Room 408, Saturday Morning

[apocalipped]

The dance? Had been nice. Nice in that sort of, 'I am here, I am not being particularly social, but I have a lovely date and I'm going to enjoy this, damn it,' kind of way that Jono was so good at. But that much social interaction was tiring, to say the least, and so he was absolutely planning on spending his Saturday in bed. And it would be great, and to hell with anything in the world that thought that he was going to be getting up, at least until late afternoon.

It was possible that Jonothon was slightly delusional, yes.

[For wee ones, roomies, whatever!]

Comments

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth wasn't particularly worried when she suddenly found herself in Fandom. She was totally used to teleporting between dimensions anyway, plus she could sense her parents close by.

She teleported to her father's location first, climbed up on to the bed, and pounced. "Daddy Daddy Daddy wake up!"

[furnaceface]

That was possibly the most effective wake-up call that Jono had ever had, yes. Between the cat hissing and scrabbling away for dear life and the fact that there was a small child on top of him, calling him Daddy, his eyes were wide open in no time flat.

//Gah!//

Also, good morning, small child. Please don't mind too much while your daddy lays there and tries not to have a fit while he figures out what the hell is going on.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

"Wake up wake up wake up!" Elizabeth said, cheerfully bouncing. "I'm hungry! Where are we?"

She hadn't quite realized that her father wasn't exactly looking like he should be yet.

[furnaceface]

Oh, God. It was bouncing. Jono's eyebrows furrowed a bit, and he raised an arm to rub at his eyes before making the attempt to sit up, possibly to dislodge the very excitable tiny thing that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere in his room.

//We're somewhere,// he managed, with all of the certainty of somebody who had been awake for all of half a minute. //Yer hungry?//

He'd probably figure out what was going on sooner or later. This wasn't his first young child invasion, but it was the first one where he'd actually had a child of his own.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth stopped bouncing, but she did squint her eyes and peer up at her father's face as he sat up. "Why are you talking in my head?" she said. She was used to that from Auntie Emma, so it didn't frighten her, at least. "And why is your face all covered up?"

[furnaceface]

//Um.//

Really, Elizabeth. Your father was simply the personification of true eloquence, today.

//Sore throat?//

... Well, he didn't want to scare the kid.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

That failed to satisfy Elizabeth's curiosity, so she was reaching up now with every intention of trying to pull down the bandages and see what they were hiding. She didn't sense a sore throat, and Mommy would've healed that, anyway.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George was not exactly in a horrible mood today -- do not tell anybody that -- but it was morning, and morning could generally go fuck itself.

She cracked her eyes open long enough to process that ... there was a really hyper kid bouncing at Jono.

Exactly what she needed. Fucking kids.

... wait.

"You have a kid?"

Because he hadn't mentioned that, oh, ever.

[furnaceface]

//Apparently?//

Look, this was news to him, too.

... Though not entirely surprising, perhaps. Even if the logistics kind of meant that he would have had to become a father somewhere around the same time puberty hit. Give or take. Jono was a late bloomer.

//I'm going out on a limb and saying 'Fandom thing,' here.//

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"... Fandom ... gave you kids?" she said. "Like, a prize or something?"

Congratulations, you're the millionth student! You and three friends will receive a toddler. Batteries not included.

George was going to decide that she was still asleep.

"That punch was way more spiked than I thought."

[furnaceface]

//Must've been far more spiked. I think I'm drunk a bit, as well.//

By proxy. As you do.

//I think... this happened last year, sometime, as well. Just out of nowhere, a bunch of small children came by, all calling students their parents. Some made sense, some... not quite so much, really.//

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

He should be thanking her. Being drunk right now might make this fucking mess easier to stomach.

"Just ... random kids," she said. "Why the f---"

Let's not swear in front of the kid, George.

"How does that even happen?"

[furnaceface]

//Timelines, portals, some such nonsense,// Jono replied, shrugging. //I don't pretend to understand any of it, except that I imagine it isn't much different from all of the individual timelines that people come from. Different points, all part of th'same idea.//

Yes, Jono. Make a little more sense out of that, please.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"So ... these are magic kids from the future, who caught some kind of timeline portal to come ... bug their parents."

Just making sure she had this right.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

"Hi Auntie George!" Elizabeth said excitedly, waving. "Are you visiting Daddy?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

Poor Elizabeth. She was being perky at the crankiest dead girl on the entire island. This would not end well.

"I'm ... not your auntie," she said, "and I live here. And it's way too early for this."

... hopefully, Elizabeth knew that Auntie George was not a morning person. Or a people person. Or, uh, a much-of-anything person.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

"Do you need coffee, Auntie George?" Elizabeth said, dropping her voice to a whisper at least. Cranky people in the morning was nothing new to her.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George burrowed herself out of the covers again, intent on saying something-or-other, when the words caught up to her.

Oh.

Well.

"... Please?" she said. "Uh. Thank you?"

Some coffee would be fucking amazing. She was totally willing to try to be civil if they pumped her full of coffee.

[empathic-fire.livejournal.com]

"I can get you some!" Elizabeth said. She was so helpful like her mother like that. She vanished (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomtownies/5729671.html?thread=221707143&style=mine#t221707143) from the room in a puff of black smoke, and a few minutes later she returned with a hot cup of coffee.

[lepetitemortals.livejournal.com]

It was hard for a knock on the door to sound ironic and detached. And yet? It did.

She might be a freak of nature, but at least Vedder had 'cool' down pat.

"Let me in," she said. In case they hadn't heard the knock. Or, realistically, in case they were ignoring it in the hopes it would go away.

Never underestimate the combined apathy of her parents.

[furnaceface]

//Erm...//

Well. At least she was knocking? Though there was that little nagging feeling in the back of his skull that had Jono wondering if he wanted to answer the door at all.

That said, the voice on the other side of the door sounded young, if somewhat jaded. Jono gave George a glance. And then the door? Another glance. And then he sighed as best as he could before making his way over to open the door.

//Er... hello, luv?//

[lepetitemortals.livejournal.com]

"That's it?" Vedder asked. "'Hello'? Like I'm a door-to-door salesman. Thanks, Dad."

She was going to sail past him and flop down on the foot of her mom's bed. Mom looked like hell, but she had coffee, so she might be up to full sentences within the hour.

"Is this that school you went to?"

She hadn't been the only freak of nature in that sea of tortured humanity that had headed, lemming-like, towards these dorms. Schools in Seattle were more normal.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George had coffee. And now there was another dark-haired little girl in the room, so apparently Jono had been busy. Except there was a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. One she couldn't quite place.

"... The fuck are you?" she asked. Forgetting not to swear in front of kids. Because something told her this was bad. Very, very bad.

[furnaceface]

//She'd be mine,// Jono said, putting up a hand as he kind of followed her into the room. //I think.//

Poor, poor Vedder. Your father probably questioned whether or not you were really his all the time, didn't he?

[lepetitemortals.livejournal.com]

All. The. Time.

In response to that, Vedder gave her usual reply. Which was, to purse her lips together and blow one perfect smoke ring.

Thus rendering a paternity test unnecessary.

"Are we really going to do this again?" she asked, sounding bored. "You insist I'm not yours, and I point out my lungs are on fire. Then she says she can't have me anyway, because she's dead, and I say that's great, but I'm here. And then Rube lectures her about not using protection, and she says that she's dead and this can't be happening, and when she starts freaking out again, that's when Mason says he's taking me out for ice cream. Which usually means he buys me a cone as a bribe so I'll play look-out while he deals crack in the alley."

Vedder did not have a normal childhood. In other news, water was kind of damp.