xp_logs | Hank, Jubilee, Tuesday night

Late Tuesday night, Jubilee finds Hank unwinding a little before bed, and tells him off for getting into a fight with Haroun. He admits it was dumb, and they have a little talk.

Jubilee noticed Hank sitting in the Sun room, although considering it was night time and there was a full moon, it was more of a moon room right now.

With Mads mention of silly men and bruising, the fact that she'd seen both Haroun and Hank looking a little worse for wear click into place. Especially since Madelyn had mentioned it in regard to chocolate making the fact that there were bruised men better.

So it really wasn't all that hard for her to figure out who that was, and decide that one Henry McCoy needed a good telling off.

Hank looked up, hearing a purposeful step, and smiled. "Well, if it isn't the chocolate fairy," he said cheerfully. It had been a long day, and the cupcake had been very much welcome. He still thought he smelled a little funny, what with the clingwrap and the paint and all. "Welcome, my dear." Then he noticed the cross look, and raised an eyebrow. "Have I done something wrong?"

"I don't know. Maybe you can tell me if you've done something wrong." Jubilee replied, looking at his knee pointedly. She'd seen him limping around this morning and had been worried that it seemed to be bothering him so much.

The fact that he'd brought it on himself by being stupidly 'male' made her want chew him out over it even more. She crossed her arms, legs apart in a challanging stance. She really was extremely cross with him.

Hank glanced down at the knee, and looked sheepish. "Oh. Uh. Well, it depends on what you would call getting into a macho-ness contest with Haroun..."

"I'd call it being a complete hypocrite, is what I'd call it. How often did ya tell me in the last couple of months to watch my temper, Hank? How many times did ya tell me 'Use your words' and caution me to watch what I was sayin' before I said it. Seems to me, you weren't doin' a hell of a lot of that, were ya?" Jubilee replied, her tone oddly calm for the fierceness of her words.

She would not lose her temper, she would be quite calm about all this while informing Hank that for someone with an IQ the size of his, he had acted like someone with an IQ of two. Gods, and people called her childish.

"I told you many times, and it was very good advice," Hank said firmly. Then he grinned ruefully. "Which I totally did not take. I suffered a rush of testosterone to the head, and did something quite foolish. It's a sad fact, my dear, that no matter how aged one gets, there will always, now and then, be moments when one is very stupid."

"Dude, want me ta let you in on a secret?" she asked, her stance becomming less confrontational. If he admitted it had been stupid, who was she to berate him anymore then she already had? She was not unaware of the irony of the fact, afterall. "Next time, walk away, hey? Saves all the wailin' about stupidity later. An that's from an expert an all."

"I should have," he admitted. "But I was feeling... somewhat insecure." He gave her a wry look. "You may not have noticed - having been somehow struck blind - but Haroun is handsomer than I am. And significantly more macho. Despite my meek demeanour, I do, occasionally, have a moment of male ego, and he threatened it."

Jubilee blinked. Hank was...jealous? Intelligent, big squishy brain the size of, well, not a planet but big squishy brain Hank was jealous. Of Haroun. Jealously of physical form was never something Jubilee had ever experienced. As much as she didn't want to sound arrogant, even if it was just in her own head, there weren't many people around that looked better then she did. "You're better at hugs." Jubilee replied, not entirely sure what to say.

Hank laughed. "Well, I have more arm." He waved her over to a seat nearby, and reached out one of those long arms to tip her chin up gently with a forefinger. "You, Jubilee, are a very lovely young lady," he said softly. "And, since I've examined your eyesight myself, I know that you probably know that you are. I... well, I've never looked normal, and now I look more like a mutant gorilla than a mutant human. I get insecure about my appearance with some frequency.
EliDyce: "

Jubilee sighed, giving Hank a direct look. "Being georgous doesn't make up for bein' a dick. Although, I'm somewhat more respectful of Alison's choice in men to hope Haroun is just that way with people he doesn't like. An since I probably ain't exactly on his top ten list of 'attitude traits that might impress', I'm thinkin' him being a complete ass to me during X-men training is either A. to get me prepared for bein' out in the field', or B. He just doesn't like me."

She'd had a point here somewhere, she was sure of it. "Anyway, you got a lot goin' for ya, Hank. So what that ya don't look like a pinup model for some trashy magazine. You got more goin' for you then that, an you need ta stop seein' 'Big, furry, ugly' and start seein' the person you really are."

"You sound like Maddie." Hank smiled. "And yes, Haroun is a dick. Frequently. Which is what started the fight - although, technically, it wasn't brawling, it was sparring. With holding back and everything." He grinned a little. "I won," he added proudly. "And I think we're going to get along better now - smacking him into a wall seems to have convinced him that I am not, after all, a spineless sissy-man."

Jubilee snorted. "Dude, you've never been a spineless sissy-man. Giving a damn about other people's feelings doesn't make you that. Although, since I'm the type to yell first an think later, your way always seems the smarter from my perspective. Maybe it's just that there needs to be somewhere in the middle? Not so much with the backing off on your side of the scale, and not so much with the yelling on my side of the scale."

Hank nodded gravely. "I do back down often... It would be so easy for me to hurt someone, if I lost control of my temper. Even with Haroun, I was holding back." He smiled ruefully. "I can put my fist right through someone if I want to - I did a test once on an impact-test model of a torso. I'd rather be thought passive than take that risk, most of the time. But I was feeling tense and insecure and Haroun got under my skin. Deliberately, I might add, although in justice I was being just as rude as he was. Yes, I can have attacks of testosterone AND be rude. Shocking, I know. I'll let the news of my imperfection sink in slowly." He winked at her teasingly.

Jubilee snickered, really unable to stay angry at him for long. Besides, it seemed for once that she was being an ear for him, rather then the other way round and it was an opportunity to help that she wasn't going to turn down. "Hank, ya think I can't hurt someone just as bad? You had to have seen the guy whose head I melted durin' the soldier thing, right? When it comes right down to it, most of us could really hurt someone if we got goin'. If you continually back down, you'll never learn where your limits are an then what happens one day when ya can't back down? When you're pushed into a corner. Ya gotta know how to control it all, ya know? Runnin' away, an that's what it is, Dude. Ain't going to help you at all. Least, that's what I've been hearin' for the last long while, an I think I'm doin' pretty good at it so far."

It wasn't that she thought Hank was a coward, more that he was a little too afraid of his own self, an that wasn't at all healthy. You had to be comfortable in your own skin, or else everything else would surely get fucked up as well.

"I have the advantage of you, though, my dear," Hank pointed out. "I have been doing this for a long time... I started when I was eighteen, too. I know where my limits are, and... well, you're not the only one who's had to kill someone in a fight." He touched her hand gently. "But here, among my friends.... my strength can't be turned off. So I back off, for fear of accidentally harming someone dear to me." He nodded. "You're right, though.... I shouldn't let control become flight." He paused and grinned
."Maddie was cross with me too, when she found out. But she forgave me."

"Well, if ya girlfriend forgives ya. Guess I can't stay angry at ya either." Jubilee replied with a smile, shoulders relaxing a little more now that she'd had her chance to yell a bit.

She'd never been in the sunroom during a full moon, the night sky really was breathtaking from here. It made her wish she had a pair of binnoculars, to better see the stars.

"Oh Brave new world." Jubilee whispered, grinning at the cliched quote as she said it.

Hank smiled. "You like the moon?" he asked softly. "I'm certain we have a telescope around someplace... perhaps I can hunt it up and we can take a better look, sometime?" Maddie was right.. Jubilee, at least, was willing to accept his help and support... and affection, too, he hoped. Spending some time with her would be fun.

Jubilee smiled, the usual closed landscape of her gaze somehow softer under moonlight, more trusting and open at this late hour then she might have been otherwise. She did indeed like the moon, and had done so since long ago when she'd spent a night on a beach having no where else to go. "It's always been there for me. And a telescope would be fantastic. Wonder if they'd let us use the flight platform."

Hank tapped the side of his nose, giving her a wink. "Teacher, remember?" he said solemnly. "I'm sure I can arrange it. I'll let you know as soon as I get my paws on a telescope." He paused, and reached out to touch her cheek lightly. "I'll be here for you, too," he promised her. "If you ever need me, you only need say the word."

Jubilee grinned and gave him a hug, leaning into it. "I know, Hank. You know I ain't backward about comin' forward if I need help these days. An, speakin' of help, how about some help with my math textbook? Finals are pretty close an I could really use some help goin' over stuff one last time."

He hugged her gently. "Absolutely, and any time. Although not tonight, because we both really need to get to sleep while it's still technically night-time." He smoothed her silky hair gently. "And I am appointed to see Charles tomorrow morning at ten-thirty. But if you'd like to come down to the medlab after lunch at any time, my shifts tend to be deadly dull and I'd be delighted to have you and your math text for company."

"Great. I'll be down then." Jubilee replied, giving him one last hug for good measure. He was right, she really did need to get some sleep, even if that had been somewhat hard since Paige had left. She didn't like the feeling of the room anymore, the silence that hadn't been there before.

Hank nodded, giving her another hug. "I'll be looking forward to it. Sleep well, my dear."

"You too, Hank." Jubilee replied, slipping quietly from the Sunroom and heading back to her room.