fandomtownies | The Perk, Thursday Morning (Before Classes)

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The Perk, Thursday Morning (Before Classes)

It had been a difficult morning at the Estate. Warren was molting, Kayla was teething, Karla was having nightmares that she couldn't remember upon waking...it was like everything was converging to make sleep a distant, much-missed memory. This morning, after Karla had put Kayla's diaper on backwards twice, she'd decided there was no way she was going to make it through the day without a bucket of coffee with as many espresso shots as the Perk could legally include. Tweaking her portal to open up at the coffeeshop instead of the school was no big deal and from there she could call Jono and have him come and ~~deal with~~ visit his niece for a few hours while Karla enjoyed a bit of a lie-down in her office after class.

Coffee, class, nap. Good plan. Solid plan.

Too bad it didn't last a single step out of the portal.

As soon as Karla put her food down on the sidewalk, she had to bite back a startled scream. She also nearly fell over, catching herself against the wall at the last moment before she went ass over teakettle onto the ground, baby and all. Kayla, started awake just after she'd dozed off, began to wail. Not from being jostled, no. It was colored by fear and pain, her caste reacting to the same stimulus Karla's was.

"Shh, shh, baby, I know, I know, shh," Karla said, holding Kayla close and staggering inside the Perk. All thoughts of coffee were forgotten as Karla sank into a chair and tried to tune out the roiling in her gut. It hadn't been this bad since the first time she'd visited Reno and Elena and felt the damage that had been done to the land for generations.

What she was feeling didn't make any sense. She'd just been here last week and Fandom had been fine! So what the hell What she was feeling didn't make any sense. She'd just been here last week and Fandom had been fine! So what the hell had happened to the island now, to make it so bad that she and Kayla could both feel it?

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Honestly, Jono hadn't been sleeping anyway, but even if he had, no force under the sun could have kept him from coming running as a familiar little psychic signature started screaming her distress. Ignore that it was cold out. Ignore that he had come running in exactly what he'd intended to wear to sleep, which meant that he was barefoot and unwrapped as he pushed his way through the Perk doors.

//Kayla?!//

He had a lot on his mind this week, and everything was falling apart in splinters around him, but he would always be there for Kayla.

Jono got a burst of pure misery in return. Something was terribly wrong. Kayla didn't know what or where or how, but she could feel it. It hurt worse than her gums!

Karla looked up at Jono with tired eyes, trying to soothe Kayla and having no luck. Kayla was an infant Queen, bound and attuned to the land the same way Karla was. This wasn't something she could make go away with a kiss and a lullaby. "Jono," she said, sounding bewildered. "What the Hell is going on?"

//Going on...?// The onset of the worst of it had come so gradually, Jono had assumed that it was all in his head. Things seemed to be dying or going feral all around the island now, but it wasn't as though he'd gone wandering the preserve lately. //I don't...//

He looked between Karla and Kayla quietly, and then tried to send Kayla a wave of warmth and safety. It might not make the worst of that shock fade, but it was better than nothing.

//It's that bad?//

"The island's...sick, Jono. The last time I felt anything like this, it was after the equivalent of a nuke. It's bad enough that Kayla's picking it up and she shouldn't be. Not at her age. Not yet."

Kayla was still wailing, though her sobs were winding down by a fraction, and looked at Jono with wet blue eyes.

//That... explains a bit of that,// Jono allowed, stepping forward and holding his arms out to take the baby. //There's been something... heavy. Chewy. I can't put a finger on it. Sort of thought it was just me.//

And, in fairness, a lot of it had been.

//Long week.//

Understatement. As usual.

Karla hung onto Kayla a moment longer before surrendering her over to Jono. Even crying, having Kayla in her arms was a comfort. But if there was a chance that the bond between Kayla and 'the Music' could help comfort her daughter, that was far more important.

"It's not just you," she said, finally remembering her coffee. She sent her order over on a psychic thread to the barista. "Feels like...a lowering storm, almost? That kind of obnoxious headache when the pressure drops?"

//It's grating,// Jono agreed, nodding faintly as he cradled Kayla close, flames licking up harmlessly around her. Protectively, even. And warm and safe. //And constant. And not letting up. It hasn't let up for days. It's been at least a week now.//

And it was starting to show plain on his face that there was a lot eating at him.

"Is that why you look like Uncle Saetan gave you a tour of Hell, facedown?" Karla asked. "When was the last time you slept? Even your usual, terrible version of sleeping?"

//The other night,// Jono replied, //after Hannibal plied me with alcohol and gave me a massage. Best sleep I've had in a while, since the last time.//

Which had been something like a week ago. One half-decent percentage of a night's sleep really didn't do much to get him caught up on all of the rest of it.

//Though I have a bone to pick with you about Hannibal. Preferably sometime when the baby isn't right here.//

Because there would likely be yelling, was the thing.

"Ah." Karla was glad that her coffee chose right then to arrive, truth be told. It gave her something to do that didn't involve looking at Jono right at that moment. "I take it he told you everything. Good."

She'd told him to, once he'd told her that he and Jono were in a relationship, but she wasn't foolish enough to think that one canceled out the other.

"Let me know when a good time for you will be. I'll make sure Warren has Kayla."

And they were both in another reality completely.

//Believe me,// Jono murmured quietly, //I absolutely will.//

There were layers to that promise, just barely restrained in his words, so as to not distress Kayla further.

He suspected Karla would catch them all the same.

//Good to know Kayla wasn't in any immediate danger, at least,// he added, looking down at the little girl. //She gave me quite a start.//

Oh yeah. Karla could feel his meaning roiling beneath all the words he wasn't saying, like something dangerous lurking in deep water.

"I'm sorry she scared you," she said, willing to go along with the change in topic. "It caught us both by surprise."

//It's been a week for surprises, I suppose,// Jono murmured, nodding a little. And then holding Kayla a little closer, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers, poor little thing. //It isn't her fault, anyway. I'm just... Christ, I thought something had... or somebody...//

Yeah, he was absolutely a hallmark of verbosity today.

//Calling for a re-do on this week entirely.//

Karla thought back to the past week of drool, rashes to be Healed, whining, loose feathers, and an amnesiac empath walking the halls of the estate.

"Same," she agreed immediately. "And I don't blame you for coming running. In fact, I appreciate it. Buy you a coffee?"

Hers was a frothy collection of espresso, chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream. In his current state, it might kill him.

//I'll be gentler on you later if you do,// Jono agreed, giving the sugary mess a bit of a side-eye. //Didn't sleep at all last night. Up worrying, feeling it now, though. I'd go back to sleep, but I really don't think that's in the cards.//

Karla gestured at the barista, issuing another, far less complex order to share. "Can you leave the island?" she asked. "For the weekend, maybe? Or even just a night? Something to let you sleep?"

Preferably without getting hollowed out by an Elder God...?

Jono shook his head a little.

//I don't want to stray too far,// he admitted, looking down at Kayla and not quite looking up again. //I might not be able to find it. I'll sleep when I do, but right now, I...//

Yes, Jono. That super descriptive and informational statement would clear everything up lickety-split.

//Didi's letter's gone. Couldn't find it, looked everywhere.//

It was a good thing they hadn't linked yet or else Jono would get to enjoy the sensation of choking on hot coffee.

"Wait, what?" she wheezed through a coughing fit. "Please tell me I misheard that?"

Yes, tell her she'd misheard that while she mopped up the coffee she'd spat at you.

At him and the baby. For shame, Karla. Fortunately, it was just unfortunate sticky sugar-mud now, the spray had cooled it off before it reached either of them.

Jono wrinkled his nose, and then reached for a napkin to get some of the spittle off of Kayla.

//Wish I could,// he said, shaking his head, pretending it wasn't eating at him as much as it was. //It's gone. It was in my jacket. Now it's not.//

She'd known that Jono would protect Kayla okay?

"When was the last time you saw it?" she asked. She knew that Jono kept it in his pocket, where he could touch it like a talisman at need. So there must have been a very small window of opportunity for it to get lost.

//Yesterday,// he murmured. //I was working in the shop, and I could have sworn I had it with me then. It was in my jacket, I could've sworn it was. But it wasn't in my pocket in the evening when I pulled it back on.//

"You've torn up the store searching for it?" she asked. "Do you want me to go back there and help you look?"

She tear the store apart searching for that letter for him. And she could probably find a place for that chap hop to go.

//You don't have to,// Jono replied, shrugging his shoulders a little. //I mean, I did. Looked everywhere. Five or six or... twelve... a few times... Just, I can't... But you've got a, er, a nose for it...//

Psychic scents. Of course, right? He could just... let Karla loose on the Groovy Tunes like some scrappy blonde bloodhound, and she'd make everything better?

She'd try like hell.

"I'll look for it," she promised. "Can you watch Kayla for a bit? I've got time before class, I can see if I can sense it."

The letter would be rich with psych scents, being one of Jono's main emotional touchstones for years now.

//I'd be happy to take her for a bit,// Jono replied, nodding. //See if I can get her calmed down for you...//

He had a way with the little one. He was pretty confident that he could get her to calm down. And maybe she would help to calm him down, in turn.

//Thank you...//

"Of course, Jono. Link with me and I'll drink your coffee on the way." It wouldn't make up for his letter going missing, but at least it was something. "Thank you for keeping her with you. She's always happier when you've had a chance to visit."

//That goes either way,// Jono replied, nodding faintly. //I'll see if I can get her calmed down by the time you both go again. I imagine you'll be scrambling to do so as soon as you can, anyway.//

Just... hopefully not before finding his letter. Maybe. Please?

"I want to see if I can get an idea of what's going on with the island first," Karla said. "It's got to be something fixable, it's Fandom."

Which meant that whatever it was, it was fixable. That's how Fandom always worked.

Her coffee was delivered and Karla pushed a twenty over, telling the barista to keep the change. Then she stood up. "I'm guessing you don't have the key to the store on you?"

Not that that would stop Karla from getting in.

//... I live there,// Jono replied with a shrug. //Unless somebody stopped to lock up, the door to the building ought to still be open.//

Wide open.

He'd been in a hurry.

As was only right and proper.

"I'll stay in touch then," Karla said, knocking politely on his mental barriers with the link. "Any objections if I check upstairs, too?"

She was already metaphorically girding her loins to do battle with his bedroom. But so long as he didn't object, she'd search there, too.

//None,// Jono replied without hesitation, though it took him a few seconds more to let his barriers down enough for her to link to him. He was extra tentative about those, these days. //Please, don't hesitate to look anywhere you need to. I... might have a hole in my pocket, or... or maybe Joni made off with it, or, I don't bloody know. I might've almost cut up my coat to try to find it.//

Just in case he'd had a hole in his pocket, and the letter had managed to slip through the hole into the inner lining of the coat, before the pocket was conveniently stitched up again by... leprechauns? It was that time of the year, wasn't it? It could have happened!

"I'll check everywhere," Karla promised. "And if I don't have time to finish checking before my class starts, I'll come back and finish the job later."

If she had to, she'd just vanish everything and then call it back in, one item at a time. At least, for as long as she had her Jewel.

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The Perk, Thursday Morning (Before Classes)

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