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[x-shinobi.livejournal.com]

Backdated to June 24th, and set after this post. Shinobi meets up with Jubilee in the kitchen, and the pair chat about Sarah, maturity, and the perceptions people have regarding such.



Jubilee broke the block of dark chocolate into the pan and placed it over the boiling water in another pan, waiting for the chocolate to melt slightly before she stirred it.

It was one of the first things she'd learnt in cooking class. She might not be able to make a roast dinner yet but she could melt chocolate like a pro.

She was still confused about her reaction to Amanda's e-mail, and why she'd told her about her parents at the end. Now that she was calmer she scared that the other girl would use it against her, knowing that the moment Amanda did, she wouldn't be replying just verbally to the insult.

She stirred the chocolate, letting the repetitive motion and breathing exercises that Dr Samson had taught her bring her to a calmer state. Amanda could be a bitch at times, but something inside Jubilee told her that she wasn't that much of a bitch. Maybe if things had been different, they might have even been friends, they'd made a start a couple of weeks ago.

'Damn you Jono, why'd you have to go and play the Big damn hero?'

Her reverie was broken by a step at the door, her expression lightening when she saw Shinobi.

"Hey Obi Wan, how's it goin'?"

The scent of chocolate had been enough to draw Shinobi into the kitchen. It helped that it's where he was going in the first place. He blinked twice at the nick-name he had been assigned, considering it for a moment before deciding he approved, and he flashed a smile as he stepped the rest of the way into the kitchen.

"Remarkably well, all things considered. How are things with you, firecracker?"

Keeping his grin, Shinobi located himself a clear bit of counterspace, and hoisted himself up to sit upon it, plunking his hands into his lap. He didn't seem to be lying about how he was doing - he seemed perfectly content, relaxed, and generally at peace with the world. Something that sticks out like a sore thumb in a house like this.

Jubilee kept stirring, sloshing in a small amount of milk as the chocolate melted sufficiently.

"So-so, I guess. Is Sarah doin' okay now? I haven't really wanted to say anything on the journals in case people feel the need to tell me I don't care again. And that was seriously whiney of me, wasn't it? Do want to know Sarah's okay though."

"It's not whiney if it's the truth," Shinobi replied thoughtfully, lazily kicking his feet in a manner that would be more at home on a boy Artie's age than one of his own. After a moment spent considering that, he shrugged it off, grinning towards Jubilee.

"She's okay. She's not having any trouble cracking wise about what happened, so I take that as a sign that she's going to be just fine."

Jubilee nodded, smiling as she noticed Shinobi swinging his legs. It's something she did often when she was sitting on benches. It was almost tradition to do so. "That's good. Like, when they can be total pains in the ass to the doctors, that means they're feelin' better. And, yeah, guess it is true. You know, what really steamed me, is that since my first reaction wasn't, lets go save Sarah, I'm suddenly this huge coward and I don't care about her at all. And then they were all like, you're a rat cause you'd have told a teacher. Like we're in this weird secret club that needs to keep everythin' to ourselves. Which is such a load of crap. I don't know about any of them, but I'm not seein' the teachers as an us and them kinda thing."

Jubilee sloshed some more milk into the pan, a little more forcibly then was wise and watched some of it sizzle as it spilled over the side.

"Shit, and I'm totally getting more angry about this then I should be. I know none of them were really thinkin' straight and I know I was so damn scared they'd all be killed that I wasn't either but I got to thinkin' afterwards and I couldn't say whether what I said was because I was scared, or because I knew they'd stick around to argue it with me."

Jubilee shook her head, reaching for a cloth to wipe up the spill. "What kinda person does that make me, Obi?"

"You were worried they'd have rushed out and gotten themselves killed, which.. frankly, is true," Shinobi replied after a moment's thought, scratching his chin with a pair of fingertips. He thought for a moment, and then laughed, developing a highly amused expression.

"Your first instinct was to protect them," he explained, chuckling in amusement and raking his hands back through his hair. "Exactly like theirs was to protect Sarah. You had the same instinctual reaction, just at the people you could actually stop. Sarah was long gone, but they were right there. All you'd need to do was tie them down to a chair, or see to it that the faculty was alerted. Whatever your motives for what you said, you did it to stop them from going and getting themselves killed. I'd say it makes you a good person, firecracker."

Jubilee thought about that for a moment and then a smile like a sunbeam crossed her face. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Obi. I seriously needed to hear that. And, the hot chocolate is ready! You wanna get the packet of marshmellows out of the cupboard behind you?"

"What a silly question," Shinobi replied in a voice too serious to be serious, tutting quietly as he shifted around to hunt down the marshmellows. When he finally turned away from the cupboard, victorious, and offered her the bag, he allowed himself a smile, and bowed his head a touch in acknowledgement of her earlier thanks. "You're welcome. Everyone needs a little outside reassurance once in a while."

Jubilee took the bag and poured two cups of hot chocolate, plonking three marshmellows into each cup.

"Yeah, you're right. Especially those of us who seem to irritate people as easily as we breathe at times. So, how are you doing? Now that we've solved how I'm feelin' and all."

Shinobi plucked an extra marshmellow from the bag, and cast a shifty look around the kitchen before popping it into his mouth. When in company that'll allow it, why not humor yourself a little?

"I'm going well, for the most part," he replied, once he'd swallowed the 'food'. "I am worried, a little, but not about Sarah. I know she's fine. More worried about how the.. manner of our departure and subsequent return, let's say, may have affected our standing with the school. And my standing with the leather brigade."

Jubilee nodded and looked thoughtful. "To be honest? I think with Xavier at least, it'll depend on whether ya want ta come back. He's all about the second, third and fourth chances. Somehow I think he'd understand you were doin' what you thought needed to be done at the time. As for everyone else? Don' know, Dude. Guess it depends on whether they think you cut and run on them, ya know? If you ask me though, I think they'll warm up to ya if you wanna stay. Ya might have to work at it a bit at first, but hey, since when was life all tea parties and roses, right?"

"We more or less did," Shinobi observed with a wry grin, running a hand back through his hair. "Cut and run on them, I mean. Ah, well.. I'll worry about it when someone else brings it up. No sense mulling over it when nothing's being done about it." He nodded to himself, grinning, and made a little grabby-motion at one of the mugs, tilting his head to one side. "If I have to work on it, it'd be pleasant. I didn't have to do a bloody thing to be accepted here in the first place, for the most part, and that was.. kind of unsettling."

Jubilee laughed suddenly, handing him one of the mugs. "Dude, you were unsettled cause people gave you a chance? You have met our fearless leader right? The bald guy who does a damn good impression of Ghandi, except for the whole, not being Indian thing."

Jubilee stirred her hot chocolate, taking a sip and simply savouring the flavour while she thought.

"I remember when I first got here. I was so ready to hate everyone and everything. I didn't want to care about anyone because people have this tendancy to die on me, or turn out to be something totally different then what I first thought they would be. I think I probably drove them all insane but they never gave up on me. That was kinda nice."

Jubilee looked at Shinobi, her expression serious. "Dude, don't know what your life was like before. But, well, maybe it was a hard ass one, I'm thinkin'. Seems like the ones round here with money got given the short end of the stick with family, if ya get my drift. This place, well, could be the family you never had, if you let it be. But, s'not as like I know what ya want, hey? The real kicker 'bout this place, is they let ya choose."

"It's one thing to be told a man is as forgiving as Charles, luv, but another thing entirely to actually see it in action," Shinobi chuckled, brightening as he accepted the offered mug with a quiet 'ta'.

"Now, when I first got here, I was ready for everyone else to hate me, whatever I thought of them. But, Emma vouching for me seemed to have been enough for most people, I suppose. Or maybe Manuel was enough of a distraction that I wasn't as big a deal. Whatever the case, it turned out scads better than I ever expected it to. Even without taking Sarah into account."

He took his turn to sip at his drink, shoulders lifting in a shrug as he mulls things over. "There were one or two good things about home, but with.. two exceptions, family wasn't one of them," he confirmed, his smile a bit wry. "You're preaching to the choir, firecracker. There are people here I consider family. Granted, the bulk of people here are friends, acquaintences or co-workers, but that's only because I haven't gotten to know them as well as I have some of the others.. though I can think of a couple people I'll probably keep at arm's-length just the same, to try and keep my sanity in tact."

Jubilee nodded, her thoughts on the last e-mail she had sent Amanda. "I hear ya, there's people round here I'd sooner not talk to if I could. Not so much that I hate them, I guess, as that we just don't seem to be able to be in the same room without sayin' somethin' bad to the other. Gets kinda old after the thousandth time."

"Mostly, my problem is with people whose thought processes I just.. cannot fathom," Shinobi explained, chuckling into his drink. "For example, Piotr's mind makes mine hurt something fierce, so I try to avoid him, lest I run out of money with which to buy painkillers. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I just can't bloody understand that boy." He paused. "Man. Technically, man."

Jubilee grinned. "Well, he does kinda act like a boy sometimes. And this is comin' from the person most people 'round here think of as the poster child for juvinile behavour. Guess I've never really given them much reason to think of me in some other way though."

"Do you want them to?" Shinobi asked curiously, tilting his head as he regarded Jubilee over his mug.

Jubilee nodded. "Sometimes. It's just that I spent so much time acting a certain age cause it was safer on the streets. I mean, got me more money cause people thought it was cute, or kept me from gettin' picked up by the pimps and shit cause they thought I was too young and wasn't worth botherin' with. Too much time to train, I guess. The ones that were into the young flesh, well I had legs to run from them. So, it worked out real good for me."

Jubilee sighed and leant herself back against one of the benches. "Like, don't get me wrong. I like being able to watch cartoons with Artie and Miles and it's fun to be completely juvinile at times. But, like, I'm eighteen in December and you know, when everyone reacted the way they did when I told them my age. Made me kinda annoyed. Dude, is it so totally hard to imagine someone like me..."

Jubilee frowned, calming herself down as Samson had taught her to do. "Like, why the hell should I have to act like some serious lawyer type just to get people ta realise I can be more then just some SoCal mallrat?"

"You don't have to act like some serious lawyer," Shinobi chuckled, smiling sympathetically. "There are things you can do, though I don't know if I'm the best person to ask about it. I think my example might be a little too.. preppy, for you." He grinned, and shrugged helplessly. "If it helps, though.. you don't need to act completely juvenile, not constantly. There's nothing that says you can't act the grown-up one minute, then let yourself relax and go watch cartoons with the kids the next. I can tell you've been trying a bit, especially lately, which is good. Maybe talk to Samson, or Alison, see if they have any ideas?"

Jubilee nodded, her expression thoughtful. "Alison might help, I've been taking lessons with the violin through the summer anyhow."

Jubilee smiled. "Thanks, Shinobi. It's like, totally weird sometimes how things can just sit in the back of your mind like that. You find yourself being more tetchy then you'd like. And I totally gotta go. You gonna be okay?"

"Oh, anytime," Shinobi grinned, inclining his head. "I'm happy to help. If you ever need somebody to just shoot the breeze with like this, you can always come track me down. I figure I owe you some tea." He lifted his mug, and waggled his eyebrows. "I'll be okay, firecracker. Thank you. Now scoot, before you're late for whatever it is you need to do."