5023/Might Be a Puppy

Might Be a Puppy
Date of Scene:	04 February 2021
Location:	Jubilee and Noriko's Room
Synopsis:	Jubes and Nori have a little talk with Kass after she has a chance to clean up. Nori does more laundry.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Kassandra Pagonis, Noriko Ashida

---

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    There are honestly way better rooms to be brought to if one is looking for a positive impression of Xavier's. Room 404 is utter chaos. Piles of clothes, books, anything really, clutter up the room. If there was a policy on keeping things tidy, these girls clearly don't follow it. They're not gross or dirty -- they just don't put ANYTHING away. Two beds are placed on opposite sides of the room, though one of them is covered under its own heap of clothes and stuff.

    "Welcome to room 404!" Jubilee exclaims, making a sweeping gesture with her hand. "Population: two."

    Jubilation pulls off her coat and gives it a toss. "Nori'll be back soon. She always is," she adds with a lingering smile.

    "Oh, so, you play the guitar? We're having a talent show on Friday. You should come!"

    Just like that.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     When your last few months have been at random motels, shelters, and most recently, the street in below freezing temperatures, there are very few places that would give a poor impression of Xavier's. Are there walls? Check. Is there a floor and a ceiling? Double check. Is it warm? Oh God yes, check. Is there a bathroom? Sweet baby Jesus check and check. With the world blazing by - and a short pause at the periphery of the Westchester campus grounds for her to orient herself - kind of - Kassandra found herself suddenly here. Somewhere else. Somewhere that reminded her of her room, kind of, before all the visions. Before all of the stuff that led her here.

     And she was very aware at how dirty she was. How much she smelled. And how Noriko said it didn't matter. "T..thank you." Kassie says sheepishly, standing there in her oversized coat and clothes, clutching her guitar case close. "I do, yeah. This old girl fed me many a night. I'm lucky to have had her."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has been gone.  She did some cursory pick up before Jubes got herein the blink of Kassandra's eye, but clearly (by the look of the room) she didn't want to keep Jubilation waiting in Mutant Town.  The speedster reappears with her back to the room at the door.

"Everyone..."  It's the beginning of a question that ends with the lift of a stack of comfy Xavier's standard wear...there's definitely a warm fluffy sweatshirt in there somewhere.  She doesn't turn around yet.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    By now, Jubilee has already picked up her concert-sized ukulele, standard tuning, and starting strumming. It's an island-strum, fun and swingy. She grins, looking up at Kass as she moves through the chords.

    I come home in the morning light
    My mother says when you gonna live your life right
    Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones
    And girls they want to have fun
    Oh girls just want to have fun

    She lets out a few strums to signal that she's done, that the musical signature has been completed. And then she holds the ukulele out for Kassandra. "I present, the mighty ukulele -- queen of all instruments!" She grins at the other girl and rummages around in her bedside table. "Want some gum?" Without waiting for her answer, Jubilee has already started unwrapping a piece for herself and into her mouth it goes. A stick is held out for Kassandra, though her eyes linger on Noriko at the door. "You can turn around, Nori," she says with a faint giggle.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     The only thing that really can be done at this point is polite applause. The offered ukulele is taken carefully once the fingerless gloves are stripped off and tucked into her side pockets a hesitant strum of the four-stringed instrument. "This is different...one less string so the chords won't....sound..." She works to get her fingers on the frets just so, and then starts strumming through the next verse, singing along quietly at first, but picking up as the lyrics move towards the chorus.

     The phone rings in the middle of the night
     My father yells what you gonna do with your life
     Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one
     But girls they want to have fun
     Oh girls just want to have..

     That's all they really waaannnt!

     Kassandra actually cracks a smile, letting the first line of the chorus bleed off, her voice not half bad, considering she's not really slept much over the past few days, passing back the instrument and taking the offered stick of gum, unwrapping it and popping it into her mouth. Spearmint...ahhh....

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko realizes that Jubes waits to tell her she can turn around and squints slightly before relaxing into a small grin.  Her grin vanishes after she passes the two on her way to the bathroom. "I thought they'd have something better than what they stuffed me in when I got here, but turns out they weren't screwing with me," she calls out, clearly (to Jubes of course) not zipping around as much as usual.

"So you're making her entertain you before she can get comfortable Jubes?" Noriko teases, craning her head out of the bathroom.  The bathroom, unlike the bedroom, is immaculate, like some third obsessive compulsive personality lived in there alone.  Still though, there are only two toothbrushes.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "They don't sound?" Jubilee questions, eyes rising a bit. The ukulele has a weird relationship with the guitar -- two fewer strings, yes, but it's tuned G-C-E-A and the fourth string is not actually the lowest. Even stranger, some of the chord shapes from the guitar are re-used but for different chords! Weirddddd.

    Rather than info dump about the wonders of the mighty uke, Jubilee blows a big pink bubble and lets it pop. "You sound good to me! You should /totally/ play in the talent show tomorrow night!" she chirps.

    "Aren't I the worst?" Jubilee adds with a grin, lolling her head towards Noriko as she replies. Making the new girl play for them! What a jerk!

    Her nose wrinkles a little as she sniffs. Like Nori, Jubilee's grin fades away. Spearmint. Her eyes flicker to Nori for a second and then back to Kassandra.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     Kassandra would move out of the way to let Noriko in, but the blue-haired woman is already passed and inside the bathroom before it even registers that she's there. "They don't sound the same as a guitar." she explains, "because of the missing string and higher tuning. I can't pluck with that instrument...I mean, I can, but it doesn't sound the same and it's hard for me to get my fingers that close on the neck in the frets...." she trails off, looking towards the bathroom and the pile of clean clothes that were brought in, then to Norkio, then back to Jubilee.

     "You're not going to get into any trouble for helping me, are you? I'll be out of your hair once I get a bath and a chance at a washer to get the clothes I've got on clean. No muss, no fuss." She starts to unwind the ties of her coat, shrugging it off to reveal another zippered, hooded sweatshirt beneath which is unzipped. And another button-down flannel shirt. Girl's like an onion, what with all the layers!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
But being on her way to the bathroom, Noriko's back is already to Jubes before she can see whatever it is she's looking to see.

"You guys are nerds," Nori teases before she pops up sitting on Jubilee's bed, cross-legged, her shoes...somewhere in the land of totally-going-to-pick-this-all-up-as-soon-as-Kass-is-in-the-shower-right-Jubes?  That's what that subsequent look is Jubilee.  That's the telepathic message Nori is sending in all of a half second.  Godspeed.

"No.  I already let the teachers know you are here.  I think they want to talk to you after you get comfortable, whenever you feel like it.  No one's in trouble."  Noriko shrugs at all the clothes stuff and says, "I can get it started for you.  Just toss them in that basket," which isn't used for clothing at all but probably should be.  They must be horrible shots.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee starts strumming through some familiar chord progressions, making absolutely sure her fingertips are well-placed so the chord can sound as pretty as possible. The ukulele is not on trial, but she's quick to defend it, anyway! "It's not missing strings. It has all four," Jubilee replies with a grin, admiring the little instrument for a moment.

    Would they get in trouble? "No," Jubilee says with a shrug, glancing over at Nori and then back to Kass. They might, but what's the purpose of saying so? It's also possible that her definition of trouble needs to be re-calibrated. Besides, Nori took care of it. The ukulele is placed on one of the desks and Jubilee pulls her hoodie over her head. It gets tossed onto the as-if-we're-going-to-suddenly-start-picking-stuff-up pile.

    "You're a nerd!" Jubilee insists, giving Noriko a gentle shove as she hops up onto the bed and takes a seat to her side.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     Layers on top of layers are shed, a spot cleared on the floor around the guitar case with a foot for everything to be piled in one spot to be found. She even loses an inch or two when she slips out of her hiking boots, pushing them out of the way. Still mostly dressed, now in a t-shirt and sweat pants, Kassandra picks her way across the room, watching the two roommates...friends, she guesses...bash each other playfully. "I'm...um..." She jerks a thumb towards the bathroom. "Gonna go in there for a little while."

     Gathering the brought clothes and thanking her lucky stars that underwear and socks are included, she slips into the bathroom, the door closing behind her with a click and, a few seconds later, the sound of the shower turning on can be heard.

     She's in there for a good ten minutes at least before the shower turns off and, when she emerges, the skin that was brown and streaked with dirt has been scrubbed clean, a ruddy pink, her hair wrapped in one of the towels to stay dry, the Xavier gear pulled on. "I feel human again."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori still has her hoodie on, which she realizes once Jubilee takes hers off.  She lets herself fall over at Jubes' shove.  "Life's hard," that she should have to be a nerd.  Then she is suddenly leeeaning on Jubes as if she fell the opposite way, which would defy the laws of physics...but when is Nori /not/ doing that?

The speedster straightens up at Kassandra's words and nods.  "I'll get your wash going."  Before anyone can protest, the laundry is gone.  Noriko makes it back, sitting next to Jubes, in a few seconds and then apparently she decided to slump back and get some shuteye.  Judging by the actual time that passes, Jubes can surmise this is probably one of her full "night's" rest.  Then she works on cleaning up the room.

"Good," obviously side-stepping the quip that none of them are human.  Small evidence that Nori might possess that strange and elusive thing called tact.  There are now choices for seating.  Nori's bed, Jubes', the floor.  "Don't sit on the floor."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    When Noriko leans against her, Jubilee laughs happily, even bringing an arm around the other girl in order to bring them together for a few moments. She too straightens up when Noriko does, reaching up to tuck a stray lock of her hair behind an ear. "Nori works in the laundry room, sometimes," Jubilation explains once the speedster zips off with Kassandra's clothes.

    And then, time begins to pass. For her part, Jubilee sits there motionless, her cheek falling to the side to rest on the top of Noriko's hair as the other girl naps. When she wakes up, Jubilee springs to her feet to try and clean up at least one item. She's as slow as molasses compared to Nori.

    When the room is ready and Kassandra has returned, Jubilee sits down on her own bed again, bringing one knee up to her chin. She takes a completely different approach, compared to Nori's tact: "Mutant," she gently corrects, her eyes rising to watch Kassandra's reaction to that. It carries no stigma in this place. In fact, Jubilation is smiling.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     The utterance of that word actually causes Kassandra to flinch, the shorter woman leaning against the now closed bathroom door, noticing that her pile of filthy clothes has been transferred elsewhere to be cleaned, and leaving her in the slightly less cluttered bedroom with the two roommates.

     "Y..yeah." Kassandra says with a nod. "Kinda guessed that, what with the sparks and the lightning gauntlets and stuff." She actually lifts her hands and wiggles her fingers in a way that she hopes looks like magic or something of the sort. She makes her way over to the non-claimed bed and sinks down on it hesitantly, looking around the room as if she's afraid that it'll just blow away like one of her visions. "I had a vision of summer back home that I would keep myself warm with. Just to fool myself while I froze wrapped in a blanket. It would hurt coming back to the real world, but for that little amount of time, it was summer and I was on the river with my family."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"We're all mutants here," Noriko says with a shrug.  "So, you can just assume that," she speaks from...well, she's actually down on the ground fishing out what look to be car batteries as they appear in rapid stop motion.

Then Nori sits in the middle of the room with her small grid of batteries which she decides she shouldn't be touching while Kassandra is speaking.  "Where's back home?...and, does that mean you felt warm even though you weren't?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Even the teachers," Jubilee adds to Noriko's description of the school's mutant population. She leans backwards and stares up at the ceiling, taking a reclined position on her bed. She blows a bubble with her gum and allows it to pop against her face. While pulling it back into her mouth, Jubilee tries talking. Where's home? "Yeah, where are you from?" Jubilee calls out, her voice muffled by the gum.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     Bare feet on the floor, toes touching just barely, heels up, Kassandra perches on the edge of Noriko's bed like it were a railing separating the line from the traffic on the other side, hunched forward slightly, the towel hiding her hair drooping a little from the angle. "Back home was a little town in Texas called West. It's actually in Central Texas, which got funnier every time I heard it."

     It didn't get funnier every time she heard it. This is sarcasm, boys and girls.

     "Little town of german immigrants right off the highway. Kolaches by the bucketload, good bacon, and cinnamon rolls as big as your head. If it wasn't for...." She swirls a hand around. "All this, I'd probably weigh close to a hundred and seventy pounds." Far too much for her body size. One good thing about being on the street, she guesses.

     Kassandra bobs her head in the affirmitive. "Yeah. When I can get my ability to work, it overwrites senses in an area with memories from objects. Usually I can keep it focused on me, or in a few feet of me, but when I sleep...well...you saw what happened when I got kicked out of the heated spot. What was I showing anyway? I was kind of asleep when it all happened..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's expressions sometimes seem to blur through sometimes.  Not her microexpressions.  Those don't really get seen by anyone.  Too fast and she's concentrating just to keep herself this slow.  But there is a flash of a frown at the name West.  "That is the worst name for a place ever.  Doesn't every western talk about going out west?...Lucky you."

The girl has no idea what Kolaches are but by the look of her face, when the food list comes, Kass has gotten to the good part of this convo.  Noriko is just grinning softly, a little dazed looking.  It doesn't last too long though.  "It was like a 70s street scene," she says and licks her lip...still thinking about food.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "A town in Central Texas called West. West, Texas is in Central Texas..." Jubilee says out loud, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyebrows hike up a bit and she shakes her head. "...That's---" Nori expresses it. The worst name for a place. They can't all be winners. "When they were handing out names for towns, I bet the mayor was going to the bathroom or something..." Jubilee adds with a smirk directed at the ceiling.

    A 70s street scene. "Yeah, and someone had this big iPod playing Crocodile Rock. No headphones!" Jubilee adds, smiling as she remembers it. "It was pretty cool."

    "You know, there are people here who can help you learn to control your powers," Jubilee mutters, testing the waters.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     "Apparently it was named after some doctor that set up a practice there in the 1800's. Dr. West. And yeah, it's a stupid name and we've heard almost every iteration of the joke but...it was home. And kolaches are these little donut-type things filled with jelly and baked. The dough's sweet, not the sugar on top. My mom...." Kassandra trails off and pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them, staring at the now cleared floor and the burgundy carpet with the aimless pattern of footprints going back and forth, to and fro.

     "They already threatened to kill me. Run my family out of town on a rail. What good would having control of this?" she bonks herself in the side of the head with the heel of her hand. "Do? I can't go home. They burned the barn down thinking I was in it. And for what? Because I can show the past sometimes? If..." Cassandra starts to rock, her eyes closing tightly. "I just want to wake up and have it all back to normal..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Nori listens.  She really does.  Especially when Kassandra starts talking about the kolaches and...wait.  Her eyes flick toward Kassandra as the girl trails off and then over to Jubilee.  Then to the batteries.  Maybe the batteries were a bad idea.

"Wait.  They who?  The town or..?"  Noriko swallows when she registers Kass' state and appears close to Jubes, her hand on the girl's shoulder as she whispers, "I'm going to get a teacher."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's own attention fades a little at the long, winding description of what a kolache is. She's daydreaming about Lisa Frank stickers, probably, but snaps back to attention when the story shifts towards the barn. The attempted murder.

    Jubilee blinks her eyes, sideways glancing back at Kassandra for the moment before nodding her head eagerly at Noriko. "Good idea," she whispers back.

Kassandra Pagonis has posed:
     Kassandra buries her face in her knees and doesn't say much more of anything, resigned to her fate for whatever teacher this is to come see her, to make some decision and probably kick her out of the school because that's just the way luck has been handling her for the past few months.