Late Night Television: Amanda & Jubilee Log

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

This is set last week, the first night Amanda spends in the Mansion.



Jubilee eyed the television remote with suspicion, as she placed her bowl of fresh made popcorn on the small end table beside the sofa. The loungeroom was fairly big, with furniture scattered around the place strategically. She wondered whether the professor had an interior decorator go over the place or if it was simply that rich people had a knack for floor planning. Whichever it was, the result was functional yet elegant. In the middle of all this old world charm was the most important thing in the room, giver of life, mother of cable programming goodness... The big screen television.

Jubilee plomped down on the overstuffed sofa and pouted. She wanted to watch television but to do that; she'd need to either touch the remote or the television. After frying her alarm clock, she wasn't sure if she wanted to chance another accident. She wasn't worried about using her computer to get onto the journal system, as the computer was hers and any damage to it would only inconvenience her. Destroying a big screen television was another matter entirely.

She was still pondering solutions to problem when Amanda walked in the door.

"Hey," the Brit said, her tone not overly friendly, but not exactly rude either. It was her standard 'I don't know you and I'm going to watch you until I do' voice. "You must be Jubilee."

"Yo." Jubilee replied absentmindedly, still focused on the remote.

After a moment, Jubilee, realising she might be being a bit rude, looked up and smiled. "Amanda, right? Welcome to the jungle, by the by. If I can figure out how to touch the remote without blowing it up, I may even be able to turn the TV on. There's a Firefly marathon on tonight that I really want to catch."

Amanda slide bonelessly into one of the chairs set up in front of the television and studied the other girl. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of her. She was dressed in basic jeans and a t-shirt but the Day-Glo yellow coat she wore seemed to scream 'I dressed myself in the dark this morning.'

Mind you, since Amanda was still wearing almost every item of clothing she owned (and most of them were black), she wasn't about to comment on the clothing sense of her fellow residents. At least not until she had gotten to know them a bit better. And since she was pleasantly full of food and no-one had tried to rip her off or beat her up yet, she decided that the getting to know them better should probably start sooner rather than later.

"Let me guess," she said in a slightly less curt tone than the one she'd used before. "Bizarre mutant power that gives you the ability to explode TV remotes?"

"Not exactly, but that's kinda what I've got happening right now. Power's gone all kablooey 'cause I got the flu." Jubilee looked at the newcomer with kitten eyes. "But you can touch electronic gizmos, right? I got popcorn."

Amanda heaved a dramatic sigh. "But it's all the way over there on the coffee table," she complained, amused by the way Jubilee's face fell. "Good thing I don't have to get up, isn't it?" she added. She gestured, and the remote rose unsteadily from the table and floated wobbily to her. "Bloody metal," she muttered under her breath, concentrating harder; metals and electronics were always difficult for her to use her magic on. Solid metal was just about impossible. Finally the remote made its reluctant way to her waiting hand and she peered at it. "Think you're going t' have to teach me how to drive this thing," she said at last.

Jubilee nodded and slid over to where she could get a good look at the remote.

"If you push the red button, it'll turn the TV on, and then you've just got to use the buttons with channel above them to scroll through the channels. We want Sci-Fi channel."

Amanda nodded and pushed the red button, turning on the television as Jubilee hooked her bowl of popcorn and placed it between them.

"By the way, if you hadn't already guessed, I'm the completely tactless one of the group. Blazing curiosity and all that. So, I know you're a Brit, cause of the accent and all that but what I don't know is why you're here. Family connection, or simply a misfit like the rest of us?"

"A bit of both, you could say," Amanda said, grabbing an enormous handful of popcorn. "Pete's sister is an ol' friend of the family, shall we say, and she didn't know what else to do with me so she dumped me on Pete. Not literally," she added with a lascivious grin. "Not that I'd mind, but he'd put me in my place right smart if I tried anything." With that she stuffed most of the popcorn in her mouth and chewed happily.

"No accountin' for taste, I guess." Jubilee said with a cheeky grin.

"Wot? Come on, you can't tell me you ain't thought about it."

Jubilee leaned back and pulled several of the sofa cushion. "Maybe. He is kinda cute in a scruffy way… I guess."

Amanda raised a disbelieving eyebrow and Jubilee suddenly laughed and threw a cushion at her. "Never admit that you think a guy is cute. People start thinkin' you're some kind of wimpy pushover, or somethin'"

"I never said anything about cute. I said I wouldn't mind being dumped on him. Two different things entirely. You'll realise when you're older that sex ain't always about thinkin' someone's 'cute'," Amanda said loftily. Jubilee pulled a face at her.

"You can't be more'n a couple of years older'n me, O Wise Woman," she retorted. "And who was talking about sex?"

"Not you, obviously, kid." Amanda snagged some more popcorn. "So what's this 'Firefly' thing we're watching?"

Jubilee nodded towards the television. "It's a bit hard to explain. Kinda a western, only in space but way cooler then that sounds. I caught one or two episodes when it was first aired but they cancelled it before I could get really into it. When I saw they were doing a marathon of the full run, thought I'd catch it."

The theme tune for "Firefly" came on and Jubilee settled back to watch, munching on some more popcorn.

"By the way, how do you feel about music and clubs? Found an incredibly cool place in town but it's kinda boring going by yourself." Jubilee said.

"Club? Now we're on the same wavelength." Amanda perked up. "I was into raves a bit in Brighton - what sort of music does this place have?"

"Your basic dance mix, but the place is in an old church, so it's kinda cool," said Jubilee. "Raves?"

"Big impromptu dance parties, usually in an abandoned warehouse or on the beach," explain Amanda. She was intrigued by the mixture of naivete and street smart attitude this girl was showing. And perhaps she wasn't as young as she looked or sounded... "Illegal, most of the time, but still bloody brilliant fun. The beach ones were best since there weren't any cover charge an' I didn't have to go invisible to get in. Invisibility spell's a bastard to do."

"You should meet some of the people 'round here. Kitty can walk through walls like they aren't there. What is your mutant power, anyhow? You a reality manipulator?"
Jubilee grinned. "He is kinda forceful, ain't he? Okay, so you're a mage and you've been dumped on Pete cause his sister couldn't think what to do with you. Why is it that I think there's more to the story then that? Did I mention that I'm incredibly nosy, too?"

Amanda raised an eyebrow, she wasn't sure where this was going but she didn't like the tone Jubilee was suddenly taking. Especially considering they'd only just met. Jubilee noticed the sudden scrowl.

"'Course, you don't have to answer me, and no hard feelin's if you don't, I'm not the type to deny people their secrets and all. I guess the thing is this. People round here, they're kinda different. Xavier, he gives people chances, no matter who they are. Heck, he took me in, not too smart, considering I'm just a street rat. First night I was here, was halfway out the door with the best silver before I saw him sitting there, lookin' at me."

"Look..." Amanda began.

"Wait, let me finish, okay? You're gonna get a lot of speeches from people, probably. Tellin' you what this place is, stuff like that. But you and me, we're not really like them."

"We aren't are we?" Amanda didn't bother to keep the sneer out of her
voice, but Jubilee, caught up in what she was saying, didn't notice. Or
chose not to.

"Nah, 'cause we know what it's like out there. I was homeless too, before I
came here - spent a while living in the mall. Dodging security, scrounging
corndogs and crap like that to eat... the rest of 'em don't really
appreciate the whole street kid thing, ya know? Not like we do."

"A mall," Amanda said flatly. "You lived in a mall."

"Yeah, I know, pretty harsh. But I managed."

"Let me tell you about 'harsh', kid. It ain't living in a fucking mall.
It's living out there on the street, where there's no soddin' air
conditioning an' heating an' where you aren't just dodging the filth,
you're trying to avoid gettin' beaten up for your blanket or your sleeping
place or your food, or just for the sheer hell of it. It's havin' pimps
offering you a place to sleep in return for whorin' yourself to every cunt
with money, an' actually _considering_ it as a possibility 'cause you're so
cold an' wet an' hungry you'd sell your mother for a fag." Jubilee tried to
say something, but was drowned out by Amanda's harsh, bitter words. "It's
watching yer best mate die in a filth-ridden alley with a needle in her arm
'cause she actually got a dose with more than baking powder in it. It's
havin' to learn to fight to protect yerself from some pervert who thinks
that since you're in his squat he has the right t' fuck you. It's about
doin' anythin', and I mean _anythin'_ t' survive." With that she stood up,
meeting Jubilee's eyes for the first time since she'd walked into the room.
But rather than angry, her expression was hard - cold and contemptuous.
"An' when you've done that, little girl, then we can talk about how 'we're'
different from them".

She left before Jubilee could respond.