The Perk, Tuesday Morning

[furnaceface]

After his broadcast, Jono wasn't quite ready to make his way back to the Boards. He needed... people, perhaps, which was something new and novel for him. He didn't necessarily want to socialize with them, mind. He just had to see them, out and about, freely walking down the street in the sunlight. And that was why he had grabbed a window seat, for once, and was sitting there nursing a black coffee while he people-watched.

This island had horrible ways of reminding a person about just how lucky one was to be free. Jonothon was going to ruminate on that in silence for a little longer, a small stack of unread scripts sitting in front of him on the table, in case watching people going about their day-to-day happened to get old.

It hadn't, yet.

[Open Perk is open, with possible bouts of SP if at some point they happen to give me something to do at the studio today.]

Comments

[trigons_child]

Raven was in dire need of tea that morning after spending most of Monday in her hotel room trying to process what had happened. When she came into the Perk to get something to drink, she saw Jono there and walked by his table after just a second of hesitation.

"Good morning, Jono," she said. "I hope that you have been able to recover from this past week."

[furnaceface]

"I appear to have all of my respective bits in order," Jono replied, glancing Raven's way with a hint of a tired smile. "And yourself? My, er... makeover went away after we got back. You're doing better yourself, I hope?"

[trigons_child]

"I can see that," Raven said with an answering smile. "I seem to be myself once more, thank Azar." She didn't have fangs or an overwhelming hunger for blood, at least.

[furnaceface]

"That is a relief," Jono agreed, nodding a little. "You seemed to have yourself more or less in check, but that's not a fate I'd wish on anybody. I'm glad you've recovered from it, Sunshine."

Once again, old habits died hard.

[trigons_child]

"It was one of my worst nightmares," Raven murmured. Which made perfect sense now, given who had created the maze. Anakin knew exactly what she feared most.

"But...yes. I endured. And I hope this Toymaker not dare attack Fandom again."

[furnaceface]

"In the wake of all of that? Most people tend to learn their lesson after their first failed attempt," Jono noted. And then wrinkled his nose a little. "Except Umbridge, I suppose."

Jono hadn't even been around for Umbridge's first go at the island. But the second time around had been more than good enough at cementing the fact that Jonothon wasn't a fan.

[trigons_child]

Raven fiddled with her cup of tea for a moment, trying not to feel too awkward. "I must return to Gotham soon," she said. "And see what excuses I may give to my professors for missing classes. Do you think that today or tomorrow you would have time to talk?"

[furnaceface]

Jono tilted his head at her for a second at that, and then shrugged and gestured to the seat across from him.

"I'm free right now, luv," he pointed out. "And really don't have anything on th'table tomorrow, either. Would you rather talk here, or in my office, or...?"

[trigons_child]

"I would prefer somewhere in private, if you do not mind," Raven said. She had no idea right now what she intended to say or do, but she didn't want it to be in the middle of town.

"I am sorry, I do not intend to sound ominous," she said, frowning a little. "I just wish to talk."

[fewer_explosions]

Liara's time in the dungeon had been... well, to be honest, she had not felt very terrible about living in an often-quiet dark underground space, but that was an opinion that she had quietly kept to herself. Besides, the imprisonment and danger rather stripped away the calming influence of those surroundings.

She spotted Jono through the window as she passed by the perk. It was human habit to check up on one another, right? So she wouldn't fall on her face too badly if she went in and announced her presence to him with a, "Hello. I am glad to see you are well."

[furnaceface]

Ah, Liara. Jono gave her a little nod of his head in greeting.

"And you as well, luv. I hope you managed to pull through th'week alright?"

Better than most, at least? Maybe?

[fewer_explosions]

"Yes," Liara said, with a brief nod of her head. "I was not pleased to be taken that way; it was... intrusive and inconsiderate."

... that was understating it a little.

"But it could have been much worse."

[furnaceface]

"Could've been. It was rather unpleasant, though. I don't think any of us were particularly thrilled to wake up in that place."

The Wonderful World of Understatement, starring Liara and Jono.

"If nothing else, I suppose this means that things ought to be relatively less traumatic between now and... graduation, most likely."

Graduation did have a funny way of sneaking up on the unsuspecting.

[fewer_explosions]

"I would hope so," Liara said. There was a faint thread of annoyance in her voice - which was becoming more audible. "Whatever it was, it had terrible timing. I was supposed to go on a date."

A pause.

"I am sorry. That is rather self-indulgent of me to complain about. It was not a good experience for anyone involved."

[furnaceface]

So help Jono, that had him twitching the beginnings of a smirk. He tried to bite it back, at least. And mostly succeeded.

"I don't mind," he offered. "It's refreshing, in the wake of all that, that's what somebody is complaining about. Can you at least reschedule?"

[fewer_explosions]

"I was planning to," Liara said earnestly, "But I have not seen her since we returned."

She was... hoping Karolina hadn't taken off permanently.

[furnaceface]

"No?" Well, that would be problematic. "It was a long, tiring week. Perhaps she's sleeping it off. Do you know if she was there too?"

Jono had no idea who 'she' was, and he was already kind of shipping it. It was good to see that Liara was comfortable enough around here to start dating, really.

[ultron_junior]

Victor finished cleaning the clementines out of the repair shop and decided to celebrate with a mocha.

He wandered over to Jono after he had his drink, hand not holding the cup jammed in his pocket. "Hey," he said. "It's still fantastic to see people up and about. How you doing?"

[furnaceface]

"I can't complain," Jono replied, giving Victor a small smile that was edging toward completely wiped out. "I'm free. I think freedom somewhat takes away my right to moan about anything else, at least until the novelty wears off again."

Plus he no longer had a stupid tail. Still a win.

[ultron_junior]

"I dunno," Victor mused. "I can still find things to whine about. East Coast Mexican food. People who text in abbreviations. Stuff like that. But I will say my dorm room looks a lot better than it did 10 days ago."

[OOC: LJ decided I didn't need this notif. Oops.]

[furnaceface]

"And I never thought I'd be so happy to change a litterbox," Jono replied with a snort. "I've had the island's most needy cat since getting home the other day. How are you holding up, Victor?"

[Dammit, LJ!]

[ultron_junior]

"Fine," Victor said, and frowned at his shoes. "I have to say, the whole temporary death thing? I kind of never need to do it again. Like, ever."

[furnaceface]

"If I had a nickel for every X-Man who's ever said that..." Not helpful, Jono. "Avoiding dying again seems like a wise plan, at any rate. What happened, if you don't mind my asking? If it's something you're uncomfortable with sharing, I'll understand."

[ultron_junior]

"It was the stupidest thing ever," Victor warned. "But that April girl? She was a vampire, she wanted to eat me, I said no, and while we were fighting I stumbled right into one of those grue monsters. And then it was lights out time before I knew it. Guess I was especially bite-sized."

Thoughtfully, he added, "Is April still a vampire? 'Cause we should probably do something about her if she is."

[furnaceface]

Jono frowned a little. He'd had his own experience with April, though she hadn't attempted to eat him.

"I'm... fairly certain everyone who was turned is back to normal now," he said, slowly. "Raven was half-turned and she's back to herself. I had, er, inherited a few extra body parts over the course of the week that are gone now, as well. But if April is still a vampire... I'll look into it. She's a close friend of mine, it ought to be me to do it."

He didn't sound thrilled about that. But then, nobody could really blame him, could they? She was one of a handful of friends he had left on the island that wasn't also a student in the school.

Or, rather, the friend he had on the island who wasn't a student in the school. His social life left a little something to be desired.