Groovy Tunes, Saturday

[furnaceface]

Jonothon was writing, today.

Not paperwork, no, though it was the end of the month and he was well aware there was no shortage of that to be done. No, he had his guitar out, today, and a sheet of paper, and a pencil, and he was trying to make music. He hadn't done that in far too long, and there was something about spending his week traveling

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[nobloodymessiah]

Eleanor wasn't sure why she had come back to the store today. Maybe she needed more of Aunt Gracie's music, to remind herself of why she was doing this. Or to convince herself to let the idea go, to let Grace rest firmly in the past. She didn't know that a plastic disc could give her those answers, but it seemed the only way to even reach Grace's spirit.

When she entered the store, she noticed her boss noodling idly on his guitar. She gave him a nod of greeting, then stopped, realizing how ... tired? Sad? ... his eyes looked.

"Are you all right?"

[furnaceface]

//Hm?// Jono wrote down a few more lyrics on his sheet of paper, and then glanced up to see who had come in. //Oh, sorry, Eleanor. Didn't see you come in.//

That... probably answered that, considering the man was a telepath.

//I'm... tired. Yesterday involved a great deal of travel to a few places I don't entirely know if I was ready to revisit. But I'll be fine, luv, thank you. How're you doing?//

[nobloodymessiah]

Eleanor bit her lip, realizing how close that sounded to her own travel plans. Ones she perhaps ought to be reconsidering.

"I'm ... all right, I suppose," she said. "Places ... better left in the past? Bad memories, or was there danger?"

No reason it couldn't be both.

[furnaceface]

//The danger's gone, these days. But there had been plenty of it, the last time I set foot in those places. The sort that stays with a person long after the screaming's stopped.//

Jonothon shook his head a little, setting his guitar back down on its stand.

//You ask with the sort of authority of somebody who knows what that's like.//

Which he knew, to some degree, but if it was eating at her, of course he was going to ask. She seemed as though something was chewing at her, as well.

[nobloodymessiah]

"I'm so sorry," she said, quickly. "I ... do, yes. I wish that no one did. I suppose ... some days, it's enough that I'm not there any more, but others ..."

She let that trail off. Others, you remembered the ones who weren't.

[furnaceface]

Jono didn't need to be a telepath to know where that was going.

//Thinking of somebody from back there?//

He remembered, a while ago, when he helped her find some of her Aunt's old records, helped her find a recording of the woman's voice, so that she could remember the one person who had showed her any true kindness.

He didn't recall her ever mentioning anybody else.

[nobloodymessiah]

"Yes," she admitted, softly. "Or those who didn't make it out at all."

Like Father, or all of the Little Sisters lost along the way.

She shrugged awkwardly. "You said -- you said you weren't prepared. Is there a way to prepare? For that sort of thing? Facing it again."

[furnaceface]

//Depends what you're expecting to encounter when you go back again,// Jono replied, after taking a moment of silence for those ones who didn't make it out. He had a list of those, himself. //For me, it was a matter of squaring my shoulders and leaping in, ready or not. It helped that I wasn't going in alone, though. I... might not have been able to, if Momoko hadn't been planning to go, too.//

[nobloodymessiah]

That sounded a lot like what Barry and everyone else had been insisting. Bloody hell, why was everyone against her on this?

"What if there had still been danger?" Eleanor asked, watching him carefully. "In that case, you'd hardly want to risk Momoko, would you?"

[furnaceface]

//I wouldn't,// Jono replied, tilting his head a little. //But... at the same time, she's fully capable of keeping herself safe. She came to war and held her own, just the same as the rest of us.//

A beat.

//Besides, if I had been planning on making the trip without her and she found out, I highly doubt she would've let me go alone.//

Sorry, Eleanor. Jono knew how this went. He'd been dancing this dance for years.

[nobloodymessiah]

"That's exactly it," Eleanor said, shaking her head bitterly. "Why won't people listen? They want to organize some bloody kind of party and pretend they're heroes going on an adventure and they're all going to die. And it'll be my fault."

So ... this wasn't exactly a hypothetical, right now.

[furnaceface]

Jonothon watched her quietly for a moment, and then he gave his shoulders the slightest shrug.

//Because they love you.//

He asked that same question often enough, himself.

[nobloodymessiah]

Oh, bloody hell. It was just as bad as she was thinking. It was worse.

She wrapped her arms around herself and struggled with composure.

"Then ... if I love them," she said, "don't I owe it to them not to let them?"

[furnaceface]

//Perhaps,// Jono noted, gently. //But then, perhaps you owe it to them to come back alive, too. And there is something to be said for strength in numbers.//

He drummed his fingers on the top of the counter, just once, and then pulled himself to his feet and offered her his chair.

//C'mere. Sit. Best tell me what you're going up against before you have me speculating on the morals of a handful of vague hypotheticals.//

[nobloodymessiah]

Eleanor took the seat, uncertainly, wondering how much it was okay to share.

She'd really said too much at this point to pretend it was just a theory. And last night, she had all but invited Raven along. She was losing this war. She might as well get someone else's opinion on it.

"It's Rapture," she said. "It's some sort of bloody nightmare. But I can get a sub, and that means I can go back. For -- for Grace. You remember, Grace, the singer?"

She lifted a shoulder. "I thought I could go back and just see if she's still alive or not. Just to know. But now all these people -- they want to come along, and help, and they're going to die. I can't let them."

[furnaceface]

//I remember,// Jono agreed. //We still carry some of her music.//

And what lovely music it was. He leaned back against the desk, with his arms crossed over his chest, musing over what she was telling him, how worried she was.

//I've got a few more questions for you, then,// he said, at length. //First, who are they? Can any of them actually hold their own in a fight? Have you got a plan for going in already, do you know you'll be able to come back out again?//

Jono had seen enough suicide runs over his lifetime to know that was a question that absolutely needed to be asked.

//And... how're you going to stop them?//