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halfamoonTitle: Helping Kids
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Jubilee/X23, past Jubilee/Skin and Jubilee/Chamber
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: In which Jubilee is called upon again to help mutant children.
Word Count: 1,783
Written For: HalfAMoon Day 9: Her Weapon of Choice
Date Written: 8 February 2025
Warnings: Spoilers, Cannon Character Deaths
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Her mouth has always been her weapon of choice. Bad guys have a tendency to talk back, to brag really, especially about their plans, when their victim keeps hitting them with sarcasm. She's escaped more than one situation throughout her time already when she had nothing more to rely on than her mouth. When her fireworks failed her, before they kicked in in the beginning, when she as nothing but a mere mortal human, not a Vampire or a mutant, she always had her sarcasm upon which to rely.
Her mouth got an extra kick, of course, when she was a Vampire. She still dreamt of the blood sometimes, of both its taste and the nearly unquenching desire for it. Ororo had been a Vamp once. Most of the X-Men had had to face Vampires at one time or another, some more than a few times. She had been terrified at first, but a part of her had secretly been delighted at the thought that at least she was no longer human.
She's still not certain what Angelo would have thought, although she knows he would have accepted her. Logan accepted her, and he wasn't the only one. The beautiful, young woman standing before her now was one of the first to accept her, and to guide her. "I'm glad you dropped in," Jubilee whispered, smiling shyly despite their activities from the night before. "I know you're always busy these nights."
"Of course I am. We're fighting a war. But I wasn't going to miss your debut back to teaching."
"I don't know if this is right," Jubilee found herself admitting. "Not everyone has the gift of gab."
"No, but that's where you come in. Besides, didn't you tell me once," Laura asked, "that part of fighting a bad guy is chatting him to death?"
"Undermining his self-confidence," Jubilee replied with a shrug that was far more casual than she felt. "Gettin' them talkin' about their plans, about themselves. Nine times outta ten, you can figure out how to beat them once you get them running off at the mouth about everythin' they're gonna do."
Laura nodded subtly. She surveyed Jubilee through dark eyes, a single eyebrow arched. "And didn't you tell me that helped you against Bastion?"
"I mean, kinda. It didn't really help me beat him, but it did help me get him distracted enough I was able to make a break for it when he wasn't lookin'. If Logan hadn't -- "
"But he was. He was there for you then just like he was there when you were turned. Like he always is. Like I always will be, or at least try to be. And wasn't there a time, even before you became a mutant, back in your mallrat days as you call them, when you defeated a bunch of thieves just by talking them to death?"
"I mean, they didn't really die," Jubilee answered. "But I was able to chat them down until I could take them out. You know, it's funny the kinds of things you can find to fight with in a mall. There was this rubber chicken -- "
Jubilee was cut off by a young teenager with spiny skins and horns growing out of the top of her head rushing pass them. She ducked to the side of the door, reaching out and pulling Laura with her.
Laura was rolling her eyes. "I don't even think I want to know what you did with that chicken, not to mention why it was made from rubber in the first place -- "
"It was a gag chicken."
The bell rang. Laura placed her finger on Jubilee's lips. "Later, Lee. You can tell me all about it tonight, and all about your first day."
"You're staying?"
"For now. I can't stay long," she said regretfully.
"I understand, but I'll be looking forward to getting off tonight now for a whole 'nother reason." Laura lifted her finger from Jubilee's soft, pink lips and replaced it with her own mouth. "Go get 'em, Lee. I know you can."
Jubilee grinned and winked at her, exuding confidence that she did not feel at all. "I've taught before, and running my mouth is what I'm best at."
Laura traced a finger over a certain mark on her neck, blushing lightly. Jubilee no longer blushed about their time together. She liked to think Angelo would have accepted Laura in another life, another time when they had not been together. Just as she had been there for Angie when he had needed her the most, though, Laura had been there for her when she'd needed her, needed someone, the most. She had reached her in ways Wolveroonie never could. She had opened herself to her, and Jubilee could still feel the taste of the sweet blood she'd shared with her in those dark times. Her tongue ran instinctively across the back of her teeth, a habit she'd picked up when those same teeth had been actual fangs.
She was not fanged anymore, but she would always have her mouth. She liked to think she would always have Laura too, but she'd take her when she could get her.
"Second bell, Lee -- "
"Just one more real quick." Swiftly, she closed the distance between them but turned her head instead of meeting Laura's lips. She grazed her teeth quickly over that same spot on her neck, then kissed her lips fast, and darted into the classroom right before the second bell sounded. She walked straight to the blackboard, trying her best to exude confidence she still didn't feel. She thought of the times she'd been in a classroom so much like this one. Even at this age, it seemed she was in and out of them, although in a different role.
As she turned to write on the chalkboard, she caught sight of a beautiful, dark-skinned girl out of the corner of her eye. She made her think of Monet, in no small part because of the air about her. She was clearly going to aim to become a teacher's pet, but Jubilee had her own pet who had nothing to do with this class. She would not be swayed so easily, not like both Irish and Frost were back in the day. She smirked as she turned 'round to the board. No one amongst Gen. X's numbers, including herself and Angelo, would have ever thought she'd be the one to end up teaching. Yet here she was.
And it wasn't her first time, although she did hope this class proved better than her first. She thought of the students both Emma and the Professor had always believed they'd failed. At least hers had mostly lived to tell the tale. Don't jinx anything, stupid, she thought to herself, a slight growl to her mental voice. You didn't hang around Wolverines as much as she did without picking up a few feral tendencies along the way -- or a caring heart for the younguns following, stumbling, in your footsteps.
If they could at least keep this group alive, they would have achieved something at least, Jubilee thought, and wasn't that what her mouth was best at? Keeping people pissed off and arguing with her rather than going ahead and killing her? After all, when she'd first met M, she'd been on the run from her evil, psychoc Vampire of a brother, Emplate. When none of her team could take him, she had kept him from literally eating them by yammering at him the whole time. Of course, that had made a target of herself, but she'd kept them going, kept them safe, until the adults of the time could get there.
The adults and Chamber -- She wondered how Jono was doing these days. There was a part of her tempted to call him, and maybe she would, after Laura left as she always eventually did. They didn't have to pick up things where they'd left them off after all. He'd become a good teacher too. Maybe she would reach out when this latest class needed another new teacher. But first things first, she thought, squaring her shoulders and beginning to write.
"Class, my name, as most of you know, is Jubilee, and this," she scrawled in big letters across the blackboard, ignoring, for now, the sound of a window sliding open, "is Yappin' Your Enemies Down 101." She was sure the name wouldn't stick, but it didn't hurt to start with a touch of humor. It also didn't hurt to start with all students on time. She turned around just a blonde girl, with white feathers dropping on the floor behind her, slid into her seat a second too late.
"When you're dealin' with enemies, just like with class time, every second counts." Damn, was she really starting to sound like Emma?! Nah. Emma would have a lot crasser, and probably wouldn't've let the kid make it to her seat. At least she'd allowed her that much. Frostie would've also probably popped a quiz on the first day, another thing she wasn't going to do. But she would get to know these kids and help wherever she could.
"You know my name. Now let's get to know yours, starting with you, Miss Fly in the Window."
A light chuckle rose amongst the kids, but humor always helped to negate the tenseness of any situation. She was also supposed to be practically teaching sarcasm, so she might as well get started. The kids began to talk, and the hours began to while away. It would be a good day, with Jubilee, as she always had, helping her fellow mutants wherever she could. Later on, she would reflect that perhaps teaching, or at least protecting the kids for whom no one else cared, did kinda run in the blood after all. She'd saved Logan when they'd first met, but he was known for taking kids under his proverbial wing despite his rough and tuff, gruff nature. She had also always been quick to help with the Morlock children, and she and Angelo had gathered mutant street kids to them during their time in LA. Then of course, too, there was Shogo --
Her heart aching, Jubilee quickly pushed aside the thought of the baby she'd once adopted. She had other children who needed her now here. Perhaps Laura was right. Her place had always been with the X-Men, but maybe there was more than that. Maybe she was meant to be teaching the next generation. After all, how better to lead? Bishop always had said she was to be the last X-Man, their leader in the final days of war.
The End
Fandom: X-Men
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Jubilee/X23, past Jubilee/Skin and Jubilee/Chamber
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: In which Jubilee is called upon again to help mutant children.
Word Count: 1,783
Written For: HalfAMoon Day 9: Her Weapon of Choice
Date Written: 8 February 2025
Warnings: Spoilers, Cannon Character Deaths
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
Her mouth has always been her weapon of choice. Bad guys have a tendency to talk back, to brag really, especially about their plans, when their victim keeps hitting them with sarcasm. She's escaped more than one situation throughout her time already when she had nothing more to rely on than her mouth. When her fireworks failed her, before they kicked in in the beginning, when she as nothing but a mere mortal human, not a Vampire or a mutant, she always had her sarcasm upon which to rely.
Her mouth got an extra kick, of course, when she was a Vampire. She still dreamt of the blood sometimes, of both its taste and the nearly unquenching desire for it. Ororo had been a Vamp once. Most of the X-Men had had to face Vampires at one time or another, some more than a few times. She had been terrified at first, but a part of her had secretly been delighted at the thought that at least she was no longer human.
She's still not certain what Angelo would have thought, although she knows he would have accepted her. Logan accepted her, and he wasn't the only one. The beautiful, young woman standing before her now was one of the first to accept her, and to guide her. "I'm glad you dropped in," Jubilee whispered, smiling shyly despite their activities from the night before. "I know you're always busy these nights."
"Of course I am. We're fighting a war. But I wasn't going to miss your debut back to teaching."
"I don't know if this is right," Jubilee found herself admitting. "Not everyone has the gift of gab."
"No, but that's where you come in. Besides, didn't you tell me once," Laura asked, "that part of fighting a bad guy is chatting him to death?"
"Undermining his self-confidence," Jubilee replied with a shrug that was far more casual than she felt. "Gettin' them talkin' about their plans, about themselves. Nine times outta ten, you can figure out how to beat them once you get them running off at the mouth about everythin' they're gonna do."
Laura nodded subtly. She surveyed Jubilee through dark eyes, a single eyebrow arched. "And didn't you tell me that helped you against Bastion?"
"I mean, kinda. It didn't really help me beat him, but it did help me get him distracted enough I was able to make a break for it when he wasn't lookin'. If Logan hadn't -- "
"But he was. He was there for you then just like he was there when you were turned. Like he always is. Like I always will be, or at least try to be. And wasn't there a time, even before you became a mutant, back in your mallrat days as you call them, when you defeated a bunch of thieves just by talking them to death?"
"I mean, they didn't really die," Jubilee answered. "But I was able to chat them down until I could take them out. You know, it's funny the kinds of things you can find to fight with in a mall. There was this rubber chicken -- "
Jubilee was cut off by a young teenager with spiny skins and horns growing out of the top of her head rushing pass them. She ducked to the side of the door, reaching out and pulling Laura with her.
Laura was rolling her eyes. "I don't even think I want to know what you did with that chicken, not to mention why it was made from rubber in the first place -- "
"It was a gag chicken."
The bell rang. Laura placed her finger on Jubilee's lips. "Later, Lee. You can tell me all about it tonight, and all about your first day."
"You're staying?"
"For now. I can't stay long," she said regretfully.
"I understand, but I'll be looking forward to getting off tonight now for a whole 'nother reason." Laura lifted her finger from Jubilee's soft, pink lips and replaced it with her own mouth. "Go get 'em, Lee. I know you can."
Jubilee grinned and winked at her, exuding confidence that she did not feel at all. "I've taught before, and running my mouth is what I'm best at."
Laura traced a finger over a certain mark on her neck, blushing lightly. Jubilee no longer blushed about their time together. She liked to think Angelo would have accepted Laura in another life, another time when they had not been together. Just as she had been there for Angie when he had needed her the most, though, Laura had been there for her when she'd needed her, needed someone, the most. She had reached her in ways Wolveroonie never could. She had opened herself to her, and Jubilee could still feel the taste of the sweet blood she'd shared with her in those dark times. Her tongue ran instinctively across the back of her teeth, a habit she'd picked up when those same teeth had been actual fangs.
She was not fanged anymore, but she would always have her mouth. She liked to think she would always have Laura too, but she'd take her when she could get her.
"Second bell, Lee -- "
"Just one more real quick." Swiftly, she closed the distance between them but turned her head instead of meeting Laura's lips. She grazed her teeth quickly over that same spot on her neck, then kissed her lips fast, and darted into the classroom right before the second bell sounded. She walked straight to the blackboard, trying her best to exude confidence she still didn't feel. She thought of the times she'd been in a classroom so much like this one. Even at this age, it seemed she was in and out of them, although in a different role.
As she turned to write on the chalkboard, she caught sight of a beautiful, dark-skinned girl out of the corner of her eye. She made her think of Monet, in no small part because of the air about her. She was clearly going to aim to become a teacher's pet, but Jubilee had her own pet who had nothing to do with this class. She would not be swayed so easily, not like both Irish and Frost were back in the day. She smirked as she turned 'round to the board. No one amongst Gen. X's numbers, including herself and Angelo, would have ever thought she'd be the one to end up teaching. Yet here she was.
And it wasn't her first time, although she did hope this class proved better than her first. She thought of the students both Emma and the Professor had always believed they'd failed. At least hers had mostly lived to tell the tale. Don't jinx anything, stupid, she thought to herself, a slight growl to her mental voice. You didn't hang around Wolverines as much as she did without picking up a few feral tendencies along the way -- or a caring heart for the younguns following, stumbling, in your footsteps.
If they could at least keep this group alive, they would have achieved something at least, Jubilee thought, and wasn't that what her mouth was best at? Keeping people pissed off and arguing with her rather than going ahead and killing her? After all, when she'd first met M, she'd been on the run from her evil, psychoc Vampire of a brother, Emplate. When none of her team could take him, she had kept him from literally eating them by yammering at him the whole time. Of course, that had made a target of herself, but she'd kept them going, kept them safe, until the adults of the time could get there.
The adults and Chamber -- She wondered how Jono was doing these days. There was a part of her tempted to call him, and maybe she would, after Laura left as she always eventually did. They didn't have to pick up things where they'd left them off after all. He'd become a good teacher too. Maybe she would reach out when this latest class needed another new teacher. But first things first, she thought, squaring her shoulders and beginning to write.
"Class, my name, as most of you know, is Jubilee, and this," she scrawled in big letters across the blackboard, ignoring, for now, the sound of a window sliding open, "is Yappin' Your Enemies Down 101." She was sure the name wouldn't stick, but it didn't hurt to start with a touch of humor. It also didn't hurt to start with all students on time. She turned around just a blonde girl, with white feathers dropping on the floor behind her, slid into her seat a second too late.
"When you're dealin' with enemies, just like with class time, every second counts." Damn, was she really starting to sound like Emma?! Nah. Emma would have a lot crasser, and probably wouldn't've let the kid make it to her seat. At least she'd allowed her that much. Frostie would've also probably popped a quiz on the first day, another thing she wasn't going to do. But she would get to know these kids and help wherever she could.
"You know my name. Now let's get to know yours, starting with you, Miss Fly in the Window."
A light chuckle rose amongst the kids, but humor always helped to negate the tenseness of any situation. She was also supposed to be practically teaching sarcasm, so she might as well get started. The kids began to talk, and the hours began to while away. It would be a good day, with Jubilee, as she always had, helping her fellow mutants wherever she could. Later on, she would reflect that perhaps teaching, or at least protecting the kids for whom no one else cared, did kinda run in the blood after all. She'd saved Logan when they'd first met, but he was known for taking kids under his proverbial wing despite his rough and tuff, gruff nature. She had also always been quick to help with the Morlock children, and she and Angelo had gathered mutant street kids to them during their time in LA. Then of course, too, there was Shogo --
Her heart aching, Jubilee quickly pushed aside the thought of the baby she'd once adopted. She had other children who needed her now here. Perhaps Laura was right. Her place had always been with the X-Men, but maybe there was more than that. Maybe she was meant to be teaching the next generation. After all, how better to lead? Bishop always had said she was to be the last X-Man, their leader in the final days of war.
The End
