fandomhigh | Library, [05/01]

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Library, [05/01]

Well, this was it. Jonothon's last weekend on the island, his last shift in the library, dutifully pretending that whatever was going on outside was more or less sane.

Which would be going so very well for him, if it wasn't for the way the books had gotten it into their heads (or whatever) to attempt to imitate the Viking-related shenanigans that seemed to be the weekend's running theme, ever since their appearance at graduation.

Jonothon had wrestled to keep the books shelved for a while, before simply giving up, rolling his eyes, and making himself comfortable at his desk with his feet up, playing Ride of the Valkyries on Youtube to keep the hardcover raiders satisfied as they plundered and pillaged the various sections of the library.

If you can't beat them...

The library is open!

[And OCD freeee because I'm feeling lazy today. Hi!]

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//Don't tell me I'd have to go about stomping on people's toes just to have a moment's peace, luv.// Jonothon's eyebrow quirked up, and he spun her about again. It was fun, okay? //Because I'd do it, you know. I'd become a serial toe-stomper, and there wouldn't be anything anybody can do to stop me, either.//

The spins were some of the best parts! And of course Ariel would want to return the pleasure of it by going and attempting to spin Jono as well. She was fair like that.

"This is very true," she acknowledged. "I bet you're a phenomenal toe stomper, but I trust you'll be nice and not show me just how well you can toe stomp. I like my toes an awful lot..."

Which of course made her pause a moment, a brief bite of her lower lip, followed by a small little smile. The thought then crossed Ariel's mind that she'd never really told Jono about...that part of herself, and she thought maybe she should. But, ultimately, she had to wonder what the point of it would be, especially if she wasn't going to see him again for a little while.

Really, Jono should have been expecting the spin. This was Ariel that he was dancing with, after all. Of course, he wasn't, and so he tripped up just a little before finding his footing and the rhythm all over again.

Jonothon Starsmore was sometimes less than graceful, apparently.

//I suppose, since yer being so trusting, I'll refrain from stomping yer toes just this once, Sunbeam.// Unless he were to go and trip again, but he was fairly certain that he could avoid that much, at least. //There wouldn't be much dancing without them, and then where would I be left, right?//

Yeah, the slight little trip-up there was a good way to distract Ariel from some of those deeper thoughts, but she wasn't laughing at it, really! That was just...a frog in her throat, that was it.

"You'd be left having to find another dance partner, that's where," she answered. "And letting someone else in on this terrible secret of yours!"

//Oh, the humanity.// It was interesting how he managed to make that come out completely flatly, while still striking an overdramatic pose, back of one hand to his forehead and all. //Who else in th'world would want to dance to boy bands with me? Yer a rare breed, Ariel. A rare one indeed.//

"You've got no idea," Ariel said with a bit of a laugh to cover up how much she meant that. "You, on the other hand....you'd be surprised how many people I can get to dance to boy bands with me."

Just ask Bruce.

"Or maybe not too surprised."

//Not terribly,// Jono agreed, shaking his head, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes just slightly. //Though now I find myself wondering if yer trying to tell me that I'm really not all that special. I'm heartbroken, luv. Simply heartbroken.//

Honest. He was totally crying inside.

"You sound like it," Ariel noted. "Or maybe you would if you didn't already know that I think you're amazing, Jono. I'm really, really, really going to miss you, you know."

That was a lot of 'really's. Jono raised an eyebrow slightly, and then shrugged it off a little.

It was still weird, thinking he'd be missed. Especially a triple-really-lot.

//I'll visit,// he replied. //And I'll write. As often as I can. And you can write back. We'll be like... pen pals, or something. I don't know. I've never really had one of those before.//

"Neither have I," Ariel said, smiling at the prospect. "Well, there was this one time, I found a message in a bottle, from a little girl, I think, and I wrote back to her, but I'm not sure if she ever really received them, you know? I like to think that maybe she did, though. Hopefully, this way will be much more reciprocal."

//Well, bottles don't generally come with a return address and a guarantee of delivery,// Jono noted, straightening again as the song ended. //So, theoretically, this ought to work better than just tossing a bottle into th'water and hoping th'tide does th'rest. Especially since the Academy isn't really near th'shore.//

"Then you'd probably have to throw it really hard," Ariel said with a faint smile, a little sad that the song was over so soon. They never seemed long enough. "Where is this Academy, anyway? Anywhere I might have heard of?"

//Massachusetts, if you've ever heard of that,// Jono replied, remembering that Ariel's grasp on the geography of this world seemed... tenuous, at best. //Out in th'middle of bleedin' nowhere, in th'woods. But it's... not really a bad place to be. It's for people who aren't quite... er... right.//

That wasn't exactly the best way to put it.

"Oh," Ariel had to comment with a quirked brow, "and this place is?"

//Just yer run-of-the-mill training ground for freaks and monsters.// Jono's tone was entirely too casual. //And... safe. It's safe, for people like me.//

He shrugged.

//I'm trying not to think too hard about th'fact that I seem to fit in better around here than there.//

"Freaks and monsters," Ariel repeated with a tilt of her head. "Your words, or theirs?"

//Depends on the 'they,' I suppose,// Jono replied, shaking his head. //I used to believe it, is th'thing. Looked in the mirror and hated what I was. Tried to push everyone away before they could get a decent look at me, too.//

He turned and made his way back toward the computer. Music. Music was good.

//Before anybody could get hurt.//

And Ariel, of course, drifted over with him, following him, hopping up to sit on the edge of the desk as she watched him with the computer.

"You haven't hurt me at all, Jono," she told him. "And I like to think I've gotten a pretty good look."

//How good?// Jono's eyebrows lifted slightly as he glanced her way. //You've gotten a look in the wrong order, Sunshine. You don't see me th'way th'rest of the world does, because you know who I am. Things are different here. People care about the who. Back home, it'll all be the what, all over again.//

Ah. Swallowed seemed fitting enough. The Viking books would just have to cope.

Ariel was quiet for a moment; her eyes shifted toward her feet, which she kicked out a little bit, pointing her toes as she did so and she sighed. "Well, then," she said. "Who cares? If a person can't like you for who you are, then they're not worth it anyway. If they can't look past what you are to get to know who you are, then that just shows that you can waste your energy on much better things. You can be all, 'well, forget you guys, because you all may not know any better, but I've got all these other people who do care, and they're better than you all anyway.'"

She sighed, though, her legs settling down and staying still again. "I know how it is, though. It's one of those things that is easier said than done."

//Far easier. And you are, you know. Th'best group of people I've known, I mean. I trust th'people here more than I've trusted anybody. Maybe more than I ever should have. But... it's funny. You know, I don't regret it? And I've been worried all this time that I would.//

Go figure, this place was full of people who got it.

//But you... you get this idea in yer head, that maybe there's something that not even the people who care about you should ever know, because it might change everything, turn it upside-down and leave you right back where you started with nothing to show for it but burn scars and heartbreak... It's... it's frightening, changing all that. Even more when it works out and you realize that it's time to leave it all behind.//

"But you don't have to leave it all behind," Ariel offered. "Not entirely. But I..."

Ariel sighed again, looking up toward the ceiling as she mulled over what Jono was saying and realizing that things were hitting the fact that she did have her own thing that even one of the people she cared about the most, Jono himself, didn't know anything about, and here they were sitting there talking about that exact thing.

"I do know what that's like, though, Jono. In order to come here, I had to give up everything. And I mean everything. I mean, things ended up working out much better than expected, but when I signed up to come here, I did so thinking I would never see my family or my friends or my home ever again. And then I came here, and I've never even told anyone about what I am or where I'm from unless it was mostly by accident..."

Well. That was cause for Jono to let go of the mouse and stand up, giving Ariel a curious look before edging back to take a seat, himself. This seemed like 'sit down and shut up, Jono,' conversation, if ever he'd stepped into one.

//... Family and friends are a lot to give up, for th'sake of stepping into a secret, luv.//

Despite herself, Ariel gave a small breath of a laugh at Jono's choice of words. She glanced over at him with a distant sort of smile. "I know," she said. "But it wasn't so much stepping into a secret as it was stepping into a dream. Even if things hadn't worked out that so that I could go home every once in a while, I still wouldn't regret it. I guess it's kind of different, but, I mean, it's all how you look at it. If you go in thinking it will be horrible, it probably will be. But if you go in determined to make the best of it....you will."

//Stepping into a dream...// There was an interesting choice of words to hand to the boy who didn't sleep much anymore, haunted by nightmares. //It... worked out for you, then? This dream of yers? It would've been worth th'cost?//

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