering as one brow lifts to focus. There were a myriad of thoughts and flashes of pictures that flow through her head.. and if there were a large screen of those images, she'd quite possibly hit a button to zero in on one.

But, she does turn her head further to 'look' into Jubilee's direction, her lips bunching up in preparation to say something, her mouth opening and cane pointed -right- at the woman until..

"To eat." Yes. Ruth is telling. Telling Conner all of Noriko's and Jubilee's dirty dirty secrets!

(No she isn't.)

Even though that answer probably wouldn't satisfy Conner, she shrugs her shoulders. "Toys. Sorry. I would like one to have."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Well..." Jubilee starts, trying to zero in on the best way to explain why she wanted a Furby. A fleet of Furbies. An army. She looks up at Conner and opens her mouth. Instead of her voice, it's Ruth's that answers.

    "Shut /up/, Ruth!" she mutters under her breath. Apparently she struck a chord.

    She leans back, out of muttering range, and makes a big Y in the air. "We need not one, not two, but... Well, all of them!" she exclaims. "Enough to fill the luggage compartment of the bus back to Westchester!" She looks at Ruth, then Conner, then Ruth, and then the bus as it goes off on its route. "What is that... like... a hundred?" It didn't bode well that she didn't have that kind of money. "Maybe more. We need the /distributor/ not some po-dunk shop!"

Conner Kent has posed:
"You need a detective, not a welcome wagon," protests Conner. "But I can show you a couple amazing places that really have everything that has been created in the last forty years. Or maybe to a restaurant. Ruth seems hungry. We don't want bitten Furbies, right?" Besides he was here for the food. Which he doesn't need, but it is still tasty.

Definitely letting Ruth drag him forward now. This can't possibly end up well. "A hundred Furbies? You better be wealthy." He notes. Then again maybe they can find them super-cheap. Old toys no longer fashionable tend to be cheap.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Shut up Ruth was a thing her entire life. At least in her later life she's learned to actually follow that, especially now that she has friends!

She thinks!

So shut up she does, keeping her lips tight, still tugging on the arm of Conner so that he could lead with a slight push and shove. She already sees the place that they're going to first, which was one of those tiny shops in a side alley that had all the trinkets.

Sage to burn. Rocks. Random Dracula figurines. Probably even comics. The store was retro with the attempts at being hipster, not a one stop shop for all, but a one stop shop that'll make a person mentally tired.

"I do not have that sort of money, sorry." Ruth admits. "But I know where, yes, to go. Thank you."

Wait.. was it the second shop they were going to? Or the thir.. nevermind, walk they shall!

"Thunderbolts thunderbolts.." Ruth calls out, almost at a near skip. This is going to be fun!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    No one said Jubilee was a smarty pants. "...Wealthy?" she questions. Her nose wrinkles as truth stares her in the face. She couldn't buy a hundred Furbies, let alone five. Maybe two. She disappears into her thought process for a second. Ah! Her eyes light up as an idea presents itself.

    "Don't those big toy distributers do all that on consignment? Like... if, let's say, I was the purchaser for a major toy store?" She grins. Jubilee rescues a pack of gum from her pocket and pulls off the wrapper. "...I mean, let's just say I was....They might give me a whole shipment of Furbies and then I give them the money once they're all sold, right?" She pulls out a piece of gum and pops it into her mouth like a PRO. The pack is held out to Ruth and Conner. "You want? Gum, Ruth."

    She chews thoughtfully, joining Ruth and Conner for the walk. "...I mean, if you know of some /amazing/ places that have everything, Conner from Metro, that sounds like a good place to start...But..." She looks over at Ruth. "...Ruth. We have food back at school. Think of the Furbies!" As Ruth skips foward, Jubes picks up her speed and gives Conner an apologetic look. "She does this..."

    Good cheer returns. "Isn't it great!"

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner shouldn't be surprised Ruth knows about the side alley store. After all she might be reading his mind, or maybe she saw where he was going to go. Or both. Or maybe she can read his thoughts from the future, despite denying it last time.

Conner sighs and accepts the gum.

"I have never seen a Furbie," he admits thoughtfully as Ruth slips inside. He keeps the door open for Jubilee. "I guess we can ask to the shopkeeper... wait, are those Dracula figurines? Tim will murder if I dot get them." He glances Jubilee. "He is a dork," yes, Red Robin is a dork.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Ruth is now the guide. Beware!

The trek to the side shop really wasn't that far. Crossing the street was made easy with someone to hold on to, yet all the more hard to focus on the goings on with the two as they speak with each other. That was until her name was spoken.

She freezes, waits.. then shakes her head.

"No gum. Yes. I will choke and die. Thank you."

Whether being serious or not, Ruth disengages once they move into the smelly alleyway, cane reaching out to smack against the door to wait for it to open, and with Conner being the gentlemen that he is, it does! Slipping inside, she goes off into her own, leaving the others to search for the furbies while she searches for 'something else'.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee steps in, leaning forward as she takes a mental picture. "Okay..." she whispers, looking up at Conner as they go inside. "Now listen... Take it from me..." A hand goes to her chest to emphasize. "...This place /probably/ has Furbies. But... there's, like, a fifty-fifty chance of Mogwai. They look really similar, so, before you buy anything...check the label. Furby will say 'Do not wash. Sensitive electronics.' Mogwai has a few more rules..."

    Jubes grins and blows a huuuuuuge bubble. It hangs out a moment longer than it normally might, bobbing there as she moves through the shop's dusty aisles.

    *POP*

    "I'll keep an eye out for a Dracula for your boif. I'm not into the vampires, myself..." She makes a face. "Ruth..." She calls out to the other student deeper in the shop. "...If I'm ever turned into a vampire, I want you to stake me right away, okay?!"

Conner Kent has posed:
"Mogwai, check," replies Conner without much interest. He is trying to remember what did Robin say about the Dracula figurines. Better safe than sorry, he will scoop them all. They are half price, anyway.

"I think Ruth went thatway," he notes too. Because he assumes Ruth knows where to go. Buying stuff with a precog must have some advantages, right? Although she was saying something about thunderbolts. "Watch out for lightning, too."

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Ruth didn't come up with furbies, but she did find a few toys for MacTaggert to play with. One is a rubber ducky, full with squeak and squish to the hearts content. The other a hotdog. A plastic hotdog. She joins the small gathering, then tucks the items underneath her arm, allowing them to slip into her bag probably seen, but it wasn't like she cared. "Furby is over there." She points off, then reaches out to grab Conner's arm.

"Wait."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "No, no, no Mogwai..." Jubilee corrects. "Furby!" But then Conner's sending her off in Ruth's direction. "Oookay, I'm goin', I'm goin'!" she assures. "But, like everyone else, you'll miss me when I'm gone." She blows another bubble, this one defiant, and lets it pop while maintaining eye contact. YEAH. Jubes grins and turns away in search of Ruth.

    Jubilee pushes off and engages the wheels on her Heely sneakers, gliding effortlessly down the dimly lit aisles. She hears the warning to wait just a little too late. Jubilee careens around the corner and towards whatever Ruth's warning about...

Conner Kent has posed:
"I know what you mean," protests Conner, following Jubilee until he reaches Ruth, at that point his arm gets grabbed and... oh, huh. Now is when he is going to hear about something mysterious and cool?

"Hey Ruth, I kinda like your friend, but..." he handwaves vaguely. "This is not how I was planning to spend lunch time. Y'know? So, thanks for finding the Furbies so quickly." Beat. "I guess," then he waits to hear why precisely he had to wait.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
The shopkeep stares at Jubilee as she wheels off around the corner..

There would be furbies, at least three of them, all priced low for the taking. They were out of sight for a reason, as one would possibly not work and the other two boxes were a bit dusty due to lack of purchase. Jubilee probably would have had better luck with Amazon!

Ruth waits until Jubilee was out of earshot as she shakes her head towards Conner.

"Here." The bag of food that Ruth had on her, was immediately shoved towards Conner to take. "Heat and eat. Thank you."

But a more serious look crosses her face, one that has both brows lowering. "Yes. You are going to have a bad time." Of course, everyone does, but this was more significant. "It's going to hurt, even when you think it cannot. And you will see.. yes. You will see how far -you- can go while being.. in nothing?" Ruth mutters quietly, finally letting Conner go..

"In nothing nothing nothing.." She sings as she wanders towards the corner where Jubilee disappeared to.

"Nothing yes nothing nothing..."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee rolls to a halt and leans her elbow on the counter. "Okay, my good man, I'll tell you what... I'll take these worthless, no-good, totally awful Furbies off your hand for practically nothing!" she says, leaning in like she's offering him the deal of a life time. "I mean... if you make it worth my while..."

    When Ruth starts approaching, Jubes waves her hands in the air, as if to get her to stop. Wait. Blind. "Ruuth!" she hisses. "I'm trying to cut a deal here! What is it!?!"

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner blinks slowly at Ruth's prophecy. Wait, what? Wait, food? "Hey, wait." Because see, he just lost his appetite. "You gotta explain that," he protests. Catching up with Jubilee and the shopkeeper.

"I will take the Dracula minis," he points out.

This thing Ruth told him must have to do with the trip back to Krypton Kara is planning. He is pretty sure. There is not going to be 'nothing' there but Kryptonite. Which hurts like hell. The link about nothing in 'nowhere' goes way over his head.

Ruth Aldine has posed:
Ruth leans on the counter top, gesturing quickly towards the Shopkeep. She was almost immediately uncomfortable, feeling herself crawling out of her skin. "He will give them to you for free." Yes. However quick or instant it was, Ruth put the whammy on the poor guy in pure haste and spite to what she was feeling. Which was -not- this.

No explanations, nothing. Everything in the store was free to them for the taking, though Ruth was nice enough to sift through her pockets to smack twenty dollars upon the counter top.

"Sorry. Leaving now." Ruth stammers out, turning to snap up her three sectioned cane to move quickly and unassisted towards the door. And if anyone knows Ruth?

That's totally her exit style.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee stares at Ruth. STARES. She looks back at the whammied shopkeeper, then to Ruth, then the Furbies. Back to Ruth. She opens her mouth, as if to protest, but words do not come. Should she? Could she? WOULD she? Jubilee turns her head and looks longingly at the family of Furbies she could surely not afford. Maybe one. But, what good was one?

    Jubilee bites her bottom lip. Conflict. She swallows whatever lump was in her throat and then...Reaches out to take as many Furbies as her little arms would allow. She had a bad influence in her life.

    "Thank you!" Jubilee calls out suddenly, smiling nervously at the shopkeeper. "If any of them have babies I'll be sure to send you some pictures! Grandfather!" She scoot scoot scoots out of there, Furbie family cradled in her arms...

Conner Kent has posed:
Oh. She didn't. Of course... she did. Conner looks at the mind-whammied shopkeeper and will leave another twenty for the Dracula figurines before going out. "Are you hungry? He asks Jubilee on the way out. I think Ruth left me food for four in the bag. Including fried rice." He is not sure if he wants it. Unethical telepaths and foreboding prophecies make Conner sad. Also, "where did he go?" Seriously, a blind girl shouldn't be able to ninja him twice in a day.