Portalocity Terminal, JFK, Thursday Morning

[life_inshadow]

... okay, so the thing about taking the first cheap portal she could find was that it meant the travel path kind of sucked. Tara had spent most of the previous day on some planet where the native life form and most of the fellow passengers appeared to be a blob of red jelly.

On the bright side, there'd been a Cinnabon outlet.

She'd made it to New York in one piece, though, and was now resting on a bench, waiting for Jono. The crowds were overwhelming after three months at home, but in a way the distraction was a relief -- it meant she wasn't getting trapped in her own head so much.

Furtively, she checked her phone. No calls from home so far. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

[OOC: For the dude on fire. NFB due to distance.]

Comments

[furnaceface]

It had taken Jono a bit of doing to negotiate a few days of leave from his duties as a man wearing an X on his coat, but considering the fact that the other members of the team seemed to see him mostly as the immature junior mascot one way or another, they'd let him have it. He was expendable, apparently.

He could live with that.

His hand ran over his wrappings one more time as he made his way through the airport. He didn't spend much time in places like these, considering his first time in an airport in America had ended with a mutant cannibal trying to suck the bone marrow out of his skull, but to pick up Tara when she'd seemed so badly to need a place to crash for a few days, he'd made an exception.

//Now there is a sight for sore eyes.// She was the first familiar face from Fandom that he'd seen since he'd handed Joni off to Raven, months and months ago. It reminded him how really out of his depth he was now, away from that place. //Good to see you, luv.//

[life_inshadow]

"Good to see you," Tara echoed, gingerly reaching out for a hug. (She needed a hug, she just wasn't sure if Jono did hugs.) "It's weird, being here. I'd kind of forgotten how totally crazy cities were."

[furnaceface]

//Between Fandom and... Weaverville, is it? I'm not terribly surprised, luv. New York is... New York, after all.//

Jono considered that hug solicitation for a second, and then decided, to hell with it, he was wrapped and had at least gotten a fair bit of practise lately in not accidentally lighting people on fire. He stepped into the hug, putting his arms around her.

//How're you holding up, Sunshine?//

[life_inshadow]

Tara sniffled, breathing in that Jono aroma that was so much nicer once you were used to it, or when you were sad and lonely. "Okay?" she said feebly. "I mean ... kind of. Y-you know how if you're waiting and waiting for something, even if it's terrible, it's kind of -- almost like, almost this relief that it's happened."

Sniffle again. "But I miss her."

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded a little. He'd spent a year being warned that he'd lose the most important person in his life someday. It wasn't the same, not by a long shot. Didi had been vivid and brilliant and healthy right up until she'd had to leave, but knowing that it was coming didn't mean that he missed her any less, even now.

//I know, luv.// His hand rubbed a careful little circle on her back. He wasn't exactly good at being comforting, but so help him, he was trying. //It'll sting for a while. It sounds like she was a lady worth missing.//

[life_inshadow]

"Everything good about me is because of her," Tara said softly, and if Jono wasn't good at being comforting, she didn't seem to notice. "Sh-she was an amazing witch. I wish everyone in Fandom got to meet her. Raven did."

[furnaceface]

//I'm sorry I never got th'chance,// Jono replied, his voice a little softer than usual, less invasive, even for one that could only be heard directly in her mind.

He kept up the hug for a moment longer, and then loosened his grip a little. If there was some sort of proper hug-ending protocol in moments like these, he had no idea what it was. Maybe he'd just let her... get it out of her system, or something.

//Is there anything I can get for you?//

Food, whatever. He'd patiently sit there and keep her company while she ate, if she was hungry after her trip.

[life_inshadow]

"Not really." Tara wasn't hungry, hadn't eaten much other than that Cinnabon. Then she realized she'd been clinging for a while and stepped back, wiping her eyes. "Could you show me around?" she requested. "I mean, I've been to New York, but mostly with Kennedy, so ... there's a lot I've never seen."

Confidingly, she added, "I need um, other stuff to think about."

[furnaceface]

//Well...// Jono tilted his head a little, idly reaching down to straighten the corners of his jacket. Really, he wasn't much of a sightseer, himself. But he could easily rattle off the addresses to all the best nightclubs in the city. //What have you seen already, luv?//

[life_inshadow]

"Um ... Kennedy's apartment, mostly," Tara said, blushing. "Restaurants she likes. Oh! I've been to the art museum. And shopping in Greenwich Village."

She was sure there were things she was forgetting, but it hardly seemed important. "Anything you want to show me will be fine."

[furnaceface]

Jono gave his boot a tap against the floor, contemplating that one.

//Tourist traps,// he decided. //Broadway. Lady Liberty. Central Park and th'zoo there. If we're looking for distractions, we can make a go at th'best of them.//

This is what you got when you gave Jono free reign, Tara.

[life_inshadow]

"I want the zoo," Tara decided after a moment. "It'll be ... a l-little bit more peaceful, right? Except, maybe not for the animals."

She started walking towards the exit. "So ... how are you? I don't think I even asked if this was a good time. S-sorry for being rude."

[furnaceface]

//Don't worry about it,// Jono's shoulders twitched up for a moment as he followed along after her. //I've been busy, but I negotiated for a few days grace before running off on th'next wild adventure. There are far worse places I could be right now than right here, honestly.//

Far, far worse.

//Th'zoo's good. We can find some animal you like. Maybe find out if they'll let us help with a feeding or something if we make big, sad eyes at the keepers.// Jono was rather skilled at the expressive eyes thing. He had faith that he could pull it off. //Or we could just make faces at th'monkeys. I'm not terribly picky either way.//

[life_inshadow]

Tara laughed, a small, wan laugh, but definitely one that was there. "I always liked bears," she said. "You know, they're all ... at one with nature-y, but then if you bug them, bam. They flatten you. But I don't know how they feel about people feeding them."

[furnaceface]

//Bears, hm?// Jono had that look in his eye. The one that suggested that he was actually taking that much into consideration.

It was followed shortly after by that look that suggested that he was rather fond of the limbs that he currently had at his disposal, and wasn't really in any hurry to be rid of any of them.

//I imagine they'll have slightly more friendly ones in th'gift shop.//

[life_inshadow]

"Maybe I should get a teddy bear," Tara mulled. "It's always good to have something else you can hug, right?"

She kicked a bit of litter along the floor as she added, "I don't know if you heard. Kennedy and I split up a couple months ago." Her tone was neutral; she was sad about it, but she had so much else to be sad about.

[furnaceface]

Jono was silent for a few steps at hearing that news. On top of everything else, there was that. And he'd always thought that Tara and Kennedy complimented one another beautifully.

//I hadn't heard,// he admitted. //I've been a little out of th'loop for quite some time, now.//

Well over a year, for him. He wasn't even certain anymore just what year it was back on the island. Or what month.

[life_inshadow]

"... yeah," Tara said softly. "She -- time for her was moving faster, and we couldn't see when we'd be together, and -- there was just all this stuff. " She kicked at the ground again. "Hardly matters now."

[furnaceface]

Ah. Time differences and stuff.

//I suppose... it's a little different, when yer looking at th'difference between long-distance and completely different timelines,// Jono noted, his own tone carefully soft. //I can see how something like that would... complicate matters, some. You parted on good terms, I hope?//

Sometimes, that was enough.

[life_inshadow]

"Good enough," Tara said. "We've emailed and stuff. I've kind of sucked as a correspondent this summer, you know?"

[furnaceface]

//That would make th'both of us, luv,// Jono offered. //I send the occasional text when I remember. But I'm shite at writing letters and the internet and I really don't get along.//

Unless it was for Farmville. But even Jono's fake crops had been sorely neglected lately. Possibly because Facebook didn't exist yet, in his particular corner of the multiverse. Alas.

//Life gets in th'way, sometimes. It'll calm down again, sooner or later.//

[life_inshadow]

"The internet's depressing," Tara declared. "Nobody can spell, and people keep getting into fights about the stupidest stuff."

She gave him a wry look. "And I ran away to go back to Fandom. I would have had a better chance at a calm senior year with my dad."

[furnaceface]

... Okay, she had him there.

//But where's the fun in that?//

Jono logic, Tara. You'd have a couple of days to get used to it, at least.

//At least at Fandom, for all th'hell that breaks loose, they get it.//

For whatever degree of 'it' you happened to want them to 'get.'

[life_inshadow]

"Which is the one thing my dad will never, ever do," Tara had to agree in a long sigh. "I should probably call sometime and tell him where I am..."

[furnaceface]

//When yer ready, luv,// Jono replied, shrugging. //Time here runs fairly swiftly, too. There isn't any rush, if you'd like a few hours to just unwind, first.//

Jono was a pretty terrible enabler of irresponsible behaviours.