The Preserve, Friday Late Evening

[apocalipped]

Too good to be true.

Today had been too good to be true. Jonothon should have known it from the start, should have listened to his doubts and not put so much hope in the possibility that anything so good could last.

At first, he'd thought that maybe it was something that he'd eaten, twisting at his insides. But then it had started to burn. He'd slipped away from the campfire once it started to quiet down some, and he'd made his way into the preserve.

Away from people. Someplace quiet, where he could wrap his arms around himself, grit his teeth, and focus. Try to keep a grip on it.

He ought to have known, it was always too damn good to be true.

[For them wot know who they are! This is... not going to be pretty.]

Comments

[trigons_child]

"We can try again," Raven said, biting at her lip to hold back the tears welling in her eyes. "I can take it all this time, I know I can." She knew those words were born of her pride, however, and that the truth was it would probably kill her. But that didn't stop her from making the offer. Her only concern at the moment was ending her friend's suffering.

[living_endless]

Didi's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare," she hissed. "You might make it even worse. Don't you dare try anything like that or -"

She stopped herself. No threats; the girl was trying to help. Barely, she got a hold of her temper, though the anger was still flashing in her expression. "I don't think it would be a good idea."

Though she was working on a bad idea of her own.

[furnaceface]

//Stop,// Jono managed as he curled into himself a little more. //I can't. I can't do this again.//

That voice again, hollow and weak and empty, just the notions of words drifting from his mind to theirs. Didi was talking, angry words. They were both still there.

Minutes ago, he'd been whole.

//You can't change what I am.//

[trigons_child]

Didi's anger stung her, and Jono's rejection as well, though she understood both. "It is part of what you are now," she said, unable to hold back her tears as she finally accepted the truth. "It is not something I can heal."

Admitting that was one of the hardest things she'd ever done, and she hated that she was crying for herself as much as for him.

[living_endless]

"My sister could change it," Didi said, desperately. If she'd been thinking clearly, it never would have come to her mind -- it was so against all the codes the Endless lived and worked by. "We can do anything, we just don't. You ... we've earned it. Let's ask her."

Because that in no way would lead to a starfish-shaped or kumquat-flavored Jono, nope.

Raven got a slightly apologetic look for the sharp tone, though not nearly as much as she would have at any other time.

[furnaceface]

There was a faint twitch of logic and reason seeping into Jonothon's awareness. As tempting as it was... Just let an Endless fix it all...

//Delirium,// he said, simply, as if that one statement summed up everything that needed to be said.

Give him a moment more, and he was even attempting to sit up again.

[trigons_child]

"Is that wise?" Raven said hesitantly. She didn't know Delirium, but she knew of her power and the havoc it could create. She'd done enough damage to Jono today by herself, and she didn't want to see any more done to him.

[living_endless]

"Does it matter if it's not wise, if it would work?" Give Didi a moment; she was reaching out to try to readjust what was left of Jono's bandages, if he'd let her.

She came back to her senses during the fumbling.

"No," she admitted softly, reluctantly. "It's not. She'd try, but ... no. Even if it worked that might not be the end of it. There's always a cost."

[furnaceface]

There wasn't much left to those bandages. What hadn't been burned away was hanging in loose tatters around him. Jono didn't seem to notice.

//No more ifs, either,// he said, eyes on the ashes around them. He hadn't brought down any buildings. Nobody had gotten hurt.

Almost nobody.

//I just want...// He didn't even know what he wanted. He had exactly what he'd started the day with. //I want... I... I'm just done.//

[trigons_child]

"Please, Jono, do not say that," Raven said, trying once again to touch him, to try to give him some small comfort at least. She hated that she'd given him false hope of a normal life for a few hours. "You are still alive, you are still with us. You are still Jono. It does not matter what your form is. And there must be some way to restore you, but until we find it, you are still and always will be loved."

[living_endless]

Didi shot Raven a dubious glance. The girl seemed to be stealing her lines.

"She's right," she said, still fidgeting with the rags to try to give him the dignity of a bit of cover. Still-angry tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back. "We got an afternoon together. You got to sing and kiss and eat ice cream and strawberries. It was worth it, even if it doesn't feel that way right now."

She was not nearly as confident of that bit as she was trying to sound.

[furnaceface]

She was right. They were right, and Jonothon knew it. It hurt. It burned at him in a way that the flames never had before, to be so close only to have it all slip through his fingers again. Mostly, he still wanted to concede defeat and lay back down.

But he'd kissed. Kissed and laughed and sang and lived, actually felt alive for an afternoon. He'd held Didi close to himself without fear. He couldn't now, but he had.

In the long run, he'd lost a few bandages, and a bit of hope. And to make up for it, he'd kissed his girlfriend.

//Maybe... we should get out of... th'forest.//

[trigons_child]

"Where do you wish to go?" Raven said, wiping a hand across her eyes. "I can teleport us back to your cabin...or the dorms...wherever you need to go." She wanted to somehow be of some small help, though she would understand if he and Didi wanted her away from them now.

[living_endless]

"Dorms," Didi said, since she didn't think Jono was going to make a decision. "My room. I think the cabins are ... a bit too much closeness, for tonight."

And she wanted to be able to give Jono a backrub, or wash the flesh he had, or something. Wanted to just be with him where it was quiet.

She managed a tired, weak attempt at a smile. "You don't mind?"

[furnaceface]

//Dorms,// Jono agreed tiredly, not daring to look up.

This place was... a mess. Not all of the mess was from the fire. The dorms weren't here, which meant that they were perfect by default. Raven could set him on the moon right now, and that would also be perfect by default.

//Please.//

[trigons_child]

Raven held out a hand to Didi. She'd teleported with Jono before, and she didn't think she needed to warn Didi what it would be like. Her Soul-Self manifested and gently wrapped around them all, and a heartbeat later, the preserve was empty again, the scorched earth the only indication they'd been there.