8504/Thanks

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Thanks
Date of Scene: 31 October 2021
Location: The Laughing Magician
Synopsis: Jubilee visits John to express her thanks for the amulets and reveals some of the reasons she might actually enjoy being a vampire. Constantine can't handle the feels.
Cast of Characters: John Constantine, Jubilation Lee




John Constantine has posed:
    For a place that's supposed to be having a Halloween party this evening, the Laughing Magician Pub sure doesn't look very festive. There are no silly cartoon cutouts or jack-o-lanterns or any of that holiday stuff. There is, however, other stuff; there are candles lit in specific places throughout the place, bit and baubles and doodads from all sorts of faiths and paths hanging all over, sitting on tables, but none of it is 'festive', mostly it's creepy. It's all protections against the restless dead.

    Of which, John looks like he very well may be. He's asleep at the bar *again*. His trenchcoat is laying on the bar top, his sleeves are rolled up to reveal all those tats on his arms and his head's resting on his folded arms. He's surrounded by books and notes and colored pencils... and three empty bottles of scotch.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The door to the not-so-festive Laughing Magician opens and a bedsheet ghost glides on it. The sheet comes off to reveal that it's none other than Jubilation Lee, who just braved the very short (but very dangerous) walk over from the Curio. There really should be some kind of door between them, right? As soon as the sheet comes off, Jubilee takes a good hard look at the decor and frowns.

    "It's worse than I thought..."

    Jubilee walks right past all the tables and stools and crawls up onto the stool next to the Pauper's Throne. She sits on her knees and leans forward in John's direction. "Oy, mate!" she exclaims, trying to do her best worst impression of his accent.

John Constantine has posed:
    One of these days, Jubilation is going to wind up roasted and charred. John startles awake, Hellfire in his eyes and dancing in... no *engulfing* both of his hands. Wild eyed, *scared*, shaken from the beginnings of a nightmare, his heart thumps hard in his chest... and that soft, barely there *whoosh* between beats is even more obvious than it was yesterday.

    This time when he finally comes around to his senses more, the, "Don't fucking do that!" is barked, angry... but it's easier to show anger than fear. He seriously could have killed her. The flames die as quickly as they appeared.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    But /that/ day is not /to/day. Luckily. Jubilee shrieks as Constantine is ripped from his slumber. She nearly falls from the stool, which is quite a feat given the supernatural grace that has been gifted on top of her otherwise great sense of balance. "Alright! Jeeeeez! Don't have a heart attack!" Jubilee cries out. One of these days...

    Jubilation tosses the balled up bedsheet onto one of the nearby tables, which has been her style lately, and reorients herself so she's sitting on the stool instead of kneeling.

    "Don't you have a bed?" she wonders. The reason for her trip over here isn't terribly obvious, but it's clear she didn't stop by to ask about his sleeping arrangements.

John Constantine has posed:
    "Yes, Buffy, I have a fucking bed," John grouses as he starts gathering up books and papers and sketches... of demons, so many nasty, horrible, scary looking demons. No wonder the man's jumpy if that's the regular of his reading material?

    Once he has everything all neat and stacked, he reaches up to rub his left shoulder, then his neck and then... he lights a cigarette. "So, what is it?" he asks in a voice so incredibly tired. Almost, it *almost* comes out in a whine of a sound. ... like 'what is it *now*, like it has to be something she needs, because it's *always* something people need.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It must really suck if you'd rather sleep /here/..." Jubes points out with a grin she can't keep to herself. But, did she come here to give John Constantine a good-natured hard time? Not really. Kind of. Maybe a little. But, mostly not! And then, as though something might be lost in a pocket that doesn't exist, Jubes pats herself down with both hands. She turns towards the balled up bedsheet and smiles again. "Oh!"

    Jubilation vampire-blurs to the sheet and rummages with it. She blurs back holding a glass bottle with a brown liquid inside. It's scotch. It's absolutely, positively not John's brand. It's basically what you get when you go into a liquor store and grab the first one you see since you don't know anything about scotch. She presents the bottle to John with both hands, as though she was transferring some artifact of great power.

    "Got this for you," she explains. Jubilee is only eighteen, but that's nothing a little glamouring can't solve, right?

John Constantine has posed:
    It may not be his brand, it may be bottom shelf swill, but that doesn't mean he doesn't immediately pop the thing open and pour some into last night's glass still sitting on the bar. John downs the glass and lets out a sigh that's near relief and along with it, "*Thank you*." Just saved him the effort of getting up and getting a bottle from behind the bar.

    ... but man what a breakfast, scotch and cigarettes.

    "I fell asleep looking into a few things related to the thinnings," he finally explains. He does have a bed, a big giant, soft, cloud like king-sized total down affair that even has a *literal* Angel that sleeps in it with him, softly Fallen one but still. That, dear Jubilation, is the obsessive compulsive nature of John Constantine.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You're welcome," Jubilation replies. She falls into a brief silence, unsure of what to say next. She knows what she WANTS to say but there's a decent chance she won't be allowed. She must be...careful.

    "So, like, I have some things I gotta tell you and I kinda just want you to shut up and just listen to them!" she says, lowering her voice a little bit and even wrinkling her brow a little. An index finger gets pointed! John does it. Maybe he responds to it?

    "Right...So..."

    Jubilee reaches up and rakes her hand through her hair. "So, first, the amulets you made us worked, and, like, thank you, or something, I guess..." She's downplaying it on purpose, trying to seem aloof. Trying to seem like she really doesn't care about it at all. Like it's no big deal.

    "You know. Whatever."

    Stop. Pause. Leave it alone, Jubilee. Leave it! That's all. You're home free...Just...

    "Ah!" she shrieks suddenly, both arms extended, eyes wide, big smile on her face. "John! You have /no idea/ how wonderful you are. I mean, truly... You... I thought I'd never, ever be able to just let myself go with Nori ever again! Like, she's the center of my /world/ so, you, you, gave me my /world/ back! Do you have any idea how amazing that is! You... You can call me Buffy or Elvira or be mean to me if you must, but, but, I'm going to find some way to repay you for this!"

    This is not about sex. There's something else in this message.

John Constantine has posed:
    John would have been perfectly fine leaving it at 'you know, whatever'... don't make a fuss. But then...

    Oh. My. God, what is it doing?! Why is it making that sound, what's with the arms! ... and the gushing and the words.

    John's eyes widen to saucers, he's the deer, she's the headlights. His heart starts pounding again. It's almost painful to watch, maybe a little sad. This man has *no* idea what to do right now. He's actually a little terrified. Goes out and battles the darkness on the daily and *this* terrifies him.

    "Uh... I... uhhhh... it's not a big deal. Really it's not." He's leaning way back on that stool, almost to the point of falling off of it. No. HUGGING! Back vile hugbeast, back!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The change in the man's body language is enough for Jubilee to back off with the arms, but her enthusiasm is not extinguished. "No, no, it /is/ John, it /is/," she insists, even taking a step back. "You don't know!" She shakes her head rapidly. "And not just because you died -- though, by the way, that's really a bitch, isn't it?" She shakes her head again, sticks her tongue out, and rolls her eyes back just for a second.

    "Listen, I... You've just been really great to me," she adds, her voice lowering a little. "And I know you don't go for all of this 'feelings' stuff but, but, I /do/ and I just have to tell you. You've been so great to me when people who have known me for /years/ are doing fuck all. You're doing all this stuff and you don't even /know/ me!"

    "And don't say it's not a big deal. It /is/! I mean, even just the amulets. Noriko doesn't get to be normal. I mean, we're mutants, so we're not normal, but she's extra not normal. She's always about to electrocute everyone, so, I was... I was kind of..." Jubilee lowers her eyes and hesitates. Does she dare tell the truth?

    "I like being like this," she says. "It's /right/... Because Nori doesn't need to worry about /killing me/ just by holding my hand. I'm... I'm just so grateful that I can take that away from her. She never gets to do /anything/ and... We went /swimming/ together a few weeks ago. She's never even been in a pool!"

    "Everyone's trying to /cure/ me and /fix/ me... But you're trying to /help/ me. I'm never going to forget it. Never ever," Jubes adds. Okay. Enough.

    "Alright, that's it. You can come out of hiding," Jubilation adds, smirking a little at the cowering man. "I'm not gonna touch you. But, I /am/ going to /repay/ you. So, like, that thing you said about Chas needing help around here. Well, I wanna help! Anything you want, really, but I think my services might be best enjoyed up here at the bar..." She drags the back of her hand from one cheek, down her neck, chest, abdomen, and thigh. "...You know..." Her eyes light up. "You don't have to worry about me drinking on the job, too! I don't drink!"

John Constantine has posed:
    John watches her warily through it all, just waiting for that hug threat to return or some. About halfway through it becomes apparent that, well, he still what to do with all of it. About three quarters of the way through, he's reached up at least twice to rub his eyes with his thumb and index finger and they might have been a little too bright at one point or another.

    On the surface, he keeps it all in check for the most part. Underneath it all, he's about to break... but not in a bad way.

    See, people don't *do* this with John Constantine. It's mostly his own fault with the way he acts and he knows. But people don't gush gratitude at him. They mostly don't even so much as say 'thank you'. Sometimes it feels good to be appreciated.

    He doesn't speak for a long few moments, gotta get that voice under control so it doesn't crack first and then finally...

    "... you have to split your tips if you want someone busing tables, if not, bus'm yourself. And you have to work weekends, at least one day or every other." All business.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Okay, okay," Jubilee agrees immediately. "I'll split tips, I'll do whatever you say, I don't care! John, you've...You've given me so much. A place to /live/ that's not, like, hostile to me..." Maybe /hostile/ is the wrong word, but the Night Brigade has at least listened to her opinions on things. "Look..."

    And here it is. The big thing. "John, you haven't made my life the same as it was before the, you know..." She points at her fangs with an index finger. "...You've made it /better/ than it /was/..." That detail hangs in the air for a few moments before Jubilation shrugs one shoulder. "...So, thanks."

    She turns from John and climbs up onto a stool and leans her elbow on the bar. "So, like, you know, whatever..."

    How does someone work off a magic amulet in a pub?

John Constantine has posed:
    Oh, it just keeps getting worse. Truly not, it's not *bad* what she's doing. It's not at all. It's really good for a tattered heart and black soul. But it's making John feel things that Johns don't ... aren't used it... never *learned* to feel and deal with. It's uncomfortable for him and that's on him, not Jubilation.

    "Aye, so like... whatever," he mumbles after dragging his hands down over his face and having let them linger there a moment.

    There's no mistaking it, that too brightness, the welling of potential eye leakage. But he stubbornly wipes all that way again with a press of those digits into the corners of those faded denim blues. Then John's gathering up all his books and notes and his cigarettes and lighter in a hurried, near frantic fashion.

    "I gotta run, Buffy, there's a thing I need to do." Just a thing. "I'll be back in a bit. Stay close tonight, Halloween isn't all about candy and costumes. The dead are closer tonight than any other night of the year." A beat and he amends, "The spirit kind of dead."

    ...and then, with his arms full of all that research crap, he's hurrying for the backroom... and away from the FEELS.