fandomtownies | All around town, Tuesday afternoon

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All around town, Tuesday afternoon

Raven was back.

She'd tried to relax. She really did. She'd had every intention of taking to the bed Hardison had offered her and not getting up for the foreseeable future, but it turned out sleeping in a bed was really weird after you'd spent as long as she had sleeping rough. And that waking up at the sound of people moving around so you didn't get eaten didn't turn off like a switch. After her fifth time starting awake, this time because the heat had turned itself back on, she gave up on trying and decided to go out for a walk.

Walking was easy. Walking was what she did now.

She'd managed to remember to leave Hardison a note at least -- mostly because he'd left her one first, or she absolutely would have just wandered off -- and she'd even remembered to mimic wearing weather appropriate clothing so she didn't give anyone on the streets a heart attack over the naked girl.

And well, if she was cataloguing the various ways she could take out the passersby if they happened to look at her the wrong way. . . . At least she hadn't actually acted on any of those plans yet?

Turned out you couldn't turn that instinct off like a switch, either.

[ooc: Raven is back! And officially townified. Open to anyone who wants to wander by.]

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Jonothon's head hurt. Between his general annoyance (Read: Seething fury) with Hannibal since the weekend and the somewhat horrifying feeling of Nanika rattling around his senses since yesterday, Jonothon's head hurt. He was half tempted to leave the island just to put that to a stop, but he knew that was the annoyance (fury) and the telepathic nagging (battering) that he was taking.

So, instead, Jonothon was going for a walk. Not even a long walk. Just... somewhere to clear his head. Get some fresh air. Not that he was breathing it in, just...

Fresh air never hurt anyway.

It was around one corner and halfway down the street that he thought he noticed a very familiar somebody, and for a moment, his annoyance and his aching senses were shunted to the side.

//Raven?//

If this was the island playing a trick on him, he was going to be so peeved.

Raven startled. She hadn't heard that sort of voice in a very long time. Fortunately for -- well, everybody -- she also didn't associate that sort of voice with anything bad.

She turned and smiled. "Um, hey." She waved a little awkwardly. "I'm back?"

That was a good thing, right? Hardison had seen it as a good thing and she was pretty sure it was a good thing, but people were really hard right now. So it was a question.

//You're back,// Jono said, and his voice carried with it a note of relief, of happiness to see her. //And it's good to see you,// he added, reassuringly. //I...//

For a member of the X-Men, one would think that he'd have more experience with people coming back from situations they probably shouldn't be able to.

//... How... are you?//

No, really, he was bad at this.

Raven's smile went slightly smirkish. Honestly, she was just relieved not to be the awkward one. "Okay. I think." She shrugged. "I've had kind of a weird year."

How was that for understatement.

//So it would seem,// Jono replied, relaxing a little at her smirk. //But you made it? Ah. I mean, you made it.//

It was not a question. She was standing right there. Of course she made it.

//Lord, it's good to see you.//

"I did," Raven agreed. "Assuming I don't suddenly wake up back on the end of a broken causeway." She hadn't yet, and if this was a dream, it'd been going on for a good while. So she was pretty sure it was real. "It's good to see you, too. Um. How've you been?"

Why had it been easier to just get started talking to a total stranger at a shelter in the mountains than to someone she'd known and respected for years?

Well, for what it was worth, Jono wasn't so great at reconnecting with old friends even when he wasn't talking himself out of walking up to them and poking them to make certain they were real. He didn't imagine Raven needed that, anyway.

//I've been...// Probably better than she had been, current headache and annoyance at Hannibal aside. //Fine. I got married?// Eventually. //I, ah, I suppose asking how you've been...//

Would certainly be asking a question? He shook his head, his expression gone suddenly wry.

//I'm acting like an idiot,// he decided. //I've been well, or as well as anything gets around here. I've been worried about you, but Portalocity is less than helpful in a good situation, never mind an emergency or dire straits. How did you get back? Are you alright?//

"I walked," Raven said. "From LA to Baltimore. I mean, I did some driving in the first part but mostly I walked." Every now and then on that journey it had occurred to her anew just how fucking long a walk that was. It hit her again now and for a second she felt really tired. "The causeway was all broken, but Hardison managed to open a portal to it somehow anyway. Something with his computer? I kind of didn't ask."

She hadn't even thought to question it all last night. She'd just been home.

"You got married." She could hardly believe it. "To Dr. Lector? Was it a big ceremony? I want to know everything."

Did he have any idea how long it had been since she'd been able to girl-out over something like a wedding?

//You walked, and you drove, and you made it,// Jono said, and he was in the faintest bit of awe, taking all that in. That was more than one hell of a trip. The world wasn't kind to people like them. That world was far less kind indeed. //Good lord, Raven, that's remarkable. Remind me to... hell, I don't know. Send Hardison a card or something.//

... Sure.

//And yes, to Hannibal. There were several big ceremonies, which were interrupted by mutant hunters, mass memory loss, the FBI, yet another end of the world scenario, and a series of ridiculous bloody mishaps before we gave up and eloped,// he muttered, burying his face in his hand. //I'd say you didn't really miss out on anything there, but I'm sure there's at least video of one of my wedding guests being thrown through a cake.//

It had been Logan. Jono had requested they get a screencap of that blown up and framed.

Raven ducked her head a bit at that awe, not quite sure how to handle it. She rubbed absently at the small discolored circle on the shoulder of her mimicked coat -- the bullet wound scar that still never shifted quite right. She brightened again when he talked about the misadventures in matrimony, though.

"That all sounds -- very Fandom," she said finally. "Congratulations. You guys are going to have the weirdest wedding photo album ever."

Assuming they gotten pictures of all that. She really hoped they'd gotten pictures of all that.

//Oh, we absolutely will,// Jono agreed, the faintest bit of a smile touching his eyes. //You'll have to come over and look at it sometime. Shake your head at us for not giving up. Lord knows, our caterer and DJ did.//

Which was fair, after round umpteen. They'd been lucky they didn't end up re-heating chicken nuggets and picking up a Pikachu birthday cake from Dairy Queen with 'wedding' written on it in piping gel.

//So, have you been back for long? I haven't been walking by you for days now and just haven't noticed, have I?//

He doubted that was the case, at least.

Jalian was out running, and keeping a close eye on her feet in case of icy patches, and very nearly didn't notice who she was running up on before she did.

Then she nearly tripped backpedalling, eyes wide. "Raven?"

Raven would probably be getting a lot of that.

"Just since last night," Raven assured him. "Or -- maybe this morning? It was still dark, but no one was up at all." Except Hardison, of course. And his partners, who'd yelled at him for being ridiculous even as they'd run around making the bed and things. "I don't think even the squirrels were paying much attention."

At least a few.

"Jalian!" Raven's smile was bigger than any she'd worn since leaving Harpers Ferry. She moved to close the distance between them, fully determined to give the girl a kiss -- then realized that she had no idea how she and Jalian stood. Would she be mad that Raven ran off and got herself stuck in another dimension?

Had she gotten together with someone else? Someone who didn't freak out when you did what you had to do?

//Well... then late.// Jono considered Raven thoughtfully. //So, you're here to stay? Is there anything I can do to help you settle back in, luv?//

... He supposed Hardison wouldn't bring her back from the end of the world to then make her sleep on the street, but he had to ask.

"Oh." Raven blinked. "Um. I . . . haven't even really thought about it." The idea was generally to figure out how to bring Kathy back from the dead and then go back to get her -- but she didn't expect to get that done right away. "I'm not even in school anymore, am I." She was supposed to have graduated right around when she and Kathy had completely failed to come home. "What do people do around here when they're not in school?"

//You graduated, luv. Congratulations, welcome to the club.// People who apparently kept coming back to this place even though the school wouldn't let them take classes there anymore. Like idiots.

Granted, even Fandom was better than certain other options out there. But a lot.

//When we're not in school, generally we grown-up graduated types get things like apartments, and jobs we only need to show up for once a week.//

Ah, Fandom.

"Hardison said I could stay at his house," Raven said. "But a job's probably a good idea."

//A job, I can do,// Jono offered, looking thoughtful. //That is, if you aren't opposed to working in a music shop. No experience necessary, just a willingness to tolerate the stereo even when it decides to spend three hours solid playing techno polka.//

"I haven't heard music that wasn't someone singing while hiking since last spring," Raven said. "Techno polka sounds amazing."

//... I am so sorry.//

So help him, he actually meant that. Music was kind of his life, after all. Along with all of the heroing and being married to a serial killer.

Jono was a many-faceted and complex idiot.

//But if you're sure... how about I give you a week to get settled in and fall back into the rhythm of the island. You can have longer if you need, and if there's anything else I can do for you, just let me know, luv. And then you can start working next week, if you're ready.//

"Next Tuesday then." Jono maybe hadn't meant that quite so literally. Oh well. "Thanks, Jono. Maybe I can finally catch up on the last sixty years of music."

Misfit had been astounded that she didn't know "Time After Time".

//Next Tuesday,// Jono agreed. Because, hey, that shift happened to be free anyway. Might as well give it to Raven. //And if you want my expert opinion, skip most of the seventies. The only good things to come from the seventies were punk rock and me.//

...

Ugh, he had to go and date himself.

//And possibly the first Space Battles film.//

There. Better.

"Is it all techno polka?" Raven asked. That was going to be her go-to ridiculous genre forever now.

//Worse,// Jono muttered, shaking his head. //Disco.//

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All around town, Tuesday afternoon

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