Hank and Jubilee log

[x-jubilee.livejournal.com]

When: Friday 15th April 2005 Time: 3:30pm
Who: Hank, Jubilee
What Happens: Jubilee gets an A and goes to share it with Hank.



Running feet, sounded surprisingly loud in the quiet of the Medlab hallway as Jubilee ran toward Hank's office, a piece of paper clutched in her hand. "Hank! Where are you?" she called out, too excited to care about how much noise she was making. "Dude, you'll never guess the news I just got!"

Hank looked up, blinking, and smiled as Jubilee bounced into his office. "You won the lottery? You've been selected as a contestant on 'Survivor'?" he guessed.

Jubilee grinned, small sparks arcing between her fingers as she handed Hank the piece of paper. "No. This is like, a thousand times better. I got an A! Like, in math. An honest to goodness A! I haven't done that in so long and you helped so much and DUDE! An A!"

"Congratulations!" He beamed. "Jubilee, that's wonderful, and I'm very proud of you. This calls for celebratory treats!" He rummaged around in a desk drawer. "And by a fortunate coincidence, I happen to have gummi worms. Which can be made into numbers before being devoured." He opened the bag and offered it to her.

Jubilee changed tracks, slowly amping down the sheer excitement she'd felt at getting the A and reached for the candy. She grinned at Hank and pulled out a purple gummi worm, slowly moving it into the shape of a number nine before devouring it. "You know, I was totally goin' to ask you about somethin' too. I heard you do origami, an well, it's been somethin' I've been doin' for awhile. Even made Cain a red bull as an apology gift once. Although, never really checked whether he kept it or not. Wondered if maybe you'd swap notes?"

He smiled at her. "But of course! I haven't done it for quite a while, but when I got bored on night shifts, it seemed like a good way to pass the time. Although of course my creations are doomed to be larger than yours." He took her free hand, holding it up against his. Her small hand didn't even span his palm, let alone his massive fingers. "It's hard to do the smallest folds with these hands."

Jubilee smiled at the sight of her hand almost lost in Hank's bigger one. "That's okay, we could do adult ones and mine could be the baby ones."

He curled his big hand around her little one, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting go. "That would be fun," he agreed. He looked around, and spotted the lavender dove he'd made for Betsy, tucked away safely on a shelf. He took it down to show Jubilee, holding it very gently. He hoped she came back for it sometime. "This is about as small as I can go."

Jubilee took it gently, holding it cradled in her hand. It was big but there was still a delicateness about it that origami always had. It was one of the reasons Jubilee had started it up. The need for concentration and a delicate touch had helped train her to patience and subtly of a sort. It was a pity that she hadn't yet been able to transfer that over into real life. Maybe it was something the X-men training would give her, that link between what she knew and what she needed to know.

"It's beautiful." she said, placing it down on the table.

She pulled a piece of paper from a pad, it wasn't origami paper but it'd do for now. Folding deftly, she soon held out a small dragon shape to Hank.

Hank took it, sitting it on his palm and admiring it. "This is absolutely charming," he said, smiling at her. "May I keep it? And I really must return the favour." He took a sheet of the notepaper, and a few moments sufficed to produce a tiny - for him - kitten. Jubilee had definite kittenish qualities - her size, her tendency to either bite or purr almost at random...

"Oh wow. It's beautiful, dude." Jubilee replied as she took the kitten and examined it delicately before putting it down on the table next to the Dragon she'd made.

She looked at the two creations for a second, biting her lip as she struggled with something. "Hank, the A I got. Sorta proves I'm not an idiot, right?"

Hank blinked. "My dear, you are most assuredly not an idiot," he said gently. "Yes, you got very behind in your years without formal schooling, but you're certainly not stupid." He smiled at her. "The speed with which you're catching up just proves my point."

Jubilee nodded, chewing on her lip some more. It wasn't something she liked to admit, that people could get to her. She usually tried for something akin to a blank canvas. Something that seemed impervious to criticism of any kind. "Just wondered there for awhile. With everyone tellin' me how much of an idiot I was, an not trustin' me at all. An I know I didn't exactly prove I was anythin' but dumb with the stuff I did but they seemed so sure of what they were sayin'. It's kinda nice ta know that it was just stupid choices, rather then there bein' somethin' wrong in the brain sense. So, I can learn, ya know? Means I can get better, an that they'll see I'm not an idiot an then maybe they'll trust me again."

"Jubilee..." Hank reached out to give her a quick, gentle hug, wanting to offer reassurance. "I, for one, have never thought you were an idiot. Thoughtless, sometimes, certainly, and occasionally showing poor judgement... but never stupid. And the others are traditional traits of youth, which you will outgrow in time." The poor judgment had been a bit more than occasional, in spots, but no point in making an issue of it now. And he hated to see her unhappy. "And you've been doing much, much better, of late. I've been proud of you for working so hard at it."

"I have, haven't I. Doc Sampson keeps tellin' me I'm makin' progress, an I think I'm startin' to believe him myself after this. Think my folks would've been proud of me."

Jubilee picked up her kitten origami and smiled at Hank, reaching out to hug him with one arm. "I gotta go, got classes still an I just needed ta tell you about the math stuff. You on late shift tonight? I could come keep ya company, gotta keep readin' this x-men stuff and it's borin' sometimes just sittin' in the library."

"Anytime. Night shifts get just as boring." Hank grinned. "If you like, I'll help you with the reading - I find information sticks in the mind better if fastened in with the glue of a funny anecdote or two. I know a great many, about nearly all the X-folks. And I'll bring the origami paper. Breaks are important, after all."

"It's a deal!" Jubilee said before giving him one final hug and rushing out the door.