8425/Go Ahead, Help Yourself

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Go Ahead, Help Yourself
Date of Scene: 25 October 2021
Location: The Laughing Magician
Synopsis: Fleeing the rest of the Night Brigade, Jubilation hopes to calm her frenzy by helping herself to some of the blood that Chas keeps stocked up at the Laughing Magician. Jonathan Sims has his own reason for wanting to get out of there and the two gain some understanding of the other's personal demons.
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Jonathan Sims




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The door to the Laughing Magician opens up and Jubilation barrels on in after fleeing from the newly warded Curio. Expecting no one else in here (or perhaps not caring), she makes her way quickly to the area behind the bar and starts rummaging noisily. Where is it, where is it, where is it?

    "Come on, come on..." she mutters, apparently in search of something important.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon has been doing a grounding exercise, muttering to himself as he walks down the street. Five things he can see, four he can touch, three he can hear, two he can smell... the one he can taste winds up being the Silk Cut cigarette he sticks between his lips as he notices Jubilee going by and into the Laughing Magician.

    Never one to favor dealing with his own problems when he can go help someone help, he pushes his way on inside to follow the vampire. "Jubilation?" he calls. "Are you quite well?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Huh, what?" Jubilee pokes her head up from over the top edge of the bar, turning towards the doorway. Jonathan. There's a slight wince, just a small one, as guilt takes over. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm fine," she insists. "I just..."

    "Chas keeps some blood bags somewhere back here, I've seen them, he won't mind, I think," Jubilation explains quickly, as though her very presence here is called into question. As though she has to explain herself. She's kind of robbing the place, from a certain point of view.

    "Why'd you leave the party?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "...You needn't explain yourself, Jubilation," Jon says with a brow quirked. "Chas keeps those blood packs for... well, not /just/ for you, but for just such occassions."

    He hesitates, then says, "I wasn't keen on having a panic attack in the middle of a group of relative strangers." And then, swiftly, "Did giving up a small amount of blood bother you that much?" No judgement; he's honestly curious.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah, tell me about it..." Jubilee mutters, resuming her rummaging. Just a few minutes ago, that same group of relative strangers were pressuring, crowding her even, before others talked sense into them. A-ha! Jubilee holds up a plastic bag filled with that red elixir of life, dangling it in the air above her head.

    She plops it down on the bar and looks around for some way to pierce it. "You were having a panic attack? Why?" she asks simply, fingers deftly searching for a straw or knife or something. She's not a bartender! "Seems like you were surrounded by friends..."

    "Jon, there's... a part of me I'm fighting to control," she explains quietly, glancing up at him. The playful exuberance she normally offers is gone. "John was right in what he was saying. It's a fight. And... I dunno, it doesn't make sense, but, yeah, letting someone take my blood was /not/ what it wanted." It.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon hesitates. Swallows. "I, ahh... the explosion. The light, someone flying, it... triggered a flashback." He's really trying not to think about it. Clearly.

    After a moment, he moves up to the bar and points to the area where he's seen Chas pull straws from. "I think they'll be there." Then, "I... understand. I think. My own power feels..." A pause. "Separate? It wants things that I don't. Horrible things, sometimes." He stops, swallows, throat bobbing for a moment. "I suppose for you, the... vampiric side of you not wanting to let go of a single drop of blood makes sense. We should have thought of that. I'm sorry we didn't. I'm sorry if... I didn't mean to pressure you. I just... you /do/ belong here, if you want to"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I don't really get it yet, I think... I'm still trying to find answers, but near as I can tell, my whole thing is magic right now. Not, you know, like a virus or something. And I don't know anything... Like, that other girl back there..." Lydia. Jubilee scowls slightly, which relaxes a little as Jon points her toward a straw. She grabs one quickly and slams the pointy end into the blood bag like she's delivering an epipen into someone's leg.

    "She can eat /food/... And I think go in the sun? And she's perfectly okay with getting her blood taken? It makes no sense! As soon as that needle hit my finger, I wanted to kill /everyone/ in the room. Including you." Jubilation shakes her head and lowers her lips to the straw. She brings a hand up to block Jon from seeing her suck its most precious contents.

    Jubilee stands up straight and closes her eyes, a look of satisfaction taking over. "You had a flashback?" Jubilee asks softly. "A flashback from what?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon looks away, respectfully, since Jubilee clearly isn't comfortable with someone watching her drink blood. "Maybe there are different types of vampires? I... don't profess to know much about them, but there /are/ different types of folkloric vampires."

    Does the idea that Jubilee wanted to kill him bother him? A little; it makes his heart beat faster. But he keeps his voice steady as he says, "I... lived here in 2018, when the Frost Giants attacked. My daughter was killed while we were trying to get to shelter." Still with the hammering heart, though. Maybe it's the memory doing that.

    "Magic?" He finally looks back at Jubilee. "Isn't all vampirism based on magic?" A pause. "Well, that's... an assumption, I suppose."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation goes back down for another discrete sucking from the bag. She stays down there, face near the bar, until the plastic bag begins to shrink and flatten before curling in on itself. She releases the straw from her mouth and closes her eyes slowly. All is right with the world.

    "I can hear you, you know," Jubilee explains, eyes still closed. "Your heartbeat. It's okay. Jon, I ran out of there /because/ I felt that way. I don't want to kill you. /I/ don't." She opens her eyes. 2018. Three years ago.

    "I'm sorry," is what she says, intoned with the appropriate sympathy. "Losing a family member sucks." And there she goes, getting to the core of the apple as only a teenager can.

    "I don't know. I really don't," Jubilation answers. "I don't know anything. Except when to leave the room, I guess." She scoops up the bag-and-straw and looks around for somewhere to put it.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "It does," Jon says. "Especially when it's your fault."

    He sighs and points to another spot, where the behind-the-bar garbage goes. How does he just... remember these things? "/You/ don't want to kill me. But... the vampiric side of your nature does." A pause. "Even now?" The heartbeat is slowed, just a little, as if talking about the subject is somehow calming. As weird as that might be. "It's alright if so. I... hmm. I don't /understand/ per se, but like I said--I have been finding myself wanting to do things that horrify me, so that at least is... ahh... I get it."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "No, you don't need to die right now," is Jubilee's answer. What a truly ghastly way to answer. She frowns a little at that, hearing it herself in real time. "I... " Her brow wrinkles further. How does she explain this in a way that doesn't sound awful? "...You know how people eat... burgers?" The word is said with disgust, as though the concept of eating /food/ is already alien to her. "You kind of see that the cow is less deserving of its life than you are, but it's not like you're just going to kill them for the fun of it." Jubilation considers that and shakes her head before tossing the bag into the garbage that Jon points at.

    "Jon, I... I can't explain it. I just know that I'll do anything I can do keep you all safe from me," Jubilation insists. There's a long pause. "Do you believe me?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon swallows, not bothering to hide his fear at being compared to a /burger/. Foolish thing to try to do, given the circumstances. But somehow his voice is soft as he says, "I believe you, Jubilation. And... I'm willing to listen, if you need to talk about all of this." He smiles. "Or willing to help you try to figure it out. You deserve help, and you deserve friends, even if... even if some part of you wants to kill those friends, sometimes."

    Oh, /that's/ reassuring, Jon, good job.

    "At any rate," he goes on, "I'll keep that in mind in future. Do not let Jubilee lose blood."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    It's true, perhaps the fear would be difficult to hide from this walking, talking polygraph test. Still, Jubilation shrugs and manages a faint smile. "Thanks," she says quietly. She doesn't really say anything else, doesn't elaborate on how her supposed friends have taken to treating her. She doesn't share the growing distance between her and her peers. Instead, she offers some advice.

    "Probably better to just not be the one who takes it," Jubes clarifies. She shrugs and reaches up to rake her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to sit here for a few minutes... Maybe find a mint or something," Jubilee adds, her tone suggesting that she didn't imagine Jonathan to be sticking around for that.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon nods. "For the record," he adds, "I'm quite happy to be a friend if you like. I know the terrible things humans can do to each other rather intimately; your, ahh... passenger... at least has the excuse of /hunger/."

    He hesitates, then shakes his head. Not much more to be said, really. "Be well, Jubilation."

    Then he goes to push his way back on out of the bar.