fandomhigh | Library, Sunday 04/15

"What?" Raven said, stunned by his words. That couldn't be right. One of the parts of Fandom she'd always treasured was that it was a safe haven for everyone who was different. Mutants or others who were persecuted for what they were could be themselves without fear, and to take that away would make Fandom not Fandom any more. It certainly explained what she'd been sensing coming from the town.

"That cannot be right," she said, hugging him tighter. "That is not fair. This is our home!"

"'N their investment," Jono mumbled, hanging on for a moment more before easing back slightly. "The school is costing... too much money... or something. Fair has nothing t'do with it."

When did fair ever have anything to do with it?

"One of the women on the school board's the mother of the one doing most of the funding for The Boards, too. I might just... sit low this week. Or... just avoid this. Or something."

He'd be so much more angry right now, except he knew when somebody had him firmly by the balls. And avoiding conflict was probably the best he could manage, right then.

"You should not have to," Raven said, trying to think of something she could do to put a stop to this. Something anyone could do. The unfairness of it all was making her stomach turn.

"Even for a week -- even for a day -- it is not right to demand that you or anyone else here hide themselves."

"Believe me, Raven. I know."

He was a former X-Man. Somewhere along the way, Jonothon had gotten that memo.

"This place is my home. But the school is home for... for a lot of people who need it more than I do. As much as I want to yell and scream and shake these people by the shoulders, if this is just a matter of appeasing them and sending them on their way, perhaps it would be for the best if I just went with their wishes and left the island for a few days."

His temper was not going to hold out if he stuck around while all of this was going on.

For the best still didn't make it right, for him or anyone else in his circumstances. But if the alternative was Fandom losing its funding, she wasn't sure what other choice there was. And what if this became some sort of permanent condition on the school operating? The thought of that was horrifying. No, this had to be temporary and there had to be some way from stopping it from ever happening again or Fandom would cease to exist.

"Then let me go with you," she offered. She didn't want him exiled and alone. "We can make a vacation of it and find something interesting to distract us."

"What, on the very last week of your high school career, luv?" Jono shook his head a little. "I couldn't ask you to do that. Besides, somebody needs to keep an eye on Joni. I can't exactly bring her with me. She's not used to travel, you know."

He scuffed a boot against the floor, and then shrugged.

"I'll be fine, Raven. And back before you know it."

"You do not have to ask, I am offering," Raven said. "You are more important to me than any classes, and I do not want you to be alone."

She reached for his hand. "If I were to stay, go visit a friend?" she suggested. "Emma, perhaps?" Though if her world was like Jono's, that might not be exactly easy either. "Or see if there is someone else who might wish to leave the island during this time and travel with them?"

And today, at least, Jono saw her hand, and closed that little distance between them. The rug had been pulled out from underfoot today, and that little bit of comfort would go a long way, wouldn't it?

"Jubilee," he murmured. "I haven't heard from her since M-Day. Her or Angelo. I think it's about time I go to check up on them, make certain they're doing well. They shouldn't mind me taking up a spot on their floor for a few days. Lord knows, I've given up my bed for one or the other of them each time they've paid me a visit here in the past."

"Yes, and I would think they would both very much like to hear from you as well," Raven said, nodding in approval. She was still going to worry while he was away because she knew his world, but his being with Jubilee and Angelo lessened those worries significantly.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Do you still wish to have dinner tonight, before you go?" she said.

"One last meal before my exile?" Jono's smile was a little bittersweet at that. He'd be back soon enough, certainly, but the situation at the root of all of this was still leaving a rotten taste in his mouth. "I think I would like that. Ms. Evans from the School Board said she'd probably stop by at some point to pay a visit, but I imagine she'll be too busy today with the concerns of other people on the island to manage it, and I intend to be long gone before these benefactors of theirs show their faces. A meal before I leave would probably do a world of good."

"Good," Raven said warmly. "It is the least I can do to try to make up in some small way for this unpleasantness."

It didn't change anything, but she hoped a having just a pleasant normal evening helped a little.

"And I appreciate it," Jono replied, leaning back against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest, an old habit from when he still worked here in the library. "My portal leaves fairly early in the morning. All the better for slipping off the island without being noticed. With any luck, I'll be able to get some rest tonight after that meal, too."

He doubted that much, though. Jonothon, sleeping? Some things were too far-fetched even for him to believe.

"Give Jubilee and Angelo my regards when you arrive, please?" Raven asked. "And tell them I hope they are doing well."

She hoped they were. After what had happened to Jono, she imagined they would have wanted to help him, and if they'd been unable to get to him, the reasons why that came to mind weren't pleasant.

"I'll be certain to do just that," Jono decided, smiling a wry little smile just for her.

Really, Jono hoped they were doing well, too. He hadn't been able to get in touch with Lee since M-Day, though Logan had assured him that she was still alive somewhere out there. That was as good a starting point as any. And if she was still staying with Angelo, that narrowed down the area he had to search somewhat. Down to Los Angeles, really. Which was... huge, but nothing he couldn't handle, at least.

"I'm certain they'll be glad to get your regards, luv."

"And if you need me for anything, even if it is just to teleport you somewhere, please do not hesitate to call me."

Raven sighed softly and shook her head at herself. "I am sorry. I should not fuss so much." But after what his world had done to him, she couldn't help it.

"There isn't any need to fuss," Jono replied softly. "Angelo's place is in LA, and Lee went off to room with him after Generation X disbanded. They might have found a different place to live since, after... what happened with the Church of Humanity," because that reminder would totally help put her mind at ease, sure, "but finding them should just be a matter of calling up Logan for a favour."

The way Jono saw it, Logan owed him. Big.

And Logan had been the one to actually look for Jono when he'd gone missing, for which Raven was grateful.

"I will do my best not to worry," she promised, finding a smile. "And I will put all my fussing into making dinner tonight."

"If that's the way you're going to go about it, tonight's meal stands to be unparalleled," Jono teased, smiling faintly. "I've seen the way you worry, luv. I'll be fine."

... Yes.

Except the last time he'd been in his home world he'd been kidnapped and brainwashed and forced to do horrible things and then almost died and abandoned and healed but altered by some sort of insane would-be-god. Which she wasn't going to think about too hard because if she did there would be hand wringing and hyperventilating and she'd never let him go alone.

Instead she tucked that all away and kept her smile. "I know," she said. "And perhaps I will have your surprise ready for when you return."

"And here I am without even a hint?" Light-hearted teasing time was a go! "Well, you must be excited about it if that's the case."

"If I give you a hint you might figure it out, and then it would not be a surprise," Raven said. "So it is for your protection that I do not hint." Do not question her logic. "But yes, I am very excited."

Yes, Jono could totally see how having a surprise ruined on him could be bad for his personal safety.

Oh, Raven.

"Well, then I'm looking forward to it," he decided, nodding faintly. "Whatever it is."

"I am certain you will enjoy it," Raven said happily. Once she got a few details hammered out.

She glanced about the library; no one other than Jono had come in all day, and from experience she didn't expect anyone else to come. "It is quiet and late enough that perhaps I can close down the library now," she said. "Has your kitchen been cleared of all life other than what belongs there?"

Jono grimaced a little, and then offered a shrug that was almost apologetic in nature, there.

"I did most of the cleaning last night, but there were still a few more things I had wanted to scrub down before dinner time," he admitted. "After the broadcast it was straight to Town Hall, and then from there... more or less in this direction. But if you wanted to come back with me now, you could pull up a seat while I finished up, if you don't mind just sitting around for a while."

"I must go back to my room to get a few things," Raven said. "I could take my time."

Her tone was still light and teasing; she suspected Jono was going overboard just a little with the cleaning.

Well, perhaps. He'd finished Rinoa's paperwork, and had found himself getting twitchy last night with nothing actually productive to distract himself with.

It was called a 'displacement activity.'

"No, no need," he sighed. "I don't think anything's too likely to come crawling from the garbage disposal, Fandom's insanity notwithstanding. I'll just give the kitchen another quick wipe-down, and it should be set for cooking in."

Raven understood the need for busy work. She'd spent more than one Sunday making sure the books were obsessively organized on their shelves to distract her from other things.

"Do you want to wait while I fetch what I need from my room then?" she said. "So we may walk to town together?"

"That would work," Jono decided, nodding faintly. "Might as well enjoy one more walk through town before all hell breaks loose tomorrow. I can entertain myself for a few minutes with whatever needs to be re-shelved, in the meantime."

Displacement. Activity.

"I will be right back then," Raven said. She took a step back and vanished in a puff of black smoke.

A few minutes later, she reappeared the same way, a bag slung over her shoulder. "I believe I have all I need," she said. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jono replied, setting the guitar magazine back down on the trolley that he'd pulled it from. Of course. What else would he pass a few minutes with in a library? There hadn't been all that much left in need of re-shelving, unfortunately. "Lead on, Sunshine."

Raven turned off the overhead lights and made certain the door would lock behind them, then offered Jono her free arm.

"Let us go, then," she said, as they began the walk into town.

Library, Sunday 04/15

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