fandomtownies | The Park, Saturday Evening

Entry tags:

The Park, Saturday Evening

It was early evening, and Jono, being somewhat twitchy after realizing that the island was doing something strange again, had decided that he needed some fresh air. Sure, 'fresh air' seemed to translate to 'coffee.' Was that really so wrong, just so long as he was going to sit in the park while he drank it?

Never mind that it was too late in the day for coffee, please. He'd actually stopped by J,GoB for a few bagels, and a coffee just seemed like the thing to get for himself, at the time.

The bagels, of course, were for the ducks.

Jonothon had a bit of a history, when it came to feeding ducks in the park. Sometimes, it was nice to just sit alone and toss them a few crumbs between thoughts. These days, it was a little bit like brooding, but with some of the edge filed off. And he was quite alright with that, thank you.

[Open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Zack was off training and, after watching him for a bit, to make sure he didn't collapse immediately, Ino had headed to the Perk to grab a hot chocolate, then wandered to the park.

It wasn't like Zack could leave the island without her knowing. She was keeping tabs on him, with a little mental tag that kept her updated on his whereabouts.

"Nice to know the ducks are still spoilt," Ino said conversationally to the large, blue man.

[Zack modded with permission!]

"I've been away for a few weeks," Jono noted idly, tearing off a few more pieces and tossing those to the ducks, watching them squabble amongst themselves for them with a bit of a quiet smirk. "They're probably half-starved, by now."

Going by how fat they were, probably not.

"It's been a while since I've seen you around the island, luv." He glanced her way, lips still pulled into a slight smile. "Hello, Ino."

No, he didn't imagine she'd recognize him. Though part of him was curious about how long it would take for her to figure it out.

She didn't look that much different from the last time he'd seen her, truth be told. A few years older, longer hair--worn loose, not up in the ponytail that had been her go-to style in highschool--and the suit.

"If that's half-starved, I'm terrified to wonder how much bigger they were before," she said, casting a doubtful look at the man. "And I don't remember anyone big 'n blue from my time here."

"I wouldn't have been, when you were here," Jono replied, with a wry twitch of a smile as he offered her a bagel. "I was... much thinner, for a start."

Somewhat less Apocalyptic.

"Wrote you a few songs, actually. Excruciatingly vapid ones."

She laughed softly as his accent plus knowledge clicked into someone she knew. Ino took the bagel and perched on the back of the bench.

"I suppose this means you get to sing now, huh?" she asked, shredding her bagel into pieces small enough for the birds. "It's a bit of a change, in case you missed that."

"Trust me, I noticed. It's good to be able to sing my own accompaniment, though. Now I don't have half as much to mope about."

That wasn't even remotely close to being the truth.

"You're looking well, Sunbeam. Or, at least, in one piece. What brings you back to the island?"

Yeah, she didn't believe him for a second about the moping thing. She wasns't going to call him on it though.

"A job," Ino said, though it was more complicated than that by far. "That's probably the best thing to call it. Don't know how long I'll be 'round though."

The one piece bit was solely because she hadn't been in any battles recently.

"Isn't that always how it is?" Jono gave his shoulders a shrug. "A job on the island, then? Or something else?"

Yes, he was nosy. Yes, he was shameless about it.

Tossing some of the bagel for the ducks, Ino rested her elbows on her knees and gave him a glance.

"Nah, nothing to do with the island specifically," she told him. "Playing babysitter to Zack, that's all. Gaia's too hot for him to be around there."

"Got himself into trouble, did he?" Jono gave her a sideways glance. He hadn't really known the boy all that well, but he did remember that Ino was dating a military kid. "Well, here's as good a place as any to deal with it, I suppose. It's why I came back, after all."

She smiled faintly.

"Problem is, he don't want to stay here," Ino admitted. "And I'm actually getting paid to keep him on island. He ain't far off when he called me his warden, which..."

Hurt. A lot.

But she just shrugged.

"Ah." Well. That did complicate matters somewhat, didn't it? "He's the sort who doesn't run from his troubles, then? Or is there something back there he feels responsible for?"

Jono could relate with that second option. It seemed the same as the first, at a glance, except that in his own case it tended to come with a hell of a lot more guilt attached.

"Both," she said moodily. "It's messed up 'cause, see, we know the timeline thanks to this place. In that timeline, he were supposed to still be... where he was... for a while longer, then he'd get out with his friend. Then he'd die." Her voice was emotionless. "But his friend wouldn't and his friend would keep the world from being destroyed."

Ino's next bits of bagel were tossed a bit harder than strictly warranted. "But he got out 'cause of my people, not on his own strength, and they didn't nab his friend out of there 'cause bargaining, right, don't always go that way and he were the important one to them." The important one to her. "So Zack wants to go back and he wants to get his friend and I don't really think he cares if he dies. But I do and he don't trust me no more and it's a mess!"

Oh, Jesus. Jonothon hadn't quite seen it being this messy when he'd asked after it, no.

"Bloody Fandom, giving us bloody glances at things we have no business knowing," he grumbled, shaking his head. "Do you know how much longer, at least, before he and his friend would've gotten out otherwise?"

"Half a year?" she said, a bit doubtfully. "The timeline rundown I got weren't real specific about things like when my boyfriend was supposed to die."

For... probably obvious reasons, right? Right.

"Soon though. There's other things comin' up that I got a more solid bead on and working around that... six months 'til escape."

Edited 2013-07-28 02:28 (UTC)

"That's... not a hell of a lot of time," Jonothon admitted, furrowing his brow. "But from the sound of it, Zack or no Zack, you'd be taking one hell of a risk with that world if that other bloke doesn't get out of that same mess, himself."

God, what a mess, indeed.

"Still... six months. That might buy you some time to figure out what to do. For all that he wants his friend to be freed too, the timeline that's been handed to you gives you half a year to figure things out."

"If he don't get out, we might be okay," Ino said, tilting her face up to the sky and closing her eyes. "He won in the original timeline at least partly 'cause he thought he was Zack. We got the real deal."

She opened her eyes. "Not that we're just doing nothing. They're trying to get this guy out but who knows if they'll succeed. Ain't told Zack 'bout the deadline. He needs to heal or else he will die. I could kill him right now, that's how weak he is."

It wasn't that Ino was a weak fighter herself, either. It was that Zack was so much stronger than she'd ever be, when he was healthy, that it was really no comparison.

"And if you can, he's not bloody likely to last against whatever his world has to throw against him, hm?" Jono knew how this went, yes. It wasn't like he hadn't seen timeline fuckery go horribly awry before. "But... this is six months to recover than he wouldn't have had otherwise. That must be worth something, too."

"Yeah."

She stared at the last of the bagel, then tossed it to the ducks and shook crumbs off her hands.

"I thought he was dead."

Jonothon hissed between his teeth at that. That explained a fair bit about how she was taking this, right there.

"Christ," he murmured. "I'm sorry, luv. From that to this mess... I can't imagine."

Well. He could imagine. He had a pretty functional imagination, when it came to tragedy.

She shrugged.

"Ain't nothing I can do about it," Ino said quietly. "Just cope. I got experience in that now."

Though she was still abysmally awful at it.

"Well... you're not on your own, at least," he said, gently. "I know it's been a while, but if you need anything, Ino, just let me know. I'll see what I can do. Even if all it amounts to is sitting on a park bench, acting as a sounding board while we throw bagel bits at the ducks."

That got him a faint smile.

"Terrible, isn't it?" she said. "I'm here for minutes and already dropping shit on your lap."

"I've had worse dropped in my lap." He gave her a small smile in return. "You should've seen the mess I was in when I came back to this place. You're keeping me in practise, is all."

Yes.

"That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"Everything I can think of to say to that is really depressing," Ino admitted, shaking her head. "Probably better if I don't say any of it. Bit weird, to see you here though. Weren't really expectin'... anything here."

"No? There are some things about this place that stay the same, luv. You know, Skywalker still lives here?" He nodded back toward town. "School's still standing. Ridiculous things still attack two or three times a year..."

A few benches down, a young woman was throwing popcorn to the flamingos. Eventually, when her bag was gone, she went to sit by Jono.

"So," she said. "Island's bringing everybody back again, huh?"

There was a good way to knock Jonothon breathless, right there.

"So it would seem," he ventured, after a pause that was entirely too long, as he stared at that young woman with eyes that had been convinced for years that they weren't going to be able to see her again until, quite literally, the day he died. His mouth was a little dry, and he felt, all of a sudden, like a rock had settled somewhere in his guts. "I... It's... I mean."

Well. Jono had also hoped that he'd be a little more eloquent, when next they met.

"Good lord, I've missed you."

Eloquence was going to have to take a seat and wait for raw honesty to have its turn, first.

Didi was silent for a long moment at that, contemplating the twist of fate that had her here and human but at the whims of some power it wasn't her place to subvert.

In a way, it was cruel. Cruel to put her here when she'd just have to go again. (The power that had drawn her to the island felt strong, but not durable.)

But at the same time, she was human at that moment, with a human heart. Which meant --

"I'm not supposed to miss people," she said softly. "But you, I do. Always. I shouldn't want you to miss me but -- it's nice to hear I'm not the only one."

"It is, isn't it?" Jono hadn't even been aware he'd been holding a breath, and he was letting one go when Didi told him she'd missed him, too. It had been a long, long time. All time had really done for him was dull the ache of her leaving. He hadn't grown any less fond of her, over the years. He gave his toe a scuff against the ground, feeling more like his awkward teenaged self in that moment than he had in ages. And then he dared to scoot a little closer to her on the bench, to offer her one of his bagels. "I can't imagine I can hope for a year, this time."

Fandom was far too cruel to give them that much.

"No way," Didi said, relief and frustration mingled in her voice. The year had been glorious, but not in a way she ever wanted to do again. "I'm guessing I probably have a couple days. Maybe even less than that."

She took the bagel, started shredding it with her fingertips. "So, what do you think we should do with it?"

"I... don't know," Jonothon admitted, trying not to sound too much like his heart was preemptively breaking all over again. "I've spent more than half a decade thinking about what I'd do with one more chance to be with you, and now that you're here..."

He was smiling. It was somewhat on the sad side, but it was still a smile.

"Don't suppose it'd be as easy as picking up where we left off for a few days, now, would it?"

It was never so simple.

Didi's hand, the one not occupied with the bagel, fluttered over to rest on his.

"Is there a reason not to?" she asked. "Look, it's crazy, but it's not like we get this chance all the time, and if the whole thing's not going to smush your heart into raspberry jam, a couple days hanging out with you would be nice."

More than nice, really.

Pretty fantastic, actually. 'Nice' was a word reserved for things like pleasant weather, or a lap full of purring cat.

"It... could be," Jon replied, turning his hand over, taking hers in it. His hand practically engulfed hers, now, something large and suddenly so much less him than it had become, after nearly two years in this body, now. He imagined how much smaller she'd feel against him if he were to pull her close, too. "You know, I'd do far less moping these days, if I were to, say, take you out for dinner."

"And now you can actually eat something and not just watch me," Did remarked. It was a warm evening, but not so warm as to stop her from leaning against him -- possibly because she was having the same thoughts he was about his new size. "And the kiss goodnight will be much less sulfur-y. Dinner sounds like a great plan. Where to?"

"Anywhere that's still open, I suppose," Jono noted, thoughtfully. "It's a Saturday evening. I'm fairly certain anything worth eating at is closed, and as much as I enjoy Mooby's..."

There were just some places you didn't take your reincarnated it-was-complicated-sort-of-not-quite-ex girlfriend, Death, who was Didi, out for dinner. Mooby's? One of those places, pretty definitively.

"I could cook something, perhaps? I've got an apartment now, over the Boards."

"I dunno," Didi said. "Mooby fries are pretty tempting."

With her, it was hard to tell that she was joking. And she probably would squeeze in a burger run before she had to go. But for tonight ...

"I would love to see your apartment," she said. "And you know I'm not a picky eater. Lead the way."

Jonothon caught himself smiling, at that. He was more than a little certain that his heart was going to end up bleeding on the floor before it was time for him to return to Glacia, himself. But right now, so help him, he needed to smile.

He didn't let go of her hand, even as he pulled himself to his feet, throwing the last of his bagel to the ducks for them to bicker over.

"I've... probably got some fish or something," he mused, because talking about dinner seemed easier than talking about the million other things he could have been discussing right then. "And potatoes. I know I have those. If the idea of fish and chips doesn't make your stomach churn, I'm not completely inept at preparing it."

Because some days, Jono needed to be a shamelessly stereotypical Brit.

"Oi, luv, and could you get us some mushy peas on the side?" Didi asked, in a Cockney accent that would have sounded much better if she hadn't punctuated the sentence with giggling.

"Sounds great," she said, back to her own, more neutral accent. "And catch me up on everything while we eat, okay? I want to hear all about that war you're fighting."

She knew some of it, as she knew everything. But she didn't, couldn't know how it felt from inside his head.

So help him,the sound of her laugh... He closed his eyes and smiled as he listened to her, giving her hand a squeeze before looking where he was going again and starting back toward the Boards.

He was going to hold on to the sound of those giggles for as long as he possibly could. He'd been terrified, after Weapon X had poked around in his brain, that he'd been remembering her wrong even after getting his memories and his freedom back. It was a relief just knowing that her laugh was exactly as he remembered.

"There'll be a lot of catching up to be done," he noted, nodding a little. "If you want to hear about it, that'll be our evening plans, set. But if somehow I don't end up talking your ear off, I'm sure I have a video floating around the apartment somewhere that we can agree on... Or I can pull out my guitar. Or... or, whatever."

So little time. So many things they could do.

"We'll figure it out," Didi agreed as they started to walk toward the theater. "Catch up, play guitar, I'll tell you the latest with my family ... somehow I don't think we're going to need a movie to fill the time."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Park, Saturday Evening

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

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