Life Bites (the_hotness) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-11-04 14:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, j'onn j'onzz (martian manhunter), jubilation lee (jubilee) |
Give you some cash?
Who: John and Jubilee
Where: New York
What: John finds Jubilee
When: 1922?
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for Flapper Jubilee. I repeat. Flapper Jubilee
Status complete
John finally tracked down Jubilee in 1922. It had taken some time since their last encounter, which had been before the chaos of the just completed World War One. He had been worried about her and searched for her, but he had not been successful in finding her, until now. One of his identities, a barmaid named Kelly Summers, had spotted her, and John had been glad of it. Now, under his real name and form, but invisible, he went looking for her.
He wanted to be sure she was okay. He wanted to be sure she was not hurt like so many others had been in that great violence that had torn the world. His company and his many lives, created around the world during his times alone, helped him watch over those he cared about, new and old.
Jubilee had kept herself busy. As years and decades waxed and waned, so too did her mood, attitude and behavior. She'd spent the Civil War feeding on Confederate officers. The 1870s in Paris had been wild. The 1890s in China had been spent subdued and quiet. By the time she'd arrived in London and boarded the Titanic, she was swinging back towards wild child.
She disappeared during the war, only surfacing in 1922 in New York, dressed to the nines like a flapper girl and living it up. Whatever happened to her during that time period, she wasn't keen to talk about.
It was after midnight, but the party in the speakeasy was just getting started. She was sitting at a bar, sipping a red liquid from a martini glass and trying to decide if she wanted something more.
“Hello, Jubilee.” Their meeting had grown fewer over the years, but he still held her in some esteem, even being worried about her dietary actions. Today, he faded out of the crowd, literally, and into sensory range. He stepped to her side and ordered a whiskey neat, his John Jones identity firmly in place. “Long time, no see.” He smiled to her, glad to see her looking well.
She jumped. God, she’d forgotten how he could fool her senses. Now she knew how Logan felt around certain people. She gave him a grin. “How you doin’ baby? Gimme some cash.” She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
John blinked, then snerked. “Give you some cash?” He pulled out some, anyway, to hand over, but he shook his head, even as he blinked and smiled sort of. “Are you enjoying yourself?” Now he was very curious. She seemed to have dived into the world and time they were in.
She waved her hand. “Cash is a kiss! Get with the lingo, you darb! So is everything Jake?” Leave it to Jubilee to completely assimilate. She leaned back, crossing her legs, her short skirt riding up on her thigh. She’d even gotten a bob cut in the classic flapper style. “Ab-so-lute-ly, I’m havin’ fun!”
John chuckled. “I see.” And he smirked, then, and grabbed her by the jacket, pulling her close and kissing her, just because. Then letting go. He nodded. “Everything’s Jake, as you say. I’ve been enjoying myself, save being a little worried about you. But seeing you happy, is good.” he nodded.
John smiled as he poked her lightly. “You seem very happy. And I’m glad.”
“Some times it’s good, sometimes it’s quiet. I like to keep low. Don't wanna get pinched or nothing." She nodded her head at him. "Especially with what I gotta do to survive. But...well I stayed on the down low for awhile. What with the war an' all. But here I am, and here are you! I'm real touched!"
“You are my friend. Of course, I’m here.” And he smiled to her, gripping one of her hands, as his mind touched hers. Would a steady supply of willing blood help? I know some people who believe, and who want the experience. They know the risks and they hope for enjoying it. He glanced around. “Seems like a nice place.”
It’ll help, at least for awhile. Part of her liked the hunt, but she tended to keep that part of herself locked away. Some vague part of her remembered some things about coming years, where she might have to unleash the monster.
“It’s pretty swell.”
“I’m just glad to see you healthy and happy. I worried about you.” He smiled faintly. He had obviously been foolish to do so. She seemed as strong as ever, maybe stronger. He settled back and nodded. “What have you been up to?”
“Partying. I'm loving getting all dolled up and coming out and around." She waved a hand around. "Haven't had this good a time since I was in Paris! Things were a drag for awhile."
“Good for you, then.” He smiled softly. “I’m glad you’re having fun.” He nodded. “Things have been sort of a drag all over the world, it seems, and they seem to be getting more drag-ey, slowly, again.” He could see the darker times coming.
“We gotta few years though, so I’m gonna enjoy ‘em. Got my money in good places an’ just gotta make sure that dough grows.” And to not panic when everything crashed for awhile.
“Good. And make sure to not be in Europe past 1935.” NAZIs were a nasty strain of work and he didn’t want her to get caught in that. It would be bad.
“I’m going to China. Somethin’ there I gotta do. Got some capers planned.” she replied, but didn’t elaborate. Just liked she’d tried to get kids onto the lifeboats on the Titanic, she had some goals in Nanking.
“Be careful. History has a way of barrelling along.” He eyed her and hoped she would be okay and not do anything foolish.
“I’ll be careful, of course. I ain’t a sap.” She punched him in the shoulder. “What’ve you been up to, anyway?”
“I know. I worry anyway.” He smiled to her. “Just business, and helping people, moving through the world. Doing what I can quietly.” He grinned at her warmly. “Maybe you can come see RPI’s new HQ sometime.” It was a quiet thing, and yet he was proud of it.
“Advanced for it’s time, or are you keepin’ down low?” She waggled her eyebrows at him.
“It is only moderately forward advanced on the surface. But beneath that it is quite beyond anything else within this world.” He grinned at her and tapped the side of his watch, and for a moment the face blurred and showed a video screen, then blurred back to look like a normal watch. It had taken years of his powers and working with skilled smiths to learn how to create microcircuitry and do it right. Adding his knowledge to that had allowed him to build this, and a few other things.
“Man you could kickstart all kinds of things. We could bust outta this joint and change the world.” There was so much good they could do. Behaving was annoying at best, heart-breaking at worse. “I think the worse part is looking at all the things we can do, and doing nothing.”
“Sadly, we do not know what our changing things would cause to happen. There is merit in your words, but my dream experience tells me changing time always leads to negative consequences. There are prices to pay, and if we do that, we could very easily wipe people we care about out of existence.” His words were pointed as he looked at her.
She sighed, playing with her fingers but looking back at him. “I know you’re right. Gotta be careful, stepping on butterflies and all…”
“Indeed, and worse than that. A few words here, a mere appearance there, and a change in what happens in another place, can alter the course of history.” He smiled sadly. “This whole thing is hard to deal with, but we will get through it. Less than a hundred years left.” He shook his head.
Then he took one of her hands. “No matter what else happens, I need you to meet me at RPI HQ in October 2013, so we can plan on how to help Nathan bring the others home. I’m working on developing machinery to help the retrieval of the others, since it seems we have not yet been found. Should be be retrieved before then, I will be glad . If not, please meet me there at that time.”
Jubilee’s demeanor changed, the flapper put aside for the moment, and looking every bit her hundred and one years. “A hundred years is a long time. I’ve changed, like a chameleon, a dozen times already. I don’t know who I’ll be. Or who I even am right now. But I’ll be there, in whatever form I’ve taken.”
“Just be careful. Time changes us and plays tricks on us.” He sighed. “I wish I could spare you this.” He nodded to her. “Good. Now can I buy you a drink?”
She tapped her glass. “If you can buy me a bloody mary.” She winked at him. October 2013. She’d remember that.