clashing colors and philosophies [ log, narrative...me talking to myself... ]
After talking to Kat, I had to do it. I couldn't help myself.
Who: Jubilee and Magneto
Where: The kitchen
When: Saturday, June Day 3
Why: Because I like writing. Whee.



Jubilee wandered into the kitchen for her regular afternoon snack (Kudos bars and a big glass of milk) and the gum-smacking that usually accompanied the noise blaring from her head phones came to an abrupt stop. There, at the kitchen table, sat Magneto. The scary guy the X-men fought all the time. The guy that was locked up for nearly killing everyone in New York. The head honcho of the Brotherhood!

He looked up at her, raised his brow and...ignored her.

For once, Jubilee had absolutely nothing to say. She eyed him warily before going over to the fridge to grab her food. Her first instinct was to pack up everything and get the heck out of there. What if he stabbed her with a fork?! But by the time Jubes had gotten her Kudos bars she'd decided that she couldn't be scared of him. Xavier wasn't scared of him. Mr. Summers wasn't scared of him. She was certain Logan wasn't scared of him and he had metal claws! So, she squared her shoulders and took her milk and junk food over to the table.

She sat across from him. He looked at her.

Jubilee looked up at him, raised her brow and...ignored him back. She chewed extra loud though, just to be annoying.

*

After a few minutes, Erik set down his newspaper. The crunching had to stop. He was really tempted to stab a fork through the young girl's head, but thankfully he had more control than that. Erik sipped his tea, counted to ten, and set his tea down again. If Xavier could deal with a school full of these little cretins, then he could deal with one. His patience wasn't that thin, was it?

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Perhaps it was.

"Do you eat like this all the time or are you afflicted with some psychological disease that makes you this annoying?" he asked, his voice dry.

The girl looked up again and Erik was amused by the ill-concealed surprise in her eyes. They were blue, he noticed. How odd for someone of Chinese decent.

"I'm sorry, am I annoying you? That's like too bad. School rules say I have to eat in the kitchen, you know," she replied. Her voice was flippant, but held steady by deceptive bravery. So he'd scared her. Good.

"Ah yes, the sacred school rules. Perhaps Charles should teach you something equally important: manners. They become useful in dealing with people older and more dangerous than you."

"Yeah, whatever. Just because you can float a plane and stuff, doesn't mean you can creep me out." As if to prove her point, Jubilee crunched extra loud.

Erik narrowed his eyes. He didn't give the people under him that much of a leash in dealing with him, he wouldn't give one to her either. "Unless you want a pot wrapped around your head, I advise you eat like a proper young woman."

The crunching stopped. Erik looked back down at his newspaper, relaxing a little bit. He sipped his tea.

"So...when you're not like destroying something, is this what you do?" she asked.

It appeared that the quiet could only be enjoyed in small intervals around this child. He glared, although it was watered down from what he might have given to someone like Toad. There was no point in his intimidation tactics getting back to Charles.

*

Jubilee fought between wanting to laugh and hide when Magneto glared at her. She set her glass of milk down to fidget beneath the table.

"When I'm not fighting a growing war or dealing with fools, yes I enjoy reading," he responded. "Perhaps you should attempt it sometime. It's good for you."

She got the distinct feeling 'fools' was directed at her. So she glared back. The glaring contest went on for a few moments before she shrugged. "I do read stuff, thank-you-very-much."

"Oh really?" He sounded interested, but one look at his face told her he was getting ready to fire an Illiad-sized, politician-crafted insult at her. "What might you be reading now?"

"Vogue, Seventeen, People and we're reading A Seperate Peace in English class," Jubilee replied. She waited for his response. And waited.

"How far?"

"How far what?"

"Have you gotten in the book?" Magneto asked, obviously annoyed again.

"Page ten. I get distracted," Jubilee said.

Then came the curt reply. "That's not hard to imagine."

"Well it's pretty easy to do what with the news, mean people moving themselves into my home, and oh, can't forget attacks on the school. Yeah, that's a big one," she snapped back. There was that cool, scary look again but it was wicked strong. Jubilee shrunk in her chair.

"If it'd been an attack, child, you wouldn't have been left alive," Magneto said. Even his voice was dangerous. It was nothing like when Cyke was mad at her. Jubes got the feeling this guy really would've wrapped a pot around her head.

*

There were another few blissful moments of silence. Erik read his newspaper until he heard her shuffling in her seat. He didn't look up this time. "What is it?" he asked. A hand went to rub his temple. Perhaps it'd been a good thing to hole himself in his room. Was this child the reason Charles didn't wander about the halls?

"What was it then?" she asked, sounding far more mature than she had in the past fifteen minutes. "Why would you hurt kids and destroy everything like that if it wasn't just an attack?"

Erik's jaw clenched. One of the reasons he'd been so angry about how that particular mission went was the casualties his Brotherhood had left behind. While Erik was largely unapologetic for his actions in the past, the injuries the children of the school had sustained were unforgivable. Not just because it went against the goal of the Brotherhood, but because it had messed up the message he wanted to send completely. Xavier's people didn't focus on their security or their philosophies after the entire ordeal was over - they focused on what had been done to their children.

"It was an attempt to prove your precious staff is far too trustworthy of the human world and its leaders. They were completely unprepared for an attack. Look at how poorly you defended yourselves and how badly you lost. My Brotherhood wasn't even trying," he said. He raised his eyes to look at her. Erik hadn't thought her capable of seriousness.

"So you attacked us because we weren't living like you," the girl said. She frowned. "Isn't that exactly like that horrible human world you're fighting against?"

"No, it isn't," he said, dismissing that idea. It'd been nothing but a warning. She was still viewing it as something more.

"Shouldn't we be allowed to like, live however we want? So what if we act like a school, that's what we're like supposed to be. Shouldn't mutants be allowed to go to school like normal people?"

"Mutants aren't 'normal people'. It's unrealistic to live as if nothing is going to happen," Erik replied. This was starting to sound very much like his discussions with Charles.

"But we are. My parents weren't mutants. My friends weren't mutants before I came here. I'm not better than them, I can still die. We're different just like everyone else is different. So why shouldn't I get to live like everyone else?"

Erik raised his brow again. He felt there was more to that than what she was asking him. "Because those humans you wish to compare with hate you, my dear. They always will. No amount of talking is going to change the fact you were born better. We have to defend our own kind."

*

During her bout of silence (which happened far to much around him for her liking), Magneto didn't look down at his paper this time. Instead he watched her, as if he were considering something. It was unnerving. Jubilee actually wanted him to start ignoring her again.

"People hate African-Americans and gay people, but they're not blowing things up. I think you're wrong, but you already know that. I believe in the Prof and Mr. Summers," Jubilee said, finally.

"I think you're foolish, idealistic and young," he sneered. For some reason it didn't seem so snarky this time.

There was another round of silence. Jubilee sipped her milk. Magneto sipped his tea. Feet and paper were shuffled.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Jubilee."

"What's your real name?"

"Dude. What kind of question is that?"

He glared. She glared. He glared better. She drank her milk really fast before responding, "Jubilation Lee."

"I didn't mean your full name," he sighed.

He looked like he wanted to hit her with the stupid-stick right then. But honestly, what was he asking?! Jubilee pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Then what the heck did you mean?"

"What do they call you when you're using your powers?" Magneto asked, as if he were talking to a two year old.

"Ju-bi-lee. Geez. What else would they call me?"

Jubilee blinked. Did Magneto just twitch? Nah. She held up her hand and let a few sparks flicker off her fingertips. "I call them pafs...because that's what they sound like. They look like they're fireworks, but they're not. Like duh. But I can't remember what Doc McCoy said when he explained them. Something about plasma."

"How very impressive," he said, in a not-so-nice way.

"Well you wouldn't think so," Jubilee muttered. What a jerk. She got up from the table. She didn't have to take this kind of stuff! She picked up her glass and wrappers, before heading for the door. Turning around a paf went out from her finger and shot over to drop in his empty tea cup. "Nice talking to you or whatever."

*

She left the room and the paf still sat there, flickering brilliantly against the porcelain. Erik got up and stepped away, glancing briefly at the door. Manipulating a pot, he covered the tea cup as he rolled the paper and set it on the counter. He was on his way out as well when the pot was blown clear off the table revealing the charred remains of his tea. As illiterate and rude as Jubilation Lee was, she had been practicing. It had Erik vaguely interested, if only because she wasn't what she seemed.

The kitchen was left empty again. He had files to read and plots to weave before the next 'civil' meeting to be had with Xavier's babes.