Owner Pose
Jubilation Lee     It's late to some, early to others. It's just a few minutes past midnight and the moon hangs high, reflecting the unseen sun's across the trees and stretched on top of the dark waters of Breakstone Lake. Jubilation Lee, the newly ascended Duchess of Prox Manna-hata and Protector of the Lenapehoking Dutchy, has been off campus for much of the evening. Jubes has been gone since she woke up at sundown, but she left a note: Lake, Midnight, <3.

    When she finally got to Breakstone Lake, Jubilation wears the face of fatigue, which is quite a feat considering that's not something she's usually concerned with these nights. Jubilee's first order of business is to spread out a beach towel, throw her backpack down on the ground, and then dramatically fall onto the towel.
Noriko Ashida Noriko has been snoozing in the recently re-lined, already was new coffin.  Something about the idea of a wooden box brings Noriko more comfort than she could ever find with a bed, an object she's been chained to in the past.  The thought of not worrying about some person in the bunk bed above her, the metal frame, all the ways she could fry the people on the other side of the wall.  So there's something oddly comforting about a coffin...or there was, briefly, until she'd been repeatedly snatched by Mojo.

The speedster wakes from one of her staggered sleeps in a rare sweat.  It's just not something that is easy to make her body do.  She bonks her head on the coffin lid, making it fly open from the force.  "F-" Lifting her gauntlet to her head sharply at the smarting against the lid doesn't do her any favors either.  She's briefly grateful that her unworldly graceful girlfriend was not there to see it.

Noriko gets up, stretches, blurs over sleepily to brush her teeth, sees the note, looks at the time on her gauntlet.  "Oh shit."  She quickly pulls off her gauntlets and tries to do her hair, only causing static that seems to defy physics.  "WHY DO I EVEN TRY?!"  She huffs, yanks her gauntlets up from the ground, and leaves...only to return and put on some makeup.  Just a little lipstick, okay maybe some mascara.  OH GOD BRUSH THOSE TEETH.  She spritzes some cheap body spray in the air and twirls in place, doing a 720 through the mist.  THEN she leaves.

The speedster is heralded quickly by the swirls of debris in her wake across the campus until she arrives, allowing it to kick up about 10 feet to the side of Jubilation before approaching, out of courtesy of course.  "I just saw your note."  She didn't even eat!  Noriko's stomach has always been a third party in the relationship even before Jubes picked up her own passenger, and Noriko's stomach grumbles in protest.
Jubilation Lee     Jubilee's arm extends towards the backpack and points her index finger at it without even looking. "In there," she says. Jubes filled the backpack with snacks for Noriko. Hopefully the speedster will realize that the plastic pouch of blood is not, in fact, for her.

    "...I just spent... the last three hours... hearing two idiots argue about which of them deserves the Home Depot at the Salem Center." Jubilation mutters, staring up at the night sky. "...Two vampires. In orange aprons. Arguing. About who gets to hunt there." Pause. "At Home Depot!" Another pause. "HOME DEPOT!" she screams. Nearby nests of birds stir awake, flapping their wings in confusion. Apparently life as a vampire duchess is not all moonshine and primrose.

    Jubilation turns her head towards Nori. "You look nice," she says suddenly. "And smell nice."
Noriko Ashida Noriko tilts her head, giving Jubilation an absolute look of gratitude.  "You're the best," she mumbles before settling crosslegged, backpack in her lap as she munches things as she's pulling it out of the bag.  That's not what is actually happening, but it looks like that for a moment or two.  She looks up at the words 'Home Depot.'  "Were they trying to blend in on their hunting ground or something?  They do know that only employees wear the aprons right?"  Noriko looks thoughtful as she pulls out a banana as if the backpack once belonged to Mary Poppins.

"They also realize no one is there at night right?  I mean the store hours overlap is...insanely short," Noriko says as if any vampire who wasn't a total moron would be able to see it isn't the best pickings logistically, never mind how inane it all is.  "You know I think I could make a mint doing consultation for vampires and any other creatures I didn't know existed," she says idly between bananas.

Jubilation's sudden noticing of Noriko's efforts take the girl by surprise.  To the speedster, it feels like ages have passed and she just stuffed a banana into her mouth.  She quickly tries to destroy the undainty evidence by swallowing.  "Oh...Thanks."  The vampire is rewarded by a quick little swish of Noriko's blood rushing through her veins as her heart thumps a little harder.

"Is that all they really care about?  So did you have to rescue vampire kittens stuck up trees for them too?"
Jubilation Lee     "Oh, no, they both work there. Night crew, obviously," Jubilation explains, rolling her eyes at the idea. "Both of them work there. Turns out, neither will go anywhere near the lumber department."

    The thought of having to get a vampire cat down from a tree doesn't sound too far off."They're all, like, super petty! And some of them, I'm learning, have domains and it's, like, a huge deal." Jubes explains as she presses her thumb and forefinger against her closed eyes. "Like, so-and-so will let that-one feed in their domain, the Cineplex Theater, and in exchange they get to feed at the Lost Pond Mall. It's like favors are money! And, turns out, anywhere that isn't someone else's... is mine. So, all these butt-faces are coming to pledge their this-and-that but Aldebrand told me it's just because they want a piece of the pie!"

    Jubilation lies back on the beach towel and stares at the moon, both hands reaching up into her hair. "This SUCKS!" she shouts. More birds putter around in the trees.

    Jubilee lets that moment hang for a second, just letting her outburst echo around the lake. Eventually, she turns towards the speedster and manages a smile, happy that Noriko is satisfied with the contents of the backpack. "What did you do today while I was stuck /working/...." Ugh.
Noriko Ashida "Oh duh.  That makes sense.  Gah.  They got stuck working at Home Depot in their afterlife and you got stuck managing their squabbles?  Can't you delegate or something?"  Noriko would probably stop to try and give Jubes' dead muscles a squeeze but she's too busy /tearing/ through the snacks, voracious like some python waking up after a nap.  As Jubes knows all too well though, it's better this way so Noriko can quickly work into a state of being able to pay attention more, like someone in danger of missing their morning coffee or those awaiting sentencing just before a judge's lunch.

"Do you get some kind of favor tax from them from having to settle all their dumb shit?"  Noriko looks at the stirred birds this time, but it's only a fleeting glance for the speedster.  Then she sets the backpack aside as soon as her stomach has been silenced.  She crosses one leg over the other in the vampire's direction as she stretches them out.  "Well I slept.  I read a few books, went to the city for a run at one point."  It was, after all, once one of her routines to do evening runs, but lately those had been squashed due to all the activity in the city.  "Did some research."  She shrugs and then scoots down to lay on her back, resting her gauntlets over her stomach as she stares up at the moon.  "You know, trying not to go insane.  You know, the usual."
Jubilation Lee     "Now /that's/ a good idea..."

    Jubilation turns onto her hip and reaches out to the speedster. She stares into Noriko's eyes, smiling gently, as her hand gets closer and closer to her face. Jubilation gently drags the pad of her index finger against the corner of Noriko's mouth, wiping away some of the banana that managed to get stuck on the outside. "I /should/ tax them..." she agrees with a grin.

    "Nori... /please/ pleaseplease don't go to the city," she nags. "It's not safe. Not yet." Who knows what's going on with that? Jubilee hasn't gone back there since it all started and hasn't spoken to the other members of Justice League Dark since, though hasn't exactly mentioned why.

    Jubilation looks like she's about to say something, just that weird pregnant pause before something happens, but something in Noriko's answer derails her. "What are you researching?" she wonders.
Noriko Ashida "I mean it's only fair that you raise the means necessary for your station," Noriko says with a little smirk before a fruit rollup disappears in record time.  Jubilation didn't pack that.  It must have escaped the last backpack Nori attack, or Noriko stashed it in one of the multitude of pockets, or Noriko had it tucked into her waistband, you'll never know.  It's too late.  It's gone.  It was delicious, but the memory of it and the joy it brings is obliterated as Jubes touches her mouth, which opens slightly.

"Jubes...you know it's not the same for me."  Relative safety.  "I just wanted to see-"  Noriko sighs, hearing her own words.  "I'm so bored," she explains.  The girl could never live for eternity.  She can barely stand ten minutes.  "Eh, I just wanted to see if there was anything in the book that pertained more directly to something...and yeah," get prepared to take down Clemencia?  Noriko looks to Jubes hesitantly.  "Jubes...I had to make a deal for things to go smoothly.  I have to do a favor."
Jubilation Lee     I'm so bored. Those three words tear through Jubilation Lee like nothing else has before. She's been called all kinds of horrible names, some meant to poke fun at her ethnicity as a girl, some meant to hurt her for being a mutant, and more recently anti-vampire sentiments. But, those three words 'I'm so bored' are like a wooden stake through the heart. Jubilee's eyes lower, one corner of her mouth curling as she thinks on that.

    "I'm sorry, Nori," is what she says at first. It doesn't sound right, doesn't feel right, but it's what she says. "I guess I've been kinda, I dunno, busy." She uses the word 'busy' to describe all of it. Her weird sleeping schedule. Her weird activities of late. Her weird status as vampire royalty. Busy.

    Instead of sharing her plans for Noriko -- and Jubilation does have plans for Noriko -- Jubes leans in a little and reaches out to tuck a lock of Nori's blue hair behind an ear. It's just one of those simple touches that are easy for the dead to take for granted. She even begins to lean in for a kiss! But, record screech. Full stop. "...What kind of favor?" Jubilee asks, her tone immediately becoming grave and serious. Is some vampire holding leverage on Noriko?
Noriko Ashida Noriko, of course, was not thinking of the times she gets to spend with Jubilation.  Noriko was off in her own world of thinking, wallowing in the pit of the endless daytime.  For her, she's expressing an almost perpetual state she's known for what feels like forever.  A default state.  Nothing she considers to have any connection with Jubilation, that is until the three words come out of her mouth.  The moment she sees Jubilation's reaction, Noriko just stares like she shocked something, in horror, waiting to see if it is still alive.

"Huh?" is Nori's first response to Jubilation's apology.  "Jubes, that has nothing to do with you.  I'm asleep and awake all day and night," meaning how she doesn't follow normal cycles at all.  "I mean sure the daytime was more kickass when you were human, but now the night is more kickass that you're a vampire.  We're about to graduate and have to do things separately and all that.  I know you need to take care of stuff, which doesn't mean I want less time with you either.  I'm just saying..."  Noriko has so much more time to think of things than other people and it's clear she probably did a little bit of spinning on some of it.  Her words don't have those clean edges that come when she has some clear opposition in front of her to catalyze it.

"I went running in the city for a reason and I miss it.  And I think maybe it's just made me..."  the phrase she's searching for is 'stir crazy,' but she goes with a second rate one she knows sounds a little wrong slotting in, "cabin fever."  She sighs, relief of some measure reaching her when Jubes tucks her hair behind her ear.

Noriko, however, isn't leaning for a kiss.  Her eyes drop down.  This favor will change her, has already.  She agreed to it, and there's shame in her features.  "One less sister for Severina in exchange for her support of your claim."
Jubilation Lee     Jubes nods her head a little. Yeah, Noriko has been dealing with 'forever' way before Jubilation ever needed to even think about what it means. Now with a literal eternity stretching out in front of her, Jubes gets it. She hasn't yet found the natural comfort that her kind have with the idea. For a vampire, Jubilee is extremely impatient. Compared to Noriko, though, she's a glacier.

    "Yeah but..." she tries to interrupt. Speedster wins. "Yeah but then---" Another win for Noriko. "You could--" It's very difficult to interrupt a speedster on her way to the end of her point. Jubilee just stops trying and waits for her turn.

    "But, couldn't you, like, go to a /different/ city?" New York is without a doubt the closest. "...Like, Philly?" Jubilation raises her eyebrows and waves both hands in the air, jazz-hands style. "...Brotherly looooooove," she sings, trying to make Philadelphia sound more enticing. She waggles her brows again.

    After just a moment, Jubes frowns, knowing that it won't be enough. "Okay, well, just be careful, okay?" she asks, smiling just a little. "If anything happened to you...." She doesn't finish. If anything happened to Noriko Ashida, it would ignite a war between the vampires of the Lenapehoking Duchy and ... uh, the military forces of... heaven?

    Full stop. Again.

    "What!" Jubilee nearly shrieks. "Severina?!" Blink blink. Jubilation closes her eyes and falls back onto the towel, groaning loudly as she does. "Of course. Fuck!" So, /that's/ why there really wasn't so much discord when Noriko had her big moment. Severina had taken care of it.
Noriko Ashida It's true.  Sometimes Noriko ends up on a roll when she talks and is difficult to interrupt.  Even if she's great at picking up on subtle queues and all sorts of social terrain that passes between most humans between moments, moments even most humans aren't privy to consciously, the speedster has her own momentum in terms of focus.

"So you want to go to Philly on a date?"  Noriko squints skeptically at Jubilation's 'song and dance' of a sort.  "Well, do you need to take any messages anywhere?"  She'd rather run errands for Jubilation (even to Philly) than go to Philly on a joy run.  But then, anything with Jubilation involved sounds more appealing than not having Jubilation.  Noriko suddenly realizes that her thoughts are swarming with the vampire, her fiance.  She's already smiling, eyes dazed as Jubilation weighs the consequences of important affairs like vampire warfare.

"Oh, well, pretty sure only another speedster could catch me but we haven't done any like relay races against each other so-"  Lots of words tumble out quickly when the speedster is just chattering.  By now, Noriko and Jubilation are comfortable enough that Jubes can probably keep up with conversations most can't.  Noriko shuts up at the shriek.  "I had to make sure things weren't going to...you know, explode."  Truth be told, Noriko is happy all Jubilation has had to deal with are Home Depot vampires (well, to her knowledge).  "So, I need to figure out how to do it.  We never put a time limit on it, but it's not like I want to have her showing up at our apartment again or have to dodge all of her damn ravens."  Really these mentions of inconvenience are distractions from the realization that has burrowed out the back of her gaze, that she will have to take someone's life...death or Final Death.  It doesn't seem to matter to Noriko Ashida.

"Severina hates her.  Wants to be rid of her.  I didn't have anything else she wanted."
Jubilation Lee     There's something awful about that idea -- going to Philly for a date night. Jubilation's expression matches her feelings on that. There's no questioning Philadelphia's status of 'lesser city' in the shadow of New York. But, at least it's not hosting a war between humanity and the forces of heaven. "I just want you to be safe," is what Jubilee's answer is. It's a fool's wish. Safety. Noriko has so many targets on her back now and neither of them even know it.

    "Besides, I'm not sure who I'd have to tell," Jubes mutters. "I think I'm supposed to give them a heads-up." Jubilation Lee, first of her clan (which will need a name), Duchess of Prox Manna-hata, Countess of Westchester, and supposed diablerizer of Suthtehk the Malefactor, can't just waltz in to Philadelphia without telling someone.

    "Fuck," Jubes summarizes. Noriko owes Severina the Necromancer. That is not a good thing. "...I'd, like, talk to her, but I'm pretty sure that would make things worse. You owe her. Even I can't put a stop to that." She's learning, sloooowly, the way her people do business. But, some things just will never stick.

    "...Ravens?"
Noriko Ashida "It sounds like you need me to help you with some job research," Noriko sing songs slightly.  She realllly must be bored.  Openly offering her bookworm jockey expertise?  Perhaps the credibility lent from having a girlfriend-NO-fiance who is a vampire and a Duchess, has made Noriko let out her belt a little in the reputation area.  Or maybe she's just looking for any excuse to spend more time in the presence of the one she's openly obsessed with.  Or maybe there are a billion other equally motivating reasons.

"Yeah.  It's between us.  I don't want to pull you into it."  Into these kinds of shadows.  How Noriko found herself becoming a back channel operator for a vampire, even if just once, well she won't sit here and wonder about it for very long.  "...Jubes.  Right now is the most dangerous time for you."  Noriko saw the upheavals, the power struggles in that book.  It doesn't matter when in history these things happen.  Vampires are forever and their ambition is eternal.  "I know you're worried about me, and I know this is...somethist, but I don't trust that court.  I know it's none of my business but your safety is...I have your back."  Of course she does.  This obviously means more.  "If you need me, for anything, I'm already there."

"Oh...ravens.  Yeah.  She sent these ravens and kept acting like I was rude because I should have known that meant to see her or...something?"  Noriko really hasn't even scratched the surface with that one.  "I think it was supposed to bring me a message but it wasn't carrying anything that I could see and I kind of fried a few accidentally.  Maybe it takes some vampire charm or something."  She shrugs.
Jubilation Lee     "Yeah, maybe," Jubilee replies with a grin. Noriko Ashida -- librarian for vampires. The idea draws out some quiet laughter from within Jubes, but it's just for a moment. The idea is, frankly, not a bad one. Noriko's points about her vampire court, the one that has fallen into her lap, get a very subtle nod from Jubilee. The speedster is right. She is now surrounded by vipers.

    "Of course it's your business," Jubilation insists. "You're going to be my wife." Pause. "...husband?" Pause. "No, that's..." Her face lemons a bit as her features wrinkle with frustration about that. "...What do we..." Huh. That's a head-scratcher, but there will be plenty of time for that. Just like there's plenty of time to argue about names.

    The point about ravens gets a dramatic eye roll. "Of /course/ it's by ravens. Why can't we just /text/ like normal people!" After a beat, Jubes shrugs. "...I guess it's because we're not people. Whatever!" Ugh. "Nori, we're getting way off track here," she declares. Jubes sits up, legs bent at the knee. She motions for Noriko to get closer to her. "Nori, c'mere for a minute..."
Noriko Ashida "I meant all your vampire court business and all that," Noriko clarifies on what she thinks her business is.  She knows she's not a vampire.  She's also picked up on subtle and not so subtle attitudes towards mortals.  "I think I'm going to remain female so wife works," the speedster teases, tempering her humor when directed to Jubes.  "I'll be your wife.  You'll be mine."  It's so simple to her.  Of course she hasn't gotten to names yet.  She was too busy facing her own mortality, proposing, and facing down vampire nobles.  So it conveniently flies over her head for the moment.

"Well I thought it was kind of cool," because Noriko can't text really, obviously.  "Until I couldn't figure it out," and realized ravens are just devices she can fry that make her feel even worse.  "Hmm?  Track?"  Noriko didn't know there was a track, but it gets her attention.  The speedster tosses the backpack a little further so it isn't in danger of being sat on and scoots closer, smiling again because the laws of nature dictate that this happens when in close proximity of Jubes.

Other laws of nature begin to take hold though as the speedster catches Jubes' scent.  Her drifting closer ceases as an afterthought, trying to be respectful as her eyes bounce around from Jubes' hair to the curve of her jaw, and so on with bridled thought.
Jubilation Lee     And there it is. Wife and wife. Jubilee smiles as it all gets wrapped up in an easy, simple package like that. Of course. She nods her head with a grin. "Right," she agrees. Now feels like a good moment to make a wistful noise and comment happily on how she still doesn't believe they're getting married and how wonderful that is. But, they've already gotten off track. Still, Noriko's eyes can be felt and they make Jubilee smile, staring forward at the lake. She lets it go on for a few moments, enjoying them immensely, before reaching over and gently tilting Noriko's head to face the lake using an index finger under her chin.

    "Noriiii, focus," she teases.

    Jubilation extends both arms out toward the lake waggles her eyebrows. And then... Up in the air above the lake, a firework explodes in a shower of sparks made of a brilliant blue, a cyan-leaning hue very close to the dye that goes into the speedster's hair. And then... another one, just next to it, but this time... purple. Jubes refuses to use yellow. The private fireworks show above Breakstone Lake has started.
Noriko Ashida It does feel weird for Noriko to consider herself a wife.  It has so many meanings in every culture so in the moment, it feels a bit like putting on a glove inside out, just for a moment.  But when Jubilation notarizes it with her approval, it all instantly settles.

"Huh?"  Noriko looks back toward the lake, then up when the sparks begin to fly.  Her eyes widen ever so slowly and she just stares.  "..."  Noriko is speechless.  She lets the fireworks play out as slowly as she can without them becoming statues.  It's a natural thing that happens, like getting to watch her own bouquet of light bloom.

"Jubes..."  Tears swirl, frustratingly blurring her vision.  She rests her gauntlet in Jubilation's lap.  Oh how she'd love to pay Jubes a compliment about being better than Hermoine at this, but...she can't.  She has no words.
Jubilation Lee     At first, the color, the creativity, the artistic expressions, were all but gone. Her ukulele went un-played. Her markers dried out. Her plasmoids were chaotic at best. With more time clocked, Jubes has gotten more used to the nature of being a vampire. It also helps to have the life force of a thousand year-old vampire coursing through her veins.

    For now, Jubilation stares up at the sky, all ten fingers extended as though each of them is conducting its own invisible orchestra. Each explosion of color and light comes with an explosion. Some of them seem to fly through the air, leaving behind a trail of micro-explosions, just like real fireworks do when launched. In this case, each of those little pinpricks of color are individual fireworks themselves and Jubilee is concentrating really hard on keeping them going.

    Noriko's attempts to speak through it all go unnoticed. Jubilation, for once in her new unlife, is just focused on the beauty, the majesty, and making sure the sights and sounds are evoking the right emotions. The show begins slowly, with smaller explosions representing Noriko and Jubilee -- cyan and purple -- at opposite sides of the lake. As each of them burns out, a new one explodes to take its place, each time inching closer and closer towards the center of the lake. Of course, there are non-specific colors lighting up the night sky, as well, but it's obvious that they're just to make everything as spectacular as a real firework show and aren't contributing to the story.

    The Jubesexplosions and the Noriexplosions continue to creep towards each other, slowly approaching the sky above the center of the lake...
Noriko Ashida Noriko would wonder if whatever the former Duke did healed Jubilation's powers or if it was just absorbing him that did it, but none of these possible explanations even enter the speedster's realm of consideration because she knows this is the product of hard work...very hard work.

The speedster doesn't even know if Jubilation could do this before, but she's too busy being enraptured by the beauty and what it means.  These fount of warmth reaches Jubilation through their pendants. How the speedster wants to just run out over the water and try and catch the explosions, dance in them, an innocent bursting of desire, something she knows as an instantaneous expression, since nothing could tear her from the best view in the house.

Dark eyes graze over the cascade of their narrative, letting the images burn into her eyes, her mind.
Jubilation Lee     Jubilation is lost in it. The majesty of it all. The romance. For just a few minutes, she's back to just being the free-spirited firecracker who wants all eyes on her. She's slinging color and sounds better than she ever did before. Better than she was ever taught how. The peripheral colors and shapes continue, off to the extreme edges of the sky that borders the lake, but the main show still focuses on those explosions near the center. The ones that represents Noriko and Jubilation's time together. They're small, but continue to inch closer...and closer...and closer to each other.

    And then.. they meet.

    As soon as they do, there's a loud *crack* of white light and sparks that whirl through the sky and burst into beautiful patterns. When it clears, the cyan and purple fireworks, still small, have reappeared with some distance between them. For a while, those two positions in the sky continue to fill with fireworks matching Jubilee and Noriko, each explosion replenished once it dies out, creating the illusion that they're just standing up there. It's evocative of the day they held hands on Jubilee's bed and then the awkwardness that continued afterwards.

    But... Jubes leans forward a little, shifting her weight so she can stand up and still keep this going. Noriko is pulled up to stand with her, but Jubes is not looking at the speedster. She is transfixed in her own magnificent display. It's beginning to rival a true fireworks show that might happen over Cinderella's Castle at Disney World -- not that she had ever been. She smiles proudly, watching, enjoying, casting more and more fireworks and shapes and colors all around them. A warmth takes over the show, with reds, yellows, and oranges concentrate to form a shape vaguely like that of a bonfire. New Years. The cluster of cyan fireworks and purple fireworks seem to be inching closer and closer again... Edging their way towards the sky above the center of the lake, perfectly framed by the stretched reflection of the moon.

    Suddenly, the inky blackness of the sky fills with the passion of the night in the woods when Jubilation and Noriko first kissed. It's as though thousands of twinkling starts have fallen to Earth at the same time, each of them sounding their support of the couple with a deafening roar. Their kiss becomes a massive flower of sparks, cascading into hundreds of smaller ones that eventually fall to the lake and back into darkness. When it's all over, Jubilee is no longer standing next to Noriko. She's kneeling on one knee in front of her.

    "...Nori," she begins softly, looking up at the speedster with her large, brown eyes, cradling something in her hands. It's a box. Wooden. Ancient. It is carved with kanji symbols, indicating its eastern origins. "I, um, have a question to ask you," she says gently, a smile forming at the corners of her mouth as she draws from memories of how Noriko did this. Jubilee curls her fingers and opens the box, revealing a dark red pillow with a stainless steel ring inside. It has a filigree setting with a large, jadeite gemstone that has been stained red. It's clear Jubilation did not purchase this. With money, anyway.

    "Will you marry me?" They may already be engaged, but it didn't seem right that Noriko didn't get to experience this, too.
Noriko Ashida Noriko may not be the more romantic of the pair, but there are hints that have played out along their pendants that suggest she's touched more than one could imagine by such things.  The girl's life has been an exercise in masks, but none of them play out here.  Jubilation has always been able to cut through all of the noise of the world to get through to Noriko, to see her.

The speedster grins as the light play reminds her of the day on Jubilation's bed.  Her brows arch slightly when Jubilation draws her up to her feet.  She's curious enough to want to look at Jubilation for a clue, but she doesn't want to miss anything, so she instead just steps closer so she can keep a piece of her touching Jubes.  She barely realizes that Jubes has pulled away though, the experience burning its own after image into her.

Noriko swallows as her name comes from below, and she looks down.  She tries not to think of what ancient vampire clan Jubilation might have pissed off to get a ring like that, or what favor she's surrendered.  There's plenty of time to think of these things later.  She realizes she's been holding her breath for awhile and Jubilation seems to slow down in front of her before she pops the question. Time feels weird, malleable, as if it were warbling along.

"Yes."  Then Noriko pulls Jubilation up into a kiss, because she cannot be bothered with taking off her gauntlet, putting on the ring, and all the time that would take before she got to do that.