4908/Fireworks and Fudgecicles

Fireworks and Fudgecicles
Date of Scene:	13 July 2018
Location:	Breakstone Lake, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Jubilee, Elixir

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Jubilee has posed:
Rumours abound at Xavier's. Always. But there were a few that were a little troubling to Jubilee, and she has always preferred to get to the source for information. Less wondering. Less worrying. Because even if there is something worth worrying about, at least you know what it is and aren't worried about whether to worry. Just face it head-on, like the firecracker she is.

After their day at the pool, Jubilee had sent an email to Josh Foley. Simple, and unassuming: Fudgecicles are great tonight. Come over if ya want. I should be home sometime around dark-thirty. All work and no play makes Josh a dull boy. -Jubilee

Now it's dark, and Jubilee stands out at the edge of the lake behind her cabin in a pink tanktop and cutoff jean shorts, chasing fireflies across the water with tiny, color-changing balls of light, trying to imitate their exact paths.

Elixir has posed:
~I'll be there

Later that night, Josh made his way out to Jubilee's cabin. It was easy enough to find; the dancing lights were a dead giveaway.

"Hey Jubilee," he calls as he walks up, in his usual jeans, t-shirt and scraped up sneakers. "How're you doing?"

Jubilee has posed:
She'd been prepared for the possibility that he might show up. At any time, really. And yet, immersed in her little game, she hadn't heard him approach. A ball of bright blue light zips straight down into the water and explodes beneath the surface with a colorful /bloop/. "Meant to do that," she sniffs nonchalantly. In the light from the cabin as she turns to him, it's apparent that despite her efforts with sunscreen, there's something she missed. Her cheeks are pink with a tinge of sunburn. "Hey you! How's yer night? Glad ya came out!"

Elixir has posed:
Josh smiles. "It's alright, was just studying in the Wellness Centre," he says, walking up with his hands in his pockets. He watches the lights fade before turning his attention fully to Jubilee. "How about you?"

Jubilee has posed:
"I'm great! But...I'm always great. Almost..." She chews her lip thoughtfully for a moment. "Almost always great. Not always almost great," she clarifies. "The draw of fudgecicles more than you could resist?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh cocks his head slightly and looks a little amused as Jubilee explains how she is always great, almost. "Well, yeah, I mean, fudgecicles, right? Can't say no to that."

He looks past her to the cabin. "You live out here?"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee looks up at the cabin and nods. "I like to cheat at Solitaire without gettin' caught." She grins, her nose crinkling a little.

A happy little bonfire crackles away down the bank, and beside it, a small chest whirring softly. The sound is all but lost in the nightsong of crickets and frogs. She pads barefoot over to the fire and opens the chest, pulling out two fudgecicles, then shuts it and returns to Josh, offering one.

Elixir has posed:
Josh laughs.

"You weren't kidding, you really have fudgecicles. I thought you were kidding," he says as he accepts one. He pulls the plastic off, crinkles it up and stuffs it in his pocket. He shifts his weight from one foot to other, looks around. "It's nice out here; peaceful. And you get a nice view."

Jubilee has posed:
"Mhm! I keep my promises." She smiles easily and does likewise with the wrapper. It will probably go into the fire later, anyway.

"It's my favourite place," she says with a quiet tone of affection for their surroundings. "So...I hope ya got things patched up with Samantha? I've heard guys called worse than 'jerk' before, after all."

Elixir has posed:
Josh's smile freezes at the mention of Samantha. "Yeah, that came later when nobody else was around," he says with a sigh. It was not a fond memory. "She'll be fine, I think. She just... Figured some stuff out before I could explain it to her, wasn't too happy about it. Is that what this is about? Did someone hear her yelling in the Visitor's wing or something?"

Jubilee has posed:
"Heck if I know," Jubilee replies. "I was watchin' the newest episode of The Walking Dead and eatin' chips. I had to turn the subtitles on..." She frowns. "Nah I just saw her get upset and jet, and you goin' after her. I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Elixir has posed:
"Walking Dead? After the other night?" he laughs. "You have a crazy idea of fun. That was insane... I'll never be able to watch another zombie movie, like, ever." He pops the fudgecicle back in his mouth.

Jubilee has posed:
"I had to get that crazy crap outta my head and watch 'em bash a buncha deadish guys, just to remember that they can all be taken out." Jubilee winks. "But maybe...maybe it did have something to do with that. Why I asked ya out here, I mean. There are a few rumours floatin' around out there."

Jubilee turns back to the water and idly tosses one ball of light out in an arc, landing it in the water, where the ball bloops beneath the surface. "I mean, maybe that's what she learned..." She tosses another. This one pink. /Bloop/ "Somethin about you leavin'...maybe..."

Elixir has posed:
Josh sighs and looks like a kid busted for a moment. Apparently his artful dodge had failed miserably. He watches the lights bloop beneath surface.

"Yeah, maybe something like that," he admits. "A couple days ago I paid the deposit on a place in Bushwick. I was gonna tell her, but... I dunno, just didn't find the right time. Then she figured it out. Telepaths."

The fudgecicle seems to have lost much of its flavour for him as he bites off a piece. Either that or he was thinking about something distasteful.

"She was pretty pissed."

Jubilee has posed:
"Yeah," Jubilee agrees. "Can't live with 'em. Can't think about killin' 'em." A purple ball flies in an arc and bloops, as she remembers her fudgecicle and sucks it for a moment thoughtfully. "So you're leavin'. You won't be THAT far away," she offers brightly. "Isn't like you're movin' halfway around the world. And you'll come back to visit, cause I have the best fudgecicles."

She nods, but there's a little bit of a far off look in her dark eyes. She rakes her fingers through her hair and nods slowly. "Why Bushwick? Find a job out there?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh smirks slightly at her mention of having the best fudgecicles.

"That's what I told her, but she thinks it's the stupidest thing she's ever heard. It wasn't like I was breaking up with her or something, but she like totally took it that way. At least I think so, I dunno."

He shakes his head about finding a job in Bushwick. "Nah, it's just like the only place I can afford anything. I actually got an internship at a STARK lab, it'll pay a bit. Enough to eat and make rent if I'm careful."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee's eyes go wide and she turns to him, mid-blooptoss. "Stark? Wow. How could you possibly have turned -that- down? I'm pretty sure if I showed up there, I'd get thrown out. Or hired for one of his fireworks shows. And then thrown out..."

Shaking her head with a slow smile tugging at her lips, she continues to throw another ball of green light out over the water, but instead of going into it, the ball whirs in a circle, flying straight upward until it disappears. "That was Steve. He can't swim..."

Elixir has posed:
Josh chuckles and watches the ball shoot upwards. "That Steve..."

"Got lucky with the Stark thing. Someone I met told him about me, and I got invited out to the Avengers Mansion. Met Stark and everything. He was kind of beat up, so I helped with that... Yeah... Anyway, next day this package shows up here, internship at one of his labs. People fight for those spots, for sure was taking it.. Crap..."

The poor neglected fudgecicle in Josh's hand vents its frustration by dripping down his fingers. Josh switches the dessert to his other hand and licks the chocolate drops off the backs of his fingers.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee nods throughout his recounting of the internship acquisition, then turns back to him just in time to see him licking his fingers. "Yeah that happens. Unruly bastards, these fudgecicles. Sometimes they've gotta take a lickin' before they straighten up."

Studying him quietly for a moment, she reaches out a hand and takes his freshly licked one in hers, studying the way the firelight plays on it. She's not exactly the best at this whole personal bubble thing. "Your skin's so pretty. I wondered the other day whether you could even burn, since you just glisten and reflect the light all over the place."

Elixir has posed:
Josh shrugs when she takes his hand. He does sparkle faintly in the firelight. "I dunno, not really excited to find out," he quips. "My skin's not hard as metal or anything, it's just... gold."

"How long have you been here?" Josh asks.

Jubilee has posed:
Nodding, as he speaks, Jubilee smiles. "Well I like it anyway. I..." Then there's this realization that she's got his hand, and she didn't exactly ask for it. She lets it go and laughs. "Sorry, I'm tactile. I touch stuff...guess the warning should've come BEFORE I touched stuff." Straightening up, she shrugs. "I wondered what it felt like, till you fixed my foot. That was....somethin'. Never felt -anything- like that before."

"Been here about six years, I guess. Finished school here, then college. Now I'm teachin'. It's been all right to me, mostly."

Elixir has posed:
"Heh, don't worry about it," he assures Jubilee and smiles at her comment about the healing. "I'm the same way, blew mind the first time. Still does, every time."

He listens to Jubilee tell about how long she had been at the school. "What made you come back after and teach?

Jubilee has posed:
"Well, I remember how hard it was when I first got here. It's pretty brutal for a lot of kids who come here. I had gymnastics to keep me focused. So I figured why not share that with them?"

Jubilee nibbles the last of her fudgecicle from the stick and pads over to the fire to toss it in, along with the wrapper from her pocket. She grabs a couple of logs and tosses them on, as the gears are still turning in her head. "So Stark...that's just wild. I've only ever seen a couple of people here end up there. Only the best and brightest!" She grins and grabs a root beer from the whirring chest. "What do you wanna be when YOU grow up?"

Elixir has posed:
Josh walks after Jubilee and takes a seat by the fire.r
"I think he just wants a healer around," Josh says with a lopsided grin. Points of firelight sparkle off his face and arms as he stretches. "Me though, I'll try for med school, eventually. I'll have to try getting into NYU and applying for some scholarships I guess." He shrugs.

Jubilee has posed:
Nodding thoughtfully, Jubilee frets at her bottom lip. She sits on the log bench beside Josh and offers him a drink from the chest. "Sodaaa, OJ, purple stuff, Sunny D?" She looks down then, and absently makes footprints in the fine dust beneath her, making sure the edges are perfect likenesses, down the very last toe.

Finally, she lets him in on her thoughts. "It's good to have stuff like that, somethin' bigger than yourself, out there holdin' its arms out to ya. I'm proud, Josh. Really proud, and happy for ya. Yer amazing, and you deserve all of it."

Elixir has posed:
Josh shakes his head at the offer of a drink, then looks over from staring at the fire, incredulous. He searches Jubilee's face for a moment then looks back at the fire.

"Not what I expected to hear," he says eventually and tosses an errant stick into the flames. "I figured I was gonna get dumped on again."

Jubilee has posed:
"Why would I do that?" Brow furrowed, she shakes her head. "This is your whole LIFE you're talkin' about. You can't let anybody else carry the key to your happiness in their pocket." There's not the least hint of disappointment in the girl's Asian features, and she releases the chompy clip that holds her hair up. She shakes out the long black waves by the fire, letting the heat warm it in the cool night air. "Anybody who'd dump on you for that DEFINITELY doesn't deserve to carry that key."

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, well, tell that to Ms. Frost," he says with a bitter smirk. "But I'm kinda done with like letting everyone else tell me what to do."

He shakes his head and leans forward, resting his elbows on his legs. He looks over and smiles at Jubilee. "So's that your secret? Keep the key in your own pocket? 'Cause you're like one of the cheeriest people I've met."

Jubilee has posed:
"Oh yeah. You can't trust that stuff to anyone but yerself. That, and learning when to recognize when someone detracts from your happiness instead of adding to it." She picks up a thin, flexible twig and draws designs and swirls in the dusty footprints. "Sometimes you'd be surprised how hard it is to tell the difference."

Elixir has posed:
"I guess I'm finally starting to get that," Josh nods. He flicks his fudgecicle stick into the fire and sighs. He is quiet, while Jubilee draws designs in the dust.

"Thanks, Jubilee," he says and pushes himself to his feet. He gives her a lopsided smile. "You really do have the best fudgecicles."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee tosses the twig and grins, standing up with him. "Anytime. My door's open to ya. No matter what..." Only a telepath could have predicted the huge hug she suddenly wraps him in. Especially for someone so little. "Thanks for comin' out. You're one of those who adds." She smiles brightly.