fandomhigh | Library, Sunday 04/22

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Library, Sunday 04/22

Raven had wisely kept to her room all day yesterday. She'd heard about the paintball, and while she'd gotten better at understanding simulated violence, actually shooting people, even with paint, was vastly different from pillow fights or food fights. She knew people were having fun, but she didn't wish to be shot herself, and after the week they'd gone through, she didn't want to put any sort of damper on their amusement.

She was relieved to find the library had not been assaulted. Any trace of paint on the books and she would've spent the day tracking down the culprits and giving them a good scolding.

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But she can't heal the paint out of your hair. You're on your own there.

There was, in fact, paint in Jono's hair! And splattered all over his jacket. And most of it was still in the process of drying, since it had happened fairly recently, during the radio broadcast. Thank you for that, Deadpool.

The paintballs weren't really the cause of the bruising that covered a large portion of his body, or the concussion and the decent-sized scar that he was going to have on the back of his head, but he was ignoring those with a gusto, thank you, as he walked into the library. He'd actually been sort of torn about coming to visit, seeing as he knew Raven would know right away that he'd been hurt. But all things considered, it was probably best to just get this out of the way sooner rather than later. He'd be walking around with cracked ribs and a concussion for a while otherwise, and he could hardly avoid her forever.

What he could do was carry himself with his chin up, not letting any of those injuries show in his posture, and offer Raven a little smile as he stepped into the library, hands in his pockets.

"I'm home."

"Jono!" Raven exclaimed happily, looking up from her laptop. "I am very glad to see you."

Her smile soon faded as her empathy picked up on his injuries. "You are hurt," she said. "What happened? This was not from paintball, was it?"

She saw the paint, and from what she understood of the game, bruising would be normal. Or maybe a skinned knee or a sprained ankle from running. Not this; this went deeper.

"Not from paintball," Jono replied, frowning faintly and lifting his shoulders, though the gesture was slightly lopsided. "Some arseholes decided to pick on some kid in an alley in New York for committing the heinous crime of having once been a mutant. Somebody had to stick his neck out for the lad."

Or his head. And his ribs. And there was probably some bruising around his kidneys that was somewhat problematic, but he was stubborning through it just fine, thank you.

"I did find Lee not long after, at least."

Sort of.

Raven was already standing up and hurrying around the desk. "Sit down, please," she said. "Let me heal you."

She was upset he'd been hurt and angry at those who had done it, but beneath that there was some pride, too. She was proud of him for protecting the boy.

Protecting, distracting from. Same thing, right?

Jono sighed and pulled up a seat.

"You don't have to, you know," he protested mildly. "I took a bit of punishment, but it's nothing I can't manage around."

Er. Probably.

"Do not be silly," Raven said, moving beside him and gingerly touching her hands to his sides of his head. "There is absolutely no reason for you to be in pain when it is so simple for me to do something about it."

The bruising was of some concern, but the injuries beneath his skin were more troublesome. She could sense the cracked ribs and concussion and did not hesitate to use her gifts to draw all his wounds into herself. Her body tensed and she gasped softly as his pain became hers. When she'd finished, she swayed dizzily as she worked the pain from her own body.

And practically the instant she was done, he was pulling himself to his feet to slip an arm around her shoulder.

"Stubborn girl," he murmured, softly. "I would've been fine."

Sure, Jono. Keep telling yourself that.

"But... thank you."

Light-headed and giddy, Raven giggled. "You are the one who is stubborn," she accused, clinging to him for the moment to keep her balance. "I can hurt for but a moment, or you can hurt for a week. I consider that more than a fair price."

"Well, be that as it may, it's a moment you shouldn't have had to feel that pain in the first place," Jono decided, easing back enough to press a quick, chaste kiss to her forehead before guiding her toward the chair. "It's trouble I got myself into, luv. You shouldn't have to suffer for it."

"It is my choice," Raven said, closing her eyes for a moment as she sat down and willed the room to stop spinning. "It is my gift to any in need, and particularly to those for whom I care."

She opened her eyes again as the dizziness passed. "And you are welcome."

For a moment, Jono felt a quick twist of guilt somewhere in the pit of his guts. He swallowed it back quickly, took a deep breath, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose... that's fair enough," he decided, his voice quiet. For the cheap value that he'd placed on his own life this week, her reasoning still didn't seem to sit well with him. But he wasn't going to argue, either. "Did I miss anything interesting while I was away?"

She caught that guilt and frowned a little, not sure if she should ask him why.

"I told you of the little green creatures, did I not?" she said. "They were followed by small rabbits that were apparently quite blood-thirsty, then other strange creatures that multiplied rapidly. There were many doing their best to kill them all, though I attempted to gather the ones I could find and transport them elsewhere instead, since as I understand it they were brought to the island and did not deserve to be slaughtered. But as it turned out, all this foolish deception was unnecessarily. Mrs. Howell is an alumni of Fandom and expected strangeness and wonders to be here. I told Professor Skywalker that someone should ask the Howells if they would be receptive to Fandom's differences."

Hrmph. Next time she would take matters into her own hands, just watch her.

And that would be Jono, raising his eyebrow.

"So... all that gobshite with having to hide in our own home, the entire reason I up and left last week... was... for... nothing?"

Jono had resisted the urge to punch Colbert in the mouth last weekend. He was regretting that, now.

"I am afraid so," Raven said. She'd been sorely tempted to gather up all the anxiety and fear and unhappiness and make Colbert feel that, but somehow she'd restrained herself.

"But it does mean that this will never happen again, at least not so long as the Howells are the island's benefactor," she said. "It does not erase the past week, but it is a relief to know that Fandom is safe."

"Safe by Fandom's standards, at any rate. And for as long as they're about. Let's hope they're immortal, shall we?"

That was... a bit of a stretch, Jono.

And pessimistic all at the same time. He had a gift.

"I think it will be a very long time before there is any cause to worry," Raven said, optimist as always. Especially with Fandom's supply of healers willing to make certain the Howells stayed healthy.

"And in the meantime, I am certain the school administration will start to prepare contingency plans in case of emergency."

"After the events of the past week, I should hope so," Jono sighed, pulling up a seat of his own and sinking down into it. "With so many people, students, teachers, and people living in town alike, banking on this place being a safe haven for those who aren't obviously baseline human, we can't afford for something like that to happen again. Not everybody can just take off for home for a week."

Some people didn't have homes to take off for.

Technically, neither had Jono. But he hadn't really let that stop him either.

"No, they cannot," Raven agreed softly, feeling a pang of loss for Azarath. She certainly couldn't go home, and people like Jono had their own difficulties to face with visits home.

"You said you found Jubilee, at least?" she said. "Is she well?"

"She's... angry," Jono replied, frowning a little as he remembered the few minutes he'd spent in her company. "Losing her powers took quite a toll on her, and I think the X-Men had less time for her than they did for me, post M-Day."

Which hurt a little to think about, in a way. Jono and Jubilee had both been sort of like the X-Men's junior mascots, but of the two of them, she had always been the one to consider the team a part of her family.

"I cannot fault her for that," Raven said. She'd vented a lot of her anger with Karla, but reminders of how Jono and now Jubilee had been treated by their supposed teammates. She understood how dire circumstances may have made the X-Men stressed and busy, but that was no reason to abandon compassion.

"I am glad you were able to find her, at least," she said. "Does she know if Angelo is all right?"

Jonothon shrugged his shoulders a little at that.

"I didn't have much time to speak with her before I headed back," he admitted, "but I can only assume he's fine. She would've said something to me if not."

At least, he hoped she would have. As it stood, she'd mostly just stared at him warily for a good five minutes before he'd cleared his throat and spoken up, and then she'd come to the realization that she was looking at Jono, instead of Apocalypse in miniature.

If she's there.

The world isn't ending on my watch.

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