7165/Down The Laundry Chute

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Down The Laundry Chute
Date of Scene: 01 August 2021
Location: Laundry Room
Synopsis: Fueled by unknown instincts, Jubilation seeks refuge in the laundry room. After serving her some ice cream, Noriko discovers that things are not as they seem.
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    After standing under the hot water for what could have been a lifetime, Jubilation Lee's body was finally clean. She left the bathroom steamy from the shower, along with a wet towel draped over the drying bar. She had most certainly taken a shower and put on some clothes, but a problem soon presented itself.

    "Ughh, they stole my sunglasses, too!" Jubilation growls. First her clothes and now her Ray Bans! This is shaping up to be a really rough day. She opens her bedside table and takes out a backup pair of generic black sunglasses and slips them over her eyes. There's just something so awful about the beams of sunlight peeking through the window. Was it always like that? One thing was sure -- she couldn't sleep here -- and she absolutely, positively, hates the sun. Has she always? She can't remember.

    Jubilee walks towards the door... Wait, where's Nori? "Unbelievable..." she mutters before opening the door and walking out into the hall.

    The hall was empty, so no one would be there to observe the late Jubilation walking around, not that she's worried about that. She gets only a few feet down the hall before shrieking suddenly. She had just crossed in front of one of the large, magnificent windows that brought natural light into the corridor. Before she can realize what has happened, Jubilee is on the ground.

    After some trial and error, Jubilation Lee has declared sunlight to be her enemy. She doesn't know why -- perhaps it's just the mother of all hangovers -- but for now she'll have to avoid it. She couldn't get back to the room and the safety of its windowless bathroom, but she could go to the basement. The safest way, though...? Crawling into the laundry chute. The way down isn't long, just a few floors, and the landing isn't too bad. Right into a pile of clothes.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Time passed and Noriko's insistence that she saw Jubilation hasn't wavered.  Who knows, maybe she did.  Even if no one else saw her, that doesn't mean she's not alive.  It still counts right?  The speedster stubbornly clings to this.  Noriko was given some aid in falling asleep, but dawn was quickly on their heels when Jubilation was showering.  By the time Noriko wakes and has had breakfast, the mansion is well into a sleepy, somber day.  No one is doing laundry today.

The Headmistress will have to inform the students at some point and there's no way Noriko wanted to be around for that.  She doesn't even say anything, just grabbing the muddied sheet from the night before on her way out, escaping from the concern of others for a breather while she does something no one should have to worry about.

Just laundry.

Noriko hasn't paused in her movement.  She's just on some constant fast drone through the world as it slides her by.  Reluctantly, she'd tossed the sheet down the chute, and now comes racing down to find it, as if she regrets it.  She ends up standing over the pile of clothes.

That's an elbow.

Noriko's head quirks to the side and she lifts the muddied sheet like it were a tissue, flicking it to the side.  Then she tries to ever so slowly climb into the giant bucket.  Only by her mutant powers does she not stumble over her own exuberance at finding Jubilee (well she does but she recovers).

"I found you," Noriko smiles as she tugs Jubes closer to her.  It's less awkward for her than inching in and lets her hook her arm around the treasured mutant.  Having Jubilee tell everyone she's not crazy seems a little less pressing right now.  She gently runs her fingers through Jubilee's hair close to the scalp, surreptitiously seeing if she finds any lumps or tenderness.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation was sleeping in that laundry bin, using a a few of the to-be-washed articles to cover her up. She didn't need blankets, as there would be minimal transfer of body heat, she'd later learn. Perhaps, it was just a habit from life. She wasn't down here long, but it seemed to be especially easy to fall asleep, as Jubilation slipped into a deep one almost immediately.

    To call what she experiences 'dreams' would be a vast understatement. Her recent memories get mixed with her long-terms, creating a dreamscape that is highly unusual and difficult to experience. Images of her lying dead haunt her. The feeling of Noriko crying against her corpse at the hospital. These memories feel as real as any of her others, though she wasn't living to experience these. Getting stirred from this nightmare by Noriko's disturbance is a welcome surprise.

    "You found me..." Jubilation repeats slowly, stirring from her slumber with a satisfied smile. She reaches out with both hands, stretching a little bit as she does.

    "Nori, what are you doing?" she questions, feeling those fingers going through her hair.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Such dreams, or similar ones, Nori hasn't had yet thanks to the help of her elders.  "I'm just..." her voice trails off as her attention slips more toward her endeavor.  "Making sure you're in one piece....You seem to be."

"What?  I just had to be sure."  Noriko looks to Jubilation with arched brows and then smirks.  "You fell down a laundry chute," she explains, naturally minimizing what she just did before waiting for any reactions.  "Why did you leave the room?" she asks as one of her hands lingers, fingers threading through and softly playing with the girl's hair.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Inspection of Jubilation wouldn't reveal any injuries or anything that might explain a death. The most that might be found would be trace elements of having been at the side of a road. No blunt force trauma or anything like that.

    "I don't know..." are her first words. She looks away, briefly, before refocusing. "I just felt, I don't know, that I should leave the room. It didn't feel right... There was something repulsive... Like, I had to escape from something," she explains softly. It turns out, a lot of what she's been doing recently has simply been the result of some impulse that she'd ordinarily find to be totally alien. Her sudden instinct to flee from the sunlight came on kind of fast and unexpectedly. She doesn't mention the part about the burning sensation from the windows in the hallway.

    The fingers that still move through her hair are enough to make Jubilee question it again. "Nori..." she murmurs. "What's going on? Do you still think I died? That's ridiculous."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko's brow furrows slightly.  "Well we do need to do laundry," she says as if that's reason enough to flee.  They both know that's not what Jubilation is talking about though, and Noriko shrugs softly.  Jubes probably just has some kind of light sensitive headache or something.

"Hmm?" Noriko blinks and then she just continues stroking Jubilations hair, not looking Jubilee in the eyes really.

"They don't believe me that you're alive.  You say it's ridiculous I think you died.  Either way I've got a screw loose yeah?"  The silence.  She doesn't know how long it lasts.  She feels the hot tears spring from her eyes again.  "I held you..." she mumbles softly as if this were some kind of proof even if unasked for, and although she's still seized by the trauma of those moments.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "They don't believe you that I'm alive?" Jubilee repeats, sitting up a little in some display of surprise. "Does that mean everyone else thinks I died, too?" Strangely, she's not really asking specific questions -- nothing regarding the how, where, why details of her alleged death. She seems more irritated by it, as though she might be contemplating how much her social standing at school is going to hurt for this.

    "Nori..." Jubilee calls out, her voice soft again. "Don't cry... I'm right here. I'm fine... I feel fine."

    She isn't. She doesn't.

    It doesn't stop her from reaching out to bring Noriko in for a hug. To hold her. Jubilation presses her cold cheek against Noriko's and lowers her voice to a whisper. "...I'm here," she repeats. "I'm here. It's okay. It's okay."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko just leans into Jubilation, her cheek warm and damp as she clings to the girl.  Her grip is tight, tighter than she realizes.  But then she relaxes into the embrace.  She sniffs and just stays as close as possible to Jubes.  "...I think I'm the only one who really knows you're alive," Noriko explains in one fell swoop.

"I told them you wouldn't leave me.  I knew it...You are?  You do?"  Noriko finally pulls back to look into Jubilation's eyes.  She sees the truth, but tucks back into where she was though, only feeling safe in the very real arms of Jubilee.

"Have you eaten?" Noriko persists like someone whose mind had been chewing on the question in the silence, in the meantime.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I'm not hungry..." is Jubilation's cryptic answer to that question. What will she do when she eventually gets hungry? Would she even know what she's hungry for? At this present moment, she knows that she isn't and that's good enough for now.

    Deep within, Jubilation is suffering tremendously. She is surprised that the popular theory is that she died, as she has no memory of dying or being dead. And yet, at the same time, she does, from memories she can't access right now. So, while she has no choice but to react like this is all ridiculous, there's something unknown within her that's making her deeply uncomfortable. After all, why wasn't she hungry? She doesn't know.

    "Nori..." Jubes answers softly. "You're the only one who needs to know." Patently false, but she was trying to cheer the girl up and wanted to say something nice. Curiosity begins to take hold.

    "Nori, why do people think I'm dead?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I'm not either," for once.  It might have been the freezers full of ice cream that she decimated earlier, but Noriko can't think of a reason she'd want to leave Jubilation, even for food.

"I also didn't really want to leave you to get it," Noriko says, not realizing anything fully amiss in Jubilation's answer, or at least not letting on.  "So it works out."  If Noriko starts questioning why Jubilation isn't hungry, she then has to question how Jubilation is even /here/.  BORING!

"Because we went to the hospital and there was this girl who I guess looked like you?  ...in the morgue...Gabby thought maybe you and her might be sisters when I first told them you were alive."  Detail by detail is pulled out of the speedster like a thread every time she is probed.  "But clearly that wasn't you because how could you be there and here right?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You're not hungry?" Jubilation questions. "Is it because you're eating so fast I don't even know you're going?" It seemed much more likely than her not being hungry. She manages a smirk.

    As Noriko describes the how and why everyone thinks she's dead, Jubilation stares forward and listens intently, hanging on every word. She's trying her best to stay in the moment, to not give in, and pay attention. The moment she slips, she's liable to lose control to some weird impulse again. Some of the things Noriko describes cause a sudden look of recognition to appear on Jubilee's face. They're jumpstarting her brain, giving her brief and vague glimpses into memories that don't feel real to her.

    "I..." she tries. Her face sours as though she ate something sour. "...I remember a room. Red and white tiles. You were pulling..." She lifts her arm and looks at her bare wrist. "...You were pulling on my bracelets..." Jubilee's eyes roll to the side as she tries to hold onto this image. "...And then, cold and dark... Like, if you ever wondering if the fridge light goes out when you close it... it does..."

    She shouldn't have those memories and the look on her face suggests that she realizes that too.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I ate a lot of ice cream earlier," Noriko says, eyes drifting off to the side.  She nods slowly, pressing her lips together in self-judgement.  "Like a lot.  It got replenished?"  And really, since then, Noriko just hasn't had an appetite.  It was a compulsion, not an indulgence.

"I do that sometimes though.  Eat when you're not looking..." aka, "eat when you are looking," she says with a small, fleeting smile.  When Jubilation begins, she has all of the speedster's attention.  Noriko doesn't take her eyes off of Jubilee.  She hasn't stopped touching Jubilee since she climbed into the basket.

"Are you saying...you just seemed dead?  Like...mostly dead?"  It'd be a funny reference if Noriko didn't deliver it with such seriousness.  Such shock.  "Jubes," Noriko whispers, worry still in her eyes.  If Jubes could start just as quickly as she stopped.  Noriko pulls Jubilation to her tightly.  "We're here now.  It's okay now."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "No," Jubilation replies with a shake of her head. "I'm not saying that. I... I don't know what I'm saying." She slumps back and leans into the soft pile of laundry. "I... I don't know how I know that about you and the bracelets. But they took them off of me... And put them..." She closes her eyes. "...in a bag. A clear bag."

    Her eyes open slowly. "Ice cream," Jubilee mutters. Her tone is ambiguous.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Okay," Noriko accepts it, because she doesn't have any other ideas left.  What else is there?  Dead?  Mostly dead?  Alive?  All that matters is Jubes has these memories.  "...were you in pain?"  the speedster finally asks.  "When these things happened?"

It's Jubilation's reaction to Noriko cleaning out the ice cream that really gets Noriko's attention, beyond the obvious issues.  To Noriko, Jubilation's response is downright ambivalent and sociopathic compared to her usual interest in ice cream.

"You want any?" ice cream of course, " I think there's more."  She reaches out to brush her fingers through Jubilation's hair, away from her eyes.  "I'll get your stuff back."  At some point apparently because Noriko hasn't moved.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation lowers her eyes. Was she in pain when they took off her bracelets? She was already dead at that point. "I...I can't remember..." she replies. Her eyes widen. "I can't remember, Nori..." The thought of ice cream is enough to pull her out of that. Her fear of not remembering the feeling of being on that slab is replaced with ambivalence around ice cream.

    "...Okay," she replies softly. Going through the motions... Jubilee looks afraid.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Okay?  You want some?"  Asking takes longer than offering in a speedster's world, but Noriko doesn't leave Jubilee like this alone without warning.  She's acting too...vulnerable.  Too fragile.  No.  Or maybe something is just off.  Noriko knows she can't put two and two together but she nods encouragingly, taking Jubes' hands.  "Okay I'll get you some.  I'll be right back okay?"

Noriko hops effortlessly out of the laundry bucket and /sprints/ up to the kitchens.  She returns with...drumroll, well what appears on a tray is a can of whipped cream, some fruit, gingerale, sprite, bottle of water, and the ice cream of course.  She makes no explanation for the other things, but the whipped cream top has already been popped and Noriko has shoveled out three perfect scoops into a bowl.  No one has to wait for the ice cream to melt with Noriko muscling the scooper.

"Here."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation is hesitant to let Nori's hands go, but she does. She does.

    Did she want some? No. Absolutely no part of Jubilation wanted ice cream, but she had the awareness to understand that she should say yes. Some instinct deep within her. She didn't know where it came from, but her love of ice cream felt like a distant memory -- one that she couldn't be sure was even real.

    "Yes," she replies quietly, unable to look at Noriko as she answers. Jubes just figures the lie is too obvious.

    In the short time that Noriko is away, Jubilation has curled into a ball in the middle of the laundry bin. "I thought maybe you wouldn't come back," she admits quietly. Nori was only gone for a moment, but Jubilation sounds serious. Pitiful. Weak. Vulnerable. She slowly sits up and reaches to take the spoon. Her eyes stare at the different things that Noriko brought from the kitchen. If she was observed, there would be no sign of recognition or opinion on her face. It's like she's staring down at nothing. Ice cream. Soda. Whipped cream. They're all just distant memories.

    Her eyes lower to the spoon and the blob of ice cream stuck to the end. She blinks a couple of times and then looks up at Noriko. Jubilation's expression suggests she's about to ask for help. "What...what should..." she begins softly.

    'What should I do?' is what she was going to say before stopping herself. She remembers.

    The spoon is brought up to her mouth, which opens hesitantly. It's like trying to get a child to eat a new food. She's scared, perhaps. Slowly, shakily, the spoon is brought into her mouth and her lips close over it. Her face and throat flex in an exaggerated way -- she swallowed it. Jubilation opens her mouth and then... Her eyes widen. "Ughhh..." she belts out.

    Suddenly, Jubes crawls out of the laundry bin, summoning speed that she didn't have a moment ago. She crawls away on her hands and knees, only a few paces, and begins to dry heave. "Ughh..." She sounds like she's in pain. Horrible, terrible pain. Full body contractions. Spasms. Retching.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
It really is obvious that Noriko should know.  Any other time Nori would know, but this is obviously something else.  Jubilation's instincts are true and necessary, but they won't save them from the inevitable.

"I will always come back.  I'll always be here for you," Noriko swallows a wave of emotions that seem to want to bubble up as much as Jubilation is as flat or...unaffected.  She's pretty good at keeping a straight face, but seeing Jubilation there on the slab...seeing her lifeless body.  Thinking she'd never hold her hand again.

Noriko closes her eyes to regain more composure.  "I'll h-" but then she doesn't have to help.  Still.  "You don't look so great."  Jubes just isn't enjoying it, obviously, and as if on queue, Jubes escapes the bin to confirm it.  Beyond confirm it.  The speedster stays with her and rubs her back.

"Jubes maybe you were food poisoned or something?"  Noriko chews her lower lip.  "You sound horrible.  We should go see the doc."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The retching continues. Jubilation's body spasms with violent motions that move like a wave from her backside up to her neck. Her head lols forward and backward with a sudden jerk. And then a splash. Her dry heaving is no longer dry.

    It would be easy to mistake what happens as vomiting, but as more and more of the thick red liquid pours from Jubilation's mouth, it becomes obvious that this isn't vomit. It's blood. Thick chunks of viscera splatter from her mouth and the mixture begins to take on a dark, almost black color. It's getting thicker.

    A final wave pours from her mouth before Jubilation is released from this horror. She falls down onto her side, one arm falling lifelessly against the tile. She's dead. Again. And yet...

    "Nori..." she gurgles softly, her lips wet with blood. "...I don't think it's food poisoning."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko should get Dr. McCoy.  Really.  She should, but she's paralyzed by the violent wrenching of Jubilation's body, how relentless the condition is, and gripped by the fear of leaving Jubes at a critical moment.  Let's not think about that, but she does.  "Fuck...fuck Jubes."  She tries to help, giving the girl support and moving out of the way just in time as needed.  And it's needed.  There's a lot of particles and Nori sees them all.

Noriko's girlfriend is puking her guts out and she doesn't know what to do...only stay by Jubes side, wipe the blood from her face with her sleeve, looking at the discoloration but not saying anything...and then finally, just like that, the final wave comes and goes.

"Jubes.  I think you need blood or something.  You just puked up a bunch and none of it looked like ice cream.  There's too much blood and...stuff.  There shouldn't be that much stuff Jubes."  Noriko presses her lips together.  "No...No..." she murmurs, not even thinking that this could be contagious.  She gets down next to Jubes and draws her up into her arms in all the slick.

"Stay awake," she says sternly.  "You don't get to leave me again," but there's the tiniest measure of pleading.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I..." Thick, black liquid gurgles from her mouth and dribbles down her chin. "I won't leave you..." Her words are guttural as they pass through the liquid bubbling out of Jubilee's mouth. Her body is cold. Her skin is pale. The affectations of life -- blinking, breathing, incidental motion -- have all stopped. She's still.

    What is keeping this girl in the here and now? Is it something beautiful? Her love of Noriko, perhaps? Or is it something else? The thick ooze drying at the corners of her mouth suggest that there's nothing beautiful at work here.

    "Mother..." she gurgles suddenly, reaching up with a dead hand. Reaching at nothing. She tilts her head to look at Noriko. Not past her. At her. Jubilation's eyes don't look right. They look dead.

    "Nori..." she gurgles. "Go.... Go up to the room."

    "I'll be up soon..." she tries. If Jubilation isn't speaking or moving, she could very well be dead right now. "Go... I'll.... be... up soon."