![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_daytripper posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsBackdated to last night. On a break from driving, Jubilee and Gabe talk for a little on the RV roof.
Jubilee had dragged a pillow from the RV and set it up against her back as she sat cross legged on the roof. They’d stopped for a moment to give them all a chance to stretch their legs and she’d taken the moment to get away and watch the stars.
She took a sip from her beer, purloined sort of from a stash she’d found in one of the fridges. She was pretty sure it was just ‘take one if you feel like it’ but sometimes she enjoyed the thought of thievery as much as the reality of it.
“You can join me, I won’t bite.”
"I'm not so sure that's true," Gabriel replied as he climbed up to join her. "I've been waiting for you to go feral for years." He had a beer of his own in one hand, and as he sat, he placed it down and replaced it with an e-cigarette he'd been keeping in his pocket. He took a drag and then followed her gaze.
Gabriel hadn't grown up in the country, but El Paso was certainly less dense than New York, and his family hadn't had to travel so far to see the stars. He hadn't missed the night sky, not exactly, but there was something refreshing about seeing it now, especially after being cooped up in vehicles for as long as they had been.
“I only bite if it’s asked for, or wanted. Or sometimes if it’s needed,” Jubilee admitted, thinking of reasons she might need to bite. There weren’t a lot of options for it, but admittedly he wasn’t wrong. “But none of those involve like, you, so you’re totes safe. You escaping the convo about Roman history?”
For some reason Roman technology had become the topic of note for the past half an hour in the RV and while Jubilee was all about esoteric knowledge, she wasn’t sure aqueducts were ever going to be on trivia questions she might have to answer.
"God, yes," he rolled his eyes. "I don't know if it makes me a philistine, but I just don't care?" Gabriel shrugged. He took out his keychain, fumbled for his bottle opener and popped the cap off. "I was never great at school, and I could never give two shits about history. And the Romans always seemed more boring than the Greeks.”
“It’s all history to me.”
Jubilee sent him an irrepressible grin before turning back to look up at the stars.
It had always been something she did any time she was far enough away from a city. There was something comforting about things that were so far away that any change would only be apparent long after she was gone.
Changes that far away would never need or want her intervention. Not that many of the short term changes did either.
“You’ve been a lot angrier lately.”
Gabriel was silent for a bit at that, sipping his beer. "Well," he said, starting to move back from his perch and toward the ladder. "I think I'll take my chances with the aqueducts."
Jubilee grabbed onto the leg of his pants in a loose grip, tugging downwards as she raised an eyebrow at his attempted exit.
“Sit the fuck down, idiot. I’m not about to grill you.”
"Now who's being angry?" Gabriel jerked his leg free of her grasp. If anyone in X-Force was going to tussle him and send him plummeting to sure injury off the side of the vehicle, it wasn't going to be Jubilee. "I don't think there's a conversation for the two of us to have up here."
“Then sit and keep me company anyway,”
She didn’t reach for him again, just turned back to the stars as she picked up her beer and took a deep drink.
He was now far more irritated than he'd been at any point during a trip where he'd been confined to enclosed spaces with co-workers whose hygiene habits he often found to be questionable. And for her, of all of them, to bring up his mood, well, he might have found that laughable if he weren't so annoyed. He turned his back to her, unsure whether to sit or not, and hit his vape.
“You understand I care about you, right?”
She took another sip of her beer, frustrated that she couldn’t ever seem to say the right thing to people despite having been trained and quite good at it during professional events. Give her sweaty rich white man and she was golden. Put in an ounce of actual personal stakes however and she was a continual source of just not having the right words for any of it.
Gabriel unsuccessfully tried to blow smoke rings as he exhaled. He was glad she couldn't see him roll his eyes. "Sure," he said, because it felt rude to say nothing, and she'd essentially forced him into civility by accusing him of being angry. There were very few people on X-Force with whom he wanted to talk about feelings, and he didn't think she was on the shortlist. "I appreciate that," he added, because he did, in a way.
“Cool, so like, think of all the awkward as fuck questions and observations as my way of trying to be present for you. I suck at it, and I don’t expect anyone to actually listen to me but like, yeah. It wasn’t meant to make you leave.”
Jubilee pushed her hand up, letting the smoke from his vape drift through her fingertips.
“Dude, you gotta pulse your throat. Kinda like a really small cough.”
"I know how to blow a smoke ring," he said, not even bothering to hide his irritation.
“Sure,” Jubilee replied, taking a drink and turning back to her stars. They’d need to leave soon, better to get all her ‘outside’ in before they did. “I’m gonna shut up now.”
Gabriel didn't say anything for a second, sipping from his beer. "Yeah," he said. "I'll leave you to that." And in an instant, he was gone.
Jubilee had dragged a pillow from the RV and set it up against her back as she sat cross legged on the roof. They’d stopped for a moment to give them all a chance to stretch their legs and she’d taken the moment to get away and watch the stars.
She took a sip from her beer, purloined sort of from a stash she’d found in one of the fridges. She was pretty sure it was just ‘take one if you feel like it’ but sometimes she enjoyed the thought of thievery as much as the reality of it.
“You can join me, I won’t bite.”
"I'm not so sure that's true," Gabriel replied as he climbed up to join her. "I've been waiting for you to go feral for years." He had a beer of his own in one hand, and as he sat, he placed it down and replaced it with an e-cigarette he'd been keeping in his pocket. He took a drag and then followed her gaze.
Gabriel hadn't grown up in the country, but El Paso was certainly less dense than New York, and his family hadn't had to travel so far to see the stars. He hadn't missed the night sky, not exactly, but there was something refreshing about seeing it now, especially after being cooped up in vehicles for as long as they had been.
“I only bite if it’s asked for, or wanted. Or sometimes if it’s needed,” Jubilee admitted, thinking of reasons she might need to bite. There weren’t a lot of options for it, but admittedly he wasn’t wrong. “But none of those involve like, you, so you’re totes safe. You escaping the convo about Roman history?”
For some reason Roman technology had become the topic of note for the past half an hour in the RV and while Jubilee was all about esoteric knowledge, she wasn’t sure aqueducts were ever going to be on trivia questions she might have to answer.
"God, yes," he rolled his eyes. "I don't know if it makes me a philistine, but I just don't care?" Gabriel shrugged. He took out his keychain, fumbled for his bottle opener and popped the cap off. "I was never great at school, and I could never give two shits about history. And the Romans always seemed more boring than the Greeks.”
“It’s all history to me.”
Jubilee sent him an irrepressible grin before turning back to look up at the stars.
It had always been something she did any time she was far enough away from a city. There was something comforting about things that were so far away that any change would only be apparent long after she was gone.
Changes that far away would never need or want her intervention. Not that many of the short term changes did either.
“You’ve been a lot angrier lately.”
Gabriel was silent for a bit at that, sipping his beer. "Well," he said, starting to move back from his perch and toward the ladder. "I think I'll take my chances with the aqueducts."
Jubilee grabbed onto the leg of his pants in a loose grip, tugging downwards as she raised an eyebrow at his attempted exit.
“Sit the fuck down, idiot. I’m not about to grill you.”
"Now who's being angry?" Gabriel jerked his leg free of her grasp. If anyone in X-Force was going to tussle him and send him plummeting to sure injury off the side of the vehicle, it wasn't going to be Jubilee. "I don't think there's a conversation for the two of us to have up here."
“Then sit and keep me company anyway,”
She didn’t reach for him again, just turned back to the stars as she picked up her beer and took a deep drink.
He was now far more irritated than he'd been at any point during a trip where he'd been confined to enclosed spaces with co-workers whose hygiene habits he often found to be questionable. And for her, of all of them, to bring up his mood, well, he might have found that laughable if he weren't so annoyed. He turned his back to her, unsure whether to sit or not, and hit his vape.
“You understand I care about you, right?”
She took another sip of her beer, frustrated that she couldn’t ever seem to say the right thing to people despite having been trained and quite good at it during professional events. Give her sweaty rich white man and she was golden. Put in an ounce of actual personal stakes however and she was a continual source of just not having the right words for any of it.
Gabriel unsuccessfully tried to blow smoke rings as he exhaled. He was glad she couldn't see him roll his eyes. "Sure," he said, because it felt rude to say nothing, and she'd essentially forced him into civility by accusing him of being angry. There were very few people on X-Force with whom he wanted to talk about feelings, and he didn't think she was on the shortlist. "I appreciate that," he added, because he did, in a way.
“Cool, so like, think of all the awkward as fuck questions and observations as my way of trying to be present for you. I suck at it, and I don’t expect anyone to actually listen to me but like, yeah. It wasn’t meant to make you leave.”
Jubilee pushed her hand up, letting the smoke from his vape drift through her fingertips.
“Dude, you gotta pulse your throat. Kinda like a really small cough.”
"I know how to blow a smoke ring," he said, not even bothering to hide his irritation.
“Sure,” Jubilee replied, taking a drink and turning back to her stars. They’d need to leave soon, better to get all her ‘outside’ in before they did. “I’m gonna shut up now.”
Gabriel didn't say anything for a second, sipping from his beer. "Yeah," he said. "I'll leave you to that." And in an instant, he was gone.
