Post by Storm on Nov 14, 2006 18:53:26 GMT -5
Most people, when they wanted to talk with Ororo Munroe, went in search of her.
Jubilee was not most people.
She hadn't started out splayed on the floor across Ororo's office doorway. She'd come and knocked like any normal human being. When she'd gotten no answer, she'd knocked again. And again. She'd put her lips about an inch from the wood and called for the headmistress. She'd even shaken the doorknob.
It was pretty clear that Storm wasn't in. So Jubilee, having geared herself up to tell Ororo what she'd been hiding since her arrival and not particularly wanting to have to do it again later, sat down beside Storm's door, her legs drawn up to her chest. That lasted about a minute. She shifted so that her legs were straight out. Another minute. Indian-style. Thirty seconds, tops. Jubilee was not a very patient girl.
So she made herself at home, lying along the wall, blocking the doorway. One leg was bent, black stretch work-out capris poking out of the hugely oversized green and pink windbreaker. She smacked her gum loudly to block out the silence of the empty hall and waited for Ororo to arrive.
'If she ain't here in five minutes, I'm outtie.'
Four and a half minutes later, Storm staggered down the hall. She was carrying two boxes of books and files, collected from various teachers during their monthly staff meetings. My god, where IS Peter when you need him.
She turned the corner to her office and nearly tripped over a brightly-colored blob in front of her door. The boxes started to tip and she gave a little cry as the top one fell.
"Jubi-LEE!"
Jubilee had heard someone coming, but was too busy picturing Zack Morris to open her eyes or sit up. If it was 'Ro, she'd say something.
And she did. Right at Jubilee's feet. "Jubi-LEE!" Jubilee's eyes flew open in mid-bubble, the gum bursting and coating her face in sticky pink goo. She scrambled to sit up and threw her hands out as she saw a box tumbling straight for her. She managed to catch the box, and then scrambled to stand and move back and keep any other boxes from falling - all at once. She'd never been very good at multi-tasking, and now was no difference. She ended up nearly falling over backwards, but she managed to keep her balance.
Once stable, she looked to Ororo with a wincing expression, to see how much damage had been done.
Ororo would have scrabbled to hold onto the boxes if she had had any free hands, but her hands were busy trying to hold onto the boxes.
Thank goodness Jubilee had acted quickly - those gymnast reflexes, or something - and caught the top box, so Ororo was left with only the bottom one to contend with. Still, the near-miss threw her momentum off and she slammed into the wall next to her office door. She shut her eyes as her finger got crunched behind the heavy box of files.
There was a pause. Eyes still closed, Ororo opened her mouth. "Hello, Jubilation."
Jubilee tried to smile, laughing weakly in an attempt to smooth out the situation. "Hey, 'Ro..." she said.
"Here, uh...lemme get that for yah..." Jubilee held the box against her hip with one hand and turned the doorknob with the other, pushing the door open. She even gestured for Ororo to go in first, though the movement made the box start to slip and she cut it off early to grab the box and keep it from crashing to the floor.
"You tryin' to give me a heart attack?" she asked as she hoisted the box up. And she probably missed the backwards-ness of the statement entirely.
Storm went haughtily through the door that Jubilee held open for her, but the facade didn't last long, particularly after Jubes' next words.
"You tryin' to give me a heart attack?"
The irony of this was not lost on Ororo. She managed to set the box on her desk, and then she turned to the young woman as her face broke into a smile and she started to laugh.
"To give YOU - " She didn't finish the sentence; instead she reached out a hand and ruffled the girl's bangs, knowing there was nothing she could do about it, because she was holding the other box.
'Ro soon relieved her of that, though, looking with amused concern at the bubble gum gracing Jubilee's cheeks. "What on earth do you want, Jubes?"
As soon as the box was out of her hands, Jubilee started to work at peeling all of the gum off of her face, starting with her nose. Without a care in the world for germs, she shovelled in back into her mouth as she got it off of her lips and immediately resumed smacking it loudly.
Aw. Did she hafta go and cut to the chase so soon? This was gonna kill the happy. "Right. Well, uh...You may wanna pop a squat," Jubilee said, as though what she was about to say was going to affect Ororo a lot more than it was Jubilee.
Ororo looked totally and completely baffled at this, an expression that was unusual on her generally serene face. She was familiar with Jubilee’s speech patterns, but not always familiar with her actual vocabulary. This sounded vaguely obscene. She chose not to take it that way.
As Jubilee peeled gum off her face – oh, so attractive – ‘Ro stacked the boxes next to her desk and walked over to the couch. She sat down and sat back, tilting her chin and patting the cushion next to her.
“Are you all right, Jubes? How have things been since you came back? I know the feeling here is… different now, than it used to be,” she said. Jubes had been friends with Bobby’s group, she knew. But life in general had also been more stressful at the mansion since Xavier’s death and the release of the Cure; battle-readiness had been kicked into high gear, and she knew that was not Jubilee’s scene.
"Actually...It's still crazy as usual, y'know?" Jubilee said, glad Ororo was making conversation. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She moved over to sit and plopped down beside 'Ro, one leg tucked under her. "But it's not as annoying as it used to be. Guess I went out in the real world and it wasn't all they chalked it up to be."
Oh, just get it over with. Spit it. Ororo, I'm cured. Storm, there is a matter of importance...No. Hey, 'Ro, you know how I used to PAF your plants when I got bored in class? Well, don't worry about it. Your hydrangeas are safe.
"'Ro, you know my aunt? Hope?" Wishing she hadn't chosen to beat around the bush, Jubilee spoke. Her tone betrayed a note of bitterness that anyone would catch, especially someone who knew Jubilee as well as Ororo Munroe did.
Storm smiled a little and lifted her eyes and eyebrows for a moment in agreement. The real world. She wasn’t really sure what it meant anymore. Fields of golden hay? Bustling cities? Mutant-bashing right-wing ‘Christian’ groups? For what it was worth, she was glad Jubilee had come back. Ororo liked to keep an eye on the things she held dearest.
That said, the safety of the mansion didn’t seem to be enough to shelter Jubilee from her own mind. There was clearly an inner battle going on inside her more-or-less adopted daughter; something about the contrast between Xavier’s, and everywhere else…
A whole host of possibilities flew through Storm’s mind, but none of them seemed plausible. She leant forward a little, beginning to worry.
Jubes’ Aunt Hope had been a strange character, appearing to lift the girl out of school just when things were craziest. She was kind and polite, but appearances, god and Storm knew, could be decieving. “Yes…” said Storm suspiciously, as warning bells went off all over her brain, and her voice got a little more urgent. “What did she do to you – did she harm you in any way?”
Her voice was not as polite as her words might indicate. She managed to keep any white from slipping into her eyes, but her slim hands gripped the couch rather tighter than necessary. If that woman had abused Jubilee, no jury would save her from Storm.
Jubilee managed a laugh at Ororo's mother-hen reaction, though it slipped away as she looked down at the Converse sticking out from under her leg, just over the edge of the couch. She wouldn't even bother telling 'Ro not to have a cow; wasn't gonna happen.
And somehow, coming from her, it was comforting. That someone worried about her.
Jubes put a hand on 'Ro's hand, mainly to keep her from jumping up and running out the door to go kill Jubilee's aunt when she heard what Jubes said next. She looked Ororo straight in the face, and spoke; without slang, without dry humor. Just plain words.
"She...gave me the 'Cure'."
".... She WHAT?!"
Ororo grabbed Jubilee's wrist in a death grip, and her voice hardened into ice. A moment passed, in which Ororo desperately hoped that Jubes was just joking around. But search as she might, there was no humor in the girl's words or face.
"No - " Even as she said this, like a tornado touching the ground, the truth touched down in Storm's mind and threw her into a tailspin. It took half a second for her eyes to white out completely. So much for controlling her emotions.
The sky outside grew very dark, very quickly.
"Whoa! 'Ro," Jubilee said as she felt the killer grip around her wrist and saw Storm's eyes go white. She leaned forward, her free hand shaking Storm's shoulder as she glanced out the window behind them, the fading light catching her attention. "Chill! Chill," she repeated, her face inches from Ororo's as she tried to snap her out of it. The last thing they needed was a tornado to go ripping through the backyard.
But somewhere in the middle of this, in the few moments when Storm was processing the shocking news, Jubilee's resolve to play tough crumbled. Not enough to cry, though tears welled in her eyes. She stopped shaking Storm's shoulder and wrapped her arm around it, wrenching her other hand free from Storm's grasp and wrapping it around her as well. She hugged Storm for the comfort of the action, and let her head fall so that her face was nestled in Ororo's shoulder. She didn't say anything, only tried to calm herself down.
Storm felt like she had been hit by the Juggernaut. A rush of protestations - or cries of rage - flooded her mind: how dare she, how DARE ANYONE, WHAT RIGHT - and then Jubilee put her arms around her.
The feeling of the touch, the rare display of vulnerability, brought her down to earth. Jubes’ head met her shoulder, and Storm closed her clouded eyes.
She wrapped her girl up in her arms, let her white hair fall in a curtain.
“Jubilee,” she said.
She knew humanity was capable of doing such things. But a guardian, someone who was supposed to be trustworthy and caring... how could anyone who knew Jubilee think that would really be best for her? How could any human, for that matter… Ororo’s inner rebellion against the Cure resurfaced.
It started to drizzle calmly outside.
Muffled, almost understandable words came from Jubilee, warm breath on Ororo's shoulder. Jubilee lifted her head slightly and repeated herself so Ororo could understand. "Why did I even leave? I had it made here...You..." She spoke as though it were late at night and she was very tired. Her voice was very heavy.
She let her head fall onto Ororo's shoulder again, this time sideways, and stared out the window. "Is it permanent?" she mumbled in question as the threatening tears faded away.
Ororo reached over with her opposite hand and stroked the hair over Jubilee’s forehead, silently for a moment.
“It may be,” she said finally, as gently as she could with the storm still raging inside her. “It may not be. It may differ from person to person. No studies have been conclusive.”
“Jubes… You left because you thought it was the best thing to do. This is NOT your fault.” Ororo tried to keep the ice from creeping back into her voice, but it was difficult. She kept her eyes closed and took deep breaths, but she felt like someone had stabbed her. You did not mess with her kids. Not like this. This was about identity, about altering a person's sense of self. Ororo did not think the Cure should exist - should even be desired to exist - but if it must be, then its administration should only EVER be a matter of personal choice.
And Jubilee would never choose it. Not tired, not drunk, not drugged. Only tricked, only forced.
Dangit. It wasn't quite the answer Jubilee'd wanted; of course she'd wanted to be told that no, it was only temporary, and that she'd be back to her old self in no time. "I guess we'll see in a year, huh?" she said, in no way coming off optimistic.
She didn't move from Ororo's embrace, and wouldn't likely want to for at least a few minutes. Ororo's loving nature was reminding Jubilee that people could be trusted. Some people, anyway. Her aunt was definently not one of those people. But Ororo Munroe was. "'Ro? The cure...really sucks, donnit?"
Of course it wasn't something Ororo could answer if Jubilee was speaking in a literal sense. But she wasn't. Jubilee had never understood why people would want the cure, and now that she was on the other side, she had sort of...hard feelings towards anyone who wanted it. Why would you give up such an awesome gift?
Ororo was experiencing a strange sensation of half of her innards solidifying into stone, and the other half melting with sorrow and love for the girl next to her. This is what motherhood is like, she guessed. She wanted desperately, furiously, to know how this aunt had forced the Cure on Jubilee. But she also knew that it didn’t matter anymore, and it would only make Jubilee incensed to have to explain.
Ororo kept her arms around Jubilee and sat quietly for a little while, as the rain fell outside.
She remembered what she had told Rogue long before: You don’t need a cure. There is nothing wrong with you, nothing wrong with any of us… Ororo knew many people disagreed with her, but she had seen enough of its harms. And she could tell Jubilee what she really felt.
She let out a long breath. “It is… evil.”
Jubilee was not most people.
She hadn't started out splayed on the floor across Ororo's office doorway. She'd come and knocked like any normal human being. When she'd gotten no answer, she'd knocked again. And again. She'd put her lips about an inch from the wood and called for the headmistress. She'd even shaken the doorknob.
It was pretty clear that Storm wasn't in. So Jubilee, having geared herself up to tell Ororo what she'd been hiding since her arrival and not particularly wanting to have to do it again later, sat down beside Storm's door, her legs drawn up to her chest. That lasted about a minute. She shifted so that her legs were straight out. Another minute. Indian-style. Thirty seconds, tops. Jubilee was not a very patient girl.
So she made herself at home, lying along the wall, blocking the doorway. One leg was bent, black stretch work-out capris poking out of the hugely oversized green and pink windbreaker. She smacked her gum loudly to block out the silence of the empty hall and waited for Ororo to arrive.
'If she ain't here in five minutes, I'm outtie.'
Four and a half minutes later, Storm staggered down the hall. She was carrying two boxes of books and files, collected from various teachers during their monthly staff meetings. My god, where IS Peter when you need him.
She turned the corner to her office and nearly tripped over a brightly-colored blob in front of her door. The boxes started to tip and she gave a little cry as the top one fell.
"Jubi-LEE!"
Jubilee had heard someone coming, but was too busy picturing Zack Morris to open her eyes or sit up. If it was 'Ro, she'd say something.
And she did. Right at Jubilee's feet. "Jubi-LEE!" Jubilee's eyes flew open in mid-bubble, the gum bursting and coating her face in sticky pink goo. She scrambled to sit up and threw her hands out as she saw a box tumbling straight for her. She managed to catch the box, and then scrambled to stand and move back and keep any other boxes from falling - all at once. She'd never been very good at multi-tasking, and now was no difference. She ended up nearly falling over backwards, but she managed to keep her balance.
Once stable, she looked to Ororo with a wincing expression, to see how much damage had been done.
Ororo would have scrabbled to hold onto the boxes if she had had any free hands, but her hands were busy trying to hold onto the boxes.
Thank goodness Jubilee had acted quickly - those gymnast reflexes, or something - and caught the top box, so Ororo was left with only the bottom one to contend with. Still, the near-miss threw her momentum off and she slammed into the wall next to her office door. She shut her eyes as her finger got crunched behind the heavy box of files.
There was a pause. Eyes still closed, Ororo opened her mouth. "Hello, Jubilation."
Jubilee tried to smile, laughing weakly in an attempt to smooth out the situation. "Hey, 'Ro..." she said.
"Here, uh...lemme get that for yah..." Jubilee held the box against her hip with one hand and turned the doorknob with the other, pushing the door open. She even gestured for Ororo to go in first, though the movement made the box start to slip and she cut it off early to grab the box and keep it from crashing to the floor.
"You tryin' to give me a heart attack?" she asked as she hoisted the box up. And she probably missed the backwards-ness of the statement entirely.
Storm went haughtily through the door that Jubilee held open for her, but the facade didn't last long, particularly after Jubes' next words.
"You tryin' to give me a heart attack?"
The irony of this was not lost on Ororo. She managed to set the box on her desk, and then she turned to the young woman as her face broke into a smile and she started to laugh.
"To give YOU - " She didn't finish the sentence; instead she reached out a hand and ruffled the girl's bangs, knowing there was nothing she could do about it, because she was holding the other box.
'Ro soon relieved her of that, though, looking with amused concern at the bubble gum gracing Jubilee's cheeks. "What on earth do you want, Jubes?"
As soon as the box was out of her hands, Jubilee started to work at peeling all of the gum off of her face, starting with her nose. Without a care in the world for germs, she shovelled in back into her mouth as she got it off of her lips and immediately resumed smacking it loudly.
Aw. Did she hafta go and cut to the chase so soon? This was gonna kill the happy. "Right. Well, uh...You may wanna pop a squat," Jubilee said, as though what she was about to say was going to affect Ororo a lot more than it was Jubilee.
Ororo looked totally and completely baffled at this, an expression that was unusual on her generally serene face. She was familiar with Jubilee’s speech patterns, but not always familiar with her actual vocabulary. This sounded vaguely obscene. She chose not to take it that way.
As Jubilee peeled gum off her face – oh, so attractive – ‘Ro stacked the boxes next to her desk and walked over to the couch. She sat down and sat back, tilting her chin and patting the cushion next to her.
“Are you all right, Jubes? How have things been since you came back? I know the feeling here is… different now, than it used to be,” she said. Jubes had been friends with Bobby’s group, she knew. But life in general had also been more stressful at the mansion since Xavier’s death and the release of the Cure; battle-readiness had been kicked into high gear, and she knew that was not Jubilee’s scene.
"Actually...It's still crazy as usual, y'know?" Jubilee said, glad Ororo was making conversation. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She moved over to sit and plopped down beside 'Ro, one leg tucked under her. "But it's not as annoying as it used to be. Guess I went out in the real world and it wasn't all they chalked it up to be."
Oh, just get it over with. Spit it. Ororo, I'm cured. Storm, there is a matter of importance...No. Hey, 'Ro, you know how I used to PAF your plants when I got bored in class? Well, don't worry about it. Your hydrangeas are safe.
"'Ro, you know my aunt? Hope?" Wishing she hadn't chosen to beat around the bush, Jubilee spoke. Her tone betrayed a note of bitterness that anyone would catch, especially someone who knew Jubilee as well as Ororo Munroe did.
Storm smiled a little and lifted her eyes and eyebrows for a moment in agreement. The real world. She wasn’t really sure what it meant anymore. Fields of golden hay? Bustling cities? Mutant-bashing right-wing ‘Christian’ groups? For what it was worth, she was glad Jubilee had come back. Ororo liked to keep an eye on the things she held dearest.
That said, the safety of the mansion didn’t seem to be enough to shelter Jubilee from her own mind. There was clearly an inner battle going on inside her more-or-less adopted daughter; something about the contrast between Xavier’s, and everywhere else…
A whole host of possibilities flew through Storm’s mind, but none of them seemed plausible. She leant forward a little, beginning to worry.
Jubes’ Aunt Hope had been a strange character, appearing to lift the girl out of school just when things were craziest. She was kind and polite, but appearances, god and Storm knew, could be decieving. “Yes…” said Storm suspiciously, as warning bells went off all over her brain, and her voice got a little more urgent. “What did she do to you – did she harm you in any way?”
Her voice was not as polite as her words might indicate. She managed to keep any white from slipping into her eyes, but her slim hands gripped the couch rather tighter than necessary. If that woman had abused Jubilee, no jury would save her from Storm.
Jubilee managed a laugh at Ororo's mother-hen reaction, though it slipped away as she looked down at the Converse sticking out from under her leg, just over the edge of the couch. She wouldn't even bother telling 'Ro not to have a cow; wasn't gonna happen.
And somehow, coming from her, it was comforting. That someone worried about her.
Jubes put a hand on 'Ro's hand, mainly to keep her from jumping up and running out the door to go kill Jubilee's aunt when she heard what Jubes said next. She looked Ororo straight in the face, and spoke; without slang, without dry humor. Just plain words.
"She...gave me the 'Cure'."
".... She WHAT?!"
Ororo grabbed Jubilee's wrist in a death grip, and her voice hardened into ice. A moment passed, in which Ororo desperately hoped that Jubes was just joking around. But search as she might, there was no humor in the girl's words or face.
"No - " Even as she said this, like a tornado touching the ground, the truth touched down in Storm's mind and threw her into a tailspin. It took half a second for her eyes to white out completely. So much for controlling her emotions.
The sky outside grew very dark, very quickly.
"Whoa! 'Ro," Jubilee said as she felt the killer grip around her wrist and saw Storm's eyes go white. She leaned forward, her free hand shaking Storm's shoulder as she glanced out the window behind them, the fading light catching her attention. "Chill! Chill," she repeated, her face inches from Ororo's as she tried to snap her out of it. The last thing they needed was a tornado to go ripping through the backyard.
But somewhere in the middle of this, in the few moments when Storm was processing the shocking news, Jubilee's resolve to play tough crumbled. Not enough to cry, though tears welled in her eyes. She stopped shaking Storm's shoulder and wrapped her arm around it, wrenching her other hand free from Storm's grasp and wrapping it around her as well. She hugged Storm for the comfort of the action, and let her head fall so that her face was nestled in Ororo's shoulder. She didn't say anything, only tried to calm herself down.
Storm felt like she had been hit by the Juggernaut. A rush of protestations - or cries of rage - flooded her mind: how dare she, how DARE ANYONE, WHAT RIGHT - and then Jubilee put her arms around her.
The feeling of the touch, the rare display of vulnerability, brought her down to earth. Jubes’ head met her shoulder, and Storm closed her clouded eyes.
She wrapped her girl up in her arms, let her white hair fall in a curtain.
“Jubilee,” she said.
She knew humanity was capable of doing such things. But a guardian, someone who was supposed to be trustworthy and caring... how could anyone who knew Jubilee think that would really be best for her? How could any human, for that matter… Ororo’s inner rebellion against the Cure resurfaced.
It started to drizzle calmly outside.
Muffled, almost understandable words came from Jubilee, warm breath on Ororo's shoulder. Jubilee lifted her head slightly and repeated herself so Ororo could understand. "Why did I even leave? I had it made here...You..." She spoke as though it were late at night and she was very tired. Her voice was very heavy.
She let her head fall onto Ororo's shoulder again, this time sideways, and stared out the window. "Is it permanent?" she mumbled in question as the threatening tears faded away.
Ororo reached over with her opposite hand and stroked the hair over Jubilee’s forehead, silently for a moment.
“It may be,” she said finally, as gently as she could with the storm still raging inside her. “It may not be. It may differ from person to person. No studies have been conclusive.”
“Jubes… You left because you thought it was the best thing to do. This is NOT your fault.” Ororo tried to keep the ice from creeping back into her voice, but it was difficult. She kept her eyes closed and took deep breaths, but she felt like someone had stabbed her. You did not mess with her kids. Not like this. This was about identity, about altering a person's sense of self. Ororo did not think the Cure should exist - should even be desired to exist - but if it must be, then its administration should only EVER be a matter of personal choice.
And Jubilee would never choose it. Not tired, not drunk, not drugged. Only tricked, only forced.
Dangit. It wasn't quite the answer Jubilee'd wanted; of course she'd wanted to be told that no, it was only temporary, and that she'd be back to her old self in no time. "I guess we'll see in a year, huh?" she said, in no way coming off optimistic.
She didn't move from Ororo's embrace, and wouldn't likely want to for at least a few minutes. Ororo's loving nature was reminding Jubilee that people could be trusted. Some people, anyway. Her aunt was definently not one of those people. But Ororo Munroe was. "'Ro? The cure...really sucks, donnit?"
Of course it wasn't something Ororo could answer if Jubilee was speaking in a literal sense. But she wasn't. Jubilee had never understood why people would want the cure, and now that she was on the other side, she had sort of...hard feelings towards anyone who wanted it. Why would you give up such an awesome gift?
Ororo was experiencing a strange sensation of half of her innards solidifying into stone, and the other half melting with sorrow and love for the girl next to her. This is what motherhood is like, she guessed. She wanted desperately, furiously, to know how this aunt had forced the Cure on Jubilee. But she also knew that it didn’t matter anymore, and it would only make Jubilee incensed to have to explain.
Ororo kept her arms around Jubilee and sat quietly for a little while, as the rain fell outside.
She remembered what she had told Rogue long before: You don’t need a cure. There is nothing wrong with you, nothing wrong with any of us… Ororo knew many people disagreed with her, but she had seen enough of its harms. And she could tell Jubilee what she really felt.
She let out a long breath. “It is… evil.”
