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The Boards, Saturday, All Day

After Emma's evening class on Tuesday, Jono hadn't been able to flee the island quickly enough. It wasn't anything personal, Fandom. It was just an over-inflated sense of responsibility, driving him to do more fighting alongside the New Warriors, and had nothing at all to do with some fifteen year-old kid that Raven had mentioned to him last weekend.

Honest.

In any case, the group had managed to locate another depowered mutant from the old Xavier school, and they'd all unanimously agreed to keep an eye on Sofia, to see if she looked as much like she was in need of the New Warriors as the rest of them had been. A second chance, after having the sky taken away from her? The entire group was fairly certain that she'd leap for the opportunity. After they had made their decision, they'd spent another hour debating before settling on Barnell to do the honours. And then, of course, more training. Training, and then running rampant around New York, fighting crime and saving the innocent. And it had even managed to take Jonothon's mind off of what had been eating at him, at least until he returned to the island.

Now he was back, and was trying his luck at distracting himself some other way. Even with the air conditioning, it was too hot to focus on paperwork. So, he'd put out a sign in the lobby directing people to the basement if they needed service, and he'd dragged his guitar into the recording booth and was messing around, using hard-light projections to work the recording equipment while he played. He wasn't planning on cutting a record or anything, some things just weren't meant to be, but... well... a man could dream, at least.

Even now, it was still novel to be able to play back the music he'd made and listen to the sound of his own voice.

[OOC: Open Boards! OCD-free! I'm around to ping all day while I putter through scenes that need animating.]

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The weather still wasn't that friendly to walking around, but Natalie had decided she needed to get out of the dorms anyway. She'd gone by the Perk to get an iced coffee (was there any other kind these days?) and hadn't really planned to come by the Boards afterwards, but somehow that had ended up happening anyway.

And since there was a sign, she made her way down to the basement, where she knocked on the door frame to attract Jono's attention. "Hey."

Jono glanced up from his guitar at the sound of the knock, not quite surprised that somebody had actually followed the sign downstairs, but certainly looking for a moment as though he'd been knocked right out of some little reverie or other that he'd managed to drift into. Another moment gone, and he'd recovered, offering Natalie a little smile as he set his guitar on the stand and made his way over to let her in.

"Hello, Natalie," he greeted back. "Lovely day to hunt down a basement to hide away in, isn't it?"

Too. Hot. It was nothing shy of a miracle that Jono had left a t-shirt on today, and even that, he was waffling about.

"The weather is ridiculous," Natalie agreed. Because seriously. How were they supposed to live in this? "Makes me homesick."

Montreal summers weren't cold by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew it was at least a little cooler than here, right now.

"Mmm, you and me both," Jono mused, crossing his arms over his chest. "I hear it isn't even twenty degrees in London right now," he'd Googled it, because he was fairly certain that expecting a high of bloody near forty was obscene and he needed just one more reason to declare to himself that America was inferior, "and I'm half convinced that it's that cool there solely so that it can taunt me from afar."

Mean, London. Mean.

"Twenty four in Montreal," Natalie supplied. Yes, she'd Googled it too. Because she was a masochist. "Not my favourite, but manageable. Unlike this. London sounds even nicer, though."

"At this rate, luv, I'd settle for Montreal."

See, even Jono was willing to make concessions, in the name of not broiling to death. A French-Canadian city? It beat this heat, any day of the week. And he could complain about the weather without having to convert to Fahrenheit in his head. Added bonus, right there.

"Pull up a seat, make yourself comfortable? I wouldn't want anybody out in that."

Natalie glanced around for a place to sit. Having spotted one, she promptly took a seat. Taking a while to cool down before trekking back to the dorms didn't seem like a bad idea at all.

She sipped at her coffee, where the 'iced' part of it was well on its way to progressing to simply 'melted'. "So. Any plans for this place for the fall?"

"Troy and I had been talking about doing something that wasn't yet another musical," Jono noted, crossing his arms as he found a spot of wall to lean back against. "Presumably so that I'm utterly out of my depth with this fall's production. Know much about ~~meta for~~ The Importance of Being Earnest?"

The Consequence of Being Frank. It was difficult to go wrong with Oscar Wilde, if you asked Jono.

"Still, I was thinking of keeping up some sort of musical activity here through the summer and on into the fall, if I can get away with it around rehearsals. It would be a shame to have a facility with acoustics like we've got, and then not use it."

"It's Wilde," Natalie said, shrugging. "Hard not to know it."

You know, being kind of a nerd about literature. If you were that kind of a person, it was hard not to know it.

"You're right about the space, though. Seems wasteful, plus we have enough musicians around."

"True enough. And while there'd be some use for a pianist for Being Frank, it isn't quite the same as a musical, or as our showcases have been. I'd been considering holding weekly jam sessions here through the summer, but when Troy headed off to New York for some business or other, it took me some time to find my bearings again."

And then he'd thrown together a show in a handful of weeks, and the lot of them had pulled it off by the skin of their teeth, and he was, if nothing else, feeling a bit more confident about the whole thing, now.

"There's you, Rinoa, Kenzi and myself... Are there a wealth of musically-minded students that I haven't met yet, by any chance? I remember there had been quite a few back in my own high school days, but I'd be surprised if any of that crew was still around."

Natalie shrugged again. "Well my brother apparently plays piano too," she offered. As an afterthought, she added, "School assigned, not actually related." Not that you could always tell with them and their angular faces and delightful sarcasm. "I think I've heard others playing in the dorms, but I haven't exactly investigated."

Jono tilted his head slightly, mulling that one over.

"I might need to start getting my affairs in order, then. I remember there being a decent turn-out to a concert my high-school band had pulled together, a few years back. Though I imagine the bonfire had something to do with it. People can't seem to pass up a good fire on the beach in early November."

It helped that it wasn't as bloody hot out in November, perhaps.

"Whereas if you tried that right now, people would probably flee in the other direction." She didn't even want to imagine a bonfire right now. But, other things had piqued her interest. "You had a band?"

"A small one, and briefly," Jonothon confirmed with a small nod and something not unlike a nostalgic smile. "I'd roped my roommate at the time into getting herself a drum set, and while I didn't have a voice to sing at the time, there were a few people willing to do vocals. There was a keyboard, and myself on guitar... We didn't get very far, of course. Everybody eventually went their separate ways, as high school students invariably do. But... it was fun, while it lasted."

It had been as close as he had ever thought he'd make it to living the dream, after his powers had manifested.

Natalie didn't quite smile as she listened to him, but her generally mild expression seemed to soften somewhat.

"Sounds like it," she said, simply.

"It was before coming to Fandom that I had something resembling a musical career," Jono added, looking up at the ceiling. "Would play London pubs with my girlfriend at the time. Made some decent money and got more than my fair share of drinks, back then. I like to think a few of the pub regulars might even remember me, but it's been... some time, since then."

He lingered on that thought for a moment, and then dropped it abruptly, turning a curious smile in Natalie's direction.

"What about you, luv? You've certainly got the talent for it. Ever do anything with that voice of yours besides small-town community theatre?"

Natalie responded with another one of her famous noncommittal shrugs. "Not really," she said. "I've done piano recitals before. But no singing."

Her priorities were elsewhere. For now.

"Shame," Jono decided, though his statement was about as committal as Natalie's shrug. "A voice like yours would be a terrible thing to waste. Will you participate in the jam sessions here, at least, if I manage to get a few organized?"

"Maybe, if it doesn't clash with other plans."

That was about as close to a yes she was going to get. It wasn't in her nature to be too obvious about things that appealed to her. She was weird like that.

"Sounds like it could be interesting. Haven't been around many other people who play anything."

Well, Jonothon could certainly settle for that. He had plans of his own to work around, in any case.

"At the very least, I'll have my guitar there," he noted. "Even if nobody else shows, whatever evening I set aside for those is probably going to be an evening I take advantage of in order to play. Any excuse I can find, you know?"

"I do, actually." She could admit that much. Swirling the rest of her now not particularly cold drink around in the cup. "I only asked my parents for a keyboard after moving here. I get a fair bit of playing done."

"Well, you're always welcome here, if you get the inclination to use our piano," Jonothon offered, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I think there's one at the dorms, if I'm not mistaken, but... acoustics."

And he'd like to hear her play, some more. She was good, okay?

She was, wasn't she? And in the future, a lot of people would come to rue the day she was finally going to fully explore that.

But that day wasn't here yet. "There's one in the rec room," she confirmed. "But I don't tend to play there. A random audience is too likely."

So that was a vague, vague yes to the Boards.

"And better to face an audience on your own terms," Jonothon allowed, nodding. "Well, I'm here to open the doors... Generally from Fridays until Tuesdays. And then I spend the rest of my week in New York."

Doing stupid things. Stupid things that could someday get him killed.

Details.

"And I'm always here on Saturdays."

"I'm fairly busy early in the week with school stuff." Mostly the independent classes. The taught ones didn't generally require much beyond showing up. "But I might show up sometimes later in the week."

"You'd be welcome any time," Jonothon affirmed, and then made his way over to grab the other chair, pulling up a seat and reaching for his guitar. Mostly because sitting with a guitar in his hands just felt more... right. "Whether there's an actual production on the go or not."

For someone as antisocial as Jono was, he certainly was invested in making the Boards into some kind of musical hotspot on the island.

This whole thing was socializing for the antisocial. "Appreciated," Natalie said with a little nod, idly eyeing the guitar. "Also for the haven from the heat."

And don't think for a second she wasn't going to use that as an excuse to come by to play.

"Air conditioning," Jono agreed with a quick grin. "And a basement. There just so happens to be plenty of space down here for a keyboard, should anything put the air conditioning out."

Of course, if anything put the AC out, Jonothon was likely to raise hell until someone fixed it, too. Or... just fix it himself. He could do that, too.

"Please don't jinx us," Natalie replied without missing a beat. Because she'd be miserable if the air conditioning died. "I'm not convinced the island won't try and make this worse, somehow."

"If it makes this worse, I swear I'm going back to New York to wait this out," Jono grumbled. "It's not as though it's cooler there, but at least there'll be air conditioning."

You know. In that secret hideaway that the New Warriors had going. They could pester Angel to make them some ice, she'd probably be good enough to humour them.

"But you're right. No baiting Fandom. It isn't as though it hasn't leapt at the opportunity to make people eat their words before."

"I was a snake for most of this week," Natalie drawled, with a very light shake of her head. "I would prefer it if the island didn't go out of its way to mess with me again anytime soon."

"My sympathies," Jono replied, making a bit of a face. And refraining from mentioning that the island had yet to change him into an animal, with the exception of a pony. And he wasn't counting it if everybody else had done it, too. "I'll try to keep from pulling its attention here, then. Though I feel obligated to confess that there have been three people turned to animals under this roof in the past month."

The jury was still out on whether or not this was a Fandom thing, or a Boards thing.

Edited 2012-07-07 21:55 (UTC)

Natalie couldn't help one of her eyebrows quirking up a little bit.

"... Really." That wasn't a question. "Interesting coincidence."

If it was a coincidence.

Jonothon certainly hoped it was a coincidence.

"Rinoa and Squall, both around the same time," he shared. "And Ronan, during his act for the showcase. Granted, Ronan really didn't let that slow him down any..."

"Right, I noticed," Natalie replied, dryly. It had certainly been an interesting sight. "If it hadn't been a Fandom showcase before that point..."

"There was definitely no question about it after that. Or once the squirrels did their number." A beat. "Or the zombies."

To be entirely honest, the zombies had even taken Jono by surprise.

Natalie figured anyone who hadn't been taken by surprise by the zombies really hadn't been paying enough attention.

"It was a very Fandom event," she concluded. "But still a better introduction than an invasion."

"True enough," Jonothon agreed. "And we're probably about due for one of those, aren't we? I don't think there's been anything particularly dangerous since those dolls and the like, at graduation."

Jonothon didn't consider that statement 'tempting fate.' He considered it 'being pragmatic.' This was Fandom.

Natalie wrinkled her nose a little bit, but didn't exactly disagree.

"Well, I'm supposed to take my boyfriend up to Montreal soonish. So let's hope if one has to happen, it'll come while we're there."

She wasn't Envy yet but that didn't mean she couldn't be selfish.

"There's certainly no better place to be during an invasion than far away from the invasion," Jono chuckled, and idly strummed at his guitar while he mused on that. "I don't think I could even list off all the ones I've been here for if somebody asked me to. Vegetables, goblins, mushrooms and turtles... oversized reptiles and ponies with monkeys stuck on... Christ, I sound half-mad just trying to remember them all."

"The island does thrive on making you sound insane on top of feeling like you are." Even to her, and she came from a relatively offbeat background. "Vegetables? I can't honestly say I'm surprised."

"They had teeth. I vaguely remember being quite put out by the fact that the tomatoes had a worse bite than I did."

So he'd cooked them. With his face. As you do.

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The Boards, Saturday, All Day

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