7799/Making Amends

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Making Amends
Date of Scene: 12 September 2021
Location: Horse Stables
Synopsis: Jubilation goes to make amends with the horses in the stables after the incident with Sergeant. Instead of forgiveness, she finds a new friend in Michael Erickson.
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Michael Erickson




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    It's a warm September evening. The sun has recently gone down, but the stables are shockingly bright underneath a waxing gibbous moon. The stables usually accommodate five horses, though the current state of the stables suggests that only four horses are being cared for. Their individual gates have all been opened, allowing Buttercup, Cinnamon, Shadow Dancer, and Pony free reign of the large, grassy pasture. The horses seem to be grouped up in their field, almost as far as they can get from the one person nearby.

    A teenage girl leans against one of the wooden fence posts, staring out at the group of horses. She's about eighteen and is dressed in a way that suggests she's very comfortable in her own skin. She's wearing a bright yellow tank top and a pair of daisy dukes that would get her thrown in detention for the rest of her days.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    You'd think that girls in tank tops and short-short-shorts would be frowned upon by school dress codes, yes, but this is Xavier's...and one would imagine that the preeminent academy of mutant education and power honing would be sophisticated enough to know that sort of thing is bullshit. And so the man calling himself Michael Erickson does not blink when he enters the stables area, dressed in his jeans and battered cafe racer jacket; he bellies up to the fence without a word, some ten feet or so from where Jubilation perches. Watches the horses as they wander the pasture. Does he see her? He'd have to be blind not to. Still, all he does is stand there, watching the horses, a faint smile upon his blandly handsome face...

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Normally, Jubilation might be too enamored with the horses to even notice she has company, but things are not normal anymore. She heard him coming well beyond the expected distances of normal hearing. She could even smell him, though does not yet know that. These heightened senses are brand new to her. Unsurprisingly, she turns her head lazily and stares at the stranger and his blandly handsome face.

    "Are you the new music teacher?" she asks, tilting her head down to see past a pair of Ray Bans. Jubilation reaches up and tucks the sunglasses into the hair on the crown of her head, probably to avoid any unnecessary inquiries as to why she's wearing them at night. "I heard there was a new music teacher..."

    Her face is unusual. Beautiful, sultry, attractive, yes, but it all comes from an unnatural place. Her skin is smooth, her hair soft, and her eyes piercing. Her eyes seem to go just a little too long between blinks. Her chest rises and falls to breathe, but only intermittently. When she remembers to do it.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Another thing about Xavier's school - everyone's beautiful, even if they're not to human specifications. So this...isn't expected. Odd how innured he's gotten to gorgeous teenagers on this planet. Probably because he's too damned old for 'em all. "No," he offers in a warm baritone. "I'm a visitor. Galactic politics, combat disciplines." This would be the Shi'ar that came out of nowhere to fight his own people when they crashed the mansion last month. He's been around the grounds the last couple of days, or so rumors might say. "Who're you, horse girl?"

    As he says it, he turns her way, leaning against the fence on one elbow. Stares back at her, eyes like blue chips of glacial ice. Smiles. Slightly.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Put all of the Xavier's students in a lineup and Jubilation Lee's current appearance would stick out like a sore thumb. There's just something unnerving about it, like seeing a dog walking on its hind legs. It's perfectly explainable and yet totally unusual. She has the beauty only afforded to a vampire who has recently fed. She squints a little as Michael explains his situation -- visitor, galactic politics, combat disciplines.

    "Oh, right," Jubilee replies. "I forgot about that." It's not a lie. She really forgot, but she has a really good excuse. She was dead while the attack was underway.

    Horse girl. Jubilation lowers her eyes. Some of the bolder students had taken to calling her that after certain rumors had spread. One of those boys stopped, but he's now apparently too frightened to go near Jubilation.

    Her brown eyes rise and study Michael. She stares, unblinking. His tone and intonation suggests that he's not asking if she's /the/ Horse Girl. He's asking who she is and happens to, coincidentally, be calling her 'horse girl' due to being found at the stables.

    "My name is Jubilation," she replies eventually, trace amounts of defensiveness in her tone. "Not Horse Girl." She turns to watch the gathering of animals. They've gotten curious about Michael but none dare move closer.

    "Do you have a name or should I call you Blue Eyes?"

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Ahhhh. The vampire." He looks back at the horses. "Sorry, miss, I didn't mean insult. Where I come from, mutants and vampires and all that sort of thing are sort of just taken as variations, not...well, what humans take them for. You're all just different types of people, to me."

    "I go by Michael Erickson on this planet, but my /real/ name is Cal'hatar of Chandilar, Officer Third Magnitude of the Imperial Military Forces of the Shi'ar Empire." A beat; a smirk lines his lips. "Well, formerly, I expect. I turned my back on them to fight here for your people."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    As soon as Michael calls her a vampire, Jubilation's head snap-turns towards him, mouth hanging open in public disgust. It's a silent 'how dare you!' But, that's as far as her indignation goes. She lets out an elaborate sigh. It's an affectation of life, a learned behavior, and not something required to sustain her body. It's communication. She's letting this go, as Michael is an alien to this world and uses the v-word without the usual prejudice that goes along with it.

    "Yeah, well, it's not such a good thing," she bemoans. "I'm not even alive anymore." She seems alive. "So, I'm not really even a person, I guess."

    Jubilee frowns at the gathering of horses. They just won't go near her anymore. "Well, that's a long name, isn't it? I mean, all those titles. So fancy," she points out. Jubilee looks back at Michael and leans her hip against the wooden fence post. She twirls a hand in the air and bows elaborately.

    "Pleased to meet you, Cal'hatar of Chandilar, Officer Third Magnitude of the Imperial Forces of..." She looks up from her teasing and squints. "...Sheeeeee Are? Empire. I am Jubilation Lee, Princess of Beverly Hills, Recently Deceased." She straightens up and sighs again. She's flipping back and forth between her usual, joyous personality perfectly befitting her name and a strange sadness.

    "So, should I call you Michael Erickson or Cal'hatar? I hate how people change their name when they come to a new place. My parents -- Lee Jingyi and Lee Zhan -- renamed to Jen and John Lee when they moved here. They gave me basically the least Chinese name someone could have."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Humans are descended from prey animals," he says to her, shaking his head. "Things they consider predatory - even if they are /not/ - tend to spook them. My people are descended from raptor birds, so vampiric organisms are just...one of the crowd, I suppose."

    Michael looks to her again, smirking faintly. "We are a proud race of militants and conquerors. Titles tend to be a part of things. I'm nobility, too, albeit from a minor house. Makes things absolutely insufferable." His brows arch. "Hey, listen. Just because you're no longer following the biological playbook doesn't make you not a person, Miss Lee. The mind operates, right? You're still thinking. Just because you're not breathing doesn't mean that you're somehow less than you were. You're just different." He snorts, then, gesturing at himself. "Hell, look at me, right? I've undergone so much genetic surgery and alteration to look human that I don't really look like my own people, anymore. And I'll outlive everyone I ever knew. Sound a little familiar?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    He's /also/ nobility. "I was only joking," Jubilee explains with a growing smile. Her fangs are on display. "...About being the Princess of Beverly Hills. That's just a thing we told Yukio. We don't have royalty here in America and, I guess, don't really see a need to respect it." She shrugs her shoulders and glances over at the horses that are still avoiding her.

    "That one loves Sugar Daddies," Jubilee explains. She seems to summon one from her pocket -- a series of simple gestures that are really just her reaching into her pocket, but done with an unnatural, unnerving grace that it takes on the appearance of something magical. "...But not anymore. Not from me." She dangles the candy over the fence. Pony takes a few clodding steps towards Jubilation and Michael but then brays and turns away.

    "If you live here, or intend to, then we are your people," Jubilee adds softly. "Those who are still people, I mean." She doesn't seem to be taking too much to Michael's explanation of why she shouldn't consider herself less of a person. Jubes holds the Sugar Daddy out for Michael to take since Pony won't.

    Something the alien officer says draws a look of shock from Jubilation. She blinks a couple of times. "...I..." Worry fills her face. "...I never thought of that." Yes, Michael will outlive everyone he ever knew and so will she. Well, they'll die and she'll continue to exist in this this in-between state.

    "Fuck."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    He waggles a finger at her. "Horses don't like me either, by the way." That last bit is said more like a little secret, and a wink. "And don't start thinking like that, because that's bullshit. The whole 'oh no, I'll outlive everyone' thing is a human trope built on the genetic predilection to breed and serve offspring. It's outmoded in your modern day, and frankly there's no state that can't be overcome. Nanomedicine, mysticism, nuclear alchemy, all sorts of other technologies - and if you /really/ wanted mortality, someday, I promise that I'll kill you myself."

    There's a long moment of grim silence, and then he heaves a sigh. "Cheer up, girl," Michael finally says, running a hand through hair that he is quite suddenly very aware is false. "You've been transformed, yes, but you can keep on going right through it. Take a page from my people; our gods were married against their will, yet found strength in their differences, and learned to thrive. So let it be with this change that has come upon you. Master it. That's how you live a life that you can draw strength and enjoyment from. Don't let this thing that's happened to you take you down." His voice in this moment is that of a commander, one who has, at some point in his life, led others in times of desperation. Laden with resolve beneath a quiet, gentle tone - she would not do well with strident martialism, he believes. So let it be a soft strength that he tries to impart to her.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "The horses liked me, especially that one," Jubilation explains. "Until I murdered Sergeant." She briefly glances to the vacant stall in the horse stable. There's a faded brownish stain on some of the wooden structure of the horse stall. Remnants of a massive pool of horse blood that has lingered after attempts to clean it up. Jubilation stares at the gathering of horses again.

    "This isn't taking me down. You say 'I'll kill you myself' and I understand that's a kindness, but... this Dark Passenger won't allow it. I'd tear you apart for even trying. I'm trying to stop myself from doing it now!" Jubilee explains, still looking away. Both of her hands have come up to grip the wooden fence that keeps her separated from the horses. The wood has started to creak underneath the unusual strength of her fingers.

    "I can't decide if I like you. You seem like someone who might be cool, who might understand, but it's bordering on know-it-all and...and...life'splaining. I made that word up. Just now. Deal with it."

    Jubilation releases the wooden fence from her grip and folds her arms across her chest. She unleashes a fury that can only be summoned by a teenage girl. "People are calling me Horse Girl because of what I did," she fires back. "No one will talk to me! My friends are afraid of me because word is getting around. I got six weeks detention because I accidentally hypnotized a bunch of other kids."

    It doesn't stop.

    "When I'm making out with my girlfriend all I can think about is the thumping inside her neck. I have to think, specifically, about how I'm /not/ going to kill her. Or you. Or anyone! The animals hate me. I can't eat or drink /anything/. Well, I can drink /one/ thing and, well, there's really only one place to get it. They even took away my keys to the rooms. I am -- was -- the RA in student housing. Now I can't even do my part to try and make things easier for mutants coming in."

    "And, and, /now/ I'm realizing that the love of my life is going to grow old, wither up, and die right in front of me and I'm doomed to go on and on and on and on."

    Jubilee exhales a bunch of pointless air like a brat. "So, yeah, maybe just ease up on the pep talks, mister," she adds, apparently not responding so well to the soft strength of the Shi'ar. She stares daggers at Michael for a few seconds, unblinking, unyielding, before her head lowers. Jubilation lets out a shuddery sort of noise normally associated with crying, though no tears come.

    "I'm sorry. I..." She takes another breath. Another demonstration. Maybe even a manipulation. "...My emotions are all over the place lately."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    He takes a deep breath, then, running a hand through his hair once more. "You can't kill me," he tells her with a shake of his head. "The moment you try, I'll either throw you fifty feet down the way or be encased with armor that can shrug off artillery strikes, so I think you don't have to worry about tearing me apart - I'm talking to Jubilation, not the Dark Passenger. The Dark Passenger can fuck off." He taps his temple. "I got one in my head, too.

    "Anyway. I know I can sound...splainy. I don't mean to. I'm seventy years old, will live to be at /least/ two hundred, led troops into battle across multiple worlds and then got put on this planet to watch another alien race entirely by the time I was twenty-five. I've been made over into almost a different organism in order to fit in on this planet, and just recently I've turned my back on my people, killed them outright, violated everything I've ever sworn to in order to do this thing because I knew it was right. And nearly everyone who /knows/ now sees me as 'that alien' or 'the one guy who betrayed his people, can we really trust him.' So." He gives her a flat smile. "I know a little bit about isolation. And I'm...well, I'm not human. So I'm sometimes really shit about getting across what I mean to humans when among my people I was considered an eloquent leader."

    Now he looks back at the horses, too. "I'm sorry about it. All of it. You seem a good soul, and this whole thing has very clearly burned you to the core. I...don't mean to cause a problem for you. But I'm alien. And now, apparently, so are you. I'm offering you a hand, or trying to. I had to learn to push back all /kinds/ of instincts to exist in this society. My own, too."

    And that's about as much as he can get to being open and forthright. To this girl he's said more than he's said to anyone else, even those whom he would like to. He's strange. Off. But he's honest. In this moment, there's no hedging or measuring. He's open. And it's been a very, very long time. "We must all step to the challenge. The beast can be wrestled down. If you havent' been broken already, you clearly have the will to overcome."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation closes her eyes tightly. Her world has always been small and it just keeps getting smaller. But, here's someone who is willing to take the time and talk to her. Someone who isn't calling her names or scared to be alone with her. Sure, the two of them are disagreeing on which of them would kill the other, but that doesn't matter. Jubilation Lee is being seen and heard. Vampire or not, normally only Noriko Ashida gets to see this side of Jubilation -- the vulnerable, scared side that is always hidden behind a false veneer of cheery showmanship.

    Without asking, without prompting, Jubilee pushes off from the fence post and walks towards Michael. She moves with an unnatural grace, almost like she's gliding through the air. But, if Michael were to look down at her feet, he'd see her walking normally. After closing the distance between them, Jubes opens her arms and presses her cheek against the stranger's chest so that her mouth is in no way near his neck. She curls her arms around him and gives a squeeze.

    After a moment, Jubilee ruins it by speaking. "This is called a hug," she mumbles, still not letting go. "And it's for both of us."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    For a voracious beast of myth, the poor girl is so small in the moment, a girl where she's likely usually expected to be a lion. Or at least so very, very tough. She glides to him, quiet and exposed, and he answers her with strong arms that wind about her shoulders. Then he softly laughs.

    "Hey," he murmurs, "I know what a hug is. You're fine. We're fine. And your lady is gonna be fine. Just give yourself a break, huh?" For an alien, the man sure does /talk/ like a New Yorker. "It's gonna be tough. But the toughest thing about life is to experience it. You're doing all right so far. I got faith in you."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation takes another demonstrative breath and releases Michael from the hug. "Better let you go. Nori's the jealous type," she explains with a smirk. She glances down for a second and comes up with a smile. "I know some don't like that, but I do. It's cute." She steps away from the alien and gestures towards the pack of horses.

    "I didn't mean to kill Sergeant, by the way," Jubilee adds joylessly. "I..." She winces, straining a little to recall the exact sequence of events. "I didn't know what I was doing. I barely even remember it. And...um... I've 'eaten' since then and nobody has died, so..." That's a vague detail.

    "By the way," Jubes starts. "...The v-word. That's our word. You have no right to use it." She holds a serious pose for a second or two and then bursts into a quiet laugh. "I'm only kidding. I'm sure that wouldn't even... Nevermind. I don't even know any others like me, so I don't know if it's offensive to call us that." With eyebrows hiked, Jubilee pulls out that Sugar Daddy again. "Cal? Eat this for me. I remember it's good. Like, really good. Like, your mouth will love you for the rest of your life!" She waggles the Sugar Daddy in the air between them. "And... Can you tell me what it's like? Like, describe what it tastes like and how it feels?" She gently bites her bottom lip. Men like that.

    "I forget."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Michael gives her a look. "You don't need to play it up, lady," he says with a smirk, amused at that lip biting; he doesn't try and pull her back when she disengages. Then he looks to the horses. Or where there once was a horse. "When I fought the commandoes at Miss Grey's family home," he says, "I was dying. Before that, I wore armor, but it was a very different kind. Very...normal. To save my life I bound myself to an advanced suit of intelligent armor that is...well, as much of a legend to my people as your status is to yours. It is, in effect, my alter ego. And it hates my guts." A pause. "Like you, I need to keep it under wraps at any time. Had I not had the will that I was raised to have, to have it sharpened such, it would likely try to get out and kill everyone, or at least depart and leave me stranded in Null Space forever." A sigh. "So I understand. I do. You're doing wonderfully, all things considered."

    Now he looks back at her, arms crossed over his breast. Smiles. "Tell you what. If I eat this candy, can you taste it? I don't understand the mystical side of your transformation but I've read that vampires can taste flavors in the blood. Is that true?" He leans forward a bit. "I heal quickly. Wouldn't be a thing for me to drip some blood in your mouth." Playing it dangerously, apparently! Or perhaps he's quite serious about the whole 'throwing her fifty feet' thing. There was the whole thing about the /murderous intelligent armor/ and all.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's lip gets released by her top row of teeth. She stares up at Michael in apparent disbelief. The number of people in her world that truly understand what she's going through, able to put to words what she herself has struggled to, and has experienced it themselves to some degree.... has increased from zero to one. He's not blowing smoke up her ass or talking down to her like a teenager. There are likely countless vampires hidden among the mortals, but she doesn't know any of them. Michael, at least, walks a similar path.

    Michael's stipulation on eating the candy so she can taste it through his blood earns an immediate answer from Jubilee. "Absolutely not!" she nearly squeals. The look of disgust that appears on her face is obvious. A mysterious chord has been struck.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    He only lies as part of his job, after all - and it's a job he doesn't have anymore. Being truthful, it's a nice thing to do. And though she is a raptor all her own, it's not like this is a weakness she can translate to her advantage. And of course, he just admitted to being willing to die for her people and nearly doing so. But yes. He understands.

    And he laughs again, watching the look on her face. "All right," he says, "All right. So I've had these before, you know. I've been on this planet for a long time." He unwraps the pop and takes a bite, then, considering. Savoring. Serious about the work as he chews. "...okay," he begins, "It's sweet, obviously. The sugar's what hits me first, but then, the caramel flavor settles in. It's always a little smoky, to me, but also has that little bit of a chemical edge to it." He swallows the morsel, then, and clucks his tongue. "You know, if you have projective telepaths on campus, I bet one could pluck the sensation out of my head, project it into yours."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation smiles. "Ah, yes, the chemical edge. The signature of the American candy conglomerate," she mumbles fondly. She looks off into the distance as she takes in Michael's descriptions of the venerable Sugar Daddy. Memories of that sweetness have become fouled by the experience of death. Somewhere, deep down, she finds Michael's description revolting.

    "Yeah, well, thanks anyway," Jubilee eventually says. It seems that the experience of hearing a Sugar Daddy read back to her like that is just not what she was hoping for. "...You did your best." Jubes lifts her foot and climbs up on the bottom rung of the wooden fence surrounding the horse field. She leans forward, over the top rung. "I'm not really in a hurry to get one of the telepaths in here," she explains. Jubes lets go of the fence with one of her hands and uses it to point at her temple. Her balance remains unaffected.

    "So, how long are you going to be hanging around the mansion, Cal'hatar of Chandilar?" Jubilee wonders aloud. She's reluctant to use his Earth name.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Cal works fine." He chuckles, shaking his head as he wraps up the bar and puts it in his pocket. Truth be told, he hates them, too. "I eat meat, mostly. You know. Bloody rare. My people eat lots of other things, too, but meat's a huge part of our diet. More so, with me, on account of my genetic surgery. Got a crazy metabolism. And as for the house, I guess as long as your headmistress wants me? I've got a lot of things I can teach, seventy years old and all. Forty-five of that being spent in military service or spying on people."

    He makes a faint face and looks back at the horses again, too. Great place to look when you don't want to make eye contact. "And this is all partly my fault. We've known about the Phal'kon since it first manifested here in 1990, when Miss Grey became its host. The Phoenix, that is. We call it the Phal'kon in the Empire. We didn't know, of course, that it could be even /remotely/ controlled. In many places in known space it's equivalent to the Devil. But she has the strength of will, it seems."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Cal will be fine, then. Jubilation considers this and nods. She adds one of her own. "Jubilee," she blurts. "My friends call me Jubilee. Or Jubes. But, also Jubilation, too. One guy called me J-Lube once but I think Nori kicked his ass for it." A smile forms, partly from the memory she's recalling and partly because she just declared that she and Michael are friends.

    The description of Jean Grey and the Phoenix that she's hosting draws silence from Jubilee. She has called Jean Grey lots of things over the years. Never to her face, of course, but it's just the sort of things that kids do with authority figures at school. The truth is, Jean Grey is wonderful. Jubilation merely nods, her vampire instincts doing their best to keep any suggestion of admiration for the headmistress hidden.

    "So, they have you here to do lectures about... military service and espionage," Jubilation begins, leading them into the topic slowly. She turns her head and studies Michael. "What do you think about that?" She's testing him. She wants to see what he knows about this school. She just declared that they are friends and, yet, she's testing.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Galactic politics," he says, unworried. "Along with all that. I know what your people do here. Mutants deserve to be protected, and to be able to defend themselves - and though the Majestor has been removed by your teachers with a far friendlier Majestrix in his place, my people are proud, and they are /bad/ about keeping grudges. I have no doubt that they'll come back, at least in the form of smaller groups and conspiracies. You should know what's out there, and how to counter my people and their weapons." He rubs his face a bit. "Anyway, I volunteered this. My people can be bullies, too. When they gave me orders to kill the poor woman, that was it. I couldn't be a part of that anymore."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee squints. Michael's answer about what they do here at the mansion could be taken a couple of different ways. One of them suggests he knows the truth about Xavier's, while the other way implies that it's just a safe haven. It's not enough to enter into a frank discussion about the truth of the school. Jubilation reaches up and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

    "You're a good person," she decides. Good or bad. If only it could be that simple. And then, in a moment that could be seen as a tribute to attention deficit, Jubilation pulls out her smartphone. "Want to see a picture of me and Nori?" she asks suddenly. There's no delay before she begins to struggle against her phone's bio-metric sensors. After three failed attempts, Jubilation just sucks up her pride and taps the passcode with her fingers to unlock the device. She turns the phone to show a picture. It's Jubilation Lee and a blue-haired Japanese girl, cheeks pressed together as they pose for the selfie. And, for once, the vampire Jubilee's apparent happiness matches that of the girl in the picture.

    "That's Nori."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "I've met her, you know." He grins faintly as he looks at the picture, chuckling as he sees the girl from the night before. "She was in the lounge, with Miss Anne-Marie and Miss Mallick. And the new student, Roxxi." The girl with the sock puppet, that is. "She really seems taken with you, Jubilation. I'm very pleased for you that she's in your life, eh?"

    He says nothing more about the school, instead angling back to Jubilation the person, not what she's about. "And I thank you. I've done a lot of questionable things in the past, but I try and work for the good. I didn't get sent here to watch your people, after all. I was sent to monitor agents of another alien government."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's brow rises. "Oh, I didn't know that," she admits with a shrug. "So, Marie, and... Mallick. Yeah, the music teacher, right? I thought that was you."

    "I'm not sure they're my people anymore," Jubilee laments. She says it without emotion, but just as a statement of fact. She waves her hand in the air demonstratively, as though she's trying to call attention to something Michael said -- as though it would prove her point. "Like, I don't know who that Roxxi is. Normally I'd be welcoming a new kid but, you know, they don't trust me anymore." A reference to Logan taking away her keys to the student rooms. The ceremonial stripping of her RA status, so to speak. And, unknown to everyone, taking away her keys implies that she is not welcome and that's enough to keep out any vampire.

    "And, and, I told you already -- they're your people now. More than mine, I think."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "I think you're overthinking it." Michael looks back to her, shaking his head. "Because honestly, they're scared. It sucks, but it's natural. Like I said, predators, right? Give it some time. Stop lurking in the stables and kicking yourself over something you didn't even sign up for. I'm sure I'll end up pissing them off at some point or another myself, you know?" Carefully, he slips an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. Feels far more fatherly than he might have himself even realized, this gesture. /So this is it,/ he thinks to himself. /I have become my father./

    With that squeeze, he sighs. "Tell you what. We'll hang out. I'll teach you about the universe - and, yes, even the vampiric aspects. I'll help you to fight like my people, too. Might help you get some mental exercise, if not physical, as well as some perspective. In the meantime, you gotta stop hiding in here."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I'm not hiding out here," Jubilee pushes back. She looks up at Michael, now with her arm draped around her. "I came to see if the horses would come over to me. To see if they forgot." She shrugs, one shoulder coming up and down aggressively, perhaps to remind Michael of his arm. "They didn't."

    As Michael starts listing the various ways he could be of service to her, Jubilation forms a smile. "You're not, like, suddenly compelled to do my bidding, right? Because I got six weeks of detention for that last time," she accuses gently. She could go on about how she already knows how to fight and that it's a standard part of the Xavier's curriculum -- her style blends her gymnastics talents with her unique ability to cause molecules to explode violently. She could go on about the mental and physical exercise Xavier's students have to endure. She doesn't. Instead?

    "...I would kind of like to meet someone else. Someone else like me," she admits. "You know. A v-word." She looks up at him, eyes suddenly browner and bigger, but that could just be a trick of the light. As though he could make that happen.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Nah," he replies with a grunt, slipping his arm from her. "Just offering to help, if you want. I figure you already know a good bit, but people around here seem to forget that me and mine from /another galaxy/. Things re going to be different. I had to remind Miss Anne-Marie about that, once she started swaggering around going 'Sugah I'm a tough cookie' and whatnot." A sly approximation of the woman's accent, done with a wink. "Not to say the Empire's better, it's just /different/. And different can be a real problem for people sometimes, you know? Regardless of how crazy your powers are. Gives the enemy the advantage."

    Then he nods. "All right, if you want. Can't guarantee /they/ won't get thrown, but only if they try nonsense with me."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation bursts into a little laugh at the imitation of Rogue. It's a genuine laugh, though it sounds a lot like a learned behavior. It's like she knows it's funny and knows she's suppose to make that noise. "That sounds like Marie, alright," Jubes says. With a sly smile of her own, Jubilation tilts her head to the side. "You should look up this planet's rich history of what happens to missionaries trying to bring civilization to remote tribes," she teases. Perhaps she had been paying attention in class. It's less believable than learning she's a vampire.

    All this talk about the enemy draws a deeper answer from Jubilee, perhaps some indication of where she sees herself in the Xavier's/X-Men world. "...I don't really see myself as having enemies like that. I never told anyone this, but when all that anti-mutant legislation was getting debated, I thought maybe I'd learn how to be a notary. You know, in case mutant marriage got outlawed or something." It's a dark timeline that never came to pass.

    "But, I guess my enemies are now the Van Helsings of the world," Jubes adds with a shrug. She sighs softly and glances at the path that goes back to the mansion. "I'm going to head back. I'm starting to feel..." There's a pause. "...I'm starting to feel like I need to be locked in my room."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Oh, I've had a good, solid look," Michael says with a chuckle. "Anyway. All right. You take care of yourself, but..." She speaks again, and then he sighs softly. "You can still be a notary," he points out. "Vampire you might be, but your helixes are still tangled. Remember what I said, all right? You're still you. Just different." And then, this said, he nods. "My number's in the book, all right? Feel free to call me if you need anything. Even if it's just a change of scenery."

    And then he lets her go if she wants, leaning against the fence once more - watching her go, marveling at the young woman. Such resilience in the face of things, however tormented. Such strength. One predator to another, he can only see her with respect.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation tilts her head and rolls her eyes, but it's good-natured. "Stop saying that. I don't know for sure but I bet we're offended by that word," she protests, both hands finding spots on her hips. "I mean, I'll find out if I ever meet another one. But, I swear, if we're offended by that, I'm going to give you such a hard time!"

    Jubilation's smile fades earnestly. A line forms across her brow. "Your number's in what book?" she questions, totally not understanding that at all. "...And... Why would I 'call' you? Like, texting with voice? What for?" Jubilation stares up at him, incredulous.

    "How old /are/ you, again?" she asks with a big grin, fangs on display. She lets that moment hang for a second before she closes her eyes and nods her head in agreement. "Yeah, I will, though," Jubes admits. "Thanks, Cal." Pause. "You should use your real name. Fuck all those people who made you think you had to change it." With that settled, Jubilation Lee begins to walk down the path leading to the mansion. And, like any other predator who has one at her back, she stops and looks over her shoulder at him, catching him watching her. She recognizes it for what it is but that doesn't stop her from summoning some of her trademarked sass.

    "Take a picture, it'll last longer."