9920/A Bad Night To Be A Danger Room Construct

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A Bad Night To Be A Danger Room Construct
Date of Scene: 31 January 2022
Location: Danger Room
Synopsis: After the implication that Jubilee's theft of the vampire grimoire has put Xavier's in danger, Jubes goes to the Danger Room to work through her anger. It's a bad night to be a Danger Room construct...
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    The Danger Room is usually configured to act like an environment that the X-Men might encounter on a mission. Exotic jungles. Industrial compounds. Sometimes, even, a mall. Tonight, though, it's none of that. Instead of something elaborate, the Danger Room is merely a white expanse that fades off into infinity. No environment. Just a horrible, lifeless void. That's not to say there isn't some color, though. There's lots of color, pooled in splatters and puddles on the floor: ruby, crimson, scarlet, rose, and even plain old red.

    Bodies are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Something truly horrible has happened in the Danger Room tonight, something truly vicious. Women. Men. Children. Vampires. Humans. Necks are torn open. Heads removed. Bones snapped. At the center of the horror is Jubilation Lee. Just Jubilee. She's kneeling on the floor, bent forward with her face buried in her bloody hands. The sound she's making is gut-wrenching. Is she crying? Sobbing? Moaning? It's hard to tell with most of that sound getting lost in her hands. The sound builds and builds and builds until Jubilee leans back and presses both of her palms against her temples and screams.

    Noriko has no doubt the best idea what she's been going through, but... this is bad.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko knew Jubilation needed time.  She tracked Jubes to the Danger Room and decided to make herself a sandwich, grab a magazine, a chair, and then set it outside of the Danger Room to ward off anyone who happens to wander toward it.  She doesn't really read the magazine and her eating is more compulsive and mindless.  There's a kind of restlessness to how the speedster moves, in spurts and stop-motion as she listens for a lull in the carnage she's been trying to hum over.  These feelings she's trying to weather with her backup stash of bananas.

That sound tears Noriko's attention forward and she blinks.  She leaves behind a half-eaten sandwich and a pile of peels.  In an instant, she's inside, her gauntlets are torn off, and she ducks down to wrap her arms around Jubilation.  No words.  No fear.  Just instinct, warmth, like the warmth of blood from being split.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee falls into Noriko's arms like a ragdoll. Gone is the monster from earlier. She just presses her eyes into the speedster's shoulder, her scream turning into sobbing. It's loud, messy, and intense, the kind of sobbing that causes your abdominal muscles to sting for the rest of the night. Jubilee repositions herself so she can pull at the speedster, holding her even closer as she falls into despair. Finally, words start to form.

    "It's all my fault," she manages, struggling to keep from crying long enough for each word to get out. "I...I led them here. It's all my fault, Nori...."

    "He doesn't trust me to find an answer... Like I'd trick him..."

    "They... They don't have any idea, Nori. Everyone, everyone just... They think... Nori, this isn't easy and no one knows."

    Jubilee is having a hard time keeping track of her emotions now, struggling to latch on to each of them as they fire through her. There's a lot to be unhappy about, perhaps, and she can't keep her focus on just one. Noriko's shirt, by now, has been ruined red streaks of blood, fresh ones dribbling down from Jubilee's crying and older smears of the blood of Danger Room constructs.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko acquiesces to Jubilation's pulls while trying to hold her back, stroking her hair.  "Jubes," the speedster breathes in response.  "No-...That's not it.  He trusts you, but he wants you to have help."  But Noriko quiets.  She knows how deeply this carves at Jubilation.  The emotions tethered between them from the amulet sear with intensity.  She can't outrun it.

"I feel it."  You aren't alone Jubilation, Noriko's eyes, her arms, everything seems to be saying.  I am here.  The more emotions that fly around, the more still the speedster becomes.

"Jubes.  You didn't know that would happen.  It was an accident."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Like many others who are in this kind of emotional state, Jubilee doesn't directly respond to any of Noriko's statements. She has more to say, more to vent, more to release. One of her bloody hands comes up to tug at the neckline of Noriko's shirt, as though it was the inner ring of a life preserver.

    "...I was so good, Nori..." she whispers, unable to keep her voice from shuddering under the weight of the pain of that failure. "...I was so good for so long..." And, yeah, that's true. Jubilee was able to pull herself out of the rage being directed at Kitty, all without Noriko's help. But, one step forward, two back.

    Shame.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko reaches up to wipe at the more fresh blood tracks across Jubilation's cheeks, her own wet with tears.  The agony of it all keeps Nori quiet, just responsive.  When tugged closer, she rests her cheek against Jubilation's.

"I know...I know..."  It isn't a shushing response in any sense, but an echo, like the echo of Jubilation's feelings impressed on Noriko's heart.  "Are you okay with what I said?  I didn't want to..."  Noriko can't explain her instinct to ask for permission.  It is something she feels and the violation of supposing she could sits with her, whether it should or not.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I...I thought I could do it," Jubilee quietly moans. Stay in control. That's what she thought she could do. And she was right for a little while. But, now the Danger Room is full of bodies with Noriko and Jubilee at the center of them. The weight of her head falls onto Nori's shoulder, letting Jubilee just relax her muscles and shudder.

    "I...I...I don't think...." Whatever conclusion was forming, whatever she was about to say, gets turned on a dime by Noriko's question. Jubes blinks and lifts her head.

    "What did you say?" she wonders, looking desperately for the speedster's eyes to find her own.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko continues to rub Jubilation's back.  She barely feels abuzz right now, more warm than anything as she presses back against Jubilation's points of tension.  At Jubes' question though, Noriko's movements slow to a halt.  She looks down to Jubilation instinctively.

"I said I could read fast even if I'm not the expert of anything.  That I would help you."  Noriko's pretty sure it was something like that, but her brain has been bombed out with emotions for ages it feels like.  "I think Bobby might be scared.  I think he needed extra reassurance."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    To anyone else, the subtlety of what happens on Jubilee's face would be lost. But, to a speedster, those micro-moments almost pass at a glacier's speed. As soon as Noriko's words are fully understood, Jubilee's face betrays her. The changes are subtle, but the order is precise and the emotions are clear. Embarrassment. Resentment. Betrayal. But, also appreciation, wonder, and finally relief. The telegraphy of emotions that links the pair might give some insight into Jubilation's interpretation of those moments, however fast they might be. She always wanted Noriko's help and wanted to share this journey of discovery with her, each and every page of it. But in that moment, that one precise moment, she had hoped Nori might have shouted some sense into Bobby. Just a little. Just like she had done so many times before with so many others.

    But, Jubilee is doing better. One slip-up doesn't mean failure. It's this improvement that allows the vampiress to rise above those feelings, the ones pulling her down into the darkness, and see the situation the way she must if she's ever going to last. "...I..."

    "...I don't want to do this without you," is what she says.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
The sting of that initial wave of feelings slaps Noriko back into her natural velocity where each emotion stretches and rolls with excruciating and inexorable momentum.  The speedster instantly mirrors those bruised feelings and by the time the more positive ones come around, she feels as if she's being tugged through them in Jubilation's wake.  Noriko looks down, but she knows she did what she did. That isn't going to change no matter how much she wishes.  She wonders briefly at her own behavior before Jubes captures her complete attention.

"You don't have to..." Noriko says softly to Jubilation.  "I'm here."  A statement of being.  "We'll do it together."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I know," Jubilee replies quietly with a glimpse of a smile. She finds it somewhere, buried among the anger and the fear and the hate. There's no question in Jubilee's mind, none at all, that Noriko is in her corner, always and completely, but these are the moments that sometimes requires her to step back from her emotions, however oppresive they may be, and see things beyond herself. Baby vampires are not equipped for this. They're not meant to do it. The ones who grow up end up in it for the long haul. The ones who don't are culled by a sunrise or a stake. This is the way of things.

    "Nori..."

    "Sometimes I think this would all be easier if I just..." The words are easy. The thought is a simple one. But, somewhere, deep inside, Jubilation fights for control, fights back, because she so desperately doesn't want to say it. But... she does.

    "...Sometimes I think this would all be easier if I just stopped trying..."

    Truer words have never been spoken.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko doesn't say anything.  Something behind her eyes retreats as she takes on a stillness.  "What do you mean?" she finally asks, her gaze grave, her brain rife with all the possibilities that she is both tortured by and she clings to, the unknown unresolved seems more comforting than the alternative.  Immediately she is disgusted with the possibility of this behavior and remembers her mother's demeanor, passively ignoring the marks on her wrists caused by restraints of a sort.  Even more so, she is disgusted with herself for the panic-ridden zig zag of her thoughts, as if focusing on everything but what is right in front of her.  Perhaps it is just an instinctive coping mechanism, survival of that stretched time.

But Noriko's eyes, her eyes remain fixed on Jubilation, her heartbeat steady.  

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation stirs. She doesn't want to say it again. It was hard enough the first time. She looks away and focuses on the endless void of white. "I..." The words come slowly, as though each and every one is being second guessed. She's not careful. She's afraid.

    "...I think, what if I'm not meant to be like this? What if I'm meant to be more like..."

    Clemencia the Seer. Severina the Necromancer. Nefertiti the Scourge.

    Jubilation the ...?

    Jubilee lowers her eyes. "What if I'm supposed to be what I am?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Do you think Clemencia ever asked what she was meant to be like?"  The words charge out of Noriko's mouth with the speed and instinct of conviction.  "That /is/ who you are, even if it is a struggle and that's beautiful.  Not easy."

Noriko takes a deep breath.  "You'll be mine always and I yours."  Even if she is supposed to be 'what she is.'

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I don't know," Jubilee replies quietly. She sounds so defeated, so deflated, as though she has just given in to despair and no insights about Clemencia the Seer could pull her away from it. But, then, there's Noriko, offering a life raft.

    "No matter what?"

    The question hangs there, asked almost in a whisper, as though Jubilee didn't want to hear the answer. But, that doesn't stop her from turning to face Noriko again. Her eyes are filled with pain, with hurt, with hate. Hate for herself. Hate for others. Hate for the Dursleys.

    "You know how, like, in Harry Potter... His family hates him and locks him in the closet? And Harry... He just puts up with it. He lets them do that stuff," Jubilee mutters. "...But he could just, I don't know, light that whole house on fire with his wand. And he /doesn't/. And they don't even /know/..."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I'm pretty sure she didn't," Noriko says with less force, but no less conviction.

"No matter what," Nori says firmly.

"Yeah..I know," the speedster says darkly.  It reminds her of times she's had to contain her rage.  Times she's let family do things to her.  Times she's wished it was her father in the hospital and not that nice coffee guy, who, like all of her former bosses, will not be named.

"But they don't hate you, and Harry's family were all assholes who wanted to hurt him.  You have more than that," but Noriko doesn't say it like she's arguing or has anything to prove.  It is what it is and by her tone it is clear she knows this doesn't lessen how hard things are for Jubilation.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilee shifts her weight from Noriko and sits with her knees hugged against her chest. She rests her chin on top and lowers her eyes to watch the swirling, bright purgatory of the Danger Room's loading program. "You don't see it, Nori," she mutters. "People don't trust me anymore."

    Bobby Drake didn't even trust her to read the book she was going to read to begin with.

    "And I don't trust them," she adds quietly, her mouth only barely moving as he jaw rests on her knees.

    "Did you see what happened that night?" Jubilee asks, not even looking over. "...They showed up and then the school immediately attacked them. On sight. Just, you know, without even saying anything. Without even knowing what they were doing here."

    Jubilation shifts her weight over so she can stand up. "And I know what I have to do," she says with a shrug of one of her shoulders. "I'm going to just have to gather everyone up and teach them how to fight us, how to kill us." Her index finger scrapes against each of her lower eyelids before the blood is able to dry.

    "And then after I do that, I guess I just have to be ready for when they use those lessons on me."

    "C'mon. Lets find some bright paper to make some fliers," Jubes mutters before motioning for the Danger Room's exit. "This feels like 'orange' paper."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"I don't know if that's true," but Nori doesn't know a lot of things and speeding down a particular line of thought right now isn't going to help her.  She knows that at least.  But when Jubilation says that the school immediately attacked, Noriko blinks.

"They did?"  It's not every day Noriko doesn't have more information than everyone else and this time it feels like a knife.  She didn't have a friendly greeting when she came to the gates either, but at least no one attacked her.  Her heart rate spikes, "What fucking idiot did that?!  We were facing an army of fucking vampires who /haven't/ attacked yet and someone decides to start a fight?!"  Noriko knows that vampires play by older rules almost instinctively...that battlefields are not just charged and sometimes the formality of such a force might actually show a willingness to speak, /before/ bloodshed.  But she also knows the likelihood of it ending in anything but bloodshed was unlikely.

"I won't let anyone do that to you," Noriko says reflexively but still with all of her heart.  "Jubes..."  She sighs.  "Okay, but we take out anyone who is better than me so I can always protect you," which is a few jokes in and of itself.  "Or I could always just get really good at all this."

Noriko hops up and reaches for Jubilation's hand along the way out.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yeah, they did..." She doesn't sound as mournful as she was a moment ago. Being able to tell Noriko this energizes Jubilee a little bit, as though this one detail is some missing piece to promote understanding. But then, she shakes her head. "I don't remember who it was. It might've been Monet or that new girl. I can't remember. One of them." She looks down and shrugs, as though the 'who' in this won't even matter as long as they're not a vampire. No justice for the undead.

    Jubilee's own hand slips in with Noriko's, finding it easily. "No one's better than you," she whispers, smiling a little down at their feet as they walk through the voice.

    "Except maybe me."