fh_trips | Kohala Coast, Hawaii | Morning & Afternoon | Tuesday

//Th'bit of me that's actually there, you mean?// Jono rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, and then gave his head a shake. //Really, th'trousers that I usually wear don't exactly hurt th'view.//

It was really just an impressive amount of self-control that kept him from adding, 'Do they?'

"I'm quite certain I'm not supposed to express an opinion on that," Karla said piously. "I mean, I certainly have one, but I'm sure I'm not supposed to share it."

Meeeean.

"I mean, I was already attacked by Raven once today."

And there was the weirdest look ever, for Jono, creasing his forehead a bit while he gave Karla a sideways sort of glance.

//I'm trying to put 'Raven' and 'attacked by' side-by-side, and I'm coming up a little short, actually.//

Unless she had once again gone a shade of bright red, and had turned into an optometrist's nightmare. Which he doubted, considering the fact that... well, that they were all still alive, for a start.

There was also a distinct lack of panic as Karla told him this. No, she was mostly showing a bit of sly humor.

"Oh, no. She did. Quite viciously, in fact," Karla said, waving to her favorite waiter. She'd have a drink in a moment--she made sure to be an excellent tipper. "With a pillow," she continued, turning back to Jono. "It was awful. Attacked in my underthings, you can't even imagine what that must have been like."

Actually, Jono was already imagining what that must have been like.

And he certainly couldn't complain about the mental image, either.

//... Why... did she...?//

Please hold. He was picturing it some more.

Gasp! No! That hadn't been Karla's plan at all!

...Oh. Wait. Hmmm.

"I gave her a suggestion for what I thought she should wear tonight for your date," Karla said in tones of wounded dignity. "And she disagreed whole-heartedly. And then she became enough more distressed when I suggested we summon you to adjudicate. I think she was just having an emotional kind of morning."

Due to an abundance of bright colors in her wardrobe. Jono might have understood, had Karla been inclined to share that tidbit.

...

Did Karla touch the crazy-button again? Jonothon suspected that perhaps Karla had touched the crazy-button.

//What, pray, did you suggest she wear?//

That seemed like the more diplomatic question, really.

Lick one crazy-button once an you were never allowed to live it down.

"Something black," Karla said, all innocence.

//Oh, yes. Because I can absolutely see Raven swinging at somebody over suggesting she wear th'same colour that she always does,// he scoffed. //A black what, then?//

"Ensemble?" Karla suggested. It wasn't like she could actually call it an outfit, really.

The waiter came over with her drink, and Karla slipped him a folded bill. "Do you have any beer?" she asked him, trying to remember the name of the chewy beers Jono liked so much. "Errm, any kind of...lagers, maybe?"

Jono glanced at Karla, his mind still swimming with visions of Raven in a black... ensemble. Pillow-fighting.

Yes.

//Carling,// Jono intoned, with a quick glance at Karla. //Ask if they have Carling.//

He'd pay, even. Because he was nice like that.

"Carling?" Karla supplied. "Do you have any Carling?"

The waited smoothly pocketed the bill without looking and nodded, saying he'd be right back with the beer.

"On me," she told Jono, in case he was getting any funny ideas. "I owe you like a beer or four. Just from the amusement I'm deriving from your shirt. The alligators are adorable."

That earned the alligators another dirty look.

//It was either this or the dolphins,// he griped. //I thought the alligators at least captured my mood better.//

The dolphins had been smiling at him. Ugh.

"Aww, poor grumpy Jono, trapped on a beautiful island where the drinks are plentiful and the people half-clad," Karla said, giving him a look that said she wasn't buying it. "And not a word out of you about not being able to enjoy the booze because--"

And with perfect timing, the waiter showed up with a bottle of Carling and a glass with ice in it.

"--ahem," she said, gesturing to the bottle. Then to the waiter she added, "Don't worry about pouring it. I'll drink it directly from the bottle, thanks."

Edited 2011-02-24 21:23 (UTC)

Jono appreciated that. Ice in beer? Blasphemy. Blasphemy.

//Trapped on a beautiful, hot island. And I can only enjoy th'booze when somebody takes pity on me.// A pause. //Not that I don't deserve it, of course.//

Booze. Not pity, necessarily.

//Really, I ought to be treating you, luv. What you managed on th'weekend? That couldn't have been easy to weather.//

After all, he hadn't.

"You have several friends who would help you with that and you know it," Karla said, giving Jono a look. "Even if one of them is a weasel right now."

"Not a picnic to do, either, I'm guessing." she said, taking her first sip and sharing the flavor down the link. "You surprised me. By a lot."

Jono was now wearing that same dopey eyes-half-closed look that he tended to get whenever he got to experience taste again.

That was never going to get old.

//Honestly, I surprised me by a fair bit, too,// he replied.

Really, she had no idea.

//But you and Rinoa came through in one piece, so...//

"Yeah, I'm glad we all--huh?"

Pardon Karla as she processed what Jono just said. Or rather, what he hadn't said.

"I can't help but notice you specified that Rinoa and I got through in one piece. Jono, there were three of us in that room."

//Well, I'm never in one piece, really,// Jono noted, his voice taking on a sort of evasive, only-half-there quality that suggested that he knew when he'd been busted, yes. //But... looking back, could you picture anybody making it through that?//

My, but the top of the table was interesting.

"But...it's your..."

Yeah, it was his flame. The same flame that exploded his flesh when Raven had Healed him.

"But...how?!" Karla's jaw almost hit the table. "You're--you! You're fine! I never would have agreed if I'd thought--!"

Injured, yes! Half-dead, yes! But she hadn't actually thought that Jono might have ended up like Adel--!

"Is that why I found teeth in my hair?!?"

One of Jono's shoulders hitched upwards a little bit as his gaze continued studying the tabletop. He hadn't even been aware of the hand that he'd lifted, pressing softly against the bandages that covered where his mouth had been.

That there were people staring at such an exclamation about teeth, for once, he hadn't even noticed.

//I knew when I asked you to stay that I couldn't possibly take her down and make it through alive, Karla. I think you knew it, too. I wasn't expecting to be able to put myself together again out of all of th'nothing that was left.//

"I knew that it was likely you were going to die," Karla said, eyes dropping. "I thought that when we were done, I was going to have to pour as much Craft into you as I had when we were done, holding you onto life until Raven could Heal whatever was left. I had no idea how much power you could unleash. I...I almost had to stop shielding Rinoa, because I drained the Sapphire almost to the breaking point. I knew that you could unleash a lot. I didn't think you could unleash so much."

Her eyes dropped to his midsection as she took another long, slow sip of her beer.

"That you could carry that much."

Jono found himself squirming a bit more, as if writhing about in his seat a little would get her eyes off of his middle.

//Back in Massachusetts, they call me Chamber,// he noted, //on account of all of that. But after that...//

He wrapped his arms around himself. Yes, partly to obscure the view. //I don't know so much, anymore, if I'm what's carrying it, or if it's what carries me.//

Even someone who couldn't sense emotions could tell Jono was uncomfortable, so Karla brought her eyes up to meet his again. "I prefer Jonothon, myself," she said. "Chamber--you're more than that. You're more than that," she said with a nod down at his chest. "You're guitar songs and chewy beers and snarky commentary and words like 'plonker' and 'bollocks,' and a big giant softie when it comes to things like kittens and big eyes and little children. That's what I think, anyway."

She folded her arms over her chest. "And I'm a Queen, so disagreeing with me is not only rude, it's impolitic."

//Maybe I am all of those things. But then, th'last thing I'd want is to cause some sort of international incident,// Jono replied. //On the other hand, I always fancied myself a bit of an anarchist, too.//

Or, at least, a rebel. You almost had to be, if you wanted to be both a mutant, and still alive.

//I'm... er... sorry about th'teeth.//

And possibly the fragments of lower jaw. And rib. And lung. And so on.

Edited 2011-02-25 01:30 (UTC)

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