Wanda and Jubilee, set before the big blow up in the Med-Lab

[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Wanda and Jubilee happen to run into each other in the hallway. They talk but unfortunately it soon slides into the subject of healing. Wanda shows she has a sharp tongue and Jubilee gets defensive. It's hard when someone you don't know is right about you.



Wanda stretched and heaved, managing to balance the tool kit on her shoulder. It was rather large but she and Forge had needed a few items that weren't found in the garage. And her other arm was full of sheet-metal, just in case. The start of the training had left her tried but in a good mood, overall, and fixing up the jeep--or starting too--would sooth whatever irritants were left over from Bella interrupting her meditation session.

Jubilee was headed toward the outside of the building, wanting to get out into the sunlight. She'd spent way too much time indoors over the past couple of weeks, which might explain why her mood had been so bad lately. Jubilee + indoors for a lot of time = cranky. She noticed Wanda headed in the opposite direction and by what she was carrying, Jubilee supposed she was headed for the garage. She hadn't talked to the older woman before.

"Hey, Wanda." she said in way of greeting.

Stopping to glance over her shoulder, she smiled slightly. "...Jubilee." The night at the club hadn't been one much for introductions and most of the students had scampered away when they discovered there had been a chaperone in their midst. Not to mention the rest. But Wanda's other information about the girl, from the journal posts, did not color her in a good light in her eyes. Then again, she should be more charitable. "You seem to be in a rush to get somewhere?"

"Outside." Jubilee said with a grin. "Gettin' my cranky on bein' inside so much, thought I'd treat it with a good dose of sunlight. Course, the arm doesn't help with the cranky but s'got awhile to go before it's healed."

Jubilee took her time studying Wanda, this was the first chance she'd gotten to get a good look at her since she'd arrived. Taller then her, enough so that Jubilee would have to tilt her head to look her in the eye if they were standing close together. Obviously strong by the looks of it, otherwise she wouldn't be able to carrying all the gear she currently had weighing down her arms. Hmm, what had the others said her power was? Jubilee couldn't remember.

The eyebrows went up slightly. She knew when she was being studied and she let Jubilee have her few minutes before responding. "Outside is good, even if the temperature is dropping faster these days. You might want a heavier jacket--most Americans do not respond well to the biting wind." And the way she had said 'healed'. Not 'healing', which was different. "Ah, you are waiting on Amanda's healing spells?"

"Meetin' her in the Medlab later tonight. Thought it might be better we see each other on neutral ground. Wouldn't want anyone to accuse me of givin' her grief." she replied, shrugging.

She'd take Wanda's advice on the jacket though. Even though she'd been at the school for a few years now, she still wasn't used to the colder winters. California had always been rather warm, even in winter. At least, where she'd been had been warm.

"You are very lucky," she said, a little dryly, as she shifted the tool box. It was starting to dig into her shoulder. "The woman who healed us during my childhood would simply had laughed if we wanted to get something as simple as stitches removed by magical means."

Jubilee's gaze turned hard and cold, her fist clenching softly as she controlled the urge to snap at the older woman. She prided herself on her ability to endure, considering until she'd entered the school there'd been little choice in the matter. Street kids didn't often have the money for doctors. Although, considering she'd never been badly injured to the point of needing stitches till she'd entered the school, this was probably a moot point.

"I'm sure your healer was a right bitch then to refuse healing to someone that needed it." Jubilee replied, not completely removing the anger from her voice.

"No, she was a wise woman who knew that a few little bumps and bruises would not deter us from our work." Shrugging the tool box off, she let it slide to the floor. "Work, Jubilation, not play. Not dance the night away. There was always the danger of the adults getting seriously injured on the road and working. You have stitches, it is not exactly a major medical disaster, now is it?"

Her gaze sharpened slightly. "I cannot imagine the amount of whining you would be producing if Amanda was called away or _could not_ heal you. Healing naturally of simple wounds. Interesting to see that it has become such a concept among you children."

"Funny, I'd have thought this place safe enough that none of us had to worry about people getting major injuries. But hey, far be it for me to correct an adult. Guess this place is turning into a war zone, so might as well go with the flow, right? This ain't the road, lady." Jubilee replied, her hackles rising.

"Funny. It seems to me that we currently have two major injuries to contend with. Adults who were injured in the line of duty, one X-Man and the other teaching. Or did that simply escape your notice because of your stitches? And no, this is not the road. But the simple, intelligence lessons that it, and the street, can teach go beyond the initial lessons." Wanda snorted, disgust in her face. "I do not know Amanda very well but I know her kind. She may have a mutant ability helping her magical powers but she is young and her endurance only stretched so far. So forgive me if I do not agree with you that simple stitches, barely a hardship, get priority over Alison and Nathan."

Jubilee shrugged. "She's the one that e-mailed me, tellin' me she could heal me. Why the hell would she say she could if she couldn't?"

Unable to help herself, she rolled her eyes, begging for God to strike the child with a bolt of intelligence. Any second now. Please? "~Children, pah. Playing at things they will never understand.~" Switching back to English, she continued, "You do not know much about magic, do you? Well, that much is evident, surely, from your previous actions. Mages are interesting people, Jubilation. They push themselves in ways we will never understand. Flip side of the coin now. She offered, you could have refused and seen her magic go to others. Or is THAT how American children are being raised? Yourself first, your friends after that?"

"Where do you get off havin' any kind of opinion on me? You don't know me, fuck, this is the first time you've even talked to me. And to be honest, I don't think I want to continue this conversation, it's obviously not going to go anywhere." Jubilee replied, turning and walking back the way she'd come.

She didn't mention that Wanda's words had hit home, and that she was beginning to think that maybe something was wrong. She hadn't thought about the others, just wanted to be healed so she wouldn't have to be careful of her arm while dancing. Was she really being selfish? She had a worried feeling and she didn't like it one little bit.

Shaking her head, Wanda bent down and hoisted the toolkit again. There was no guilt in arguing with Jubilee--student or injured did not equate to not being able to hold your own in an argument. There had been that spark of understanding, perhaps, when she had left.

"~I do not know you, child, and that is perhaps what you need. The words of a stranger sometimes hit home harder than that of a friend.~"