fandomtownies | The Boards, Friday Afternoon

While Jono had left to return to the island in the morning, the going had been slow from portal to Causeway, and then from Causeway on across town. Stairs, Jonothon was learning, were going to be the death of him. At least he'd managed to wave down a rickshaw driver, so a good portion of the trek across town had been fairly painless, but now came the daunting task of figuring out how the hell he was going to get up the stairs into his apartment, what with his collar being blown out and his left leg and arm being fairly uncooperative at the moment.

He was leading Joni into the building at the end of a leash because there was no way he could juggle her carrier, his shoulder bag of clothes, and the crutches that he could barely use with the arm that was supposed to take the brunt of the weight. He did decide to stop by his office to see if he missed anything important while he was out, at least.

Or possibly because he needed to sit down and pretend that he wasn't cursing himself for being a stubborn ass who wasn't still laying in a hospital bed, all drugged up and informing his friends all about just how much he loved each and every one of them.

"Lizzie?"

... Was she going through his mail?

"Jono!" Lizzie called, jumping to her feet quickly. "I was just -- helping with paperwork? You said you hated paperwork. I'm not touching anything personal. Or anything that even looks personal. Or that might be personal."

She really wasn't, although blurting it out like that made her sound guilty. Good job, Lizzie!

"... Holy crap," she said, taking in the sight before her. "What happened to you?"

Jonothon eyed her for a moment, gave the mail pile another critical sort of glance, and then shrugged it off. He'd go through the stack later, make certain that nothing personal had made it into the business pile, and then suss out the need to have a talk with his roommate about how going through other people's mail was a felony later. Right then, he was sore and tired and he'd just gotten his first 'holy crap' since getting back to the island.

"It's a long story, luv," he replied, glancing down at his crutches, the sling his arm was in, and the sorry state of affairs his now ragged and somewhat bloodstained coat was left in. He would have left the coat behind entirely, but it was December, and even he had a limit to how much crap he'd put himself through all at once. "Nothing a few hours at a hospital couldn't more or less patch up. Might need a bit of help with any heavy lifting for a while, though."

You know. Maybe. A little. What with all of the extra holes in him, and all.

Living in the Bennet household made for really fuzzy ideas on things like boundaries. Sorry, Jono.

"So ... I'm taking you to the hospital?" she asked, hurrying over to get her weight under his un-slinged arm. "There's a clinic somewhere downtown, or we can get a cab to the mainland if you need a real hospital. Not ... that the clinic isn't real, just ... you know what I mean."

"I've already been to th'hospital, luv," Jono replied, though he wasn't exactly stopping her from giving him a shoulder to prop himself up against. "They stitched me up, doped me up, I spent a while there," a whole night! "And then I headed off to April's for Christmas. I'll be fine."

By Jono standards. Remembering, of course, that Jono spent seven years on fire, with no internal organs or lower jaw. Your mileage may vary.

"That's no reason not to go back," Lizzie argued, but she could see his point. She shifted her weight slightly so she could prop him up better. "Okay, you're going to sit down while I run your stuff upstairs, and then we'll figure out how we're getting you up there."

If this building had a secret elevator in it, now would be a great time to tell her.

No secret elevator that Jono was aware of, but this was Fandom Island, and there really was no telling just what might be hidden away in the nooks and crannies around the theatre.

Didn't all theatres have some sort of hidden chunk of architecture that nobody knew about, after all?

"Sitting down, I can do," he agreed, nodding toward the desk. "Can you run Joni up while you're at it? She's probably in desperate need of a litterbox detour, by now."

It took a little maneuvering to get Jono behind the desk, in one piece, but she'd managed to get a drunk Lydia down from dancing on a bar stool without any injuries before, so Lizzie was confident in her people-moving skills.

"Sure thing," she agreed, as she picked up various bags. Simple enough to scoop up the fluffball one-handed and tuck her in against her chest. "C'mon, Joni. Who missed me? Did you miss me?"

She probably hadn't. Could they pretend that Joni had missed her? She was a cute little thing.

If they really did have a mysterious aPhantom of the Boards, lurking in the subterranean tunnels no one else knew about, he wasn't allowed to hurt Joni. Rule #1.

Jane...hadn't known what else to do, when she'd read Bing's Tweet. Normally Jane always knew what to do -- she was the big sister, and responsible, and living at home because it was practical, and...she wasn't used to having an answer. She didn't get blindsided often. Not like this.

But she'd sort of been in a daze when she'd packed herself a bag and figured out how to get to Lizzie -- her sister'd been begging her to come visit, anyway, and...now she was here, and it wasn't like home at all, and maybe this was a mistake?

Everything was all mixed up. Maybe this whole thing was a dream, anyway. She'd wake up in her bed back home, Lydia singing in the bathroom next door, and everything would be normal and right like it had been just yesterday. She'd taken snickerdoodles over to Netherfield this morning. It didn't make sense that she was here of all places, now.

She checked the address on the building with the one Lizzie had given her (Jane didn't really need to check; she'd neatly written it on a few shipping labels, already) and wandered in. "Hello?" She didn't want to intrude, or anything, but she could see a light shining from what looked like an office, and maybe whoever was in there would be able to tell her where to find Lizzie.

And...then she saw who was in there, and Jane was faced with the dilemma of not having a poker face and simultaneously not being able to say anything remotely unkind about anyone, ever. Thankfully, Jono and his obvious injuries gave her an out so she wouldn't need to think too much about how unique that makeup was. "Oh, my goodness, are you all right?"

"Er..." Jono glanced up from the mail that was stacked up on the desk, thankful that Lizzie had indeed sorted it out properly and hadn't touched anything personal, and blinked at the girl in the doorway. "I've been worse. I won't be running any marathons any time soon, mind."

And that was going to drive him nuts in short order, yes.

"Can I help you, luv?"

"Um." Jane wasn't sure why she'd expected to just find Lizzie, really. "I'm looking for my sister. This is the address I have for her, but I didn't call ahead or anything," she added uncertainly.

Also, seriously, this guy was blue. This guy was -- wait. Lizzie had a roommate. Jane mentally scolded herself for being so thoughtless. "Oh! Oh, are you Jono?" She actually managed a smile there, waving a little shyly.

Jono quirked a bit of a smile at the girl, giving her a small nod.

"That'd be me, yes. You're Lizzie's sister, then? She just went upstairs for a minute, helping me with my luggage, since I just got in th'door myself. She should be down again shortly, I'm sure."

He was blue, but at least he was polite, right?

"Take a seat? I'd show you up, but it'd be slow going today."

"I'm Jane," she agreed, going back to looking a little lost as she took a seat. "The one who sent the care packages. I don't think Lydia sent anything, anyway."

She was sure she hadn't, but that seemed unkind to say out loud. It made it seem like Lydia didn't care, and that wasn't the case at all.

"Jane," Jono echoed, offering her a smile and a handshake across the desk. "It's a pleasure to meet you, luv. The coffee was much appreciated."

Because he needed coffee in order to live, apparently. And much more this past week than before.

"I didn't bring any this time," Jane said, genuinely apologetic as she reached over to gently shake his hand. This was getting weirder by the second. Maybe she was onto something with that dream thing. "It was, um, kind of an unplanned visit."

"Those happen," Jono replied, his handshake firm in turn. "This place seems to be excellent for that sort of thing, actually. How was the trip in?"

He didn't seem too broken up about the coffee, no.

"It was fine," Jane said, still a little hesitant. "Um. Uneventful, I guess. It's really different from California, here. Not in a bad way!"

Jane wasn't sure why she was trying not to offend Jono by accidentally saying this town wasn't the best place she'd ever been. She was pretty sure he wasn't from here, either.

Lizzie was thumping her way back down the stairs when she heard voices in the office. Was Jono talking to himself?

No, Lizzie, obviously someone else had come in. Maybe it was someone wanting to work here, or a student interested in the improv classes.

... wait. She knew that voice.

Lizzie hovered in the doorway, staring in utter confusion at the scene before her: a redhaired girl talking calmly to her large, blue roommate.

"... Jane?"

Jane was here? Jane came to visit? That was awesome, but she would have thought Jane would have called. Not that she minded! She was just .. a little confused.

Edited 2012-12-29 01:10 (UTC)

"Lizzie!" Jane nearly bolted up out of her chair, heading over to her sister to hug her tightly. "I -- hi. Your roommate's really nice."

She didn't really know what else to say, yet. She didn't know how to vocalize why she'd come -- it still hurt too much.

Lizzie was returning the hug, because it was Jane, and they'd never spent this much time apart. It had been hard. She was happy that Jane was happy, and she was happy here, but she still missed her second-bestest-friend ever.

And right now, it felt more like a tie for first.

"He really is," she said. "I'm so glad you're here! I've missed you. Did you get time off?"

Was that a nice way of asking why Jane was here? She hoped it was nice.

"...kind of." Jane pulled back, looking much less happy than she had a moment ago. She fished her phone out of her purse, and Bing's words were still on her screen. She passed it over to Lizzie.

"...I didn't know what else to do."

Didn't ... know what? Lizzie took Jane's phone, still not understanding. It was Bing's twitter account, and she read the tweet aloud.

"'Small towns are great, but back to the big city. Hello, Los Angeles.'"

Wait. What?!

"Did something happen?" she asked, but there was a bigger fear forming a knot in her stomach. "What ... what did he say?"

How long was he going to be gone, when would he be back, how many roses would he buy her to make up for his quick departure ... that kind of thing.

Jane was already shaking her head before Lizzie's question was fully formed. "That's it," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "That's all. He didn't say anything to me."

He didn't say anything? Jane and Bing had been dating steadily since, what was it. April?!

For him to leave town and not say anything --

Lizzie didn't think. She just pulled Jane into the tightest hug she could.

And Jono... shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, feeling a bit like he was intruding on something that he had no business being a witness to. This didn't look like the sort of happy family reunion that he'd kind of been hoping it was going to be, and it took a moment of struggling, but he managed to get his leg down and make a reach for his crutches, at least.

"Sorry, excuse me, ladies," he mumbled, keeping his head down. "I've just gotten in and I have plenty of work to catch up on. Upstairs. Unpacking to do and all, you know how it is."

God, how was he going to get up those stairs?

Edited 2012-12-29 01:46 (UTC)

Lizzie barely noticed him leaving. In any other situation, she might have remembered that she'd offered to help her injured roommate up the stairs; she would probably have apologized for taking over his office, too.

Right now, the only think she could think was that Jane had had her heart broken, in a terrible, callous fashion, by a good, decen---- by someone she had thought was a good, decent guy. And that Jane had flown all the way across the country to see her.

Right now, Jane needed her. Everything else was going to wait.

The Boards, Friday Afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject