MCA #3, Monday Morning

[hatesmostthings]

All things considered, that had been a pretty fun weekend.

Okay, so sans gremlin bite, it was unlikely that April would have made those same choices: bondage kind of seemed like a lot of work as a precursor to sex, and if she was going to hook up with someone, she'd rather just skip the middle step and get right to the good part. But it had still been pretty fun, especially as her gremlin-bitten self hadn't really cared about issues of laziness and exerting effort, and hooking up with Eric always made for a good time, so she had no complaints.

Also, she was keeping the leather outfit. Because there was always a chance that she'd get in a mood and want to do that again. So right now, it lay draped over an armchair in her living room, because... well, April didn't know how to wash leather, and anyway, she was kind of comfy on the floor watching Spanish soap operas with her back to the couch, and she didn't want to get up.

In the meantime, she had an untoasted Pop-Tart to eat and was tossing a broken TV remote around for Cliff to catch. This was a good morning.

[[open!]]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Jono's portal had been a bit delayed. Which was probably for the best. The more he thought about how much fresh Hell he was about to step into back in Kaeleer, the less it seemed like a good idea to bring Joni along with him, even for something like Karla's procession into Sidra, before any of the actual fighting could start.

And that's why, with no warning whatsoever, because Jono was a great friend like that, he was knocking on April's door to call in a favour.

It was possible that there were a few pet supplies and a tank of tree frogs floating just behind him. Why?

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Because... floating pet supplies. Duh.

April and her pitbull exchanged similar looks of puzzlement at the fact that they had a visitor. "Cliff, go get the door," she instructed him.

Cliff just looked at her.

Then April realized that if last night had been anything like most nights, she'd probably forgotten to lock her door again. Which meant -- "It's open!" she yelled. "Unless you're annoying."

[furnaceface]

"I'm only sometimes annoying, I'm fairly certain," Jono yelled back as he opened the door and stepped into the apartment. "Actually, I suppose depending on how much you resent being asked favours randomly and first thing in the morning, this visit might be annoying."

Perhaps. Did you like frogs, April?

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Can I do your favors sitting down?"

That ws the important thing here.

[furnaceface]

"Unless you have Cliff trained to put crickets into a frog tank, probably not," Jono shared, finding his way into the living room, pulling Joni from his pocket and depositing her on top of April like the ever-so-caring individual that he was. "Or to scoop litter, for that matter."

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Okay, all of April's attention was going to the kitty now: she promptly started petting Joni and didn't look up again until the cat was purring. "Hey, there," she said to Joni in an usually affectionate voice. "Whatcha doing? Aww, you like that, huh?"

Ahem. Back to Jono now.

April cleared her throat. "Where're you going?"

[furnaceface]

"War," Jono replied with a shrug of his shoulders as though it was the simplest answer in the world. In a way, it was. "I'll be back to the island now and again to... essentially restock my ammunition, I suppose... But even a couple of days a week in Fandom time isn't near often enough time to take care of Joni, and I can hardly take her with me."

It sounded kind of ridiculous when put like that. Fighting a war, but taking weekends off, so to speak. But his collar was a safeguard that he couldn't do without, and he'd be certain, when re-charging, to leave his troops in capable hands on those days that he was on the island.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Dude." April was staring a little, yes. "War? Like with guns and stuff?" She paused in her petting of Jono, holding the cat still in her lap. "You gonna be okay?"

[furnaceface]

"No guns," Jono replied, looking... actually a little bothered by that. Guns, he could deal with. It wasn't as though he'd never been shot before. "Powers, more like. I can't make any promises, exactly, but I've been at war in some capacity or other for near as long back as I can remember. I've never been able to make that promise, luv. This won't be any different, except that it happens to threaten to take a little more of my time to deal with."

He was sure she could remember Christmas, and the holes he'd had in him where holes generally didn't belong. That was war, too, in its own way.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"That sounds sucky." Ah, understatement. April's eyes looked concerned, but her tone, as usual, gave nothing away.

"Need to borrow a whip?"

[furnaceface]

Please, pardon Jono. He had no idea how badly he needed that laugh until April went and said that. It wasn't much of one, granted, but she did get a chuckle out of him all the same.

"Actually, I've got my own," he informed her. "And several floggers, and... Lord, you don't want to know how much crap I brought home from Dite's the other night. I've got no idea what to do with it all."

... Besides the obvious.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Have kinky sex," April suggested flatly. "Or donate them."

She'd accept donations, actually. Really. She would.

[furnaceface]

"Donate my newly acquired toys," Jono replied, raising an eyebrow. "I might let you pick something to keep for yourself, in exchange for watching Joni and the frogs until I get back from Kaeleer, perhaps."

Because paying a purely platonic friend in kink gear wasn't weird at all, right?

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

April snorted - not at the offer itself, because she appreciated it, but at the peculiar wording. "Wow, thanks, Santa S&M," she drawled. "How collossally generous of you. Golly."

[furnaceface]

"Well, better I let you pick than choose something myself, I'm certain. There are a good many items sitting in my closet at home that I'm certain you'd have difficulty putting to use on yourself. Unless you could find a bloke willing to wear them, I suppose..."

Jono, really now.

"How about I let you frolic and choose a few things, then? Those bloody things weren't cheap by any means, and I'll be providing all of the pet supplies, and paying vet bills and the like if they come up..."

And, really, he wasn't planning on making use of any of it any time soon.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Pass on the frolicking," April said. Because a.) she did not frolic, and b.) accepting that offer turned out to be too weird, even though she sort of wanted to. "I don't need your used dude leather."

Seriously, who just up and traded sex stuff with their friends? April didn't even like talking about sex with people she wasn't, you know, doing it with.

"What should I know for Joni and these guys?"

[furnaceface]

"It isn't used," Jono grumbled. "S'still packaged, mostly."

... Shut up, don't ask.

"As for Joni and the frogs, it's fairly straightforward, at least with her. She gets fed twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed or else she'll have you up by six demanding to know why her belly is running on empty." And sometimes those demands came with tiny and totally affectionate claws kneading into your ass. Good times. "The frogs are slightly more complicated. They have a water dish-- keep it full up, a bunch of dried out frogs also happen to be a bunch of dead ones. They also eat live crickets... a box of bugs in your apartment doesn't bother you, does it?"

He could find someone else to watch the frogs, if it was too much trouble.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"I love bugs," April informed him solemnly, peering at the box. "Is that enough for however long or do I have to restock?"

[furnaceface]

"I don't know how long this is going to take," Jono replied, frowning a little at the bug box. "If you do start to run low, let me know and I'll restock them for you. I... should be back on weekends, ridiculous as that sounds, getting weekends off in a war, to recharge my equipment and ferret away anything that I can't risk keeping in Kaeleer."

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

"Doesn't sound ridiculous," April said, because she had an interesting definition of 'work ethic.' "Soldiers need to go home and get sunscreen and whateverthefuck."

She examined her fingernails. They were bitten and unpolished, as always.

"What about the Boards? Can I conquer it and use it to film a movie and paint the walls with blood?"

[furnaceface]

"Sunblock for all of that mid-winter sunbathing we're going to do while being hunted down by the enemy," Jonothon replied, chuckling only because the prospect sounded so bloody ridiculous. "Why not?"

Because: Ridiculous.

"... Paint the walls with blood?" What did it say that his kneejerk reaction was that the flats were already a sparkly red, so what difference would it make? "I suppose you could, so long as you keep most of the actual destruction to a somewhat contained space. What did you have in mind?"

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

April shrugged. "Zombie movie."

Why not, right?

[furnaceface]

"... Not using real zombies, I hope?"

Look, he knew who some of April's coworkers were. He was trying not to be terribly bigoted against zombiekind, but he had the new carpeting to keep in mind, here.