2013.04.24 - A Teachable Moment (with Ice Cream)

Upon returning home in the wee hours of the morning, after the alleyway escapade in Queens, Amanda's sole comment to Jubilee was, "Never mind. We'll talk about this tomorrow," one hand raised in a forestalling gesture before she stalked off to her own room for the night. Truthfully, at the time, she was far more preoccupied with Kurt's actions than the girl's. Thus, a few hours to sleep and refocus were a better choice than unleashing her frustration on the unsuspecting Californian.

Thus, the next day, a couple of bowls of vanilla ice cream smothered in freshly chopped fruit, she goes looking for the younger mutant to make good on her 'promise'. Finding her in the empty second floor lounge, the sorceress leans against the doorframe and extends one of the bowl in her hand. "Hey," she greets briefly, expecting to draw the girl's attention thus. "Hungry?"

While she hadn't forgotten that she's probably in the doghouse with Amanda, Jubilee is still trying to enjoy what's left of Spring Break. Thus she's in the lounge, trying to beat her current high score on /Roadrunner/. She's getting pretty into the groove now, easily evading slower cars and letting the speed continually climb into the danger zone...

Wait. Is that the smell of vanilla? Cold vanilla? And peaches and bananas? The sound of a familiar voice prompts her to thumb the Pause button and look up. "Witchy-poo?" she asks, a little uncertainly. This certainly doesn't /look/ like a scolding revving up to happen.

Ice cream and chopped fruit. She'll take her chances. "A little. That looks totally yummy. Pull up some couch?" she invites, scooting over on the loveseat to leave plenty of room for the blonde woman. And give herself a little room to be out of swatting range.

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Amanda knows. So, she shoves off the doorframe and crosses to Jubilee, handing her the cool treat. "Witchy-poo? We really gotta work on your nicknaming skills."

She slides onto the end of the couch, one leg crossing comfortably over the other as she settles into the corner and balances her remaining bowl in a hand while she retrieves the spoon from the bowl's edge.

Still, ever the practical and direct soul, Amanda doesn't waste a whole lotta time beating around the bush. "So, I was wondering: What the hell were you doing in Queens so late, last night?" There's no harshness to her tone, no anger or annoyance, but there's also no sense of nonsense, either.

Jubilee accepts the bowl with both hands. "Thanks... um, okay. Any suggestions?"

And out comes the question. Well, she did know it was coming sooner or later. "Last night? I was visiting a friend, actually. Her Dad runs one of the pubs down there, and they live above it." During her time living on the street, the California girl learned to make friends so she could keep up with what was happening on the streets, and Carly definitely qualifies. "I'd promised to help her with her hair, and... trial and error. Things ended up running long," she elaborates with a faint blush.

"Ah." Amanda doesn't have any suggestions for better nicknames that aren't just as lame (and far less amusing), so she ignores that question in favour of the girl's answer to her own. "I can see how that might happen." Fact is, though very few of the X-Men -- particularly the younger set -- know it, she's gypsy-born and thus well used to fending for herself from a fairly young age in the wide world and out on the streets. So, she's not actually as inclined as some of the others are to fault the girl for that.

What concerns her more is the fight, not the hour. "I will say, it was an impressive firework display. I'm surprised they didn't see it out on Staten. I'm glad I wasn't at street level at the time."

That /might/ be a faint sigh of relief that the girl's slight shoulder-drop is telegraphing. Then again, it might not. Jubilee takes a bite of vanilla-banana-peachy goodness and chews thoughtfully, blushing at the next question. "Sorry," she murmurs. "Kurt was kinda in the middle of that, and /way/ outnumbered, and for all I knew they /all/ had guns, so I tried to make sure they couldn't use 'em." She turns a heartfelt look on the blonde witch that mirrors the dismay she'd felt the night before. "I didn't think he'd turn around, not with that first guy still in front of him."

Amanda chuckles dryly now. "When Kurt comes back," and, as far as she's concerned, he IS coming back, "you're going to need to schedule more training sessions with him. The first rule of thumb when fighting alongside Nightcrawler is: Expect him to be where you least expect him to be and to do what you least expect him to do." A beat. "Short of murder and dismemberment, of course." Kurt's no killer.

"Did you know it was Kurt before he bamfed?"

"Not before the first time, no, but /something/ wasn't right. When's the last time you saw a skater guy wearing /loafers/?" Jubilee asks, stifling some giggles of her own. "He braced the first guy, I stepped in to cover the others just a second later, got their attention..."

Her eyes widen as she realizes what must've happened. "I got /his/ attention, too. No wonder he turned around. Oh, fudge... it was all my fault!"

Unfortunately, Amanda can't tell Jubilee otherwise. It was, in fact, the girl's fault. Still, she can reinforce the positive. "You're right about the loafers," she agrees. "That's what stood out for me, too. But, that's also why I hung back until I figured out just who he was. For all either of us knew, we could have walked into the middle of a gang rumble. The smarter thing would have been to evacuate the co-eds and gotten them out of harm's way."

Jubilee nods miserably. "I thought about that. But they were just as much in the middle as Kurt was after the first bamf," she replies, more quietly. "Without a serious distraction, I don't think we could've done much about them, especially when Kurt didn't know I was there 'til it was too late."

"Kurt didn't know either of us were there," Amanda admits. "And neither of us knew Kurt was there. Or even each other, for that matter. It's not like we went in as a team." And that does make a difference, she agrees. "Still, the priority should always be for the civilians. Most of those bangers were going to go after Loaferboy before they were going to go after the girls." Loaferboy. Kurt is so getting stuck with that nickname. "And chances were good that the girls would've trusted you faster than any one else on the scene -- just because of your age and appearance." Even without the big pink hoops and yellow jacket.

She reaches out and lays a gentle hand on Jubes' shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up about it. There are enough jerks out there that want to do that to us all on their own, without us helping them. You did what you thought was best at the time. Now, just go back and analyse it and see what you could have done differently. Better. That's what Kurt would want."

"Yeah," Jubilee admits, nodding slowly. She does reach up and clasp that hand on her shoulder, giving Amanda a tentative smile. "All I could think about was keeping those guys off Kurt. I guess I should've thought things through a little more."

She sets down her ice cream long enough to hug the urban witch. "Thanks, Amanda."

Amanda gives the girl a mild shrug and a light smile. "Anytime," she says. "Your instincts are good Jubes. You just need more practice. We should run a couple of sims in the Danger Room, sometime. Give you a few more street-level scenarios to play through, insert a couple of mystery players, just to shake things up." Her smile widens. "I know the city. I can feel it in my bones. It has its own personality. Its own moods. And, as many mutants as it holds, it holds a whole lot more plain old humans. We might as well get friendly with them, right?" In a manner of speaking, anyway.

"Practice is good," Jubilee agrees. "Just don't tell Scott I said that, or he'll have me in the DR two hours a day, every day!"

She smiles at the thought of getting to know the city, and its people. "I can't think of a better person to do /that/ with than you. Want to go shopping sometime? Or even just looking around? Ya don't have to answer now." She picks up her bowl and grins. "Not when our ice cream's trying to melt!"

Amanda laughs lightly at that. She lifts her bowl in a de facto toast. "Sounds like a plan," she agrees. It wouldn't hurt her to get to know some of the younger generation some, in any case. And, it's true. No one knows New York like she does. She picks up her spoon, now, smooshes a little fruit into the melt along the edges and indulges. "Never put off a bowl of ice cream any longer than necessary."

Because, seriously, melted ice cream soup? That's just gross.