xp_logs | LOG: Jubilee and Manuel - Coffee and Conversation, To Go

Who: Manuel de la Rocha, Jubilation Lee
Where: Kitchen
When: Tuesday morning, before Manuel's psionics class
What Happens: They talk, and are friendly. The world fails to end.

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Jubilee rubbed at her eyes as she staggered toward the kitchen in search of the first morning coffee. She was wearing her Tweety bird Pjs and slippers to match today, as she had been in a yellow kind of mood last night. Jubilee often thought of her moods in colours, yellow being the colour for happiness and fun.

Stumbling into the kitchen, she went through the motions of making coffee, putting on the pot and getting out her cup before she noticed that there was already someone in there. She looked up and spied Manny blearily through sleep-encrusted eyes.

"Hey you" she said muzzily.

"Hey." he replied to Jubilee, his own mental engine barely puttering along. He'd got his coffee, though, and the caffeine and the sugar should be hitting him any second now. Really.

"You're very yellow today." he said with a bleary look. Clearly, _somebody_ did not have a good night. At all. "Very, very yellow."

Jubilee grinned and curled her toes in her Tweety bird slippers, making the slippers look like they were nodding. "Yup, I seriously needed the happy thoughts last night, and yellow is so my happy colour. And, you know, Tweety bird is like, happiness personified." She poured some hot water into her cup and reached for the jar of instant coffee. She would usually wait for the pot to percolate but she seriously needed the caffeine hit right now. "So, someone else who bowed to the will of the coffee Gods?" she asked, nodding towards the cup in his hand.

"Caffeine is what kick-starts my day." he admitted, grinning slightly. "And yellow is a happy color. Well, it can be. It can also be fear, or a whole bunch of other things. Depends on what kind of yellow it is." He took a sip from his coffee, and despite himself winced. "Ugh." he said .

Jubilee raised an eyebrow. "Instant?" she queried.

Moving over to the fridge, she opened the door and pulled out the milk to put in her own coffee before placing it back and closing the door.

"See, like, I always saw fear as a kinda black. Kinda like the ultimate absence. But I guess you're talkin' more of a powers kinda way, right? Must be kinda strange seein' a rainbow every day."

She vaulted up to the kitchen counter and crossed her legs Indian style as she pulled the coffee toward her. "Ahh, nothin' like the smell of really horrible instant coffee in the morning."

"Fear can be black - it all depends. Fear can be yellow. It depends on what caused it, and the person. And this coffee is really abysmal. Remind me to buy real coffee - Ethiopian sounds really good right now." He paused to take a drink of his coffee and shuddered again. "Vile stuff, this. And it's not that weird - I've been seeing the auras for so long that I'm used to them." He then paused to look at Jubilee in a slightly off-kilter way.

Jubilee nodded and then looked at him askance. "Dude, you okay? You're kinda lookin' at me a bit strange and all."

Manuel nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that. Just looking at your aura. Bad habit from wearing the dampener." He smiled charmingly. "Hey, I've got class in a little while. After that, if I'm fit company, I've got some new music back from Spain you might like. Some very nice futurepop, EBM stuff. You might like it."

Jubilee smiled, her gaze suddenly curious. "What do I look like, my aura, I mean? And definitely up for music appreciation. And stuff from Spain would be very cool to hear."

"Spain's scene is really weird. The stuff I got was mostly British imports, or American stuff. The local scene's way too happy for my tastes. And as for your aura - you sure you want to know? Most people don't. I can't promise you're gonna like it."

Jubilee shrugged. "Sure I want to know. Might seem strange but after so many sessions with Samson, I kinda know already that I ain't exactly perfect. But, you know, neither is anyone else. So, you know, like, even if there's bad stuff there, I probably already know where it's coming from, so you ain't gonna shock me or anything. I don't exactly scare easily, Dude. "

Manuel shrugged, and tilted his head slightly as he looked. "Cheerful. A good bit of fear, underneath. You've been very frightened lately, although it seems to be fading or is merging in with something else – I really can't tell. You're weirded by what I'm doing, but not so much that it's coloring you a whole lot. You're ... oh, that's funny. You think I'm hot. You should, I am. I take no offence."

Jubilee laughed suddenly at the last bit. "Well duh, I'd kind of have to be blind not to notice that you're hot." She put the coffee cup down, still grinning. "Don't let it go to your head though, boy. I think a lot of guys are hot. As for the fear. Yeah, it's gettin' better. Like I said, sessions with Samson are helping."

She paused a section, her expression suddenly guarded as she thought on something hard. "I'm not sure if this is gonna make you angry or not but like, if I don't ask, you're probably gonna see stuff in my aura anyway, right?"

She fingered the leather bracelet on her hand, twisting it this way and that before continuing. "I saw your post before, the warning and all. Do you...I mean, does how you feel often make people feel the same way? Cause like, the way you said it, seemed to me maybe you hadn't warned people before and I guess I gotta tell ya that I don't like being manipulated and if you ever use your powers against me, all deliberate like without my permission, we'll seriously have issues, kay?"

Jubilee paused, waiting for Manny to blow up at her. It was something she'd had to say, even though from his journal she knew that he might take it as yet another person casting him as the villain. She'd just have to hope he understood where she was coming from.

Manuel smiled and shrugged. "I used to manipulate everyone around me so that I could stay sane. If I focused in deeply on one person, I could block everyone else out. That's how I taught myself to shield, before the Askani showed me the right way to do it. I understand that that pisses a lot of people off, but in a choice between other people and me, I win. Sorry, but that's the way it is. I'm not gonna go insane just so people can feel good about themselves."

Jubilee nodded, an idea forming. "I can understand that but I'll make a deal with ya. If it ever gets bad, so that you feel like it’s do that to me or go insane, tell me? So that at least I'll know that it's you and not me. Cause, Dude, suddenly feeling completely different then you usually feel without any warning at all, that's some scary ass shit."

"I can try. That's all I will say for right now. When I'm in one of those moods, I'm not the world's most rational person - for obvious reasons." he admitted with a shrug. "And no it's not - it's been happening to me since I was twelve or so. It's a fact of life."

Jubilee smiled wryly. "I think I can live with that. I guess bein' an empath ain't much fun. Still, you're here now. This place has a way of helpin' you out, even if it takes time sometimes. Although, guess that's not too strange, we've all got scary powers, stuff that make normal people afraid. If we can't help each other, it'd be a pretty poor world for all of us."

"Perhaps. Perhaps. Well, I've got to take my incredibly hot-yet-scary self and go to class. Psionics today, so I'm looking forward to it. Catch up with you later, Jubilee. Catch me after class, maybe we can spin a few records, check out my new music?" he said with a grin.

Jubilee grinned back, raising her cup of coffee in salute. "I'll be there. I might even see if I can find some decent coffee and bring with."

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