The Boards, Tuesday, All Day

[furnaceface]

Jono was feeling a little on the mellow side as he opened the doors to the Boards for his office shift, and the music that he was playing on the speakers, mostly a few smooth jazz Christmas songs, reflected that well enough.

Tickets for Friday's Winter Showcase were on sale now, though he was kind of grimacing at them and wondering how they were going to pull it together in less than a week, after the Nothing had stepped in and made absolute chaos of their rehearsals.

Maybe he'd just do more paperwork for Rinoa. That seemed like a safer bet than stressing about things that they'd be tackling tomorrow at rehearsal anyhow.

[Open!]

Comments

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

And suddenly a cat leapt up onto the desk and into Jono's lap.

It was possible that Joni was glad to be free of Miley back with Jono, yeah.

"Hey there," Miley said from the doorway, grinning. "Broughtcha someone."

HEALTH CODES, MILEY. HEALTH CODES.

[furnaceface]

Oh, bah. It wasn't like Jono ate off of this desk or anything. This was a theatre. One of the previous owners had been stuck as a beaver while living in this place.

"Well, hello there, little girl," he greeted, smiling down at Joni as she circled once, and then flopped over and made herself right at home in his lap. "And Miley. I hope she was well-behaved while you had her? No trouble?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Nope!" Miley confirmed. "She was actually awesome. We went exploring together in the library. She had to fight off a rattlesnake."

But, you know. Safely.

[furnaceface]

...

Miley, you were getting a look, now. He had to grant that she probably wouldn't have made it through the adventure that he'd been on, himself, but...

"A rattlesnake?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Miley screwed up her face in concentration. "It might've been a boa constrictor. Some kind of snake."

A beat.

"It had spots."

[furnaceface]

"Spots."

Right. What Jono knew about snakes was probably about as much as Miley knew about heavy metal, thank you.

"... How did she fare against it?"

He was looking at his pocket-cat in a new light now, thank you.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Hey. Miley knew more than you'd think (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlbFfhoxT_A) about heavy metal, okay.

"Pretty well, actually," she said thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure the snake was friendly, but she was totally willing to go all out."

[furnaceface]

"Well, that's my Joni. She's a scrapper, you know." A beat. "Must get it from me."

Yes, Jono. Keep telling yourself that.

"Thank you for taking care of her, luv. Good to have her back in one piece, either way. How're you doing?"

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Pretty well, actually," Miley said sincerely. "My boyfriend's getting back later. And then we have the show on Friday, and then I'm gonna go home for a while. So. Pretty low-key, compared to..."

A beat.

"Rattlesnake... boa-constrictory things."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah had driven down last night, and been sorry to miss Karla, but there were a lot of other people to check in with-- including one who may or may not have gotten a phone call from a mutual friend (http://blondecanary.livejournal.com/637.html?thread=3073661#t3073661) and Beaver Buzz addict.

"Hey, Jono." Dinah grinned, bouncing up on her toes. "I heard you were working here. Niiiice."

[furnaceface]

"It's not bad, really." Jono glanced up at Dinah, offering her a... slightly awkward smile. He hadn't seen her in years, either, after all. "Keeps me occupied. You're doing well, I see."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I am." Raven and Karla had mentioned that Jono had been hurt, and changed, but hadn't gotten into specifics. The site of him with a mouth was pretty disconcerting, but she wasn't about to ask. She walked down the aisle to perch on a seat in front of him, turning around to talk. "I had to come by and tell you while I was in town. Jak's okay."

[furnaceface]

"Jak's okay," Jono echoed. That got a bit of a smile out of him, at least. "That's good to hear. I tried to remember all I could about him, and about Haven. You heard from him, then, did you?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Got a phone message from him, just 'hey, never mind about that last message'," Dinah said with a grin. "Then called him back, and got even better news. They took down Praxis. Finally."

[furnaceface]

Okay, that did get a smile out of him, there. He'd been on the receiving end of some of Praxis' goons in the past, himself, after all.

"That's even better to hear," he decided. "Did he get into details at all? Or was he being terribly Jak about it all?"

Jak was absolutely a state of being.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"He was being really, really Jak," Dinah laughed, glad someone else appreciated that.. "But he said Samos and Daxter and Keira are all okay, and they got the Metalheads. And to tell you that everything's cool."

[furnaceface]

Jono wasn't even going to hide his relief at that. Honestly, that was amazing news.

"So... they're going to work on cleaning up after it all, I can only assume," he mused. "If you get a chance to talk to him again, tell him I wish him good luck with that, hm? The place was one hell of a mess when I went."

[dollpocalypse]

So sometimes, when the world was about to end and your best friend and idol had disappeared into nothingness right in front of your eyes, you said stuff you didn't mean. Maybe it was stuff you might've said anyway, on account of being a jerk most of the time -- but maybe it wasn't. It was hard to say.

But when said best friend had returned to the planet and was being even nicer than usual, you tended to want to give back. You know, do something for others. Maybe... not be a jerk.

Jono, there was a Topher in your doorway.

"Hey."

[furnaceface]

Jono's jaw might have clenched slightly at that particular greeting, though he made certain to keep his expression even as he glanced up to see Topher in the aforementioned doorway.

"Dungeon Master," he greeted, his voice pretty carefully neutral, too. "Something I can do for you?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Nope!" Because there wasn't. His life was pretty satisfying. "Ummm." Hmm, see, he hadn't really thought this apology through all that thoroughly. "...what's up?"

[furnaceface]

"... The world didn't end." Jono raised an eyebrow slightly. "Aside from that, nothing particularly new, I suppose. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, exactly?"

You know. Pleasure. In relative terms.

[dollpocalypse]

Pleasure, headache-inducing frustration, same thing.

"Sooooo." Topher suddenly became very interested in his hands. "Iiiiii was thinking.... it was not nice to call you Blue."

Pause.

"Because Blue is a dog. And you -- you are not. And also, Blue is not your name. Even if you were. Which you aren't."

[furnaceface]

Jono's eyebrow wasn't going to lower any time soon, no. Not even as he glanced down at his hands, very pointedly clasped on the desk in front of him.

"Bluish-gray, more like," he allowed, after a moment. "So, you're here to apologize, then?"

It was kind of a tap-dance routine of an apology so far, but he was getting what Topher was getting at, more or less.

[dollpocalypse]

God. He hated that word. Hated it so, so much.

"Weeeeell," Topher said, looking uncomfortable as he toed the ground awkwardly. "I guess... yes?"

JUST DON'T MAKE HIM SAY IT. PLEASE DON'T MAKE HIM SAY IT.

[furnaceface]

"Well, then... so long as we don't have a repeat experience, I suppose I can forgive you," Jono allowed. He was nice like that. "I... didn't mean to get so worked up about it, myself. I've heard worse, really."

Which was sort of like a non-apology for seriously considering the upsides to skinning Topher alive and leaving his carcass out for the assorted Special Collections creatures.