7996/As the Zenith

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As the Zenith
Date of Scene: 22 June 2019
Location: Campsites - Breakstone Lake
Synopsis: Disregard: Jubilee meets some guy playing Nate Grey who disappears after this scene, never to be heard from again.
Cast of Characters: Jubilee, X-Man




Jubilee has posed:
There's something about the Summer Solstice that frees the spirit. Twilight has long faded, and the moon, waning, just past full, is swollen, in hues of ochre and gold as it slips from its earthly grave at the edge of Breakstone Lake, painting a streaming sent across the ripples of the water as they quake lightly with the night's breeze.

A figure on the northeast shore stands quietly, watching the lake. Her hands are clasped before her, and from within them, a brilliant gold light streams through the cracks between her fingers. As if making a wish, she throws the light into the heavens, where it bursts forth into a hundred tiny lights of every hue that glitter and spread out over the lake, settling slowly, low enough to reflect upon the water.

X-Man has posed:
    Nate Grey doesn't care much about Summer or Solstice. The weather and seasons have been little more to him, his entire life, than coincidental facts of life. It's arguable if he's even aware that tonight was such a night. No. He only knows that it's a good night to leave the Mansion. Leave it, and all the troubled thoughts and feelings that its hoary corridors hold for him. Fresh pains that sting as deep as old wounds.

    And so there he is. He's not so much walking as he is just gliding, bare feet just above the earth, to avoid the cool, dewy grass and all the inconveniences of mud, bugs, stones and twigs that the earth might hold for his bare soles. He is a beacon, however. A beacon of golden light, surrounded by a shimmering nimbus of it, as if some divine radiance itself shines from within him, too powerful to suppress. Nowhere is this more evident than in his left eye. That eye seems a hollow socket, spewing forth lazily spiraling ribbons of golden, psionic fire. His hair, dark but marked with silvery bangs, flows upward from his scalp, slowly wisped to and fro from the winds of psychic power that hold him aloft. The black, silk robe that he wears open, over his upper body billows behind him like a cape with a BA in Theater and Drama.

    His path carries him, seemingly oblivious, in the direction of the girl and her "fireworks". The bursting snap, crackles and pops, however, draw his attention with a start, and the scion of the Summers-Grey line halts in place, his one blue eye focusing on Jubilee.

Jubilee has posed:
And suddenly, the moon and Jubilee's fireworks are not the only lights in the night. Transfixed, the young Asian woman's gaze falls upon the glow that envelops the young man who can only be Nate Grey. She smiles softly at the beauty of the moment. A child of air, a child of earth, caught between the firmaments of fire and water. With her attention caught up in the divine glow, scarcely contained, her own fireworks halt in a display of stasis above the water. No longer rising or falling, but seemingly flitting in the same wind that tosses the young woman's dark hair back from her shoulders and ripples a white seersucker sundress as her own feet settle solidly upon the earth.

X-Man has posed:
    "Sorry," He says, as that radiant light that envelops his corporeal form diminishes. It doesn't so much as dim as seems to retreat back within the miniscule openings of his pores. As that glow begins to withdraw towards the source, his hair and robe settle down, and his feet softly touch down to the soil below. The roiling starburst of his golden eye, too, grows dim, until in its place is a nothing more than a mundane orb, marked with the same steely blue grey of overcast days, matching its counterpart. "I didn't mean to... I guess disrupt what you were up to, or anything."

    His brow knits together, his youthful features marked with a bit of worry, though it looks as though that expression weighs heavily upon him, and often. Too much of his father, in some ways, has found itself buried within his genetic code. His gaze averts from hers, instead rising to the windswept, tenebrous locks of her hair, tossing to and fro upon the whims of the breeze that sweeps down from the mountains and across the lake. In spite of himself, he finds his lips curling with a small smile.

    "What ARE you doing out here, anyway?"

Jubilee has posed:
"I dunno, blowing off steam? Or fire, as the case may be." The plasmoids flicker over the water, and seeming sink into its surface, fading out as they do. "You're not interrupting anything. Not at all. I just didn't expect anyone out here so late. What brings you out?"

X-Man has posed:
    Nate turns his attention to the scattered balls of plasma, watching them as they submerge into the cool, still, and dark waters of Breakstone Lake. His gaze follows them, until their light dims into the darkness of the abyss, looking a bit pensive as they do so. He gives a faint nod of recognition to her answer, though his attention has yet to return to her.

    "Hm?" He asks, when she points his question back at him. This brings him out of that distant state of thought, and back directly into the here and now. He turns crystalline blue eyes on to the Asian girl, and gives a shrug of his shoulders, leaving them hunched up at either side of his neck while sliding his black kimono back, and slipping his hands into the pockets of his dark pajama pants.

    "Kind of the same, I guess," He says, his voice coming out as a half sigh of exasperation. "Just felt the need to get out. Away. Too many thoughts swirling around in the Mansion, and too much... Eh. I needed to be where the thoughtspace wasn't a deafening buzz that I have to focus to keep out. I've had some of my own stuff going on. It's made things difficult."

Jubilee has posed:
To anyone who dared listen, or could not help it, Jubilee's thoughts are a likely blur of light and airy things. Her psychic shields are entirely passive, but they blur her thoughts like an abstract painting, unless they keenly focus. But even then, they often find her words are quite simply reflections of her thoughts. She watches Nate in wonder for a moment, then her smile brightens.

"You're beautiful when you fly. Like light and air, and all things light and lovely. I've heard of you. But no one ever mentioned it. I think if I mentioned you, I'd lead with that." She tilts her head and her smile fades, but only to the point of a grin, tugged a little higher on one side than the other, and still brightens her gaze. "Like a shooting star, only when you fade, you're still brilliant in other ways."

X-Man has posed:
    Nate is careful not to be reading anyone's thoughts. It's a constant strain, as his natural state as a being of psionic power made flesh is to constantly be connected to the world around him. His is an astral form in a corporeal shell, as opposed to some others who have to will their telepathic potential to action. But, his focus is almost impeccable. Almost. Emotional turmoil certainly wears his will down.

    And sometimes shock.

    When Jubilee speaks of him so poetically, Nate is shocked. It shows clearly, broadcast on his face, in the widening of eyes and hike of his brows. Even his lips part, not quite forming an O, but almost. As if he were opening his mouth to speak but found his brain not conjuring forth the words in time for his body. That shock is reflected in his body language, with the sudden drop of his shoulders, and the way he takes a quarter step back, turning his body slightly to the side, with his hands leaving his pockets. All of it is a momentary loss of composure, but it's an open and easily readable one, nonetheless.

    Returning to a state of neutrality, though, Nate cants his head to the side, running one hand through wisps of silvery white bangs, as his brows come back down from their risen state to cast shadows of curiosity in the pools of his eyes. "Uh. Thanks. That was... Unexpected. Flattering. I don't..."

    Even in the dim light of the night, the darkening of Nate's flesh betrays itself and his blush. He reaches back up once again, instead of toying with his bangs, he circles the back of his neck with his fingers, rubbing at it as he averts his gaze to the earth underfoot. "I don't really know what to do with that other than thank you. I don't think most people agree with that, though. Which is probably why you haven't heard it. It sounds more like you're describing Angel. Or maybe Sam, with that shooting star thing."

    Deflection. Yes.

Jubilee has posed:
"Nah I mean you. You're prettier than Angel. But don't tell him I told you that.. it might wreck his self image, or plain make him mad. And I need to stay off his bad side. Everyone does..." Jubilee winds up like a pitcher and then underhand lobs a tiny green ball of light into the woods. It splits there into a dozen tinier green lights, which lazily flit between the trees, pacing the fireflies. One wayward insect, flying obliviously out over the water, finds itself trailed by a green spark that skims the surface of the water behind it. "It's just so pretty out here. One of my favorite places in the world. Well, the world I've seen, so far."

She pauses for a moment. "I saw Paris once. But I'm not even sure it was Paris anymore." She crinkles her nose and rubs it thoughtfully with her palm. "You're still prettier." She grins impishly, now. "More people should compliment you."

X-Man has posed:
    "I don't really get called pretty," Grey replies, his voice dipping low and quiet. His weight shifts on his feet, and his lips arc with a smile that looks, perhaps, a bit uncomfortable. Nate Grey grew up in a literal Apocalyptic Wasteland. People were too busy fighting, dying, starving, or scavenging to ever really consider someone's level of attractiveness. Plus, simply put, when everyone is wearing rags, covered in mud and blood, and have little access to fresh water to never consider wasting it on bathing, attractiveness is very low on the totem pole of priorities when it comes to dealing with people. It was mostly reserved for those who lived the glamorous lifestyle in one of Apocalypse's megacities, in the lap of luxury.

    Much like Angel had.

    Jubilee straight up tells him that she thinks he's prettier than Paris. This again, hits him hard with the shock. His eyes turn upwards at her, though his face remains lowered towards the floor. He lifts one brow, and then gives a quick glance around them, at their surroundings. "Alright, so... You're just kind of messing with me now. Is this a prank or something? Who's in on this?"

Jubilee has posed:
    Jubilee giggles softly, but shakes her head. "There's nobody out here but me. But hey...please don't let me make ya uncomfortable. I tend to give voice to my thoughts without thinking of the repercussions. It gets me in trouble sometimes..." She trails off, watching (or more directing) a green spark caught in a drafty upward spiral with another firefly. "I'm sorry if I did that. My mouth runs away with my thoughts sometimes, and it takes a while for my brain to catch up with my words and chastise me for 'em."

X-Man has posed:
    "It's all... it's fine. I just..." Nate does give one more dubious glance about them, before looking back to her. His shoulders relax, and after a quick mental release, he is able to tell that they are quite alone. He releases a breath, and then casts his eyes back on her. "It's not... You didn't do anything wrong, or anything. I'm just not used to... that. Any of it. Most people don't really seem to know how to talk to me. They think that I'm some strange oddity that they can't relate to. At best. They mostly just think I'm weird. And scary. Because of my powers."

    He steps forward, closer, and gives a sigh, tilting his head to the side once again as he looks her over. After a moment, his smile returns, this time softer. More genuine. He gives a slight uptick of his chin in her direction, and he says, "You're pretty gorgeous yourself. Though, I'm willing to bet you DO get that a lot, right?"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee breathes a laugh and shakes her head. "Aren't we all weird? You're flyin' around and shiny, I'm juggling plasma. You're reading my mind right now. Maybe. What am I thinking right now?" Fudgecicles. She is thinking about fudgecicles.

"Thanks, Handsome, but to be honest, I get 'Oh god' more than 'gorgeous.' My guess is they're intimidated by my height."

X-Man has posed:
    "I'm not," Nate replies, perhaps a bit too quickly, a look of mild worry in those blue eyes. He lifts a hand, pointing to his left eye. "If I'm actively using any of my powers, this thing glows like fire. It might not be obvious what I'm doing, but you'll always know that I'm doing something."

    A pause.

    "I guess you're right, though. We're all weird. I think... I think maybe I just unsettle people. For what I represent. Or something. Where I come from. What I can do. Who... no... rather.. What I am."

    Because he's not a Real Boy. He's a genetically created weapon that represents the culmination of a perfect merger of the genetic material of the Summers and the Greys. He doesn't have parents. Only unwilling genetic donors. He was born in a vat of nutrients, amino acids, and synthetic amniotic fluid.

    He breaks from his self-depreciating train of thought, and looks back at her. He adopts a lopsided grin, and gives a faint nod of his head, and replies, "Well, I mean... you are a rather statuesque four foot eleven. I'd say you're kind of like the world's tallest dwarf. Completely unstoppable, as you're just tall enough to get on all the best rides at the amusement parks."

Jubilee has posed:
"Hey, I'm a statuesque 5 foot, two and three-quarters inches of awesome," Jubilee replies. "It's the three-quarters that gives me my super powers. But yeah, I can ride ALL the rides. They don't ever stop me. Except to hold up the measuring stick." Her eyes shift in a conspiratory manner. "But I show them. I show them /all/."

She cants her head for a moment. "You're not a what, Nate. You're a who. And don't let anybody ever tell you different. You're a force, sure. But that isn't who you are. You're that guy underneath. The one that blushes and gets all awkward when you're complimented. The one who goes out to fly at night just to let his mind go, and forget the rest of the world. That guy I haven't even gotten to know yet, but I can already tell is SO cool, he makes Iceman look like a day at the beach." A beat. "In november."

X-Man has posed:
    Nate's smirk remains firmly plastered in place as she defiantly corrects his intentional misjudging of her height, even giving her that nod and brow hike combo of a teasingly patronizing acquiescence, coupled with a raising of his hands at his sides as if to surrender. "Alright! Alright, badass. Save some edge for the rest of the goth emo kids already."

    Firmly tongue in cheek, of course.

    But, she starts in with the heavy stuff. Trying to force feed him positivity in a manner that he's neither used to, nor all too ready to accept. The smile fades, his handsome young features falling into a somber state of introspection. When she's finished, he can only give a flicker of a bittersweet smile, lowering his eyes to the ground between them. "I am a weapon. That's what I was made to be. My sentience is only a necessary byproduct of my purpose. If it could have been removed, it would have. Me being a person is incidental. So... I'm just as much a what as a who. Maybe even more so."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee frets at her lip for a moment, then brightens. "If it helps, I'm a weapon, too. Like...one of those plastic guns that shoots orange stickydarts. SPAT!" she offers, gesturing with a fingertip jammed straight at her forehead. "I wanted to shoot foam missiles, but I got....Nerfed."

X-Man has posed:
    "O...kay..." Nate says after she's rambled, looking a bit confused by what she said, and yet, a chuckle escapes him nonetheless. He steps forward on his bare feet, standing now, directly in front of her. His fingertips twitch, and he looks down into her face, as if asking himself a question and seeking the answer in her eyes.

    "You're right," he finally says. Reaching up, finally, he touches one fingertip to the point of her nose, booping it before letting his hand drop. "You really are weird."

    He smiles. Bright. Open. Nothing held back. His eyes glimmer with a light of mirth, and he finds himself biting down on his bottom lip and looking away from her suddenly. "I like it, though. Weird is good. So..."

Jubilee has posed:
"Weird is the /best/, because you aren't expected to conform," Jubilee replies, biting her lips and rubbing the boop on her nose. "Long as you can find people who have weird that goes with yours, you're golden!" At this, she positively beams. "Of course, you were already golden..." She follows his sudden look away, however, with a quiet, "Did you see that?"

X-Man has posed:
    "Like Ponyboy," Nate returns with a small chuff, giving a half grin. Of course, The Outsiders was released literally 21 years before Jubilee was even born, so chances are the reference to "Stay gold, Ponyboy" is probably completely lost on her. Nate only knows it because of his more or less obsession with television and film, which he indulges far too often in the effort to not just go out and use his powers to just absolutely change the world, to force it into an image that is what he believes to be a utopian paradise.

    Her question about seeing something, though, makes him look completely confused. His brow knits together, forming a tiny wrinkle at the bridge of his nose, and his lips draw taught before he looks back at her and asks, "See... what?"

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee smiles, leaninig in and whispering in Nate's ear, and shifting her eyes to take in their surroundings. "I could've sworn I heard a spark..." She smiles, looking back at Nate. "I like it."

X-Man has posed:
    Nate leans down and in so that the much, much shorter Jubilation might actually be able to whisper in his ear. The comment, as everything about Jubilee, thus far, catches him off guard. He doesn't seem to know what to expect out of Jubilee at any given moment. Truth be told, that kind of makes his heart race a bit. It's confusing, but in an exciting kind of way. Anticipation for how she might next surprise him. Or flatter him.

    Maybe he should try turning the tables on her. As she's whispering that she likes it, Nate's hands slide to her hips, fingers curling about them and pulling her closer. As he's already stooped over to meet her, all he needs do is turn his face. In the shadows of the night, their faces are too close to even be seen, but she can smell the scent of the wilderness upon him, and the faint lingering smell of ionized air, like the aftermath of a thunderstorm. Lips touch to lips with a shaking uncertainty, though this quickly melts away in favor of steeled confidence. He doesn't know what he's doing, or why he's suddenly filled with the compulsion to kiss this strange girl that keeps upsetting his social footing with each new flattery or compliment. His tongue, too, fills her mouth like a curious serpent, languid and sensual in the way it moves to probe and explore and to caress and cajole her into following his lead. It is a longing thing, this kiss, filled with the shared peppermint taste of his saliva, and the nervous energy of youth and the new and the unexplored. It seems to last an eternity and yet, over too soon as he draws away with a look of panic in his eyes.

    "I'm... really sorry. I should not have..."

    He doesn't even wait for a response from Jubilee. The aptly named Occulus Sinister, his left eye, flares with that sparkling fire of pure golden, radiant light. Soundless and windless, his body lifts from the earth, as a wreath of psionic fire creates a ring around him, like the corona of a solar eclipse. Without a word further, Nathan Grey is taking literal flight, leaving Jubilee behind, so that he might regroup and reclaim his composure.