fandomhigh | Library, Sunday 03/25

Or offer cooking tips!

It was early afternoon by the time Jono made his way into the library, lingering in the doorway for a moment to kind of drink in his surroundings. He didn't step through those doors near often enough, these days. Probably some sort of deep subconscious hesitation to let himself be really comfortable in those places that he'd frequented back before his days with the X-Men and then Weapon X.

Or maybe he'd just been busy with Petey Sci-Fi. One of those.

In any case, there was a stack of printouts in his arms. He'd said he was going to bring course calendars, and it hadn't been terribly likely that any would make it to him by mail in the two days since he and Raven had discussed this in the first place. As a result, he'd spent most of last night beating down Google until it had yielded results, and then he'd run through most of the Boards' paper and ink supplies. Apparently the allure of flipping through reams of hardcopy was still so much more appealing than just saving a bunch of .pdf files to a thumb drive.

"Knock knock, Sunshine?"

Raven lifted her gaze from the cookbook with a big smile. "Hello, Jono," she said, closing the book and pushing it to the side. "It is good to see you."

The library was usually so quiet on Sundays, and it was always nice to have a visitor, doubly so when it was someone like Jono.

Jono offered Raven a smaller smile in return, walking up to the desk and setting the papers down on it with a small whud.

"It's not a bad day for company, really," he decided. "How's your shift been, so far?"

He took another glance around. If there was nostalgia at play here, and there certainly was, he didn't seem to be taking great pains to disguise it just yet.

"Very quiet," Raven said. "Sundays usually are. I do not get many visitors. Bobby came to see me a few weeks ago, but generally I spend the time studying or reading if there are no books to shelve."

She was having her share of nostalgia as well. "I remember coming to visit you here almost every week before you graduated."

"That would have been... what, only a year ago here, right?" Something almost bittersweet pulled at Jono's lips for a moment, and then he shook his head, reaching for a chair. "A lifetime ago. But it doesn't seem like all that much has really changed in here since then. We're sitting on opposite sides of the desk, is all."

"No, not much has changed," Raven agreed. In there at least.

She glanced at the pile Jono had dropped on the desk. "What have you brought me?" she said. "Is that material about schools?"

"It is," he agreed, rifling through the papers and laying them out in separate piles, all paper-clipped together more or less neatly. "From this reality, from a few others. I tried to steer away from anything from worlds that seemed like they were particularly troubled. You won't see any iterations of the Empire State University, for example..."

That one seemed to mostly only exist in worlds that somehow paralleled his own. He'd been kind of flummoxed when he'd figured that one out.

"Do not people have to submit their applications for college long ago, however?" Raven said, peering at the piles. "I have sensed a great deal of anxiety and elation and some amount of disappointment in the dorms, which I think is due to the waiting for a response and then receiving it."

His mentioning of Empire State made her remember she had to ask him about the person she'd turned into two weeks ago, since she'd been a mutant and knew people that Karla had met in Warren's world. Which meant she might exist in Jono's, even if his Warren was so different.

"Theoretically, they do," Jono agreed, smirking. "But being away for five years just so happened to teach me about the miracle of timelines that aren't completely aligned. I only printed off the calendars for schools that are still accepting applications, luv."

Jono was good at this 'planning ahead' thing. Occasionally.

"That was very clever of you," Raven said. "It would be unfortunate to find something I like and then realize that it was not possible."

But even with the options narrowed down in such a way, she still felt a little overwhelmed looking at the many course schedules. "But how do you decide?" she said. "There are so many choices."

"Well, the first step is to think of something you would like to learn after you get off this bloody lump of dirt," Jono reasoned. "And then we can narrow down which of these schools actually offer it. And from there, look at which ones have the program in that area that seems most impressive."

It was entirely possible that Jono had wasted a lot of time looking at colleges that he had known full well he'd never be able to attend, before.

"Do any offer any sort of mystical studies?" she asked. She'd be good at that! But when it came to the real world, she was still floundering for an idea of what to do. "Or...history, perhaps?" she said with less certainty. "Or music? Though I am somewhat anxious because I do not have the experience that other students will, and I do not wish to appear foolish."

Three years in Fandom had taught her a lot of about Earth, but she didn't have the benefit of growing up in its culture.

"History would be the easy one," Jono noted, rifling through the papers and setting a few stacks to the side that had appeared promising before. "Music would be a little more difficult. Most colleges require some sort of audition, when it comes to applying for an education in the performing arts. And mysical studies..."

He furrowed his brow a bit. There probably were some schools in the pile that offered something of the sort, for that matter. He'd tried to grab a bit of a variety.

"Perhaps you'd be interested in some sort of anthropology course, if you're interested in history and culture?"

Raven nodded. "It might be an interesting way to pass the year, at least," she said. "And it would be useful, I think, to know about such things, for any time that I do spend on Earth."

Still, the thought of leaving Fandom and facing the outside world was making her heart race.

"What sort of information is required to attend one of these schools?" she asked, trying to distract herself from that fear. "I know Fandom High will provide a transcript for the time I was here, but before that I have nothing."

Like, say, a social security number.

"Nothing that can't be thrown together if you pull strings with the proper people," Jono replied helpfully, shrugging his shoulders. "You wouldn't have any paper trails in any of these realities in the first place. That's where we need to get creative."

Jono had worked for Weapon X. He knew a few of the big ins and outs of government record-keeping. He was fairly confident that he could manage something.

That was where dubious morals came in useful, and he didn't have to tell Raven that he was putting said dubious morals to good use, here.

It was for a good cause! It wasn't as if she'd be using them to cause any harm to anyone, except perhaps breaking the brains of a teacher or two if she asked a strange question in class.

"I think if I choose this path, your assistance will be invaluable to me," Raven said, giving him an affectionate glance. "Thank you again for offering to help me."

She picked up the anthropology course listing from ~~her player's school just because~~ one of the piles and glanced over it. "'Human, Animals, and Cyborgs'? 'Angels, Ghosts, and Hustlers'? These seem like very strange titles."

So help him, Jono was leaning forward with a raised eyebrow to have a better look for himself.

"Strange... but educational?" Well, that was the hope, anyhow. "How do hustlers have anything to do with angels and ghosts, dare I ask?"

"I do not know, but it seems to be about a place called Bangkok," Raven said, looking over the description. "Oh, and look, there is a Folklore and Mythology section. Some of those look intriguing."

Jon took a moment to look over the courses offered under the folklore section, pursing his lips a little as he went along, and then, so help him, turning a smile in her direction.

"So help me, reading this almost makes me want to apply," he admitted, wryly. "It is all rather fascinating, isn't it?"

Could anyone blame him?

"If I did decide to go to college, and took these courses or ones like them, I could share the materials with you," Raven offered, leaning toward him to brush her shoulder against his. "I do love to learn, and some of these topics look very interesting."

And it wasn't like she'd be there long enough to get a degree, so she could take whatever she liked just because it appealed to her, right?

Why not? So long as the schools were getting money, and she wasn't failing miserably, what harm was there in letting her go through, taking advantage of some sort of open studies program?

Jono was actually a little envious. But he had to admit, the prospect of her sharing did sound appealing.

"Is university still looking so impossible now, Sunshine?"

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