The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Tuesday Night Fandom Time

[furnaceface]

Even in Glacia, it was starting to get on into the autumn. Jono stood in the window for a while, watching as the lights in Sidra were lit, though the streets grew more desolate as darkness fell through the city. It had become his evening routine while he was in Kaeleer, at least on those nights when he was planning on going out with Morton. The

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[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss," Karla said, coming up behind Jono and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Plans for the evening again? My, aren't you and Morton getting chummy. Aren't you worried Julian's going to get jealous?"

[furnaceface]

Jono gave Karla a sidelong glance as her hand grabbed his shoulder. He was on high alert tonight, so he'd sensed her coming before she was even in the room. That was part of his security detail, yes, being aware of where she was at and who was around her. But more than that, he was always a little more antsy in the evenings before these outings of his. He could rattle off who was in every room within a hundred yards of where he was standing in all directions, and, if asked, figure out what they were up to in there as well.

It was no bloody wonder he'd been having so many nosebleeds lately. Though he was getting better at hiding the bloody handkerchiefs from the hearth witches, as well.

Fortunately.

//He's welcome to come along,// he said easily, giving Karla a pulse of something that could quite easily be interpreted as amusement as he did so. //Maybe after we're done hitting the town, Morton and I will make a pit-stop in the salle. Julian loves the salle, doesn't he?//

[glacial_queen]

"Are you stealing my cousin's virtue?" Karla mock-demanded. "And in the salle, no less. Where's your sense of romance, Jon?"

She sighed, giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze before she dropped her hand to her side.

"If the two of you are going out, Julian'll be sticking by close to me, like a burr on my ass. So I think you'll have to forgo the pleasure of his company. While you two do whatever...what do you two get up to out there?"

[furnaceface]

//Card games,// Jono said easily, raising his eyebrows and looking all-innocence in her direction. //Late night drinking. Making terrible life choices involving all of the single ladies in Sidra...//

None of these were true things. His light delivery probably made that painfully clear.

//Or one another...//

[glacial_queen]

"Ugh," Karla said, wrinkling her nose. "I know you're just screwing around, but...Morton."

She didn't want to think of Morton that way. No one wanted to think of Morton that way.

Because, you know, she didn't.

"Screwing around about what you're doing, not screwing around with my cousin. Because, once again, ugh."

[furnaceface]

//You'd be surprised about what I screw around with these days, Sunbeam,// Jono said brightly, reaching up to straighten his jacket. //But if you wanted all of the gory little details, I'm certain I could come up with something...//

Go on, Karla. Picture it.

[glacial_queen]

"And on that note, I'm going to go join Warren and the children for the cradle tournament we have planned," Karla said, clearly debating the idea of kicking Jono in the shins before reluctantly giving that up. "You have a great night with my cousin, however you decide to spend it."

With his pants up, preferably.

"Come find me sometime when you're not running around buggering my cousin," she added, leaning up to brush a kiss over his cheekbone. "I miss you, jerkface."

[furnaceface]

//I might just be waiting until that cradle set is tucked away,// Jono quipped, winking her way before pulling up the zipper on his coat. //In the meantime, give that Consort of yours hell, mm? For me.//

Jono was never going to like Warren, sorry.

//G'night, luv. I'll probably even be back before sunrise, tonight.//

He didn't want to linger outside for too long, after all.

[glacial_queen]

"Sidra's own playboy," Karla teased. "Too bad we don't have tabloids in Glacia. I can picture the headlines about the General's nights of carousing."

Mother Night, the idea of Glacia having tabloids was somewhere between laughable and terrifying.

"I'll give Warren your love. And not send Cora in to bother you before breakfast. Because I love you."

[furnaceface]

//I'm sure she'd thank you for it more than me,// Jono mused. //Last time you pulled that, she nearly broke her neck tripping on my laundry.//

The hearth witches loathed Jono for good reason.

//Go on, luv. Have fun. If you let me sleep in tomorrow, I'll even fight my way into the kitchen and make you steak and potatoes myself. In the meantime...// He nodded toward the doorway. //I have a hot date lined up with your cousin, and it wouldn't do for me to be late.//

[glacial_queen]

"The things I do for steak and potatoes," Karla said, giving him a smile and shaking her head. "All right, I'm off. You and Morton can go...start up an underground fetish club or whatever you're doing with all that black leather."

With another brush of her fingers across his wrist, Karla left the room.

Within moments of her leaving, Morton entered from the other side.

"You put her off again?" he asked, voice quiet and oddly solemn.

[furnaceface]

//She doesn't get to know,// Jono said simply, watching the door she left through for a moment more before turning to face Morton, his expression grim. Any hint of levity that he'd been showing before had melted away into something far more solemn. //She doesn't need to know. You know she'd put an end to this if she did.//

He didn't wait for a reply, he simply started toward the door.

//Tonight's is about halfway across the city, camped out in the butcher shop overlooking the River Sid. Thinks he's lost us.//

[glacial_warlord]

"You know I don't disagree," Morton said, also dressed in dark leathers, though of Kaeleeran make and tailoring. "It would kill her and then she would kill us."

And then she'd end up dead, more likely than not.

"I'm just not sure how much longer we can keep her off the scent. Craftless and preoccupied or not, she's still Karla."

Though, were she not Craftless, they wouldn't be having these nightly jaunts.

"Do we need to worry about the butcher? He hasn't come up on my watchlist, but if he's renting space to Hobart's people..."

[furnaceface]

//My first instinct says no,// Jono replied, //but I won't know for certain until we're closer to him and I'm not filtering out the rest of the city to get a feel for the man. He's no big fan of Warren, but if we were singling out people who didn't like him, we'd be putting down half the Territory and myself.//

Because, let's face it, Jono was never going to like the guy.

//We've got the entire trip there for me to re-evaluate that much. Might turn out that he's an oblivious idiot, renting to the wrong man at the wrong time.//

Jono half hoped as much, but he wasn't going to hold that nonexistent breath of his.

[glacial_warlord]

"Not his biggest fan myself right now."

And Morton wouldn't be until the child was born and Karla was safe again.

"I've spent the last week making papertrails that suggest this male was embezzling funds from some of the more Hobart-loyal families in Sidra. And a few suggesting he practiced some more...unsavoury...sexual practices."

Neither he nor Jono were interested in making possible martyrs. Granted, few of their victims were ever found, but they didn't like it when people had reason to go looking, either.

[furnaceface]

//You want the truth, some of those papers wouldn't be entirely off the mark,// Jono replied, shoving his hands into his pockets for just a moment, and then pulling one out again in order to hold the door for Morton. The night was a sort of soak-into-your-bones cold this evening, the sort of cold where even a roaring fire would have difficulty thawing out a frozen nose later on. //But me, I'm more interested in getting a list of the people he's been meeting with on Thursday evenings. They'll be quick to deny he's done any of it, if we let them keep running around for long.//