5622/Stir Crazy

Stir Crazy
Date of Scene:	22 October 2018
Location:	Breakstone Lake, New York
Synopsis:	Bruce finds shelter from his assassins in Jubilee's cabin.
Cast of Characters:	Batman, Jubilee

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Batman has posed:
    Bruce has made no secret that it is difficult for him to simply relax by the lake. He passes it off as being preoccupied with the attempt on his life, but in truth it probably relates to sheer stir-craziness at not being able to don the cape and cowl and bring criminals to justice. On the outside, however, he just seems agitated. At present, he is just returning from a run around the perimeter of Breakstone Lake - having no changes of clothes, he has just gone with barefoot and shorts. As he returns, he fetches his clothes from where he left them folded up in the grass.

Jubilee has posed:
"Dude, I am SO proud of you for that run," Jubilee says in awe. "You're either dedicated or crazy! Anyway, I took the liberty of raiding the stash at the Xavier's athletic department. I brought you some stuff. Umm...Boxer briefs, socks, and sneakers. New. Tee shirts, sweatshirts, and sweats, slightly used but clean. I got yer shoe size off yer shoes, so I am NOT implying anything else. Except like WOW." Jubilee winks and nudges a probably sweaty Bruce playfully.

Batman has posed:
    "You know, I heard that correlation is a pseudo-science," Bruce answers, before half-smiling and adding, "But in this case, I'm going to take it as the Gospel Truth."
    He smiles gratefully as he accepts the clothes, gathering them up in his arms and using his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Sorry I just took off without giving you a warning. My trainer put me on a pretty extreme regimen and it helps me clear my head. I didn't have anything to leave a note with so I just ... you know ... " He jerks a thumb over his shoulder.

Jubilee has posed:
"Right, it's cool. You don't have to answer to anybody here. Least of all me, I'm just the 'possibly hired at some point' help. And at the moment, your fairy god...fairy," she chirps, wiggling her fingers as pretty little sparks or pink, blue, and gold whiz briefly around her wiggling digits. "Giver of tasteless clothing and fresh pizza."

Batman has posed:
    "Fresh pizza?" Bruce asks, perking up a bit at the idea of food after his workout. He gathers up the clothes in his arms and moves towards the cabin, looking a little abashed as he says: "Do you mind if I get changed?"

Jubilee has posed:
"Not at all! C'mon inside, I'll show ya around!" Jubilee, who has already changed into a pair of jeans, baby blue chemise, and her converses, leads the way inside. "Sooo...living room, kitchen, sunroom, bedroom. Bet that's the fastest tour you've ever been on," she says, as she points out each room from the front door, with a grin. "Bathroom's thataway, and you're welcome to shower, but ya might want to do it later, if you want the pizza fresh," she adds, nodding to the stack of 3 boxes on the dining table.

Batman has posed:
    "Good point," Bruce answers, remaining in just his shorts for the time being as he sits down at the table. He'd rather have fresh pizza than worry about changing. Besides, at this point it's nothing she hasn't seen before since he, y'know, ran in circles around the Lake in it. So he puts the clothes aside and folds his hands in front of him in the table, "I have to thank you again for letting me stay here. This isn't how I imagined the interview going, you know."

Jubilee has posed:
"Judging by the news, I figured this was standard operating order for you," Jubilee quips, washing her hands and getting out two mismatched plates. They were each fine pieces of China in their heyday. One has a circle of pale blue roses and silver ribbon around the outside edge, and the other has gold ribbon, and pink prairie flowers. She sets the one with blue roses in front of him, the other at her place, then disappears almost down to her waist in the fridge. "I've got...soda, OJ, purple stufffff, Sunny D. And beer. Or water if ya rather."

Batman has posed:
    "Water, please," Bruce answers, avoiding the alcoholic drink when it's offered, "Don't want to get dehydrated after a run." As she leans into the fridge, Bruce leans sideways slightly to watch - a sight she may catch in some reflective surface if eagle-eyed enough. It's only a brief glance, however, and then he's back to enjoying the plates, "Yeah, not quite." He's yet to comment on the news saying he's home in Gotham and not out here.

Jubilee has posed:
"Probably a wise choice," offers Jubilee. "I dunno what the purple stuff used to be, but I think it just became self-aware." She pours cold water from the fridge into a glass, and pours what appears to be simply grape koolaid into her own glass from a plastic pitcher. "I'll be enjoying a little Steve this evening."

But when she sits down at the table, she also sets a bottle of yellow gatorade next to his glass. "Because you can't be too careful with electrolytes," she adds. Then she seats herself and disburses two napkins. "There's pepperoni, cheese, and supreme," she says, gesturing to the three boxes. "Help yourself to as much as you want. An average business guy who clearly works out 23 hours a day needs to eat."

Batman has posed:
    "One of each, if I can," Bruce says unsurprisingly, needing to fill up on those calories. He opens up each of the boxes in turn and takes out a slice, placing them in a neat little pizza-fan on his plate. He picks up a slice of cheese and takes a bite, making a mildly ecstatic face as he does so, "I haven't eaten since before we left Gotham." Under the table, his foot brushes against her shoe and he clears his throat, "Pardon me."

Jubilee has posed:
"Oh, no worries," Jubilee replies with a grin. "With them big ol' feet, under this little table, ya almost can't help it." She gives a sideways glance under the table, then looks back up at him with a wink, taking a slice of cheese pizza for herself, and one of pepperoni.

"It's that age old question," she ponders. "How did we come to this? I have a practically kidnapped, half-naked billionaire at my table, and people out there who want to do bad things to you. How did this happen?" She shrugs. "If I had a nickel for every time....I could nearly buy a Laffy Taffy. One of the little bite-sized ones," she clarifies.

Batman has posed:
    "Well, all the same, I'm happy to be here. If you hadn't been with me up there I'd be ... what? So many charred bones and goop being scraped off the walls of my office? And now I get to use your very own safehouse while I wait for the police to figure it all out." He breathes a sigh, and despite apologising hasn't moved his foot away. He is almost halfway through his first piece of pizza, before he says: "The only problem is I have to go home eventually. As much as becoming a permanent resident of Breakstone Lake has it's perks."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee gives a half-smile, and blushes a little, tucking a stray tendril back into her hair, and looking around. "Well I dunno that I have anything much to offer ya here, Mr. Wayne. Not that you don't have in skads at your place. Except questionable fashion, of course."

In rare solemn moment, however, she sets down her slice of pizza and looks up, finally daring to level her own gaze on his. "Listen, I dunno what those guys had up their butts, but I'd never stand idly by and let them roll over anybody. Your status, your...wealth. All that stuff's irrelevant in this. You're a valuable person for every reason in the world besides that stuff. The only reason I'm not out there looking for the creeps myself is that you're here."

Batman has posed:
    In a sudden, graceful motion Bruce puts his hand on hers and shakes his head. It's just a momentary touch, and he withdraws his hand after a moment. A brief show of solidarity between the pair of them: "And I appreciate that. I really do. While I don't doubt you could wipe the floor with them based on what I've seen you do, I think I'd rather you stay here if it's all the same to you. While assassination attempts aren't an every day event for me, I know there are people in Gotham who won't rest until they figure this out."

Jubilee has posed:
"Well, whatever it is, they better get to the bottom if it fast, or I will," she says with a lighthearted air. Her converse-clad feet are moved atop his bare foot, resting lightly and tappity-ing idly. "While you're here, tho, anything that's mine is yours. Don't ask, unless you just don't know where it is, right?" She grins now, and shakes her hair back off her shoulders.

"Besides, I eat that kinda guys for breakfast." With a shrug, she adds, "Y'know, them...or cold pizza."

Batman has posed:
    "Cold pizza probably tastes better," Bruce finishes his second slice in almost record time. He really puts it away - rather surprising considering this is about the third time in his adult life he's eaten it. Something about maintaining an air of Bat-mystery around the younger members of his clan. He moves onto his third slice, lightly jiggling her feet on top of his now as they chat idly, "How did you first learn you could - " He makes the fireworks hand gesture when he can't find a satisfactory word, "You know?"

Jubilee has posed:
"Oh, I um..." She visibly flushes as she composes her answer. "Well I mean, I lost my parents when I was still a kid. I was thirteen, and somebody murdered them. They tried to put me in a home for kids like me, but /those/ kids weren't like me. I was driven. I was gonna go to the Olympics. Or I was supposed to...I lived and breathed gymnastics, y'know? Well, I didn't stay put, I ended up living on the street, whatever I could find to make do. But once when some rent-a-cops tried to catch me, it just sort of happened. They got too close, and I was cornered. I put my hands up, but they kept coming, and then...well, it was just a big flash, really. They were pretty much blinded, and I ran. It took me a while to figure out what had happened, myself. And even longer to do it again. Back then, it wasn't a good thing to be what I am. Hell, sometimes it's not, even now..."

Batman has posed:
    Bruce sighs a little, but the way he listens to the story he is hanging on every word. He absorbs it, looking at her intently as though she were the only other person in the world right now. When she finishes, he once again gives her a faint touch on the hand: "I lost my parents, too. I mean, you probably already know that part. I didn't have to contend with living on the street, of course, but I know how that sort of thing can change you. Drive you to things, for good or bad."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee affords him a grateful smile and gives his hand a little squeeze. "I know...I'm sure anyone who's anybody does. I'm kind of embarrassed by what what I did, but I'm not ashamed. Or sorry. I was one of the lucky ones though...someone from Xavier's nabbed me off the street, and put me in a good place. For me." She lets her gaze linger on his features for a moment. "Anyway, if they hadn't I wouldn't be /here/ right now and you'd just be sittin' at an empty table, hungry, in your shorts." Because logic.

Batman has posed:
    Bruce laughs a little bit at that, taken out of his own reverie about the loss of parents. Something he doesn't quite want to revisit at the moment, being as he seems to revisit it in his mind every night. He returns the squeeze of her hand, finally digging into and finishing the last slice of pizza: "Okay, I think I need to have that shower before I end up eating all of your pizza and leave you munching on the cardboard box."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee eyes the box suspiciously, then shrugs. "I've probably eaten worse." Then with a grin, she hops up and shows him to the bathroom, where a large garden tub has a shower at one end. There's an ethnic shower curtain adorned with an Elephant in an east-Indian motif on a long, curved rod, along the outside. "Towels..." She pulls one out, then frowns. The pulls out another, this one larger and dark green. "This one's better." She lays it out along with a deep rust-coloured washcloth, and looks around the bathroom. "I think there's everything you should need. Welcome to the soap and body wash. You'll smell like me, but at least you'll feel clean." She grins and steps back, sliding past him in the narrow doorway. "If you need anything else, let me know, yeah?"

Batman has posed:
    "I will," Bruce gives her another grateful smile and, once Jubilee is out of the bathroom, he closes the door behind her. Before long, there is the sound of running water. Unfortunately, he's not a shower singer so there's no story about how Bruce Wayne likes to sing early 90s pop in the shower. In truth, when he's alone he seems to shrug off the whole Bruce Wayne persona he puts on around others. His face becomes a blank mask, and his thoughts turn to exactly who it is responsible for the attack on him. But, for all his mental fortitude, he finds himself distracted by the circumstances.

Jubilee has posed:
As Bruce is showering, Jubilee moves out into the darkened evening. In the back yard, she piles firewood into the pit, stuffs bits of paper beneath the kindling, and lights it. From there, she can see the moon reflecting off the lake, and the vague shadowy outline of a man in the shower through frosted windows that hide all but his general form, silhouetted against the white light from inside. She breathes life into the fire, and sits on the loveseat for a moment, before pulling up a couple more chairs from the deck. Nightfall has the air crisp, and the scant nightsong of a whippoorwill echoes through the trees, whose turning autumn leaves are painted silver by moonlight.

Batman has posed:
    Before long, Bruce has finished the shower. He takes a few moments to get dressed in the Xavier School athletic department sweats and t-shirt that Jubilee brought him before he steps out into the evening. His hair is no longer deeply combed, instead a spiky mess from where he has dried it. He pauses in the doorway to light the fire, "You have a good way of making me forget just why I'm out here in the first place, you know."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee turns away from the fire and smiles at the disheveled and newly-showered Bruce. "Well, ya can't sit and dwell on it. Otherwise you might at well be back at home brooding over it all."

She has moved his drinks out to the table, and has hers in hand, sipping it as she tends the growing and warming fire. "And you don't seem like the brooding type."

Batman has posed:
    "Life's too short," Bruce says with a faint half-smile, somewhere inside regretting the entirely different person he has to be sometimes even as he acknowledges the utility of it. Given the choice of places to sit, he shoots for the moon in a sense and sits down directly alongside her on the loveseat. He doesn't get any closer than the size of the seat necessitates, however, leaning forward with his hands clasped before him and staring into the fire. For the moment, he seems lost in thought.

Jubilee has posed:
"I stand corrected," Jubilee says softly, leaning sideways to nudge Bruce. "Penny for your thoughts? Or better yet, a nickel. I seem to suddenly have one to spare. Who needs Laffy Taffy, anyway?"

Batman has posed:
    "Oh, you know," Bruce says, and for a moment he feels the weight of everything he has done as Batman on his shoulders. The blood. The terror. The pain. The laughing face of madness. The death. It all flashes before his eyes like some grisly nightmare. Then he glances sidelong, locking eyes with Jubilee and letting his lips turn into that half-smile that he seems to favor so much, "Things. My son had a big recital but I think I might've missed it." He glances down at his watch ruefully.

Jubilee has posed:
"Aww...I'm sorry. If you'd said, I could've made sure you were there. Think he's okay? I'm sure the police are keeping an eye on him after all that. I hate to think of him scared and wondering where you are..." A frown creases her brow, and she tilts her head. "Want to call him? See how it went? You could use my phone, in case someone's watching yours."

Batman has posed:
    "He's okay," Bruce says with a resolute nod of his head, reaching over to give her hand another squeeze, "He's got his brother with him. He's a tough kid for his age." He gestures back to the cabin, "I still have my cell. I gave him a quick call before I went for my run. He's okay. They're just standing by what the police are saying about me being at home until the police track down whoever it is. They'll be fine."

Jubilee has posed:
"All right, good..." She squeezes his hand back, and this time idly lets her gaze drift back toward the fire without letting go. "It's all gonna be okay, y'know. People can be right bastards, but for every one of them, there are ten more that'll knock some sense into 'em. So we don't fret over what's going on out there, tonight. Just breathe. It'll all pass on by, and things can get back to normal before ya know it. For now, I'll share my moon and my lake, and my fire, and my home."

Batman has posed:
    And then it happens. Perhaps for the first time since his childhood. Perhaps since he became Batman. In the very least for the first time in years. He relaxes. He decides that, just for one night, he's going to let it all go. His sons stand vigil over his city. He trained them well. His allies stand with them. For one night, he decides, he can honor the legacy that was left for him and be Bruce Wayne. Not the smiling mask he wears so often, but the man who exists beneath that. The one who had almost convinced himself that he was the Batman and nothing else. That he did not exist without the mask. There is a visible change in him as he seems to relax back into the seat, his shoulders sinking, his head lolling backwards and his eyes closing. He says nothing. He just breathes.