3607/Cry, Wolf!

Cry, Wolf!
Date of Scene:	09 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Jubilee, X-Man

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Jubilee has posed:
A warm day in January (well, warm-ish) is hard to come by. So on a day when the temperature breaks fifty degrees, it's time to take a ride on the bike. Jubilee and Nate have been riding most of the afternoon, and dusk is starting to paint the sky shades of deep rose and purple. Outside the city, Jubilee steers the bike into the parking lot of a gas station at the foot of the mountains.

"The have the best strawberry soda fountain EVER here. You're gonna LOVE it. I only wish I could drink some. But maybe I could kiss you after..." She grins triumphantly. "C'mon!"

X-Man has posed:
Nate always enjoys the rides on the motorcycle, as it is the closest thing to flying you can get, and at some point he thinks he'll need to try some of these super bikes he keeps hearing people thinking about. As the sun begins setting, his senses stretch out to get a better picture of the area they are in.

Once they are parked, Nate hops off the back and gives Jubilee a small smile, "Sure thing. I'll go in and grab it..." as he makes his way towards the door, he asks "Is there anythin' else ya want? I can check to see what kind of ice cream they got too..."

Jubilee has posed:
"Mm...nah, I have fudgecicles at home. The BEST. The ones you got me! But get whatever YOU want!" There is a moment when Jubilee feels a nervous twinge in her gut. Bound to be the excitement of the day.

Jubilee gives a cursory glance around, looking at the treeline. "I'll just...stay with the bike, Baby!"

X-Man has posed:
"Ok. I'll grab a couple things to eat since I'm not sure when we're stopping for food..." Nate tells her, and as he starts towards the door he'll feel her twinge. He pauses for a second, looking over his shoulder, but not feeling anything else he'll head indside.

Inside, Nate buys a gigantic strawberry fountain soda, three hot dogs, and two packs of teryaki beef jerky. WIth his bag of food, he heads outside to the bike, inhaling a hot dog as he tells her "Hey Jubes, you're right. This soda is pretty good...." taking a long drink, and adding "These cheesy hot dogs aren't bad either. I mean, they're kind of dry, but when I'm starving it all tastes good."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee is standing at the edge of the parking lot, watching down a dirt path toward the woods. An old beat-up Scout is rumbling up the trail toward them.

"I'm sorry, Baby. We should have stopped someplace for something more. Y'know, hot and delicious and sizzly..." But her words are distracted, and Nate can feel the anxiety rising inside her. When she turns to face him, despite the golden shine his blood has given her eyes, they are now glowing a brilliant blue. There is indecision in her thoughts and feelings. "If we don't go now, things are going to be bad." But she makes no move toward the bike.

X-Man has posed:
Nate's own gaze moves down the path, towards the vehicle headed in their direction, and his eyes narrow as he tries to figure out what trouble may be headed this way.

"Nah, it's ok.." Setting down the drink, and food near the bike "What's wrong, Jubes?" Moving up next to her, a comforting hand on her shoulder, "We can go if ya want... No trouble." His eyes staying on the Scout, "It'll be alright. Maybe we'll find someplace nice to eat?"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee tenses, every muscle in her body coiled and ready to spring. She searches for words for Nate, but she can't find them. Her thoughts and senses are lost to instinct now. As her gaze turns from Nate, her fangs are as visible as he has ever seen them, pressing against her bottom lip.

The Scout jostles to a stop a dozen feet or more from where Jubilee stands, and what appears to be a redneck from up the mountain gets out, a crooked grin marring his otherwise....well, already marred face. "Well, well." It's all he says, and all he needs to say.

There are three more men still in the vehicle. The one in the front passenger seat sits up suddenly, taking notice of Jubilee. Half his face is obliterated with burn scars, and his one good eye narrows. "That's the one."

X-Man has posed:
Nate looks and feels worried as he takes note of Jubilee's silence, and then the fact she has her fangs out for whomever is in the truck. As she tenses, so does Nate, and now his eyes focus back on the vehicle as it stops. When the man steps out, Nate passes a glance in Jubilee's direction, and even as the man is speaking he tells her "We should go, Jubes. You can tell me about it when we're somewhere else..."

As the other man in the Scout calls out, Nate gives a sigh, turning back to the group of men "Go away. I'm in a good mood right now. I don't want to hurt you, but I won't let you hurt her." Obviously there is something here, some history, but Nate is willing to move on if the others are smart enough to let it pass.

Jubilee has posed:
<Take the bike and go, Nate. Leave with it and come back in fifteen minutes. I'll be waiting for you up near the pumps...> There is nothing in this world that would bring logic to bear, save for the thought of Nate watching her destroy another living person. These aren't people. But there is no time to debate. <Please. I'll explain later.>

X-Man has posed:
<What? Why? I wouldn't leave you if there's trouble, Jubes..> Nate is full of confusion and worry that she would ask him to leave. He turns back to the truck. "Fine." His eye glows brightly as a hand reaches up, and he curls his open hand into a fist. The Scout is crushed like a can, loud as one would hear a car crusher, but the speed is inhuman, and when it's all said and done all the men inside the Scout are relatively unharmed but completely encased in the metal frame.

He looks back to the lone man, standing outside the ball of metal, "So. Again. Go Away." As a random hub cap is spinning near the wreckage, oil and gas mixing from the crumpled mess, "Won't take much to light the gasoline. Your better play here is tryin' to figure out how to get your friends out of..." lifting his hand, the ball of metal lifts off the ground, jiggles, and is dropped, "...about 4500lbs of metal."

Jubilee has posed:
"Nate..." Jubilee's voice is soft and plaintive. Never would she ask him to hurt anyone else, especially after what he's been through. But even as she sorts what few thoughts can make their way through the blue haze of her mind, the men inside the Scout are reaching up, twisting the metal around them like taffy, and they begin climbing out of the car.

The first to emerge from the crash-em-up Scout is One-Eye. Even as he takes a step toward Jubilee and Nate, a cut on his forehead is healing. The scent of his blood turns Jubilee's stomach and enrages her beyond all reason, a feral growl beginning in her chest and turning into a scream. "NNNNOO!" Her hands outstretched toward the vehicle, a concentrated plume of blue plasma engulfs the vehicle as the two outside it duck and roll away, clearly having some idea of what she's capable of. The explosion of the truck is difficult to discern from the roiling blue plume, as the orange flames are devoured by Jubilee's own in a split second as the vehicle literally melts, the remaining two passengers vaporized as they are still emerging from their makeshift windows.

The driver, the older of the two, flinches away and turns, his form shifting as he makes tracks for the woods at blinding speed. But One-Eye stands and continues his approach as Jubilee's attention is diverted to the one who is in all likelihood their leader.

The hasty departure is more than the predator in her can resist, and Jubilee blazes after him, as fast as the new form seems to be running. However, finding it harder on two feet to navigate the brush than he can on four, and knowing that he is now on home turf, Jubilee takes to the treetops, with a single leap, and begins flying from branch to branch, launching herself to the next as if they are nothing more than the uneven parallel bars in the gym. Within a matter of seconds, she's beyond Nate's field of vision, but she knows that he can still feel her as she closes in on the runner.

X-Man has posed:
Narrowing his eyes, Nate watches as Jubilee takes off, and she can feel his consternation over what is going on. Still, he trusts her, and so when he turns to One Eye there is no mercy in his features. A few different ideas flash through his mind, but then he's reminded of what Forge always wanted from him. With a sigh, he looks to the man, his mind reaching out to dig into the other beings mind "Go to sleep." which the man cannot resist, and then Nate begins to dig through his memories.

Once Nate has what he needs, he finds the memories of Jubilee, the confrontation, and takes them from the man. Images, scents, sounds, and anything that would be registered as Jubilee is stripped form the unconscious man's mind. As he moves up to the man, hand hovering over his face, Nate begins to remold that burned visage as an aura flares up around him with the expenditure of power. Speaking out loud as well as in the man's mind, he adds "You're not a good person. Here is your chance. New face. New life. New chance. Don't waste it."

Once that's done, Nate moves back to the bike, gets his food, and finished eating the hot dogs and drinks the soda as he waits for Jubilee to return.

Jubilee has posed:
On the far edge of the woods, there is a brilliant plume of pink and then blue that rises above the treetops. There is no sound to accompany it, and it dies as quickly as it erupts. Within moments, Jubilee emerges from the woods, stopping as she sees Nate eating hot dogs, the remaining Lycan crumpled on the ground. But as she approaches, she realizes that it is not over. She pauses as she reaches the artist formerly known as One-Eye's sleeping form. Circling him slowly and curiously, she stops and turns to Nate, her eyes still blazing blue.

"Changing their face doesn't change what they are," she says, matter-of-factly. There is no disdain for Nate. She knows who and what he is, and she knows that what he's done, he has done to avoid the sort of thing her instinct is spurring her toward doing even as she speaks.

X-Man has posed:
Nate is already digging into the first bag of jerky as he takes another long drink. "Some people would say the same thing 'bout you, Jubes..." His glowing eye moving back to the unconscious form on the ground, "...and they would be wrong too." He nods at the Lycan, "We are who we wanna be... what Forge used to tell me. Not my job to decide what someone chooses, but it's my job to live with what I choose to do."

Again, years older despite his physical length being alive, "If he goes 'round killin' people, I'l know, and I'll do what I can to make up for that mistake. But it's what Forge would have wanted." His eyes moving back to Jubilee, waiting to see what she plans on doing, and not appearing as if he'll stop her either way.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee shakes her head, looking back down at the blissfully unaware sleeping Lycan. She tilts her head and lifts a hand toward him, her palm facing him. A painful wince crosses her face, but as it does, she pauses again, her eyes going wide. "You've destroyed his link to me, at least from his end. Changing their memory doesn't do it. But removing the scars I gave him...does." She lowers her hand thoughtfully.

"I was made to destroy them. You know this, right? Promise me that if he goes bad, you'll let me finish it, and I'll lay it to rest here. He could feel me, that's why he came. And I could feel him, too." She thinks for a moment, then nods slowly, tearing herself away from her helpless prey. "But I'll need your help forgetting him, too. We'll talk about that part later..."

She reluctantly joins Nate at the bike as sirens are heard in the distance. "I could also really use your help right now, to make this bike fly. Can we go home?"

X-Man has posed:
Stuffing his trash into the nearby can, Nate takes another long drink to wash down everything he's eaten, throwing that in the trash as well. He walks up to Jubilee, pulls her into a tight hug, and places a light kiss on her lips... not caring what may be there from what happened in the forest.

"No, the /choice/ to be what you are was taken from you by some greedy asshole. If you want to hunt them down, then it's your choice, what /you/ want to do..." His hand runs through her long hair, "...and I'll always help you, Jubes. I promise."

With his eye glowing again, Nate lifts the two of them, and her motorcycle into the sky. As he flies them in the direction of the cabin, he uses his powers to reflect the visible light around them so that there is no chance of someone seeing them.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee holds Nate tightly, and returns his kiss ardently. When her eyes open again, they are softening to the gold they held when the two arrived. Sometimes, it seems, magic powers aren't needed to heal scars. Nate has always seemed to do that in ways she never understood, all by himself.