xp_logs | Jubilee and Nathan, Friday afternoon

Jubilee stops after class to get some conversational practice in with Nathan. She does rather well, even when it comes to bad jokes. Nathan actually finds himself relaxing a little, and they make a Tai chi Chaun date.

Jubilee paused as she was about to exit the classroom, watching Nathan as he slumped against his desk. "Hey, teach, you doin' okay?"

Nathan looked up, blinking as he saw that not everyone had left. "Fine, Jubilee," he said, mustering up a faint smile. Focus, he told himself. "I was going to talk to you, actually," he said with a limp wave. "The conversational practice?"

Jubilee looked concerned for a moment, but she didn't really know Nathan beyond classes and he might not welcome her grilling him about his wellbeing. "Sure, was hoping we could do some more Mandarin conversation. I know the others are just learning, so it's kinda hard to have an advanced conversation without feelin' like I'm being a total suck."

Nathan smiled again, a little more naturally, and gestured for her to sit down. "~I seem to have nothing but time,~" he said in Mandarin, trying not to sound sulky. Moira would be fine. Billie would be fine. Just because he couldn't be there didn't mean that everything wouldn't be fine.

Jubilee smiled suddenly, hearing Nathan's tone and remembering his post on the journals. "~It's hard watching people you care about leave without you, isn't it?~" Okay, so that was definitely personal but she'd never been good at formal, even with teachers.

"~I'm greedy,~" Nathan confessed with a sigh and a shrug. "~Making up for all the time we wasted...~" What the hell was he saying? He was supposed to be keeping an appropriate distance, wasn't he? That was the idea... "~Don't mind me. I'm always this morose.~"

Jubilee grinned, walking back over to one of the desks and sitting down. "~That's okay. I'm feeling happy today, so maybe I can help cheer you up? Did you see that Xavier put up something about pets? I'm pondering whether I should ask him for a puppy.~"

"~More pets around here would probably be a good thing,~" Nathan agreed. "~They're said to lower stress levels, you know.~"

Jubilee laughed suddenly. "~Oh God, I just had an image of pets as stress sinks and them exploding from the amount of stress they'd have to deal with around here. I think my cousin and Grandmother would have a complete heart attack if they saw the amount of stress people are walking around with here. Either that, or start a Tai chi Chaun class.~"

"~Do you do Tai chi Chaun?~" Nathan asked curiously, feeling himself being drawn into the conversation. "~I've always wanted to. Seems so relaxing...~"

"~Not as well as my cousin but he taught me some of the beginning combos and I've been trying to learn more out of a book since I've been back. It's not really the same as having someone in front of you to show you though. I could show you the first set of moves I learnt some time if you like?~" Jubilee could see he was coming out of his funk a little now, which was good. There'd been way, way too much stress around here lately. The fact that she still had to talk to Angelo, made her want to run and hide. She'd been right in what she said, but she could have said it better. Mandarin was easier in a way, she had to be formalised in it because she wasn't as familiar as she was with English. Stopped her from making an arse of herself.

"~I think I'd like that,~" Nathan said after a moment, then managed something that was almost a grin at her. "~Need to do something before my head explodes, I suspect.~"

Jubilee nodded. "~Definitely. Because, you know, Moira would be totally upset with you if your head exploded on. So, how am I sounding? It's been ages since I had to do a full conversation in Mandarin.~"

"~Not quite as colloquial as you could be,~" Nathan said, "~but very precise.~" He grinned suddenly. "~Why did the chicken cross the road?~"

Jubilee laughed. "~To get to the other side?~"

"~Good. Knock-knock?~"

Jubilee raised an eyebrow in surprise, she'd always thought of Nathan as the scary big guy, something he and Cain vied for in her head at times. She didn't know he could actually be playful. "~Whose there?~"

"~The interrupting cow.~" Nathan waited until Jubilee was halfway through 'The interrupting cow who?' and then mooed loudly.

Jubilee laughed loudly, shaking her head before saying in English. "Dude, that was horrible. I can't believe the joke police don't totally come in here now and arrest you."

"You've wounded me," Nathan said, mock-gravely. "Wounded me terribly."

She snickered at his artfully hurt expression. "Oh, Dude, totally don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. I am the master of that expression." She looked at her watch suddenly, remembering the time. "And like, I seriously have to go. I promised I'd meet someone and they'll completely be thinking I forgot now. Hey, how bout you meet me outside in the morning tomorrow? Tai chi Chaun is best done in the morning, so I'll show you some moves. "

"I have to head out early to New York tomorrow morning," Nathan said, after a moment. Oh, he was so looking forward to this next session with Jack, really. He forced a smile, meeting Jubilee's eyes. "But how about Sunday?"

"Dude, that's okay, Sunday is just as good. I'll see ya then."