Owner Pose
Noriko Ashida It's an ungodly hour, an hour that only humans sleep and other mutants who aren't Noriko Ashida at least.  It's also an ungodly hour for Nori, that time when she has to wait for Jubes to come back from vampire business.  It's one of many stretches of time she has to fill to stave off madness, and the anticipation of Jubilation's return only makes it worse.

Currently, this is the only acceptable explanation for whatever it is Noriko is doing, that is, fully in napping gear (bare feet, a tank, and some excuse for a shorts), she's holding a bowl of Reese's Puffs cereal in one gauntlet with the aid of a rubbery pot gripper, crouches, then suddenly the spoon uses the edge of the bowl as a fulcrum and a 'bite' of cereal is catapulted into the air.  Somehow, in Noriko's all out dash, the spoon ends up back in the bowl and the food has disappeared...into her mouth.  She just keeps doing it.
Jubilation Lee     At some point between volleys of cereal, the door to the apartment opens and The Duchess Herself steps inside. Her return wasn't expected for a while -- at least ten thousand or so more spoonfuls of cereal worth of time -- but there she is...still in her courtly attire. Being just newly ascended, now is not the time for her to be shaking things up. Yet. She's in an elegant, victorian-style dress, dark ruffled material flowing down her shape. The material is far nicer than anything a student should be wearing -- lacy, brocade material that seems to shimmer. She wasn't wearing that when she left. "I'm home!" she calls out, not yet processing the zip-eat-zip-eat flurry of motion going on.

    Jubilation stops close to the door and looks down at the black waist cincher that goes across her midsection. With a careful thwip of her finger, Jubilation releases the three metal clasps on the front. The entire dress seems to shrug as the tension is released. Jubes begins to slink it up over her head, revealing the hidden dinosaur pajama pants that covered her legs. "I told them I was sick so I had to go home," Jubilee explains, squirming the dress upwards. "Of course, they didn't believe me... Cuz, you know, no sickness, but, like..../then/ I realized... I'm the fucking duchess..."

    "I can do what I want," Jubilee declares, tossing the too-expensive-to-be-tossed dress across the living room and shifts her weight so she can properly pose with one hand on her hip. "What are you doing?" she asks, grinning a little. Jubilee's hair is still done up, makeup flawless, but now she's just in frumpy pajamas.
Noriko Ashida Crunch crunch.  Noriko comes out of her Pacman style eating velocity to look sidelong to at Jubilation.  The plan was to get dressed, at least, before Jubes got home.  Her lips curl upward in a momentary tableau before she blurs up to Jubes in three spurts punctuated by, "Yes," and "yes," and "Yes!" as if Jubilation coming home was like she won the coolest jackpot in the vending machine.  Somehow, she doesn't spill any cereal, and plants a few machine-gun tempo, feather light kisses on Jubes in greeting, excited pecks from the speedster.

"Ha,"  Sick.  Noriko says right before nodding along as Jubes explains how they didn't buy it.

"You are the fucking duchess," Noriko weaves her reply in before Jubilation's declaration as if on queue.  The dress, however, is briefly given a gentle landing at the last possible moment before Noriko reappears, leaning back against the back of the couch, her ankle crossed over the other.  "Eating cereal.  Oh damnit!"  Noriko presses her lips together briefly.  "We need to talk about last names.  I should have dressed up all fancy and come in to discuss it with the duchess all officially," naturally to give Jubes a break from the less pleasant business and to allow her to not have to do it after a full night.

"Eh.  I'll surprise you some other time."  Noriko grins, not realizing she has already somewhat spoiled it.
Jubilation Lee     The suggestion that Noriko might come to court gets a monosyllabic 'ha!' from Jubilee. Her eyebrows rise and fall in amusement. "Yeah, right, the Memento Mori would have a /field night/ with that..." From the sound of it, this 'Memento Mori' is a source of aggravation for Jubilee. She reaches up and pulls a pin from her hair, turning the elaborate up-do into a messy down-do, before plopping unceremoniously down next to Noriko. She makes a point to do it in the least duchess-ey way possible, arms and legs akimbo.

    Last names.

    Jubilee perks up, her posture suddenly improved. Reeeel it back, Jubes. Reel it back. "Oh, we do?" she manages, doing a terrible job at sounding uninterested.
Noriko Ashida "Who is, what is-"  Noriko arches a brow but slows in her in-between-words-eating to watch as Jubilee's hair cascades down like a tumbling waterfall.  Nori gets Pantene Pro-V commercials /every/ /day/.

It hasn't gotten old.

As soon as Jubes descends to the couch, Noriko shifts to cuddle up back against Jubes while she idly makes her sparse remaining puffs appear to do a synchronized dance via the tip of her spoon.  It almost looks as if they are moving on their own...well, under the influence of the spoon!

Jubilation's perking disrupts the performance when it shifts Noriko, forcing an intermission.  "Oh we definitely do.  Do you have any opinions?  Requirements or customs we have to observe?"  Of course she means vampiric ones.
Jubilation Lee     Jubilation stares at the Puffs On Display, tilting her head a little, frowning just a touch. She suddenly reaches out to try and grab one -- MISS -- and then... again! Miss. Again. Nothing. It's a brief interruption of Jubilee's normal functions. A brief takeover of the hunter's instinct. "Oh, they're just some lame tabloid," Jubilation explains, rolling her eyes. A vampire tabloid would have a lot of interest to learn that their new duchess is engaged to a mortal.

    "I don't know," she answers, shrugging one shoulder. "I mean, we're kind of on uncharted ground with this one, I think.." Jubes opens her mouth, as though she's about to make a fuss about something, but then ... she leans back against Noriko and bends her knees so she can hug her own legs.

    "I mean, I /guess/ people can call me Jubishida..."
Noriko Ashida "Well, I've done research.  Here when the bride takes the husband's name she can be referred to by her first name, then maiden name, then last name.  So like, I'd be, Noriko Ashida Lee.  You would be Jubilation Lee Ashida.  So...Jubilee Ashida," Noriko explains.  "But it's like a middle name.  On documents, I would just write Noriko Lee or you would just write Jubilation Ashida...I mean unless you're really dying to be called Jubishida," she says with a little snicker.
Jubilation Lee     Energized by the speedster's interest in discussing their wedding -- a planning nightmare Jubilee was so sure she'd be taking on herself -- Jubes is now all eyes and all ears. Still two and two. Jubishida was a joke. Absolutely a joke. Gross. "Or worse!" Jubilation calls out. "People could call me Jubiko!" She grins a little and shakes her head. There's a slight shift of the vampiress' weight, as one leg slips across the speedster's lap. Jubilation leans back against the arm of the couch and crosses her other foot over her ankle, using Noriko's thighs as an ottoman.

    "I mean, Nori... Jubilee is kind of, like, my thing, you know? Jubilation Lee. Jubilee..." Her brows hike upwards, lifting out of the way so her baby-browns can watch the speedster closely for any reaction to where she's going with this. Just a gentle prodding. A toe in the water. She clearly wishes to remain Jubilation Lee.
Noriko Ashida "Jubiko."  Noriko smirks.  "If you ever meet my brother, don't give him any ammo."  The speedster shifts back, relaxing into a slouch as Jubes claims her NoriOttoman.

Noriko rests one gauntlet on Jubes' legs and the other resting just beyond her heel.  And she thinks, reflecting on what all came out of her mouth, the importance of names.  Her brother.  Her family.  Her father.  No, not her father any longer.  She couldn't be if she wasn't his daughter.

"I will take your name," Noriko says suddenly, decisively.  "I stopped being an Ashida years ago, and it would be my honor to be a Lee."  Did Jubilation's wishes even come into account?  Did Nori even hear her?  Her talking was on quite a roll, her thoughts obviously speeding up with her words.  She looks back to Jubilation, dark eyes warm like electric coal.
Jubilation Lee     Jubiko. "It's better than J-Lube, at least..." Jubes mutters, rolling her eyes gently. Quentin Quire called her that once. She still owes his face a fist. Noriko's point about her brother either goes in one ear and out the other or it went in one ear and wound up in the wrong spot. It's this mental routing mistake that fuels her reaction to this.

    "I'm going to have a brother!" Jubilation declares, her cheeks wrinkling to make way for her fangy smile.

    Unknown to both Jubilation and Noriko, these six words have sealed the fate of an unknown boy on the other side of the world. It would take some time for the waves of this moment to crash against the beach, but keeping the brother of vampire royalty hostage will undoubtedly draw the attention of some very powerful forces...

    And then Noriko's announcement. Her dark eyes are met with Jubilation's. Any biology textbook would say that at this point in her timeline, they're rotten pulps dangling from bitter stalks, but anyone in this room right now could plainly see how full of life they are. Meeting the speedster's gaze, Jubilee sits up, bringing both legs off of her NoriOttoman. One leg is brought over Noriko's lap, knees bent, and Jubilee now has Noriko trapped on the couch under her weight. She reaches up and drags the edges of her fingernails along the skin of Nori's cheek and smiles gently.

    "You can't take what I'm giving you," she nearly whispers. Good.
Noriko Ashida Noriko's lips purse reflexively at the muttered 'J-Lube.'  Eww.  But that expression is quickly disrupted by Jubilation's revelation.  "Yeah, don't get your hopes up," Noriko teases, perhaps implying that having a little brother is more like having a monkey's paw.

The speedster's lower lip is bit when Jubes traps her.  But it's just a flash.  Her head dips, eyes never breaking contact, almost like some kind of bow disrupted only by the smirk that breaks out across her lips.  "True."  Her voice is softer.  A thread of electricity leaps out to one of Jubilation's fingers as it drags.  Nori reaches to wind her arms around the vampire's waist as she sits up to try and get a kiss.  The physical forces between them have changed since Jubilation's transformation.
Jubilation Lee     Jubilee's fingers pull back suddenly in response to the little arc of electricity that tries to tug at her muscles. It won't kill her. It won't hurt her in the true sense, but pain exists to the vampire condition. It's a strange manifestation of the fight-or-flight response that guides these encoded responses. The corners of her mouth curl upwards, revealing those razor sharp fangs for a near-instant. Jubilation's eyes close as she shoves her nose against Noriko's jawline. A gentle laugh is muffled by the speedster's skin.

    She pulls back just a little as she feels those arms circling her waist. Jubilation, ready for Noriko's kiss, returns it with a brief peck of her own. A dismissive little thing. "Nori," she teases. "Wait for the wedding."

    Heh. /That/ train has already left the station. Many times.
Noriko Ashida Noriko knows it won't hurt Jubilation, but that's normally the reaction she'd also have a harmless reaction to, the kind like saying ouch but nothing really hurt.  To see Jubilation pull back causes a micro-expression so fast no human could detect it happening.  It all plays out like a domino of pseudo reactions.  The whole dance causes another grin to sprout.

But then...peck?  Peck?!  Noriko's eyebrows drop slightly in confusion before the tease comes out.  "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS."  She narrows her gaze playfully on the vampire.
Jubilation Lee     Jubilation shifts again. She slowly inches her leg up and away so she can spin around and stand up. She reaches into her hair and rakes one of her hands from the crown of her forehead, all the way through to the dark ends that fall across her back. She turns to look over her shoulder, down at Noriko. Her cheeks are pale, lips muted, body still as she stares at the speedster. Her lips curl inwards, allowing just a hint of her tongue and the tips of her fangs before her smile returns to normal. Jubilee's cheeks fill with color, the blush of life, and her lips saturate with a ruby red tone that could only come from a tube..

    Jubilee takes a few slow, deliberate steps away from Noriko, trying to drag this into a speedster's eternity. "I've never been more serious," she answers quietly before slipping through the doorway to their shared bedroom. The door closes behind her, clicking gently as the hardware engages and separates the two from each other. But then, another click. The door whines as it slowly opens again, just a couple of inches of space that invite Noriko to follow. And the Academy Award goes to Jubilation Lee.