The front door opened, and Aerith was startled out of her book-induced reverie by the sound. She looked up and smiled at the new person - a young man with brown hair, dressed in black. Seemed to be a popular color for clothing around here.
Not expecting to meet another person so soon, Jono was a bit surprised to see the young woman before him. She looked about his age, and had a book in her lap. She had kind features, and seemed like the friendly type. Tugging at his cowl self-consciously, Jono waved with his free hand.
"{Uhh...hi there. I guess this is where I'm stayin' then? M'name's Jonothan, but y'can just call me Jono...}"
Eying the door numbers, Jono strode over to the one marked "K3" and opened it, tossing his duffel bag and overcoat onto the bed he saw inside. He walked back over to where the young woman was sitting, and plopped himself down in a chair across from her. If he was gonna be stuck here, he may as well make an effort to get along with the people he was staying with.
"{So...whaddya you people do for kicks 'round 'ere?}"
Aerith paused, looking up at him with a small frown crossing her face. She knew she'd heard him reply, but it was almost like the voice was inside her head, instead of going in through her ears. Of course she'd read about people who could communicate from mind to mind, but she'd never experienced it firsthand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jono," she said finally. Maybe she just hadn't been paying attention. "I'm Aerith."
Once he was sitting, and "spoke" again, Aerith was sure she was hearing him inside her head. That was ... freaky. She was silent for slightly too long, trying to figure things out, but then realized she was expected to say something. "Oh! Well ... I read a lot, do some hiking, and hang out with my friends. Seems to be what most people do."
Not at all surprised by her reaction, Jono "sighed" mentally. He was going to have to get used to this, at least for the first little while. With all of his experience with "normal" people, and their reactions to his telepathic communication, one would think Jono would be used to it by now.
He wasn't. There was a tiny, selfish part of the young mutant that just wished people understood, without him having to go into the details of his "condition". Jono knew he'd be a very old man before that happened, however.
"{Nice ter meet yeh, Aerith.}"
A pause. Jono was starting to feel like he was repeating himself. No one he'd asked would comment on the contents of his duffel. Namely, the bucket of salt, or container marked "HW". He knew that Acairnia played host to monsters, if what Betsy and Yuffie said was to be believed. While Jono was no stranger to fighting strange creatures, he wanted to know what he was potentially getting into, and what the strange items were used for.
"{Okay, I've got a question fer yeh. What's the deal with the
( ... )
That was still weird. Aerith had a sudden, overwhelming urge to scratch her brain, and it took a good deal of willpower and nearly sitting on her hands to overcome it. Poor guy, she thought. People must react like that to him all the time. She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus, to treat him like she'd treat anyone else, and she smiled.
"I don't know what's with the salt, but the 'H.W.' is some kind of holy water, I think. The only books I can find here are romance novels - " she held up the one she'd finally caved and started reading, which pictured a muscular pirate passionately embracing a scantily-clad young woman - "so I haven't been able to do any research on it." She giggled. "Maybe the monsters are evil slugs, so we're supposed to sprinkle salt on them and then dump water on them."
Laughing a laugh he'd be ashamed of if he could hear it, Jono "smiled". Leaning back in his chair, Jono folded his hands behind his head, and sighed.
"{You actually read that stuff? Yer a much braver soul'n most I know. 'Bout the only other person that could survive that, is me old gelfriend...but then, she'd read jus' about anythin' yeh set in front o' her.}"
Jono let his mind briefly wander to thoughts of the mutant named Husk, better known as Paige Guthrie. They'd had something, Paige and Jono, but Jono's own habit of self-sabotage had prevented the feelings they'd had for each other from ever really amounting to much. Still, Paige was one of the only people Jono ever really trusted, let alone opened up to.
Realizing he was daydreaming, Jono shook his head, trying to shake off fuzzy feeling he'd been left with. Last he'd seen of Paige Guthrie, she'd been engaging in a game of Tonsil Hockey with Warren Worthington III, the mutant better known as Angel, Jono reminded himself.
"{Sorry, kinda drifted away there fer a second.
( ... )
"It's terrible," Aerith said with a shake of her head. "I feel like my intelligence and my gender are both being very thoroughly insulted by all of this. Time-traveling pirates, indeed." She rolled her eyes.
At his question, she thought for a moment. "Well, there's me, Georgia, and Taichi. I don't know Georgia very well, but she seems nice, and Taichi's a sweet little thing. And me ... well, I'm boring." She grinned. "Can I ask why you talk with your ... your head?" She tapped the side of hers to make her meaning more clear.
Jono had to laugh at "time-traveling pirates", as he'd encountered beings that could be best summed up by those very words between his time with Generation X, and the X-Men. Of course, your "average person" would never believe some of the things Jono had seen over the last few years.
"{Bah, in my experience, there's no such thin' as 'boring', no matter uninterestin' yeh might think yerself ter be.}"
Jono sighed a little. He knew this was coming, and it would probably happen several more times after this, but it was still something that made him a little uncomfortable.
"{As far as that goes, i's probably easier fer me ter show, rather than tell...}"
With that, Jono stood up from his chair, and unbuttoned the black cowl that encircled his face, neck and chest, and let it drop onto the chair behind him. He loosened the hold he had on the "Chamber" of psionic energy that took up the space where his upper chest and lower half of his face used to be, and let it flicker about his face and neck like it "liked" to.
Aerith watched curiously as he unbuttoned his cowl. She had been wondering why he'd been wearing it - he looked quite handsome from the nose up, and as far as she was concerned, it was a shame to keep good looks covered up. As the cowl came away, and the energy flowed out, her eyes widened and it took another good amount of willpower not to shrink back. She couldn't help a small flinch, but she tried very hard to school her face into a neutral expression. Of course she'd seen weird things, but this was one of the weirdest by far.
"I ..." she said weakly, once it was all put away. She took a deep breath, and tried again. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. But," and here she managed to smile, "I'm glad you can still talk somehow. Thank you for sharing that with me. It must have been so difficult for you."
Moved by the spirit within her, Aerith reached across and squeezed his hand gently, a silent gesture of acceptance and friendship.
Aaaand there it was. The reaction Jono had been expecting. To her credit, Aerith hadn't ran from him in terror. It was that look of strangled fear, however, that had caused Jono to become as aloof, and largely antisocial as he was. He could tell that Aerith was putting on a brave face for him, but her empathy was genuine. He accepted the hand squeeze for what it was, simply letting Aerith do what she needed to do.
"{Thanks, luv. T'ain't every day I share that li'l story with people, an' I'd appreciate it if yeh kept quiet 'bout it from here on. I know people're gonna be nosy 'bout me, but I'd rather keep things quiet fer as long as I can. In my world, people like me aren't treated with a whole lotta love...}"
Walking back over to his dorm, Jono returned with the electric guitar and amp he'd picked up from one of the funny little shops in the Commons. Setting down the amp and plugging it in, he looked at Aerith.
"{Do yeh min' if I play a bit? I's been ages since the las' time I bothered with somethin' like this.}"
Aerith was good at putting on a brave face. She'd been doing it for a long time. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." To show him just how safe it was, she put her thumb and forefinger to the left corner of her mouth and moved it across her lips as though she were zipping them shut. Though she'd just met Jono, she liked him, and she didn't want him to have an unpleasant time here.
Watching as he walked back to his room, Aerith's interest turned to delight as he returned with a guitar. "No, not at all! I was going to ask if you still played."
Jono "smiled", and plugged his guitar into the amp. It'd been a long time since Jono had bothered with a guitar at all, but after a few careful plucks, and some tuning, he launched into a slow doleful tune, his head bobbing, his eyes screwed up in concentration. As he gained confidence, the tune picked up in speed an intensity. When he was done, he simply let his hands slide from the guitar:
[just pretend it's Jono in the video, rather than Mark Dacascos XD]
"{Haven't played that ol' tune in a long time. Used ter have a lot more, but i's been so long, I barely remember any o' it. With time, I could probably get back ter where I was, if I wanted ter.}"
Jono picks up the guitar again, and starts picking at random notes, re-familiarizing himself with the layout of a guitar. Beyond listening to music, and watching tv, playing guitar is one of the only things to bring Jono any joy at this point in his life.
Aerith rested her elbow on the armrest and her head on her hand, listening raptly as he played. She didn't know the song, or what a guitar really ought to sound like, but she could tell Jono was good, and she liked what she heard.
When he was done, she applauded quietly, beaming across at him. "What was that called? I've never heard it before - is it from ... Earth? Is that where you're from?"
Looking up from the guitar, Jono shrugged. He'd never really given it that much thought, really. He just played what he liked hearing.
"{Don' have a name, actually. I played it for th' first time about 6 years ago. I jus'...remember how it sounds, an' play it by ear. I'm from Earth, yeh. London, if yeh wan' specifics. I dun know if yeh know 'er, but Betsy Braddock's a friend o' mine from back home. We were part o' th' same...group, if yeh wanna it that, the X-Men.}"
"Oh!" Aerith lit up at the mention of her friend. "I just met her - she has such a beautiful accent! And you have one too - it's a little different from hers, I think, but it's the same kind."
At the name of the 'group,' she paused, tilting her head a little. "The X-Men? Is that a band?"
Jono "laughed" a bit. Though Braddock and he were both Brits, her accent had always been more "refined" than his, owing to her growing up a rich girl.
"{Yeh, Betsy's from England too, but she was raised in a more...'high class' sorta society 'n me. I'm just a poor plonker from London, while Betsy was born with a silver spoon in 'er mouth. Don't tell 'er I said that, though.}"
Pulling out his wallet, Jono produced a old photograph, peeling slightly at the edges. It was a photo of he and his Generation X teammates, from his younger years. He hands it to Aerith, and continues speaking.
"{That there ain't the X-Men, but another group I used ter be a part of, called Generation X. We were trained in'na private school, ter use our powers ter help people. See, people like Betsy an' me have special powers, because o' our genes. That fire in me chest? Tha's mine. There're a few thousand others like us, some good...some bad. We fight people who try ter hurt innocents, humans an' mutants both.}"If Jono could blush, he would have been...just a
( ... )
"Hi!" she said cheerfully. "Welcome to Cabin K!"
Reply
"{Uhh...hi there. I guess this is where I'm stayin' then? M'name's Jonothan, but y'can just call me Jono...}"
Eying the door numbers, Jono strode over to the one marked "K3" and opened it, tossing his duffel bag and overcoat onto the bed he saw inside. He walked back over to where the young woman was sitting, and plopped himself down in a chair across from her. If he was gonna be stuck here, he may as well make an effort to get along with the people he was staying with.
"{So...whaddya you people do for kicks 'round 'ere?}"
Reply
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jono," she said finally. Maybe she just hadn't been paying attention. "I'm Aerith."
Once he was sitting, and "spoke" again, Aerith was sure she was hearing him inside her head. That was ... freaky. She was silent for slightly too long, trying to figure things out, but then realized she was expected to say something. "Oh! Well ... I read a lot, do some hiking, and hang out with my friends. Seems to be what most people do."
Reply
He wasn't. There was a tiny, selfish part of the young mutant that just wished people understood, without him having to go into the details of his "condition". Jono knew he'd be a very old man before that happened, however.
"{Nice ter meet yeh, Aerith.}"
A pause. Jono was starting to feel like he was repeating himself. No one he'd asked would comment on the contents of his duffel. Namely, the bucket of salt, or container marked "HW". He knew that Acairnia played host to monsters, if what Betsy and Yuffie said was to be believed. While Jono was no stranger to fighting strange creatures, he wanted to know what he was potentially getting into, and what the strange items were used for.
"{Okay, I've got a question fer yeh. What's the deal with the ( ... )
Reply
"I don't know what's with the salt, but the 'H.W.' is some kind of holy water, I think. The only books I can find here are romance novels - " she held up the one she'd finally caved and started reading, which pictured a muscular pirate passionately embracing a scantily-clad young woman - "so I haven't been able to do any research on it." She giggled. "Maybe the monsters are evil slugs, so we're supposed to sprinkle salt on them and then dump water on them."
Reply
"{You actually read that stuff? Yer a much braver soul'n most I know. 'Bout the only other person that could survive that, is me old gelfriend...but then, she'd read jus' about anythin' yeh set in front o' her.}"
Jono let his mind briefly wander to thoughts of the mutant named Husk, better known as Paige Guthrie. They'd had something, Paige and Jono, but Jono's own habit of self-sabotage had prevented the feelings they'd had for each other from ever really amounting to much. Still, Paige was one of the only people Jono ever really trusted, let alone opened up to.
Realizing he was daydreaming, Jono shook his head, trying to shake off fuzzy feeling he'd been left with. Last he'd seen of Paige Guthrie, she'd been engaging in a game of Tonsil Hockey with Warren Worthington III, the mutant better known as Angel, Jono reminded himself.
"{Sorry, kinda drifted away there fer a second. ( ... )
Reply
At his question, she thought for a moment. "Well, there's me, Georgia, and Taichi. I don't know Georgia very well, but she seems nice, and Taichi's a sweet little thing. And me ... well, I'm boring." She grinned. "Can I ask why you talk with your ... your head?" She tapped the side of hers to make her meaning more clear.
Reply
"{Bah, in my experience, there's no such thin' as 'boring', no matter uninterestin' yeh might think yerself ter be.}"
Jono sighed a little. He knew this was coming, and it would probably happen several more times after this, but it was still something that made him a little uncomfortable.
"{As far as that goes, i's probably easier fer me ter show, rather than tell...}"
With that, Jono stood up from his chair, and unbuttoned the black cowl that encircled his face, neck and chest, and let it drop onto the chair behind him. He loosened the hold he had on the "Chamber" of psionic energy that took up the space where his upper chest and lower half of his face used to be, and let it flicker about his face and neck like it "liked" to.
"{I'm what they call a ( ... )
Reply
"I ..." she said weakly, once it was all put away. She took a deep breath, and tried again. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. But," and here she managed to smile, "I'm glad you can still talk somehow. Thank you for sharing that with me. It must have been so difficult for you."
Moved by the spirit within her, Aerith reached across and squeezed his hand gently, a silent gesture of acceptance and friendship.
Reply
"{Thanks, luv. T'ain't every day I share that li'l story with people, an' I'd appreciate it if yeh kept quiet 'bout it from here on. I know people're gonna be nosy 'bout me, but I'd rather keep things quiet fer as long as I can. In my world, people like me aren't treated with a whole lotta love...}"
Walking back over to his dorm, Jono returned with the electric guitar and amp he'd picked up from one of the funny little shops in the Commons. Setting down the amp and plugging it in, he looked at Aerith.
"{Do yeh min' if I play a bit? I's been ages since the las' time I bothered with somethin' like this.}"
Reply
Watching as he walked back to his room, Aerith's interest turned to delight as he returned with a guitar. "No, not at all! I was going to ask if you still played."
Reply
[just pretend it's Jono in the video, rather than Mark Dacascos XD]
"{Haven't played that ol' tune in a long time. Used ter have a lot more, but i's been so long, I barely remember any o' it. With time, I could probably get back ter where I was, if I wanted ter.}"
Jono picks up the guitar again, and starts picking at random notes, re-familiarizing himself with the layout of a guitar. Beyond listening to music, and watching tv, playing guitar is one of the only things to bring Jono any joy at this point in his life.
Reply
When he was done, she applauded quietly, beaming across at him. "What was that called? I've never heard it before - is it from ... Earth? Is that where you're from?"
Reply
"{Don' have a name, actually. I played it for th' first time about 6 years ago. I jus'...remember how it sounds, an' play it by ear. I'm from Earth, yeh. London, if yeh wan' specifics. I dun know if yeh know 'er, but Betsy Braddock's a friend o' mine from back home. We were part o' th' same...group, if yeh wanna it that, the X-Men.}"
Reply
At the name of the 'group,' she paused, tilting her head a little. "The X-Men? Is that a band?"
Reply
"{Yeh, Betsy's from England too, but she was raised in a more...'high class' sorta society 'n me. I'm just a poor plonker from London, while Betsy was born with a silver spoon in 'er mouth. Don't tell 'er I said that, though.}"
Pulling out his wallet, Jono produced a old photograph, peeling slightly at the edges. It was a photo of he and his Generation X teammates, from his younger years. He hands it to Aerith, and continues speaking.
"{That there ain't the X-Men, but another group I used ter be a part of, called Generation X. We were trained in'na private school, ter use our powers ter help people. See, people like Betsy an' me have special powers, because o' our genes. That fire in me chest? Tha's mine. There're a few thousand others like us, some good...some bad. We fight people who try ter hurt innocents, humans an' mutants both.}"If Jono could blush, he would have been...just a ( ... )
Reply
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