Jubilee and Manny log.

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

Jubilee smoothed her hands down the front of the white satin cheongsam she was wearing, checked that the makeup she was wearing wasn't too gaudy. She'd promised Manuel that she'd dress up for this but she'd decided on a traditional Chinese dress, rather then a western one. Besides, she'd always looked stunning in a cheongsam. Bending down, she slipped on the white satin slippers that went with the dress and walked out the door. Manny had asked her to meet him in the pagoda that stood a short way from the house in the rear gardens, and she didn't want to be late.

Manuel, for his part, was dressed immaculately in a three-piece suit. He had the pagoda arranged just so, with the white lace tablecloth, the sterling silver, and everything arranged just so. As she approached in her cheongsam, Manuel smiled at her, stood, and tipped his hat towards her. "Ah, mademoiselle Lee, an absolute pleasure. Won't you come in for tea?" he asked her with a roguish grin.

Jubilee grinned, and stepped up into the pagoda. She'd found a few books on etiquette in the library a few days ago, and had promptly forgotten pretty much everything in them. "Dude, this is gorgeous." she breathed, looking around somewhat bemusedly.

Manuel ignored the lapse of protocol, moving around to pull out a chair. "Please, won't you be seated?" he asked in his best gentleman's voice - which for him, was silk-smooth and honeyed.

Jubilee sat down, waiting for Manuel to push her closer to the table. This particular bit of etiquette, she knew. This was Manny's show, his world, so she'd follow his lead.

Manuel pushed in her chair, then took his own chair easily. "A beautiful afternoon today, I think." He said, glancing at the blue cloudless sky. "I'm not sure if Miss Munroe is to be given the credit for it, but either way, it is ideal."

Jubilee nodded. "The sun feels nice, especially considering this dress ain't made for the cold."

Jubilee wasn't used to small talk, having never felt the need to beat around the bush when she talked to people. Of course, that could possibly be why most people considered her rude and direct. She liked to think she was honest. 'Small talk, small talk. What the hell do people talk about when they want to talk about nothing?' she wondered. She squared her shoulders and decided she'd give it her best. 'Once more unto the breach and all that crap.'

"So, like, how's your fencing going?"

Okay, so it wasn't exactly small talk but bugger talking about the weather, it was something she was interested in, so it'd have to do.

"Language, Miss Lee." he admonished gently. "And the fencing is progressing along fairly nicely. My form has progressed from admittedly pathetic to merely sad, and if I continue to work hard under Mister Dayspring's auspices it should reach merely poor by end-of-summer. With all this heat, you must be famished." He stood, excusing himself politely, and lifted up one of the silver warming tray covers to reveal - finger food. "Can I offer you a small something to tide you over?" he asked with a smile.

Jubilee smiled at the small cucumber sandwiches. "They look lovely, Manuel." she said, trying her best to avoid the colloquialisms she was known for. She picked one up and bit into it, finishing it off quickly. She noticed he hadn't eaten any yet and she raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to have any?"

Manuel smirked, and then took one for himself, nibbling it gently. "Yes, these are quite good. Remind me to send a glowing recommendation to the caterers. Lovely work they've done for this outing." he smiled, placing a few more samples on a plate for himself and offering Jubilee her choice of a few more delicacies. "Well, I believe the tea is just about ready. How do you prefer it?" he asked courteously.

Jubilee shook her head, smiling wryly. "Surprise me? I like, don't drink much western style tea, so totally not sure what's best."

She took some more of the small food, wondering that someone would go to the trouble of making such little morsels of food. 'No wonder English royal types look like they're about to fall over at the slightest breeze, if this is all they eat,' she thought.

Manuel shrugged. "Very well, I think I can find something that won't be completely offensive to the refined Chinese palate." he said. Moving over to the tea urns, he looked back at Jubilee. "Do you take cream or sugar in your tea?" he asked.

Jubilee smiled gratefully. "Just the cream, tea isn't meant to be sweet."

Jubilee studied Manuel as he went about making the tea, noting the suit he was wearing. He looked good, and she blushed suddenly as her thoughts went in a completely different direction then the situation demanded. 'Dude, control yourself. He looks good in a suit, lots of guys do.'

Manuel, being who and what he was, smiled where Jubilee couldn't see it. "And you look ravishing in that dress. You clean up nicely, when you put half a thought into it." he said, presenting her with a small china cup full of tea. "Try this. You might like it, considering what you're more accustomed to. It's a bolder flavor, stronger, with more crisp undertones to it. I first tried it in Vienna, at the opera house. I think it's perfectly delightful." When he passed her the tea, he let his fingers brush against hers.

Despite her vow to herself to be realistic where Manny was concerned, the hair on her arms stood up from the sudden spark that seemed to run up her arm when her fingers brushed Manny's. A small flash of fireworks popped above her head before she could get her power back under control.

Jubilee covered her confusion by taking a sip of the tea, an expression of surprised delight appearing as she said wistfully "I've never been to the opera. Wasn't exactly in my price range, and well, they don't tend to let SoCal street rats into that kinda society. What's it like?"

Manuel dutifully ignored the firework, but inside he was grinning from ear to ear. This was going to be even easier than he had suspected. "The opera is an interesting thing. I spent most of it with my eyes closed, which was truly unfortunate but as I was eight at the time I believe it can be forgiven. The music, though. The music was beautiful, in an old-fashioned sort of a way. The way the notes just glistened in the air... nothing else comes even close."

Jubilee smiled, trying to picture what Manny was speaking of. She'd always loved music, although her tastes tended to run to the more modern dance tracks than opera. Realising she'd not said anything for a few minutes, she took another sip of her tea. "This really is fantastic, Manny. Where did you learn all this?" she asked.

Manuel took a sip of his tea, and smiled at the robust flavor of it all. "I grew up with it, honestly. Alphonso made absolutely sure that I was introduced at a very early age to all the finer things the world has to offer. Opera, theatre, music, dance, fencing, finance, the list goes on. A good life, I think. Of course, that's all gone now, but mutancy has a way of doing that, does it not?" he asked bitterly.

Jubilee nodded, putting her now empty cup of tea back down on the plate. "It's why Xavier started this school, so that mutancy wouldn't mean giving up what we had and who we are."

"Yes, well, that's already happened for some of us. Now we just adapt to the opportunities we have." He said bitterly, covering his grimace with another picture-perfect sip of his tea. "Ah, you've gone empty. Would you like a refill, senorita?"

Jubilee nodded, her tone light. "It's very nice tea, Manny. Thankyou for this."

She couldn't say anything to what he'd said, any words she might have used seemed somehow wrong against the amount of bitterness she'd heard. Maybe, the only thing she could do was simply enjoy the moment and try to lighten his mood that way.

Manuel poured the tea, and used the time to rally his own moods, to get them under control. "You're quite welcome. There are many things to be said for just sitting outside on a beautiful day, wearing beautiful things and speaking of the matters of the day. I think it's relaxing."

Jubilee grinned. "You're right, it is relaxing. You know, they've got a boathouse here and a lake. What's to bet they have an actual boat as well? Wouldn't mind tryin' out some sailing some time if you're up for it. That's if we can convince Cain to let us use the boat."

Manuel let both his eyebrows rise as he thought the idea over. "A wonderful idea. We'll have to see if it could be arranged." he mused.