8103/cRAVE

cRAVE
Date of Scene:	03 October 2021
Location:	Abandoned Warehouse
Synopsis:	Another run-in between John, Phoebe and Jubilee goes about as swimmingly as the first, but at least the area's clear of a nest? ...of vampires that is.
Cast of Characters:	John Constantine, Phoebe Beacon, Jubilation Lee

---

John Constantine has posed:
    From the moment John figured out that what turned Jubilation into a blood sucking creature of the night was a curse and nothing in the way of the normal means, he's been double timing it to find out more information.

    ...added to double timing it on Phoebe's Bitch Cousin issues and the increased and worsening thinnings around the city, he's burning the candle at all four ends. Still, when he heard rumors of a vampire hosted rave in taking place in New York, he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

    So here he is, himself and Phoebe both illusioned into looking like 'not them' and her little light clamped down tight. John? Well, he just looks like the younger version of himself; all punk rock and attitude, cigarette dangling between his lips, trench coat disguised as a leather jacket. Hair's black though, eyes brown, just enough of a change that any vampires here old enough to have run into him 'then', won't recognize him now.

    Phoebe looks older, hair straight, eyes green and she's decked out Goth - perfect little vampire slut.

    It's perfectly feasible that anyone on the look out for these things would have spotted it, there are even message boards that abound if one digs enough; they're typically run by well... the 'vampire sluts', the ones that will volunteer for the feeding.

    The thumping base of the music and the swirling and wirling lights make things a little difficult to see and understand unless one knows how and where to look. Vampires feeding in every nook and cranny, making it look like no more than a make-out session.

    "I will send you back home in a blink if you so much as think about disobeying me. Stay close," he growls at Phoebe before he pushes his way into the crowd on the dance floor toward the bar proper at the center of the room.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe was indeed decked out in Goth, with brilliant green eyes, her hair straightened wearing spider-web stocking, black heeled boots, a mini-skirt and a laced boddice that hugged her form with an upside-down red cross between the breasts, and she slipped easily behind John, her eyes squarely set on his shoulders as she tromped through with the thick heeled boots. She adjusted her black gloves and some chunky rings. All the better to hit with.

    "And leave you alone in this mess? Not a chance." Phoebe replies patiently, following close behind John as they wend through the sea of bodies and feeders.

    THe acrid tang of blood was already hanging in her nose.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation's initial reaction to hearing that her current status of Undead was caused by a curse and that she's not of the typical vampire variety was one of elation. Her memories of getting turned are vague and hazy, offering the same sort of insights that a waking sleep can offer, but at least she can be sure she didn't have some stranger's mouth on her neck. She doesn't have to wonder who did such an intimate thing to her. Unfortunately, this situation does have some drawbacks. She is alone and has no one to guide her. The kids at school are afraid of her, the faculty are confused by her, and the only other person who knows has declared his intent to behead her. At least there's Phoebe Beacon, who has attempted to understand her a little bit.

    Jubilee's first attempt at following a "lead" on other vampires in the area was a total bust, but she's not easily discouraged. When she heard about this abandoned factory rave, she had to check it out. It could be a total hoax but there's just no way she'd risk missing the chance. It looks like it's another night spent sneaking out and riding the bus on its meandering route to the city.

    Jubilation slipped into the rave quietly and without event, which is completely unlike her. Instead of her usual over-the-top 'Jubilee' schtick, Jubes seems intent to just find a spot at the bar. All alone, she sticks out like a sore thumb. The vampires around her seem to be keeping themselves at a distance, regarding her like the wealthy view "new money." Eventually, the 'bartender' takes notice and brings a young man over. He looks dazed, tired, drugged, or all of the above. "O negative," the bartender offers, apparently trying to have some kind of conversation over the loud music.

    Jubilation's eyes lower as she drags her tongue across her bottom lip. Her hands curl tightly against the wooden edge of the bar, knuckles turning even whiter under the pressure. "...I..." Her gaze lifts to the young man's neck, zeroing in on that pulsing vein. She looks away. "...Can I..."

    Jubilation shakes her head, aggressively refusing the offered human. The bartender laughs loudly, which spurs a few of the other vampire ravers nearby to join in. "We got a first-timer here!" he announces with some amusement.

John Constantine has posed:
    "Luv, this isn't a mess, this preschool level shite," John points out. Once at the bar, he pauses just long enough to pick what looks like the most likely, non-vampire 'target' in the bunch sitting on stools around it. It's a man, leg all jumping, hands twitching, eyes wide and wild. He's *just* about to 'convince' the man to give up is stool when...

    "Bollocks." Of course that's in response to his attention being drawn to Jubilee and the attention she's *drawing*. "This just got complicated." Really, he'd planned on an easy in and easy out, maybe not quick as it would have taken time to suss out the oldest of the bunch, the most likely to have answers he sought.

    "Get her *out* of here," he hisses at Phoebe with a quick, "...and don't make a bloody scene about it. Now, before she hurts someone and wakes up to regret it."

    It's a risk, but time isn't so much on his side anymore, so John closes his eyes and lets his senses expand, searching with a spell mumbled under his breath, for that oldest, for the one that might know things he needs to know. In the dark, with the frenzied music and flashing lights and the feeding, maybe no one will notice a mage mumbling a spell.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Then why do y-" Phoebe pauses, and she hears the laughter. She curls her fingers slightly, waiting on summoning up any light in order to stay on her best behavior. She looks to John, and was about to ask something when he closes his eyes and begins mumbling under his breath.

    Phoebe's eyes narrow, and she strides forward in those boots, the neon green-and-black tutu skirt and spiderweb tights glowing in blacklight, catching different colors on the glistening oil finish on the bustier, and when she walks it's not quite with Vampiric Grace, but with a sense of twelve years of martial arts training and a shitton of feigned confidence and she breezes her way to the group.

    "Heeey, there's a face I know." she smiles brightly, in spite of the fact that this is a face that Jubilee doesn't know.

    "Lee with the boots, right? You invited me to Prom." she introduces herself, hoping Jubilation would pick up on the not-so-subtle 'hey it's Phoebe' hint. She reaches out, offering to take Jubilee's hand. "Why don't we step aside and let them work their aggressions out on someone else."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation certainly won't notice a mage mumbling a spell. She has her own problems and focusing on any one thing in particular is not in the cards right now. Her new body and abilities are still foreign to her and the rave environment is not doing her heightened senses any favors. Her new peers seem to be laughing at her, too. Are they her peers? Jubilation looks around at those nearby, watching as their laughter begins to putter out.

    "Maybe, um, a glass?" Jubilee suggests to the bartender, her eyes taking on a particularly lovely shade of brown in that moment. The bartender stops laughing, now staring at Jubilation's eyes. He falls silent for a moment, the amusement draining from his features all at once. "Knock that shit off," the bartender growls, snapping out of whatever fugue state he was just wrapped up in. "Yeah, fine, I got you."

    The bartender leads the young man -- O Negative -- away from the bar and shoves him into a doorway that goes to a disused supply closet, dagger in one hand and goblet in the other.

    Jubilation watches O Negative get brought out of her view. Her face fills with horror. What did I just do? What's going to happen to him? He was going to die anyway, right? Fuck fuck. I need to do something about this. Jubilation opens her mouth and lifts her hand, as if to cancel her drink order, but then... a stranger approaches. One who knows her.

    "Huh, what?" Jubilation blurts out, turning her head quickly to face the unfamiliar woman. "You do?" The thought that someone here knows her face is surprising and it's obvious. "...Oh..." Jubilation's eyebrows rise, her mouth opening to protest. "What are you doing /here/? You're not a...." Jubes doesn't say it. There's a more important detail to get right. She seems totally unfazed by Phoebe's new look. She's seen weirder things in her life and this isn't difficult to accept.

    "I, uh, didn't exactly 'invite' you. I'm just saying, we'll find one for you to go to if you can't go to your own. On your own. Not with me." Jubilation looks down at the offered hand but does not take it. She gestures towards the back room where O Negative was brought. "No, I'm okay," she insists. "I just...um.... Ordered."

John Constantine has posed:
    It doesn't take as long as one might think it would, considering the number of both vampires and not crammed into the warehouse. John's eyes open and his head tilts to look up. There in the rafters, on a make-shift balcony, sits a man and two women. Their position gives them a perfect overview of the entire warehouse. "Gotcha," he whispers to himself, but he doesn't make a move, not yet.

    Instead he shifts his attention to his student and the newbie vampire. "C'mon, get her out of here," he mutters and when he turns back around for just a moment, well, HELLO!

    He's greeted by the man that was previously up there, on that make-shift balcony. "John Constantine, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asks, kind words... the tone is not however. The man gestures to one of the two women still up there. "You do remember Portia? I believe the two of you 'worked' together for a bit?" Definite double meaning to the word 'worked' there.

    "Bollocks," muttered but audible. The one thing he didn't count on? An Ex, that happens to be a witch, now in the employee of the man running this little show. His gaze travels up and, once he deems it necessary, he sees through the illusion she's cast on herself. A little wave, a waggle of his fingers and a called out, "'lo, luv!" ... not that he'll be heard from way down here to way up there, but maybe Phoebe'll hear him?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Nevermind that Phoebe's face has changed. Her hair is straightened. Her heart is beating Hellaciously Fast in her chest. "Oh, I followed my Master in. He's on the dance floor right now." Phoebe replies, her hand is still held out. "He's a *lot* more experienced at this sort of thing than I am." she smiles and brings her finger of her free hand to her cheek, pushing in a little dimple. Too cute, and she gives a little stumble on her too-high boots, purposefully catching herself against the bar as she whispers very softly.

    "The longer we're here, the more we're in danger. I was told to get you out."

    She turns her attention momentarily.

    John's body language has changed. He's relaxed, casual. Not chanting.

    "... we need to move."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Get me out?" Jubilation repeats in a similar whisper. She frowns and shakes her head again. "This is where I belong," Jubilee protests. It's a sad detail, but perhaps she's right. If this is where she thinks she belongs, she's perfectly communicating the discomfort she has been feeling back at school. Jubilation frowns and turns away from Phoebe, fully facing the makeshift bar.

    "Leave me alone..."

    Jubilation is here to enjoy the vampire rave, maybe make some friends, who knows? She certainly doesn't know about the powers at play here or the danger she could be in. These are her people, right?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe loses the pretense of being a bit of an airhead, and she levers her artificially green eyes to Jubilee.

    "Right now a stranger is bleeding out so you can drink their blood. Right now, John is putting himself in danger to try and help us both and to keep you from falling into something you might not be able to be pulled out of. I *disobeyed* my mentor to try and get to you to help you because it sucks being a scared teenager thrown into a world you don't understand." she states.

    "If you feel like you belong here, with these people who are laughing at you and who seem like they'd gladly slit my throat for a misstep? There's nothing we can do to help you. But if you have any shadow of a doubt in your mind that this isn't where you want to be--"

    Phoebe reaches out her hand again, and her artificially green eyes show the warmth in her spirit.

    "-- let us help you, Jubilee. Let's get you back to Nori."

John Constantine has posed:
    "Just gettin' ready to order a drink, mate," John tells the vampire now so up and close in his personal space. He turns back to the bar as if he's going to do just that. There's that slight little tilt of his head, the peek of a tongue between his teeth before they catch the corner of his lip.

    It's John's 'here goes nothing' look. It never means anything *good* is about to happen.

    He makes his move with surprising speed for the way he carries himself in his day to day; as that alcoholic favorite uncle or something. He spins on a heel and places one hand on either side of the vampire's head. "Twitch and I *will* boil your brains inside your skull."

    Immediately the lights come up, the music goes off. John got it right, this asshat's the 'master' of this little nest.

    The lights coming up are illuminating, in more ways than one. Not everyone here is being fed from willingly and not every human here will walk out alive. In fact, more than a few already lie dead and discarded in the further corners, bodies pale and a stark contrast to the drying blood from their ripped out throats.

    Is this truly where you belong, Jubilation? Are these *your* people.

    "Portia, luv, how about you come down here nice and slow so we can have a chat?" John calls out in the disorienting silence left behind when the thumping beat ended.

    He won't call Phoebe out and draw attention to her, but he will send a whisper on the wind, a little message from his barely moving lips to her ear. "Go, now."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You don't know that," Jubilation replies with a frown, gesturing towards the back room that O Negative was brought to. "Why would they kill him? That's stupid." It's a stupid thing to do to a guy just for a splash of his blood, especially if you can hypnotize him with your eyes, right?

    But are these her people? "Maybe I want to make my own mind up," Jubilee stubbornly pushes back. "I'm not really a fan of all the prejudice." She gives Phoebe a sideways glance, her eyebrows rising. Jubilation has experienced her fair share of it in her life and, apparently, now also in death.

    "And, and, and! You and your 'master' were ready to light me on fire, so, maybe ease up on the lecture!" Jubilation adds, a deep line forming across her brow. She folds her arms across her chest. "Now, leave me, the fuck, /alone/!"

    The bartender returns, setting O Negative onto the empty bar stool on the end. He immediately slumps forward onto the bartop. The bartender sets a goblet filled to the brim in front of Jubilation. "Go easy," he grunts. "This one might be tripping." Drug blood. Perhaps as a demonstration for Phoebe's benefit, Jubilation reaches out and picks up the goblet. Just as it touches her lips, the lights come on and the music stops.

    The goblet is tilted back so Jubilee can take a large, defiant gulp. Now able to see the rave for what it is, Jubilation lets out a choking noise as the thick red liquid is caught in her throat. Her eyes first land on O Negative, slumped over the edge of the bar, throat sliced cleanly from one side to the other. Dead.

    "Fuck..." Jubilee mutters as O Negative dribbles down her chin.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe ahd to use Master because that was may more in-theme than mentor in magical arts for a 'vampire slut', because of who's around them, but hearing Jubilee use the word just felt wrong, and it makes her nose wrinkle, she's taken a little bit aback, but when the lights come on, she looks up. She hitches her breath a moment, looking around as the music stops, and her eyes -- and the eyes of all others -- go to the dance floor, where the dark-haired John was standing with someone else.

    There is death all around them, and Phoebe breathes out, grasping her hand low, her Light was tamped down tightly to hide her, and as Jubilee curses, Phoebe takes a few steps back.

    "... because to this crowd, we're lambs to the slaughter." she whispers, giving a look to Jubilee, and then she takes a couple steps back and shoves HARD to part some of the group.

    "Come /on/." she calls back, and she's almost wishing someone would try to stop her exit!

John Constantine has posed:
    The vampires show themselves quickly, leaving the willing and the near unconscious humans to stand out like sore thumbs. They form a circle around John and the vampire in his grasp, hissing, predatory, but they dare not come any closer. ...at least not yet.

    "Anyone here that's human and chooses to leave, do so now..." John's voice is calm, even, but his eyes are a little wild, the tiniest dots of Hellfire dancing in his pupils. Any of them choosing not to leave? It's on them, innit?

    Portia raises her hands in what appears to be a signal of surrender. "Speak why you came here, Constantine and then leave. We've no beef with you."

    Now he's in a pickle isn't he? He came here to find information on the curse that turned a teenage girl into a blood sucker, now if he asks about it? Will it draw attention to that same girl?

    "Just came in for a drink, luv. Was your man here turned it otherwise," is the answer he gives. He tightens his grip on the vampire's head. "So, why don't you come down here and we can talk about that?"

    <<She needs to be gone and you need to help the humans willing to go get out of here.>> ...again, with that whisper on the wind.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Not me," Jubilation replies, bringing the back of her hand up to her face to wipe away the dribbling blood. She's not a lamb for the slaughter. Not here, anyway. She's trying, really, to seem cool about all of this, but her hand is shaking, causing dribbles of blood to trickle down the sides of the goblet. Jubilation wasn't prepared for what she saw when the lights come on, giving the room a thousand yard stare as she falls into silence.

    When the nest of vampires springs to life, swarming and hissing around Constantine, Jubilation's shoulders tense up. Something inside her is stirred by that, but, she does not budge from her place at the bar. She may be a vampire, but this particular group of them has no hold over her. She looks at Phoebe again, finally, and then back at John and his fan club.

    "...Can he handle all of them?" Jubilation mutters, staring blankly at what's about to unfold and still ignoring Phoebe's demands that they leave.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe tilts her head back, she steps back to Jubilee as some vampires close in around them, And she gives a little swallow.

    "Small chance. But you, and I, have got to /move/, or *everyone* still alive in this warehouse is going to die a really, horrible, painful death, including the humans."

    Phoebe's purse was too small for a spraypaint can, but she does have a lighter. This she uses to subtlely light one of the barstools up.

    "FIRE, FIRE!" she yells out, "EVERYONE WITH A PULSE, /OUT NOW/!" she calls out, rushing towards the doors, shoving others out of the way, trying to clear a path. She could take on a couple vampires, she wagers, if she had to.

    Her blood's probably not healthy for them.

John Constantine has posed:
    Can John handle all of them? That's debatable. Ask him and the answer would likely be yes. ...and he'd probably walk - or crawl away at the end of it still alive. Battered, bloody, beaten, but alive.


    When one of them works up the balls to make a move, it's in a blink, vampiric speed and all it, John tightens his grip further, his hands glow, the Master in his grip cries out and the ballsy one stops and backs off. But how long? How long before they all swarm?

    "It's her, isn't it?" Portia calls Jubilation right on out. "Oh, John, still trying to save the hard luck ones, aren't you? She can't be saved, not unless you can get your hands on the blood of the first vampire."


    "Get out of my head, Portia."


    "No, dear, you're just that easy to read. ...and I knew her for what she was the moment she walked in. She could be a queen among her kind." A murderous, blood-lust driven Queen, but hey, semantics, right?

    John's mind races, folding around this little bone of information tossed and he *barely* senses it in time to toss up a protective barrier between himself and Portia and the magic she slings at him. He shoves the vampire in his grasp away, into the path of the bright white flames the woman meant for John.

    When their Master bursts into flames? Well, there's nothing to stop the others from swarming now is there?

    About to find out, it seems, if John Constantine can handle *all* of them, innit? A few dozen, at least, all teeth and claws and insatiable rage over the loss of their maker.

    Portia, thankfully, takes the opportunity to flee. She had her one window and lost the chance, she's not about to stick around to have Constantine on her tail should he manage to survive.

    John vanishes in a blur of slung fire and those teeth, claws and rage.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Small chance? Jubilation's eyeballs roll underneath raised brows. "Well, then why the fuck are you...." She was going to say 'running out?' but the small group of approaching, hissing vampires answers that question. Jubilation tilts her head back and empties the goblet into her mouth before slamming it back down on the bar top. She's unplussed about the death of the vampire at the hands of John. He wasn't her maker. Jubilation Lee: the childe with no sire.

    "Okay, okay..." Jubilee growls at Phoebe, allowing her words to try and stifle the instinctual hiss that starts to form from the flaming bar stool. "Fuck!"

    Jubilation doesn't run after Phoebe, but she does move to intercept the small group that tries to follow her. "If there's a vampire Hell, I'm surely going there for this..." Jubilee extends her fingertips at the pair of approaching vampires and flexes her arms, as though something was expected to fire. A faint whistle and pop can be heard as a couple of tiny fireworks explode harmlessly in the air. A mere annoyance. "Fuck!" Jubes shouts again, grimmacing as her mutant powers malfunction. Is she even a mutant anymore?

    Maybe, maybe not, but she's still Jubilation Lee, and that means a lifetime of gymnastics and combat training. And now she has O Negative's drug blood coursing through her body! Jubilation looks over her shoulder to watch Phoebe's exit before turning around and sweeping one of the approaching vampires to the floor with her leg. Jubilee extends her hand again, sending a defiant little bottle rocket of a plasmoid whistling around in the air. It catches the attention of the other one, leaving him vulnerable to Jubilee shoving him into the burning stool.

    "Warn a girl next time you decide to go all pyromaniac!" Jubilation shouts as she chases after Phoebe, leaving the vampire slumped over the burning stool, hissing and crackling as he meets his Final Death.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    John has a slightly better chance of coming out of it alive with people willing to fight on his side.

    Phoebe's 'running away' was less 'running away' and more 'securing the exit' -- because with the Master Vamp Gone, the other children of the night focusing on John and the witch having made her escape -- Phoeebs is keeping the doors open.

    "YOU WERE IGNORING ME ANYWAY!" she calls back to Jubilee, and unlike the vampiric girl, she still has a Light show. Phoebe squares her stance, and with a bit of distance between herself and Jubes, she focuses, and then brings her hands up and together, and then down, forming a brilliant shaft of blazing, brilliant sunlight, and she begins to beat a path inwards to the hapless humans with a pulse who still need a hand out.

John Constantine has posed:
    It becomes apparent pretty quickly that John Constantine is not a favored dish among vampires. Those that get close enough to try a taste fall back hissing and spluttering out the acidic burn of his blood.

    It's nothing but a chaos storm of thrown force and fire, tossing vampires away, setting a few to flames to shriek their way out of existence and into a pile of ashes.

    Humans, even those that might have been here willingly before, make mad dashes for anything marked *exit*. At the end of it all, John's left standing if a little bloody. Bloody enough that it's clear he might not be standing if it weren't for the distraction Phoebe and Jubilation caused, drawing some of them off the Laughing Magician.


    "Fuckin' *vampires*," he mutters as he reaches up to put a hand over a wound on his neck. He steps right on over the flaming, flailing body of the last one standing amid those felled by either his flames, Phoebe's sun or Jubilee's efforts, and heads for the exit himself.

    He breezes on past the girls, but stops just outside. He just needed to get the stench of burning blood suckers out of his nostrils before he wound up losing his lunch because that bottle was top shelf shite.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The sudden shaft of concentrated sunlight sends Jubilation into a frenzy. Without even a moment's hesitation, she scrambles further from Phoebe, briefly going down on all fours and using her hands for extra traction against the filthy, concrete floor. Jubes lets out a blood curdling scream as she feels the ultraviolet warmth against her skin. More experienced vampires would recognize this for the indirect irritation that it is, but Jubilation hasn't even seen sunlight since her transformation, so her reaction is born entirely out of fear.

    "No no no, it's not time yet!" Jubilee cries out as she swivels around, trying to find a safe place to go. Is it day time? Did her watch stop? How could she be so STUPID? No, no, no. Jubilee comes to her senses. Her watch hasn't stopped and it's not day time. Despite the opinions of her math teacher, she isn't that stupid. It was Phoebe.

    Jubilation comes out of the 'rave' behind John, moving with a blurry amount of vampire speed to escape Phoebe's beam of sunlight. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, as though she was breathing, but it's just an affectation of life. A little habit her mind hasn't yet given up on entirely. "What the /fuck/!" she shrieks, looking up at John with a bratty sort of look only a teenage girl can give.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe tails out the normal humans she could heal. She's teetering slightly, but keeps herself straightened up. She's let the light go dark for now, and she just gives a thousand-yard-stare before she shakes her head, and brings a hand to her eye to scrub a palm against both of them, and she tilts her head back.

    "There were five that were still breathing. Barely. Patched them up and got them out. Everyone left in there is dead to the point where I can't bring them back around." she states with a dull, clinical note to her voice. She might have cried a little bit in there, or it might have been the smoke.

    The goth woman -- the illusion had aged her up to be in her 20's, just as it had aged John down -- with the blood on the bustiere and the ripped skirt looks over at Jubilee, and then at John.

John Constantine has posed:
    John ignores Jubilation and her bratty look and shrieks. He's been the giver of that bratty look more than he can count. Makes him immune to it, really. He pulls a pack of Silk Cuts from a pocket, lights up, takes a drag long enough that it seems his life might have depended upon it and finally... turns his attention toward the girl.

    "You weren't supposed to be there, luv," he points out. "Forced things in a direction different than planned." It should be noted that he's *bleeding* from more than a few vampiric attempts to make a meal out of him. Not advisable unless fond of a taste similar to rancid chicken and battery acid.

    Spotting Phoebe, he remembers the previously cast illusion and dispels it from them both with a simple gesture. He glances over his shoulder and comments, "We'll burn it before we leave." Nothing, but his clinical tone isn't a thing forced by shock, it just is what it is and nothing he's not seen before.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Bleeding as John may be, Jubilation's full of O Negative's blood and has no desire for his, poison or otherwise. "/You/ weren't supposed to be there!" Jubilation shouts. "And neither were you!" She points her finger at John and then Phoebe. Pesky vampire hunters! This was supposed to be a fun evening. Maybe she'd learn more about what she is...or, if she was especially lucky, make a friend! Jubilation leans her head back and rolls her eyes.

    "How many of us did you kill?!" Jubilation demands, dividing that equally between John and Phoebe. "....How many did /I/ kill?" One directly. One indirectly, maybe. Her eyes close and her mouth curls into a grimace. "I can't believe this!"

    Jubilation shakes her head rapidly and throws her arms into the air. "You burn it. I'm out of here!" she announces, channeling the frustration of a girl whose birthday party was ruined because her cake didn't have the right icing on it.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    And then it's Phoebe, wearing a lavender color T-shirt with a cream-colored lunar moth, a short skirt with leggings and a pair of Doc Martens beneath a black sweatshirt, her hair in a bunch of shoulder-length braids. She breathes out with relief as she's released from the illusion because it was *weird* and she wasn't liking those boots.

    "You only killed one, by my count, O-Negative." Phoebe replies, and she turns to head back in. There's gotta be something a fireman's daughter can find in that place to burn it to the ground. "Pretty much everything else in there was content to let the humans die, present company excluded -- and if you're content to just /walk away/ from that? Well -- f-orget you."

John Constantine has posed:
    "How many of *them* did *I* kill?" John shakes his head and laughs, it's a mirthless sound really. "You were in over your head in there. Did you even know? That while you were enjoying your little snack at the bar that other vampires hid in the shadows, draining us bloodbag mortals to death?"

    All of it's said with that cigarette still dangling between his lips and he drags from it before adding, "That the lot ya want in life, luv?" A gesture toward warehouse. "Seein' people as nothin' but cattle?" He nods. "Aye, so be it then, but keep watch over your shoulder for when it's you I have to come after? If that's *not* the lot ya want, then you have my number already. You don't have to be *that*, even if you remain *this*."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation squints her eyes at Phoebe, shaking her head. "What?" is all she says to that. "Not humans. How many of /us/ did /you/ kill? You just get to decide to do that? Judge, jury, executioner? No due process! You're fucking murderers." Jubes takes a few very frustrated stomps away from these two and turns around, finger pointed squarely at John.

    "You don't know shit about me -- neither of you do -- but, obviously you have it all figured out, right?" Jubilee fires back. Jubilation sticks both hands into the air, each of them with a middle finger proudly on display. She points one at Phoebe and the other at Constantine and begins to walk away from them.

    With a few seconds to process Constantine's threat, Jubilee turns around to face him. "I don't need /you/ to not be like /them/," she stubbornly insists. "Asshole."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe whips around.

    "No. They are murderous, awful creatures. The left dead bodies strewn across the floor. Your own order for O-Negative killed that man. You. Ordered. His. Death. Jubilation Lee. Does Noriko know about this? Pretty Japanese girl, about -- yay high?" Phoebe states, holding her hand up. "Has some pretty cool arm gear and a really big appitite in Westchester?" she asks, adn then she motions backwards. "You feel everything at hightened sense. Anger. Sorrow. Happiness. Passion and possession."

    "Every single vampire in there was willing -- or in the god-damn act -- of killing people. /Including/ you. Or did you forget that guy slumped over at the end of the bar so you could have blood in a goblet. There are six people -- human being people -- who died while your friends were hissing at John. They /bled out on the floor/," Phoebe states. Her back is to John and to Jubilee. "And now we're cleaning up a mess because you're so... self-absorbed!"

John Constantine has posed:
    "Really now?" John asks, his own voice calm, amused even. "So this is just your normal, happy little self? Funny seems nothing like the girl that spilled sauce on my shoes," he points out. "It only gets worse, that skin crawling feeling, that need to lash out at anything and everyone. It begins with people like me, assholes that don't matter, but soon enough it spills over to the people you care about, the ones you love. It's them that you'll hurt the most if you continue down this path without help."


    He plucks that cigarette from his lips and uses it to gesture again toward the warehouse. "And yes, judge, jury and executioner when it comes to *monsters* that feed on *people*, it's part of my job description. ...and they were *monsters* to the last one. Happens when vampires set into a nest mind, a pack mind. The really strong can survive without it, but the not so much always wind up gravitating toward nests. I sincerely hope I don't find you in the next one I exterminate. But I fear I will if you continue to pretend to 'know it all' when you, in fact, no nothing about it."

    It's a bit of a switch isn't it? John calm in the face of it while Phoebe pulls the gloves off?

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Fuck this," are the words that come first. Jubilee points her finger at Phoebe next. "Does Nori know about /what/? You mean about what happened here? Obviously not..." Jubes leans her head forward in a bratty sort of way. "It... just happened." Eye roll.

    "And I didn't order anyone's death! I asked for a glass. I didn't know what was going to happen to him any more than you did!" A thin red line forms on each of Jubilee's bottom eyelids. "Did it ever fucking occur to you that I didn't know what this was? I saw a Tweet saying there was a party. I've never been to one of these! I don't know what /happens/!"

    She takes another few steps away, turns again, now with red tears trickling down her cheeks. She may be a vampire, but these tears are from the indignity of being a teenager who isn't being heard. "You think you have me all figured out but, again, you're just going on what you know about /them/, not /me/. You're just lumping us all in together. If this is your job, you're both really shitty at it. Next time you meet another one of us, try listening to them instead of just jumping to your fucking conclusions."

    "Oh, hey, Jubilee, how have you been eating if you're not killing people? How are you coping with all of this? Oh, hey, Jubilee, what's it like being all alone?" Jubes yells, modulating her voice to be deeper. She switches back to her usual voice. "That's what it sounds like to give a shit. Oh, wait, you only care about humans. Story of my fucking life."

    That's about as much as Jubilation is willing to tolerate. She becomes a blur and takes off into the night, wanting to get back to school before O Negative's drug blood starts hitting hard.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I TRIED TO ASK YOU WHEN YOU GAVE ME THE BOOTS." Phoebe pointed out. "I tried for TEN MINUTES to get you to leave because You're a SCARED PERSON like I am, but no! You stubbonrly stayed. You stayed there and you ordered blood and now all you're complaining about is because we're MEAN to you!" Phoebe takes several steps further.

    "I am trying to reach out to you. You're shutting everything down. This stuff is scary. It's SO FUCKING TERRIFYING. And you don't have anyone you can fall back on for this stuff but every time we try you're all 'waa waa boo hoo me'. John has been trying! /I/ have been trying! We gave you numbers and I violated curfew and now you're just walking away in spite of the fact that we have repeatedly been trying to help. So you know what? Fuck you!"

    Phoebe hops up on one foot, and takes off the Doc Marten and throws it at Jubillee's fading appearance!

    "AND FUCK YOUR STUPID BOOTS!"

    She hops up to the other foot and throws that boot too, and wearing mismatched socks she turns and starts to stalk back to the warehouse.

    "I'm going to check to see if there's anyone I possibly missed. And then we can burn it."

John Constantine has posed:
    John watches the girl go and lets out a sigh before he flicks his spent Silk to the ground and smashes it out with the toe of his shoe. His attention turns back to the warehouse. "I really hope she finds someone to help her," he mumbles before he turns completely and heads back into the building.

    It won't take much, once Phoebe's checked for survivors, for John to set the place ablaze. He'll stay, somewhere in the shadows, hidden, cloaked, and make sure it doesn't burn too out of control before Fire and Rescue arrive. Even after, he'll hang around, give a little 'unseen' help in putting the fire out once it's burned long enough. ...he'll make sure no one else is hurt in the process of destroying the mess.

    ...and tomorrow, he'll still be looking into ways to lift that curse. Maybe not as obsessively as before, but should the day come Jubilation wants it, he'll likely have it... or at least a head start on figuring it out.

    His phone's always on too, if she just decides she needs help.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe remains with John, electing to stay. The Firefighter's Daughter watches as they work, sitting up on a couple of pallets with just dirty, wet socks on and no shoes. She has her chin on her knees as she watches the building burn, watching intently as the crews work.

    She turned to John, wreathed in the same darkness, and then gives a soft: "... thank you."

    And then turns back to the burning warehouse, to watch fire clean it of the stink of death.

John Constantine has posed:
    "For what?" John asks. "Getting a teenage girl turned into a vampire because she crossed my fuckin' path on the wrong night? Yay, go me." He even makes a little 'shaking a mini pompom' motion in the air.

    He lights another Silk, faded denim blues fixed out over the horizon, not even really on the building that's still smoldering, but mostly free of flames. Now it's just a matter of making sure it's out enough that noting reignites.

    "That's why I do this alone, Phoebe. Because it's never *me* that winds up turned into a fucking vampire, or crippled for life or *dead*, never me."

    Just bleeding, he bleeds on the daily for his calling - it's the least he can do considering. One would think he'd switch to red shirts. As it stands, the white one he's wearing is another that'll end up in the trash. Blood's too hard to get out, even with a spell, even when it's his own.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "For not being angry that I couldn't get her out." Phoebe replies quietly, "For staying to make sure that they'd be okay." she motions to the fighters, rolling hoses, packing things in. No one got hurt tonight.

    "... for letting me see and make my own descision. And being patient."

    She reaches down and wraps her hands around her toes. They're cold, and ache slightly from it.

    "I'd still like to walk it with you."

John Constantine has posed:
    A few mumbled words and Phoebe will find her toes and the feet they're attached to all dry and toasty. It's a simple spell, one learned long ago by a teenage boy that was just beginning to dabble and often spent his nights sleeping outside, often in the cold or the rain.

    "...and I'd still rather you stay alive," John returns quietly before he lowers his gaze to the ground a moment. When he looks back up again, he murmurs those words that open the portal to the House of Mystery.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    That's a handy spell. Especially for someone who threw a pair of boots at a vampire in retreat and then outright refused to grab them back. "Don't suppose I could learn that one some afternoon?" she asks with a small smile to John, and she hops off the pallets to go through the portal, and she walks backwards.

    "Tampambulous says I'll outlive everyone I love."

John Constantine has posed:
    "Just proves I'm not on the list of people you love, aye?" John winks to soften the words and steps through the portal once she's through.

    Of course the House takes Phoebe home and John? He'll end up in the shower until the water runs cold and possibly after.

    For all of his thorns and bristles on the outside, it's the soft inside bits that might even shed a damned tear or two under the running water. ... for a teenage girl turned into a monster for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.