The Park, Sunday Afternoon

[furnaceface]

There was nothing quite like a couple of days of reinforced muteness to get Jono feeling a bit introspective. The new artistic talents were fine and well, but he'd take the ability to communicate over being handy with an aerosol can any day of the week.

How that led to him sitting at a park bench with his flames in full view (all the better for getting across that he obviously wasn't going to be the most talkative person on the island) and a bag of bread in hand was anybody's best guess. Obviously he hadn't bought it for himself, no. There was just something... therapeutic about feeding the ducks around here. And if after a while that happened to turn into some quiet sketching on the little notepad he sometimes carried around with writing music in mind? The ducks were interesting artistic subjects, he supposed. And the person who was feeding them in the sketch...

Well, she was nobody that most people around here would recognize these days, anyway.

[OOC: All kinds of open, though Jono's obviously not going to be big on conversation today.]

Comments

[voiceoverdue]

//Equipment humming and the blood rushing through my ears,// Cecil answered promptly. //Oh, um.// He took a deep breath and mentally turned everything off. It was...a little unnerving for it to be dark and quiet, but he reminded himself he could turn it right back on if he needed to! //Just the blood now.//

[furnaceface]

'There it is, then. There's your quiet place. Go there tonight before you go to sleep.' A pause, then, because he'd met Cecil. 'Keep the equipment on if you rather.'

A nice, mostly-quiet radio booth to mentally camp out in for the night.

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil sighed in relief and turned everything back on. Then he cracked an eye open. It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot quieter now!

"Thank you!" He hugged Jono as hard as he'd let himself be hugged. He was really relieved.

[furnaceface]

Jono... was not prepared for the hug. At all. And he demonstrated as much by going wide-eyed, before reaching out and awkwardly patting Cecil on the back.

'Uh... You're welcome, mate.'

Pat. Pat.

Well. This was awkward.

[voiceoverdue]

Be honest, Jono; this was not the most awkward thing Cecil had ever done.

He let go and settled back down next to Jono. "Is it always so...um. Loud?"

[furnaceface]

It wasn't even close to the most awkward thing. Jono just wasn't a frequent hugger.

'A bit, yeah,' he agreed. 'Just be happy we're on a small island, mate. Try living in a city like New York or London with that. After a while, either you learn to tune people out, or you go mad trying.'

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil scrunched up his nose. "I think I'll just stay here until it...goes away. Or whatever." Not that he had any real urge to go to New York anyway.

"Besides, I told you I could...um. Be your voice. Remember? And I...well, I guess you kind of need one now. Right?"

Be very scared, Jono. If you didn't think fast, you'd just earned yourself a Cecil-shaped limpet until things cleared up.

[furnaceface]

What would Jono even do with a limpet.

'I should be fine unless I run into somebody who can't read,' he noted, raising an eyebrow at Cecil. 'And even then, there's body language. I should be fine, Cecil. I wasn't planning on really doing much socializing this weekend, anyway.'

And Joni didn't care one way or another about whether her glowy-human was talking to her or not.

[voiceoverdue]

"You never..." His voice broke again, and he grimaced and rolled his eyes. //You never know, though, right? I didn't have any plans except walking Foucault. And he hasn't seen Joni in ages!//

Look at those big eyes, Jono. He just wanted to help!

[furnaceface]

But Jono wasn't certain he'd survive the help!

Still, Jono found himself glancing at the flamingo... thing... And big eyes. Big eyes were his one secret weakness, damn it, Cecil.

'Well, that's true enough... And Joni hasn't had a playdate in a while.' He was going to lose this one. 'I'm not exactly going to need a translator while I'm at home, though. I'm not expecting company.'

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil grinned. //That's okay! I'll be ready if anyone does come!//

He was totally going to protect you, Jono! From...something.

Probably not himself.

[furnaceface]

'I haven't got any food,' Jono tried, lamely. He was pretty certain he wasn't going to win this one. 'Except for Joni's. Wouldn't be able to feed you if you wound up camped out there.'

A beat.

'Hell, I don't even have furniture.'

He kept meaning to change that, but calling for the 'moving things' cavalry this weekend had been put somewhat on hold.

[voiceoverdue]

//Well, I can always order something if I do get hungry.// He cocked his head at Jono. //Haven't you been sleeping, either?//

[furnaceface]

'Never was any good at sleeping,' Jono replied with a shrug of his shoulders. 'I've dragged a mattress over, it's sitting on my living room floor. It's actually a fairly sorry state of affairs at the moment.'

He spent most of his time downstairs with the music anyway.

[voiceoverdue]

//Maybe you should try now, while it's quiet?// Cecil suggested. //I can keep a lookout for anything awful.//

[furnaceface]

'... Try to sleep now?'

He was going to assume Cecil hadn't been referring to right there on the park bench. Either way, he glanced that way, eyebrow raised, and then shrugged and pulled himself to his feet.

'Not out here, anyway. And you look like you're freezing yer arse off. Want my jacket to wear back to Groovy Tunes?'

This was not an invitation into his home to watch him sleep, Cecil. That would be a few steps too weird for Jonothon, thanks. But he could put some music on and bring Joni down to play with Foucault, and it would be warmer than it was out here.

[voiceoverdue]

//It's really cold.// Cecil scrambled up. //I'd love it, if you won't get cold?//

Don't worry, Jono; he didn't really want to watch you sleep. Foucault and Joni were more fun. "Foucault!"

Foucault was snuggled up with ducks around him; he honked and stood carefully before hurrying over.

[furnaceface]

'I'm from London. The only way I'd be more comfortable in weather like this would be if it was raining, too.'

Okay, that was a bit of a stretch, but the kid seemed to be freezing his ass off. Besides, it wasn't like the Groovy Tunes was much of a walk from here. Jono shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to him.

'C'mon, then. Let's get you warmed up, mate.'

[voiceoverdue]

That was because Cecil was freezing his ass off. He climbed into the jacket gratefully, cheered by the prospect of a warm building with a bird and a cat. //London sounds weird.//

[furnaceface]

'Weird as compared to what, exactly?'

And which London? It different a touch across realities.

[voiceoverdue]

//Night Vale.// Cecil shrugged. //Just...cold and wet? But I'm sure it's fine if it's your thing!// he protested. //Sorry; I'm sure it's...great!//

He wasn't really. It sounded like he'd be miserable. But if Jono liked it, he wasn't going to be rude about it.

[furnaceface]

'It was home,' Jono replied with a dismissive shrug as he started back toward the Groovy Tunes. 'I'll take it over the dry heat, but that's just me. Hard to appreciate the hot when you can't even take a drink of water to cut it some.'

[voiceoverdue]

//That makes sense,// Cecil allowed. //And home is...home.// He grinned at Jono and slung an arm around Foucault. //If you ever need anyone to go someplace hot and dry for you, just let me know!//

[furnaceface]

'You'll be the first person I call, mate.'

If, for whatever reason, Jono needed to go to a hot and dry place. He couldn't think of any offhand, but really, one never knew. For the time being, he was going to just lead Cecil up to the music shop's front door, pausing for a moment to just kind of bask in the mural before pointing toward his jacket pocket.

'Mind grabbing me the keys, mate?'

[voiceoverdue]

"Oh! Um. Sure!" Cecil fumbled in the pocket for them and handed them to Jono.