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The Park, Monday Morning

For the past week and a half, Jono's days had consisted mostly of people, of new roommates and worried friends and people needing his help with one thing or another at either of his jobs, with not a moment in edgewise for himself.

Today, Jono was taking that moment. He'd made a quick stop at J,GoB to pick up a couple of bagels, and then he'd made his way back to the park, taking a seat on a bench by the duck pond. There was almost a sort of ceremony to it, watching the birds muddle their way over from the water's edge and letting them settle in before tossing a piece of bagel at them, sending them all diving for it at once.

He still hated the birds, and the birds still hated him. But this was... therapeutic.

[T'is indeed a public duck pond, and the post is indeed open, should anyone want to wander by.]

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It was well-known fact that ducks weren't very good with options, after all. Jono watched them for a moment more, and then finally looked back her way again.

The ball was in her court. It was totally her turn to feed the birds next.

//Morning.//

Hey, a word.

A word indeed.

Rosalind took a moment to neatly, almost painstakingly, toss several bits of bagel out for the ducks to go after.

"Morning," she replied, glancing his way. "Should I have left you alone?"

Rosalind was bad at people that way. But he'd given her a bagel. That was acceptance of some sort.

Jono shook his head a little, and even scooted aside a bit, in case she wanted to sit down.

//I needed a little bit of time alone,// he admitted. //Haven't had any in... a while. But I don't mind th'company, either.//

That was sort of like him admitting that maybe this was something that he wasn't quite ready to face on his own yet, after all. And that he'd handed her the bagel because he didn't want her to think that she should leave, just because he was being quiet.

She studied the obvious invitation for a long few seconds before conceding that it could not hurt and moving around the bench to sit next to him.

"You do not have to talk," she replied, finally. "It is quite possible to be alone in company as well."

//Maybe.// He watched her for a moment more before returning his attention to the remains of his bagel, and the ducks that had begun to accumulate nearby again. //I'm just not terribly used to being alone in pleasant company, I suppose.//

"Pleasant," she repeated, like it was an alien concept. Yes, Rosalind, some people enjoyed your company.

Jono gave her a sidelong glance, at that. Was it really so difficult to believe?

//You haven't started throwing things at me, questioning my ability to feel human emotion, or screaming yet,// he clarified. //And yer not altogether insufferable either, unless yer putting forth yer best effort t'be.//

It wasn't like she was used to having friends.

Rosalind frowned. "You've given me no reason to do--any of what you listed. That would be illogical and unseemly."

And she was going to just skip over that compliment there. Yes.

//Where I'm from, people don't tend to worry about little things like reasons,// Jono noted, before idly starting to tear off a few more pieces of bagel for the ducks. //Coming up with reasons takes effort, luv.//

Effort and the capacity to make rational thought.

"All the more reason to put forth the effort," she retorted. "So that when questioned your reasons hold up."

Jono couldn't argue with that, much.

//Yes. Well.// He shrugged, and a few more bits of bagel went scattering to the ground. //That's something that would go to better use being told to a rather vast majority of individuals back home.//

"Then revel in the difference I present," she said, very dryly. And occupied herself with ripping her bagel to pieces. "Terribly exciting."

//You'd be surprised,// Jono noted, looking out toward the ducks, a torn off piece of the bread stuck on pause between his fingers while the birds gave him the evil eye for withholding it from them.

...

//You know... I'm not entirely certain why I decided I ought to be here, today.//

"The ducks called you," she replied, very very dry.

And flung some bread out for them.

//Mmm. Must've been th'ducks before, as well.//

Jono eyed the last little bit of bagel in his hand, and then shrugged and threw the last chunk out to the birds. Gone and away, little bagel. Gone and away.

//Maybe I've just decided that it'll make some bit of difference. If I'm here, keeping my eyes open.//

Hmm.

Rosalind followed suit and spent a moment brushing a few errant crumbs off her suit.

"Do you think it is?"

Jono shrugged a little, dusting his hands off on his knees.

//So far? I've seen a good amount more duck arse than I've ever wanted to.//

But. Always a but.

//But I'm not feeling terribly better about any of it, no.//

"I didn't ask if you felt better," she pointed out. "I asked if it made a difference."

That got another brief glance. And then a shrug.

//She's still gone. Nothing I do will make any difference, there. All I can really do is... Try to square it out in my own head, I think.//

She walked away. He closed his eyes.

He closed his eyes.

"How easy that is to say," she replied, casting her glance to the sky. "And how difficult it turns to be in action."

//I don't know if I can,// Jonothon confessed, his voice taking on that vague echo that it got every time he wasn't putting his all into things like psionic enunciation. //Maybe I'm just not ready to. But what I've been doing... that hasn't been working, either.//

Throwing himself at every task at hand with the single-mindedness of a pre-programmed machine? Why in the world would that coping strategy not work out for him?

Rosalind was quiet for a long few moments before she, feeling superbly awkward reached out to rest her hand very gently on his.

And said nothing.

What was there to say?

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The Park, Monday Morning

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