The Fyreborn Islands, Saturday, Fandom Time

[glacial_queen]

So after a week like the one they'd had, Karla's desire for a cheerful day at the beach had grown to something akin to need. In fact, she'd sent Jaenelle and Lucivar early to set up so that by the time her guests arrived, they could just pile into a Coach and go.

Which, in fact, was exactly what they did. Kyle barely had time to boggle at SaDiablo Hall (or the portal or even Warren's wings), before Karla and Holt were herding them into the Coach and leaping up to catch the Opal Wind to the Fyreborn Islands.

By the time they arrived, Jaenelle and Lucivar had set up the picnic--packed by Mrs. Beale and more akin to a movable feast--including a veritable mountain of small green berries to eat and share with the wildlife.

What wildlife?

Oh, you know. Just dragons. Just your usual, every day, average dragons. Pony-sized--not counting wings and the tails. Didn't anyone say, Kyle?

In Kaeleer, dragons were real.

[NFB, for those who know who they are]

Comments

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

Kyle laughed, just managing not to choke on his sandwich with a huge effort, and pointed at Jono, then gave him a thumb's up of agreement.

When he could talk again, he realized-- how did Jono taste that stuff? "You've had them before?" he asked, not about to push at all if Jono was just judging by people's reactions. "Did Lucivar pull that yarbarah trick on you too?"

[furnaceface]

//I've tasted th'berries, yes. And Lucivar would've had a hell of a time pulling that yarbarah trick on me,// Jono replied, with a light roll of his eyes and a shrug. //But I have to say, mate, stellar performance once you found out what was in it. Really.//

He idly cast his fingers through the sand, picking out a pebble to pass back and forth from hand to hand. Something to keep his fingers busy.

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

Thaaat... didn't quite make sense. But Kyle wasn't clear on how much was polite to ask. His mind was still working as he said, "Thanks. Helps to have a couple guys on our floor who want to re-invent the still." He made a face and muttered, "Lamb's blood, yeesh."

What the hell. Being up-front about being a noob had at least made it simpler, when he met Barbara. "If I say the wrong thing, let me know. The only meta I've met before is Dinah, and she says she's crap at explaining things. I made all kinds of mistakes when I visited Fandom Island a couple weeks ago, with Momoko and Karla."

[furnaceface]

//Oh, believe me, mate. I'd let you know if you overstepped.//

He was very good at letting people know when they overstepped. And sometimes very good at letting people know they did, even when he was mostly just wallowing in self-pity and needed to take it out on somebody.

//I'd just circumvent th'conversation by mocking you for raising such a fuss over a little blood. Really, it's a wonder you Yanks manage to get any food into yerselves at all, with th'way you carry on about little things like that.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

Kyle cheerfully gave him the finger. Then was such a geek he had to try and give him two fingers. Except then he dropped his sandwich.

"Shuddup," he muttered, but grinned. He squinted off at the dragons, shaking his head. "I'm adapting as fast as I can here. Or Dinah's gonna leave me to be carried off by the tide. Or that Lucivar guy will pull my arms off, criminy."

[furnaceface]

Really. Such a waste of sandwich, Kyle. Jono gave the remains of the poor thing a look, and then shrugged and settled back to enjoy his view of the dragons.

//It's a fair bit to get used to,// he allowed. //Dragons, metahumans, magic and th'lot. Really, food with blood in it is downright normal, in comparison. Practically refreshing, really.//

Really, mocking Kyle about it almost made it easier for him to forget that he couldn't actually eat any of it, himself.

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, okay, I can give you that one," Kyle admitted. He tried to think about what else was 'normal', or at least what he was used to. Not a lot. But ... "At least it's in a cool way. My friends would kill to be here." He smiled crookedly. "I keep thinking in D&D analogies. I don't think Karla would appreciate knowing she has plus-two of snarky along with plus-five of magic, so. Not saying that out loud."

Kyle, you geeeeeeeeeek.

[furnaceface]

//I wasn't aware that they were using 'snarky' in alongside 'charisma' and 'stamina,'// Jono countered, bemused. //Must be something they added into th'newer rulebooks, I suppose.//

Not that he'd ever played D&D. But he picked up enough just by being an almost-modern teenager, he was more than capable of snarking along.

//And, please, Karla has at least a plus ten in magic, mate.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

"Geek rules. Sometimes we let people avoid hits when they're extra-witty," Kyle told him solemnly. His eyes widened. "Really? I mean, she seemed really good at it, but all I've gotten to see her do is walk on air--" Which, think about it, that couldn't be easy. "Yeesh." He gave her another look of respect. "So, she's entitled to the snarky plus. Maybe even plus four." Heh.

[furnaceface]

//Walking on air is nothing compared to what th'gel can do in a pinch,// Jono replied, glancing her way briefly. //She might snark like she's paid t'do it, but she's earned th'right to it. She's had her hand in saving more than a world or two. But for th'love of God, don't let Lucivar know. He'd throw bloody fits, I'm sure.//

... As he probably rightly should.

//Really, it's probably best not to try to quantify what anybody here is capable of with numbers. They'll just go and prove that yer bein' bloody ridiculous just for making the attempt.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

"Holy crap." And he'd thought Dinah being a superhero was kickass. "Wow..." Two thoughts hit him then. "Was Dinah along for the ride on those?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to know. And how completely red-shirt did that make him in this crowd?

[furnaceface]

Compared to these guys? First away mission you get sent on, Kyle, and your ass is going to be grass.

//Once or twice, at least. After a while, we tend to play mix-and-match. An emergency rolls in, and whoever's within arm's reach runs out to save th'day. We call that 'Friday.'//

Friday seemed to be an excellent day of the week for all hell to start to break loose, generally. Apparently, Armageddon loves the weekend.

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

Karla's earlier comment about, There are paths she'll go on where you can't follow suddenly made a lot more sense.

"So dead...." Forget his ego, it kind of freaked him out to think of Dinah being in that much danger. Moving on, moving on-- okay, trying to move on. "That's -- cool. That so many people want to help," Kyle said, determined to find a bright side here. "...Friday?"

Shit!

[furnaceface]

//Or Tuesday. Hell seems to like rising up against us on Tuesdays lately, too,// Jono continued, casually. //And Thursdays...//

He squinted a little. He was enjoying breaking the normal kid's brain, yes. But he wasn't about to let that show.

//Come to think of it, trouble really rather does seem to like days that end in 'y.'//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

Kyle was slightly aware that Jono might be messing with him, but c'mon. He was going to check with Dinah, and she wouldn't lie, and... Yeah. There'd already been a couple 'emergencies', Karla-related, that he knew about. But he suspected that they were way worse than he'd been told, now.

It took him a few minutes to cope with some of that, then he said carefully, "So, why do you do it? I know why Dinah does. She just likes to help." How bad did it get, sometimes?

[furnaceface]

//Why do I do it?// Jono glanced Kyle's way, and then he shrugged. //Wouldn't you, if you had the ability to do so, and your options were to let a friend handle it alone, or else sit on yer arse worrying about it all th'time? It isn't safe, by any means, but I'm not th'sort to really care much about safe in th'first place.//

... It helped that he wasn't entirely certain if it was even possible to get himself killed.

//These people are my family. That's why I do it.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Yeah, I would." But he didn't. No abilities, couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. "Well. I'd try. I'd suck at fighting anything. I guess I could learn how." Kyle dug his heels into the sand. He looked over at Jono, and nodded. "That's cool, though." Crap. This was-- scary and depressing. Not something to say out loud, though.

[furnaceface]

Unfortunately, Jono wasn't really the sort to make a cheery dive into fuzzy and reassuring. He'd probably get a thump upside the head for this later, from someone.

//It's life,// he noted, glancing askance at the boy. //Nobody expects you to pull on tights or leap into it th'way we do, though. We get... handed these cards, and we throw ourselves headlong into th'worst, sometimes because we have to, and sometimes because we choose to, but mostly because we can.//

He shrugged, and then flopped backward against the sand, staring up at the dragons as they flew overhead.

//Honestly, mate, I envy you.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

More than likely.

"No, I get that. About why you do it. And not being expected to do the same." Face it, he wasn't even a red-shirt; he was one of the screaming civilians getting cut in half by a laser-beam. Okay, that idea... stung more than a little. But. Still not the point, entirely.

Dinah could get hurt, Dinah could get dead, and there was zero he could do about it. How this was different from how things were yesterday, he didn't know. But it felt that way.

"You do?" he said in sudden surprise, tact fleeing in shock. Kyle squinted over at Warren, then back to Jono. "Seriously?"

[furnaceface]

//I do,// Jono agreed, shrugging faintly. //Seriously. That might just be a product of th'world I come from, though. I know yer own reality is far less spiteful about people with natural-born powers than my own. Dinah can stand in line at th'supermarket without being spat on for what she is. She might not be able to, where I'm from. And it isn't even a concern for you, either way.//

He sat up slightly, looking at Kyle thoughtfully.

//But mostly, I envy that you get th'choice. You can learn a martial art, or first aid. You can join th'fire brigade, or become a policeman, or a doctor, or work for search and rescue, or choose to become a soldier if yer heart is really set on helping people. I can't. I'm not even a person, in the eyes of most of th'people back home. Bloody hell, I'm not made for this, even though I'm built for it. I wanted to be a musician.//

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

That idea, of someone spitting on Dinah, that pissed him off. And made some of Warren's comments make more sense. And how the hell could the guy hide wings? Probably he couldn't. And Jono, Jono didn't have a chance. Kyle just listened to the rest of what he said, because he didn't know what to say, until Jono mentioned wanting to be a musician. He looked at the guy's face, and realized-- fuck, talk about impossible dreams. "Shit. I... Dude. I'm sorry." Saying it to Warren, that had been about how the system was messed up. Saying it to Jono-- that was about how life was messed up.

He looked away, then down at his hands, shaking his head. "I don't know what the hell I want to be." He'd learned that much, over the last year. "I'm a computer science major, but. This last year, I realized I'm not in the same league as half the people in my courses. I like it. I don't love it. I'm not a genius." There was a point here. Kyle let out a breath. "I want to help, though. I've been thinking that, knowing Dinah. Now..." Somehow. "Choices are important. I shouldn't be the only lucky one."

[furnaceface]

//If you want to help, stand by her,// Jono replied, sitting up entirely and idly dusting some sand from his shoulder. //And I don't even mean out there where it's dangerous, either. Even we crazy people need something normal to come back to. We're not made to be alone.//

He pulled his arm back, and then flung the pebble that he'd been toying with out toward the water.

//Beyond that... I don't know. What I know about computers these days is limited to checking my e-mail, really. But you don't have to be a super-genius to make good use of what you enjoy. And everybody's good at something. It's just a matter of channelling it right, and not worrying about how you measure up to everybody else. Odds are, they're looking around and thinking the exact same bloody thing.//

... Jono was not exactly the poster boy for practising what he preached.

[gothamlights.livejournal.com]

"I can do that." The way he felt about her now, he couldn't see not standing by her. As scary as all this was. He could do normal! He was way the hell normal. And Dinah, bubbly and friendly and wanting friends-- but not being able to tell most of them about this. More stuff that Karla said made even more sense. He had the urge to go over and hug her, right this second.

"That's true." Kyle grimaced. "It's only the first year of college. Maybe I'll find what I'm good at in another year or two." He could always switch majors, or get some other minor, if he figured it out soon. He looked over at Jono, and said awkwardly, "Thanks, man. For talking about this shit." If the guy could drink beer, he'd buy one for him.

[furnaceface]

//Don't mention it, mate.// Jono picked up another pebble, squinted at it for a moment, and threw it into the surf after the first one. //Really, for a bloke who can't speak, you'd be surprised at just how difficult it can be to get me to shut up.//