fandomhigh | Library, [12/12]

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Library, [12/12]

To say that Jono was tired after a night and a day in the Labyrinth was a bit of an understatement. In fact, to say that he was still slightly dishevelled as he made his way into the library today was also way too understated to be remotely accurate.

He looked like crap. More than usual, even. But he had... obligations. To come in and clean up the results of a week of hectic research. And so, while he succeeded in at least wrapping his bandages straight this morning, he managed, still, to look like somebody who had been beaten up by a minotaur after sleeping on the ground outside in December.

Good times. Good times.

Really, it wouldn't be so bad if his hair wasn't sticking up in odd directions like that. He found himself looking a little bit like Wolverine.

[Open!]

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She might say the same to him about her own dreams.

"I will judge that for myself," Raven said. She caught his hands in hers to try to still them. "Please, Jono, I want to help you. Let me?"

He kept his eyes down, watching her hands on his, until he managed to smother the urge to fidget.

//Some of it is... embarrassing,// he added. Because, you know, that would totally make-or-break this and get her to change her mind, right?

The fact that he was still attempting something like bargaining hopefully indicated that he was tempted. Or at least not dead-set against this.

"Most of us have little control over our unconscious minds," Raven said soothingly, squeezing his hands gently. "I would never use anything I saw to make you feel uncomfortable."

She tilted her head, trying to catch his eyes. Her heart ached with the need to help. She couldn't help herself, but if she could help him or anyone else, it would do for now.

And that was what it all boiled down to, wasn't it? Jono would almost have felt as though he was being cruel, just by thinking about turning her down. Fixing the broken was what she was.

He managed to bite down the fragment of a thought that suggested that she was only interested in him because there was so much that needed to be fixed. He knew better.

//Tonight?//

He'd better have known better! Or Raven would have...pouted at him. Or something. Fear her pout.

"Tonight," she agreed. "My room? I still do not have a roommate, so we will be alone there."

//Yer room,// Jonothon agreed. That suited him just fine, really. His own roommate had seen him blowing things up using his face yesterday, and somewhere in that there rested the basis for a conversation that he wasn't exactly looking forward to having. //But, assuming I'm aware of you being there with me in these dreams of mine, it ends when I say so.//

Some of his nightmares were embarrassing.

Others were just horrifying.

He wanted to reserve the right to hit the abort button if one tried to cross right on over into the realm of the other.

"Of course," Raven said. She'd reserve her own right to abort if she felt her dreams starting to leak in. She didn't think that would happen, but if it did, she didn't want to burden Jono with them as well.

"I will be there with you," she said. In time, she might be able to hide her presence, but not when she was so new at this. "And you have only to say you wish to stop, and I will. I do not want to cause you any distress."

//I cause myself plenty of that without any help, luv,// Jono replied. //I think you'd have to be actively trying to make it much worse than all that.//

It was kind of horrifying, the number of different ways that he could conjure up to dream about destroying everyone he cared about.

She barely managed not to flinch at that. Her own dreams had been filled with just that, images of her gleefully manipulating Jono's fears, Karla's, Sookie's, everyone she cared about, all at her father's command. Never! she thought fiercely, trying to wall that part of herself up tighter. She'd never become that.

"When?" she said, hoping her voice didn't betray her inner turmoil. "I have no plans for the day, other than to check on those who have returned." She could feel Karla and Bobby now -- and my did Bobby feel happy for some reason -- but she needed to see them for herself.

There was something sitting beneath the surface of her words that Jono didn't much like the taste of. "Stress" as well, perhaps? But he didn't press. He would no doubt look back and scold himself for that, one of these days.

//You've got a bit of time,// he noted. //I have to finish my shift here before I even think about trying to get sleep. And I might want to check up on people, as well. I needed to do a bit of bargaining to coax people out of that bloody maze last night.//

"Bargaining?" Raven asked curiously. "What do you mean? They were still controlled, like at the masquerade?"

She was never touching peaches again. Ever.

Jonothon nodded a little.

//They believed that Jareth wanted to protect them, and nurture them. They didn't remember being kidnapped, per se. Just that... that everybody else had failed them, somehow, and so running away to th'Goblin King's maze was the only place they'd be accepted for who and what they were.//

He was trying very hard to not admit that he'd spent a few minutes last night steeped in self-doubt and wishing that he could join them.

Raven nodded. "I understand," she said quietly. "At the masquerade, I felt so welcome there, like nothing else mattered and the past was gone and the future was filled with acceptance. And that was only in a dream. It must have been much harder for those who were actually in Jareth's power."

She lifted a hand to his face. "I am so very happy you were able to help. If he were extending that power to those who entered the Labyrinth to rescue our friends, it must have been difficult for you as well." Another good reason she didn't go in. The promise of acceptance would be hard to resist.

She tried to shake off that thought. "What sort of bargain did you have to make?" she asked. "Who did you speak to?"

And here came the awkward bits. Jono's relationship with Emma was... a weird and complicated one, to say the least.

//You know... I couldn't speak. It pushed my powers down enough that I couldn't project my voice towards others, couldn't manipulate my flames. If anything made it tempting to give in and stay, it was that.//

He couldn't accidentally hurt anybody.

//I did think at Emma, though. She was the only one there who could have picked up on what I had to say.//

The thought of him wanting to stay affected her more than any mention of Emma, and she said a silent prayer of thanks to Azar that he hadn't. "And you were able to convince her to return," she said. "She is fortunate to have you for a friend."

She just wasn't certain how one-sided that may be, given how Emma's talk of Jono and Bobby made them disturbingly seem like tools for her.

//I owe her for something,// Jono replied, shrugging faintly. //I don't know that she really understands just how much I do, yet.//

Or maybe she did. Maybe she'd stepped right into his head and learned all about the Emma that he knew from Massachusetts. How was he to know?

It didn't really matter, anyhow.

//She thinks differently than most,// he admitted. //But given where we come from, I can't say I don't understand.//

Which was kind of like his way of segueing into 'and so I promised to let her train me with my powers if she came with us.'

"She does not like me at all," Raven said. "She has accused me of things that were not true, for reasons I do not understand. But I know she is friend to you and Karla and Sookie, and I begrudge none of you for that."

She just wished she knew why Emma was mean to her, which prompted her to add in a very small and quavering voice, "I just hope none of you believe the things she says about me."

It was a clash of morals in the worst way, Jonothon suspected. He'd heard Emma's distaste yesterday when she'd mentioned Raven, but trying to nudge one girl or the other into changing their minds was a headache that he had decided he was ill-equipped to handle.

//She hasn't said much to me,// he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. //I think she knows she can't get away with it.//

Or else that he was too stubborn to take the word of one girl against the other, considering the really, really awkward position that their feud put him in.

"Good," Raven said, unable to hold back a little sigh of relief. "I would rather be at peace with Emma, and I certainly do not wish to cause strife in anyone's friendship. But I also do not want anyone to believe what she says about me. I have done nothing to her other than warn her that to enter my mind unbidden may be dangerous, and I do not understand why she thinks such awful things about me."

Her eyes began to well with unwanted tears, and she quickly brushed the back of her hand across them. Emma's taunts still stung her.

Jono was going to proceed to be awkward. The awkwardest awkward that ever awkwarded. Crying girls were, apparently, not something that he had a great deal of experience with.

//Yer a pacifist and she's a...// Oh, to find the right word, here. //... a survivor, luv. I don't know if she's capable of comprehending you. And yer something she can't understand, then you... kind of end up in her default 'threat' category, I think.//

Jonothon Starsmore and his half-informed theories, ladies and gentlemen.

Maybe now would be a good time to step forward and pull her into another hug. Hugs weren't awkward, right?

Raven gratefully accepted the hug. "I am sorry," she sniffled. "I should not be so upset. I know not all people get along with one another due to their differences. Perhaps one day she will come to know me and we will be friendly if not friends, or at least she will no longer believe I am any sort of threat to you or Bobby. Or herself for whatever reason."

She still clung to him, not wanting to let go, but looked up with her best attempt at a smile. "I will not dwell on it," she said with a determined exhale of breath. "And I will do my best to be friendly to her and understanding."

At least as long as her father wasn't poking at her.

//I would appreciate that,// Jono replied. And he'd love to get the same out of Emma, honestly. But that was something that he wasn't going to hold his proverbial breath for, as much as he wished that he could. //I think it's time for a topic swap, don't you?//

Well. That came out almost sounding chipper. He was trying too hard, now, apparently.

"Yes," Raven said, and if she sensed he was trying to hard, she didn't say anything about it. She took a breath to steady herself, thankful for her shields against her father holding strong enough now to keep him from preying on her insecurities. She was doing a fine enough job of that on her own.

"What would you like to talk about?" she said. "Or if you wish to continue tidying up the library, I would be happy to help you with that. Some of the mess might be mine."

//I don't really mind picking up th'mess,// Jonothon admitted, looking around. //Lord knows, it's already cleaner in here than my room'll ever be.//

A sad, sad fact.

//But I won't turn down yer company, luv. And we could talk about...// And here, he hesitated before pressing on. //Stress.//

Not his, this time.

Raven turned to pick up a book and studied its spine to decide where it should be shelved. The Dewey Decimal system was so confusing sometimes, but right now those numbers were utterly fascinating. "I am feeling much better now," she said, trying to keep a smile.

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