Log: Madelyn and Jubilee on plane to San Francisco

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

When: January 6th 2005
Who: Madelyn, Jubilee
What Happens?: Jubilee has given up on trying to get some sleep on the flight to San Francisco and she and Madelyn talk a bit about her family.



Little girl
never forget her eyes
keep them alive inside
I promise to try
but it's not the same
Will she see me cry when I stumble and fall
does she hear my voice in the night when I call
wipe away all your tears, it's gonna be alright

I fought to be so strong
I guess you knew I was afraid you'd go away too

'Promise to Try' - Madonna

Jubilee punched the pillow and tried to arrange it so it'd sit properly
between the window and her seat, enough so she'd be able to sleep. She
hated flying, although she supposed it was better then the bus had been.
She glanced over at Madelyn, who appeared to be passing the time reading a
medical text.

"What'cha doin'?" she asked, giving up on sleep for the moment.

"Juggling geese," Madelyn replied absently, turning another page. Then she
realised that Jubilee had obviously given up the Quest for Sleep, and that
meant distraction was needed. Looking at the girl over the top of her
reading glasses, she raised an eyebrow. "If you ask me 'are we there, yet?'
I reserve the right to stuff you down the toilet."

A slow smile, as Jubilee uncurled her hands from her pillow to push it down
against her side. If it wasn't going to be used for its intended purpose,
then it would do as an arm rest while she talked to Madelyn.

"I'm hurt, nay, wounded. Wounded I tell you, that you'd think I'd ask such
an inane question..." Jubilee replied, her grin a practice in innocence.
"Especially since they happen to be showing the 'Time to arrival' on the
movie screen right now."

"They are? Wow, I was so busy with the whole research thing I didn't even
notice..." Ignoring Jubilee's snicker, Madelyn slid off her glasses and
returned them to their case. The case and the book went into the bag she
had shoved under the seat in front of them. "Couldn't sleep?" she asked,
knowing the answer full well.

She nodded an affirmative, looking out the window. It was dark outside, and
the clouds hid the ground from view. But from what the display had said,
they were only another hour outside San Francisco. She didn't know if she
was ready to go back, but yet here she was.

"It's been ten years, I don't even know if I'll recognise anything now."
Jubilee answered.

"You will and you won't," Madleyn said honestly. "Ten years isn't that long
in the life of a city, but it is to you, and the last time you were there,
you were just a kid. Kids see things differently. Keep that in mind, okay?"

"I hope they're nice." Jubilee said softly after a moment. "Their graves, I
mean. I don't. Well, I don't think I could stand seein' it all uncared for
and grown over. Like no one ever loved them. Don't know why I never came
before, even when I was in SoCal, I coulda come back, found a way." Her
smile was somewhat deprecating, realising the strangeness of the topic.
"Guess most people wouldn't be talkin' like that, about how they hoped they
looked nice. But Mom always hated disorder, she was a great believer in a
place for everythin' and everything in their place, ya know? I just think
she'd hate havin' weeds everywhere."

"You'd be surprised..." Madelyn smiled gently. "My Mom's parents died in a
car crash when she was around your age, before she got married, so we - Dad
and us kids - never knew them. But in a way, we did, because we grew up
with Mom's stories, and her making the same recipes Grandma made for her
when she was a kid, and playing Grandpa's jazz records... It's where Joe
got his love of music. And once a month, usually on a Sunday, we'd go out
and visit the cemetary, tidy things up, leave some flowers, tell them how
we were doing..." She patted Jubilee's hand. "The thing about families is
they're very forgiving. I think they won't mind that you didn't come back
earlier, just that you've come now."

She nodded, looking out the window again for a time. "Dad loved Christmas.
We weren't Christian or anythin' but he always used to say you didn't have
to follow any particular religion to take hold of the good ideas. An that
sometimes it was better that way, cause then you could just take what you
could believe in, rather then followin' someone else's ideals. He'd get
excited by gadgets too, anythin' that ya had to think to work out, he was
into. He never liked things that were easily solved, an he hated people who
just did whatever the crowd did. Woolly thinkin', he called it. Can't think
for 'emselves so they never questioned anythin'. So, he taught me to
question everythin' till I understood. Used ta drive my teachers nuts."

"You still do, sometimes," Madelyn teased, but gently. "It's a good thing
to have, an inquiring mind. Where else would all the new ideas come from,
if we didn't question the status quo?"

An unrepentant grin, as she pulled her hair back from her shoulders and sat
up a little more. "I've got a habit of stompin' all over the status quo an
gettin' people angry. Don't have my Dad's way, he always seemed ta be able
to make people not mind that he was tearin' up years of work with a few
questions. He was good with people, with gettin' them ta look at what he
was sayin', rather then dickin' around with bein' offended by how young he
was. He worked hard when he came here, he and Mom weren't native, ya know?
They came over, right out of college, wanted to make names for themselves.
I was too young, they never talked to me about what it was like back then.
But, it can't have been easy, not with how closed people were to things
that weren't like 'em, back then. You'd think it was only mutants who'd
ever been hated, the way some people go on right now, like it was such a
new thing. Guess it's why I never did the whole 'Oh dear, I'm a mutant,
whatever will I do?' thing. Ya gotta fight, right? Like they did, not
accept the hate but not give inta hatin' them either. It's not what my Mom
and Dad woulda wanted."

Madelyn grinned. "You know, you're sounding a bit like Charles now. Which
isn't a bad thing, mind. You just need to learn from tact with this status
quo stomping, and you'll make quite the political radical."

"It was why I came to the school. I could have stayed in LA, they
never told me I had ta come. He just, he told me there was a place if
I wanted it. He said that I could help make a better world. He
reminded me so much of Dad, always thinkin' more of people, cause
someone needed to." Jubilee replied, resting her head back against
the seat, her expression lost in reverie. " He never gave up on
anyone, don't think he had it in him too. Xavier's like that.
Sometimes I wonder if I didn't disappoint him, the stuff between
Amanda and me. I haven't talked ta him since then, I didn't want ta
hear that I had."

"You're right, Charles never gives up on anyone," Madelyn reminded her.
"The stuff with Amanda... well, I can't speak for Charles. But I can for
myself, and honestly? I wish it hadn't gone as far as it did. But the two
of you are far too good at pushing each other's buttons - maybe now you're
both aware of how far it can go, you'll be more careful in future."

"Hope so. Too many fights I've gone lookin' for lately." Jubilee replied,
pulling her pillow higher. "Think I'll try an get some sleep, Mads. Wake me
when we touch down?"

"Sure, kiddo." Madelyn didn't point out that they were only an hour away -
she knew a topic change when she saw it.