Joanne raised an eyebrow brusquely. Tone uncalled for. Like it was that bitch from The Ring who reminded you when you had seven days.
Her body language remained pretty strictly unyielding. Body made of metal, while Jon worked the silence before he spit out another few sentences for good measure... Nah. Not really. Joanne wasn't feeling it.
"I get you," she started with a low, barely-there nod and a gently considered exhale. Serious mode meant the voice tone dropped into her natural register. Chest bones rumbling and echoing like a cave earthquake.
"I mean, yeah." She did try to understand. Put herself into Jon's shoes, poor Jon, her darling baby fucked over by almost everything the system could have thrown at him. She got it, and she'd repeat it again for the people in the back: she got it. Shit was hopeless sometimes... all of this, everything.
She knew that feeling too well. And she wouldn't wish it on anyone else. She'd fight them on their own damn behalf.
"Look," she hazarded, trying to get her best 'I'm your damn Momma, boy' tone on without actually working it so well she went places neither of them wanted to go for their own fucked-family-life reasons... Damn, she'd never even thought it until now, just how messed up a home could get. She didn't dwell on it... no choice but to move on, rather. She had a conversational riposte to serve, like a badminton racket swing.
"You could regret any school you want, really. Everywhere is full of assholes." She patted the table to an unheard rhythm, timing out her words to that beat. "Doesn't mean you have to write it off, y'know? I mean it, dude." Gravitas through the fucking roof. "It's not worth your time, my time, the time of the friends you have yet to make, to act like it's already over. 'Fore it's begun. I get you're fatalistic and that's fine, but you gotta try in spite of how fucking stupid life is. Don't let 'em win, or something." Mouthful. She'd plowed through it with only the brutal expertise an accomplished Gift of Gab-er could manage. Didn't even need to reach for that sip of water after.
Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo You Have The Time... To Listen To Me Whine?
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Yugikun
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"I, um…"
He scratched his head. Christ, did he get off easy on that one.
"I dunno, it's just…"
He kept scratching. Opened his jaw. Tried to see if there were any words he could just whisk out of him so that he could properly reply.
…
Well, uh…
Turned out talking to other people didn't work like that!
He scratched his head. Christ, did he get off easy on that one.
"I dunno, it's just…"
He kept scratching. Opened his jaw. Tried to see if there were any words he could just whisk out of him so that he could properly reply.
…
Well, uh…
Turned out talking to other people didn't work like that!
"Just what?"
Joanne relaxed, or at least stopped taking the emote 'roids enough that her silhouette ceased to evoke 'looks can kill'. She smiled, humorlessly because nobody had made any kind of joke at any point in the past few whiles worth of time.
"Kick ass speech, huh? Got you ready to fight invading aliens yet?"
Still didn't smile, but she sounded a bit closer, at least. One could hear the natural smile of her spooky skull buried somewhere behind her flat lips.
Joanne relaxed, or at least stopped taking the emote 'roids enough that her silhouette ceased to evoke 'looks can kill'. She smiled, humorlessly because nobody had made any kind of joke at any point in the past few whiles worth of time.
"Kick ass speech, huh? Got you ready to fight invading aliens yet?"
Still didn't smile, but she sounded a bit closer, at least. One could hear the natural smile of her spooky skull buried somewhere behind her flat lips.
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Yugikun
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...Invading aliens?
Was Joanne trying to pull the conversation back to Into the Breach, or something?
Regardless though Jonathan didn't really feel Joanne's speech (?) made him feel ready to take on the world. For the most part it just made him feel confused (why aliens?) and it made him have to go back and try and remember what was actually being said because he'd been too busy internally panicking about how much he'd fucked up to be able to properly listen. Like, nothing against Joanne — sometimes what she said to him was totally true and sometimes she expressed that sorta stuff in a slightly cool way — but this particular attempt at trying to get him to not be him was a miss. It was really more because of him than because of her, but… yeah. That part honestly spoke to the reason why more than anything else he'd said.
His hand was still scratching. He was still trying to think of something to say. He opened his mouth and…
"I dunno," he said. "I was, um, sorta hoping I could think of something to say, but…"
He paused.
"I dunno," he repeated. "Words are not coming to my head at this moment."
Was Joanne trying to pull the conversation back to Into the Breach, or something?
Regardless though Jonathan didn't really feel Joanne's speech (?) made him feel ready to take on the world. For the most part it just made him feel confused (why aliens?) and it made him have to go back and try and remember what was actually being said because he'd been too busy internally panicking about how much he'd fucked up to be able to properly listen. Like, nothing against Joanne — sometimes what she said to him was totally true and sometimes she expressed that sorta stuff in a slightly cool way — but this particular attempt at trying to get him to not be him was a miss. It was really more because of him than because of her, but… yeah. That part honestly spoke to the reason why more than anything else he'd said.
His hand was still scratching. He was still trying to think of something to say. He opened his mouth and…
"I dunno," he said. "I was, um, sorta hoping I could think of something to say, but…"
He paused.
"I dunno," he repeated. "Words are not coming to my head at this moment."
Thus,
"Shit,"
Her succinct conclusion. Or, at least a transition sentence.
"Sorry." Simply put. All pretenses dropped her tone was gently curt, like the brisk waving of a white flag of surrender. "My bad on not taking this serious enough." She'd put too much of that 'I'm ridic. extra' energy out there like she was written in the stars, a million miles away. It was pretty inconsiderate of her to hold a friendly conversation hostage with her own ill-conceived banter. Intentional or not, her intent was worth less than the sum total of her actions, yeah? Mistakes made, corrections to follow.
"Let's take it back a bit, wipe the slate," like so. "And my bad on not being emotionally tuned up here, but, I'll take the L."
The caesura where she would have breathed, if she needed it. Her pause was neutral face, contemplative gaze. Somewhere off, yonder distance, diner staff roamed, free range.
"Where did you get lost?" And. Without a skipped beat: in addendum, "if I can presume that's what's up."
"Shit,"
Her succinct conclusion. Or, at least a transition sentence.
"Sorry." Simply put. All pretenses dropped her tone was gently curt, like the brisk waving of a white flag of surrender. "My bad on not taking this serious enough." She'd put too much of that 'I'm ridic. extra' energy out there like she was written in the stars, a million miles away. It was pretty inconsiderate of her to hold a friendly conversation hostage with her own ill-conceived banter. Intentional or not, her intent was worth less than the sum total of her actions, yeah? Mistakes made, corrections to follow.
"Let's take it back a bit, wipe the slate," like so. "And my bad on not being emotionally tuned up here, but, I'll take the L."
The caesura where she would have breathed, if she needed it. Her pause was neutral face, contemplative gaze. Somewhere off, yonder distance, diner staff roamed, free range.
"Where did you get lost?" And. Without a skipped beat: in addendum, "if I can presume that's what's up."
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Yugikun
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Jonathan shrugged.
"Don't think I'm gonna remember it."
Because, like, yeah. Whatever words had existed before were now non-present, off forever to get some smokes. Really. This… sorta happened. He had a thing to say but it wouldn't be the proper time to say it and by the time it felt actually proper to say it he couldn't even try to remember what it was. Seriously, sometimes his short-term memory just, like, decided to not work, decided to make conversations as awkward as they possibly could, which really helped when Joanne was trying to rail into him for… whatever he was doing right now. Was forgetting his sentence apparently an awful thing to do? Was this supposed to lead into a greater point?
Normally Joanne was pretty fair to him with these sorts of things but… yeah he was not getting this one.
...Least the waiter was bailing him out of it, though.
"Doesn't really matter though," he said, pointing at the person coming towards them, plates in his hands. "Pretty sure that's our lunch."
And now lunch was done. All he really had to do was wait for Joanne to finish at this point. Normally when he'd been eating out with family/foster family before this he tended to bring a book to go through while he waited for them to stop dragging the whole thing out but he figured that he wouldn't be able to do that here, given that he was with a friend rather than family. On the bright side, that made things more entertaining, but on the other side, he, um…
Yeah, he still didn't really know all the faux pas about going out with other people. He looked at Joanne.
"So… what happens now that we've finished?"
"Don't think I'm gonna remember it."
Because, like, yeah. Whatever words had existed before were now non-present, off forever to get some smokes. Really. This… sorta happened. He had a thing to say but it wouldn't be the proper time to say it and by the time it felt actually proper to say it he couldn't even try to remember what it was. Seriously, sometimes his short-term memory just, like, decided to not work, decided to make conversations as awkward as they possibly could, which really helped when Joanne was trying to rail into him for… whatever he was doing right now. Was forgetting his sentence apparently an awful thing to do? Was this supposed to lead into a greater point?
Normally Joanne was pretty fair to him with these sorts of things but… yeah he was not getting this one.
...Least the waiter was bailing him out of it, though.
"Doesn't really matter though," he said, pointing at the person coming towards them, plates in his hands. "Pretty sure that's our lunch."
And now lunch was done. All he really had to do was wait for Joanne to finish at this point. Normally when he'd been eating out with family/foster family before this he tended to bring a book to go through while he waited for them to stop dragging the whole thing out but he figured that he wouldn't be able to do that here, given that he was with a friend rather than family. On the bright side, that made things more entertaining, but on the other side, he, um…
Yeah, he still didn't really know all the faux pas about going out with other people. He looked at Joanne.
"So… what happens now that we've finished?"
Joanne filed it away, to brood over later. If she'd be handed an easy resolution then there wasn't enough Obi-Wan having the high ground in existence for her to refuse to not opt out for any sort of moral reason.
Maybe that was unfair to one of the most honest friends she could have asked for. But, some kind of trade off, Jones the waiter was cute and distracting enough. She could call him an excuse.
Joanne tended to eat slow. She really liked to respect her chompers, give them the time they needed to do the Triple A rated work: reviewed by, evaluated by, Joanne Coleman. Not so talkative lunch date? Not so much a problem, anyways, Joanne's fanatic rambling about topics of pop culture as dense as the entire verbiage of Twitter's whole domain over the quote-unquote 'avocado toast' generation, the generation whose deep state tendencies Joanne wore with pride. Joanne had gesticulated emphatically with as many soup spoons as it was possible to use off-role in one sitting.
Besides, she liked loud dinner tables. She was for want of those, in her own home.
Joanne scooped up a last finger's worth of crumbled up oyster crackers, dusted off the residue of her mostly cleaned chowder bowl's plate.
"First, we wait for me to finished."
Nibble, nibble, chomp. Joanne claimed no consistency of delivery, when it came to her eating habits. A morsel here, a morsel there, some things just tended to up and Houdini. Joanne began to scrunch up the strap of her purse onto one shoulder, the most classic of signs in nature, of the gentle but wild Joanne species being satiated with their feast.
"But seriously," she smiled softly. "It's up to us to decide. Let's talk. You have to be anywhere? Or, want to be?"
Maybe that was unfair to one of the most honest friends she could have asked for. But, some kind of trade off, Jones the waiter was cute and distracting enough. She could call him an excuse.
Joanne tended to eat slow. She really liked to respect her chompers, give them the time they needed to do the Triple A rated work: reviewed by, evaluated by, Joanne Coleman. Not so talkative lunch date? Not so much a problem, anyways, Joanne's fanatic rambling about topics of pop culture as dense as the entire verbiage of Twitter's whole domain over the quote-unquote 'avocado toast' generation, the generation whose deep state tendencies Joanne wore with pride. Joanne had gesticulated emphatically with as many soup spoons as it was possible to use off-role in one sitting.
Besides, she liked loud dinner tables. She was for want of those, in her own home.
Joanne scooped up a last finger's worth of crumbled up oyster crackers, dusted off the residue of her mostly cleaned chowder bowl's plate.
"First, we wait for me to finished."
Nibble, nibble, chomp. Joanne claimed no consistency of delivery, when it came to her eating habits. A morsel here, a morsel there, some things just tended to up and Houdini. Joanne began to scrunch up the strap of her purse onto one shoulder, the most classic of signs in nature, of the gentle but wild Joanne species being satiated with their feast.
"But seriously," she smiled softly. "It's up to us to decide. Let's talk. You have to be anywhere? Or, want to be?"
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Yugikun
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"Well, uh, lemme check…"
He brought his attention to his phone again. Went off of Facebook (god, the logs of his shitty classmates just never ended) and went to the part where he received all his texts and stuff. He was pretty sure he had a guitar lesson today, but because his teacher was sorta not exactly the most reliable person (weedbro, Jonathan liked to call him — his place generally had that stench around it) times tended to go from anywhere between three and seven PM. Jonathan was generally in the dark about what times his stuff actually was on, but his foster mom was more on point and if he just texted her he could generally find out-
...Oh. Right. He'd already texted her yesterday. Lesson was at three. Time was currently two twenty-five, so…
Guess that meant he was cutting his first date short.
"Seems like I have to go to my guitar lesson soon, so, um…"
He just kinda stared at her for a second.
"I guess this should be cut short?"
He brought his attention to his phone again. Went off of Facebook (god, the logs of his shitty classmates just never ended) and went to the part where he received all his texts and stuff. He was pretty sure he had a guitar lesson today, but because his teacher was sorta not exactly the most reliable person (weedbro, Jonathan liked to call him — his place generally had that stench around it) times tended to go from anywhere between three and seven PM. Jonathan was generally in the dark about what times his stuff actually was on, but his foster mom was more on point and if he just texted her he could generally find out-
...Oh. Right. He'd already texted her yesterday. Lesson was at three. Time was currently two twenty-five, so…
Guess that meant he was cutting his first date short.
"Seems like I have to go to my guitar lesson soon, so, um…"
He just kinda stared at her for a second.
"I guess this should be cut short?"
Joanne's words of wisdom: what better time to ignore people with your eyes piled onto your phone screen than with your friends? Genuine sentiment too, because, Joanne was no fan of the whole 'back in our day' type where they decried being connected to the WWW, decried the wider machinery of a generation whose ability to exchange information had awoken the masses from their oppression. Not even in an ageist sense, it was just like... c'mon people. Let our generation do our thing and be unable to afford our homes in peace.
In solidarity to herself, Joanne inspected her phone while Jon did likewise. Nothing to see, since she was caught up on her feeds every minute extant in history- prior to the existence of most of those accounts, even- but she was able to recap some many conversations and contemplate the grape vine. Word was Martinek, Leblanc, Coleman had been spotted conversing in some kind of hushed tones outside the auditorium some time short a few days prior. No confirmation on what had been said, given who had been involved, many confirmations could be at least temporarily assumed long enough for the convenience of dramatic flare.
Still more reasonable and sound than the Facebook thread, any rate.
"I guess it should be." Joanne's phone was buried immediately into the meat of her palm. She nodded firmly. "Sounds about right."
He was staring, she stared back, but in her case she remembered to blink more regularly.
"I'll be fine, no worries. Not like we're strangers." She'd at least contemplated making some sort of off-color quip, that they decidedly weren't: double agents, witness protection, booty call; none of them had seemed that appropriate a joke, company considered. "As long as you asked permission and got it you can abandon me whenever, yeah?"
In solidarity to herself, Joanne inspected her phone while Jon did likewise. Nothing to see, since she was caught up on her feeds every minute extant in history- prior to the existence of most of those accounts, even- but she was able to recap some many conversations and contemplate the grape vine. Word was Martinek, Leblanc, Coleman had been spotted conversing in some kind of hushed tones outside the auditorium some time short a few days prior. No confirmation on what had been said, given who had been involved, many confirmations could be at least temporarily assumed long enough for the convenience of dramatic flare.
Still more reasonable and sound than the Facebook thread, any rate.
"I guess it should be." Joanne's phone was buried immediately into the meat of her palm. She nodded firmly. "Sounds about right."
He was staring, she stared back, but in her case she remembered to blink more regularly.
"I'll be fine, no worries. Not like we're strangers." She'd at least contemplated making some sort of off-color quip, that they decidedly weren't: double agents, witness protection, booty call; none of them had seemed that appropriate a joke, company considered. "As long as you asked permission and got it you can abandon me whenever, yeah?"
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Yugikun
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"Yeah. Okay. Um…"
He scratched his head. Parting was such sweet sorrow. Not as if they wouldn't see each other again and not as if they wouldn't text each other talking about the fond memories of this lunch date, but… he didn't know. There was still a sense of loss (haha no not that kind of loss seriously fuck that meme) in having the date end. There was still a barrier between the moment and after the moment, when things were happening right now as opposed to when they already happened and Jonathan was frantically going through the moments, trying to convince himself he didn't fuck up socially when his mind was just constantly like 'you messed it up. now she hates you. great job, jonathan!'
The best part was that even though he knew this he couldn't do anything other than just let it happen.
He was glad to know that no matter what, he could always trust his friends.
"But yeah, I need to go now, so…"
He scratched his head again.
Should he go for it?
It would be awkward it would be weird it would be-
Eh.
Whatever.
If he'd messed things up he would have done it already. This wouldn't really be any sort of breaking point.
He moved his arms out, slightly.
He scratched his head. Parting was such sweet sorrow. Not as if they wouldn't see each other again and not as if they wouldn't text each other talking about the fond memories of this lunch date, but… he didn't know. There was still a sense of loss (haha no not that kind of loss seriously fuck that meme) in having the date end. There was still a barrier between the moment and after the moment, when things were happening right now as opposed to when they already happened and Jonathan was frantically going through the moments, trying to convince himself he didn't fuck up socially when his mind was just constantly like 'you messed it up. now she hates you. great job, jonathan!'
The best part was that even though he knew this he couldn't do anything other than just let it happen.
He was glad to know that no matter what, he could always trust his friends.
"But yeah, I need to go now, so…"
He scratched his head again.
Should he go for it?
It would be awkward it would be weird it would be-
Eh.
Whatever.
If he'd messed things up he would have done it already. This wouldn't really be any sort of breaking point.
He moved his arms out, slightly.
Jon met Joanne, all the many lb. worth of her. She wrapped her arms around him, engulfing his shoulder blades in the wingspan she'd proudly christened 'longer than LeBron, just waitin for my thumb like The Fonz'. Wherein only one of those references was in any way cool and relevant.
She held him for a moment, unrestrained smile on her face. Joanne enjoyed this moment. Hoped Jon would too.
"Didn't mean to crush you there, hun." As she relinquished him to the world. As she did so, it was some kind of wondering on her part... someday she'd see him off and away for the last time. That was a thought with too much finality. For now, or even for ever.
"I expect you to open with one of those next time we meet, alright? I'm officially upgrading us from BFF to BFFF!"
His call on what the extra F even meant. But she'd definitely meant it with the thumbs up she offered him. Probably definitely unironic. Joanne could confirm, on her own behalf, because as it happened she had that right to self-determination.
At the time, anyways.
((Joanne Coleman is so 3008))
She held him for a moment, unrestrained smile on her face. Joanne enjoyed this moment. Hoped Jon would too.
"Didn't mean to crush you there, hun." As she relinquished him to the world. As she did so, it was some kind of wondering on her part... someday she'd see him off and away for the last time. That was a thought with too much finality. For now, or even for ever.
"I expect you to open with one of those next time we meet, alright? I'm officially upgrading us from BFF to BFFF!"
His call on what the extra F even meant. But she'd definitely meant it with the thumbs up she offered him. Probably definitely unironic. Joanne could confirm, on her own behalf, because as it happened she had that right to self-determination.
At the time, anyways.
((Joanne Coleman is so 3008))
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Yugikun
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The reality of getting hugs never quite measured up to the metal image Jonathan always had of them.
Because, um, his body honestly sorta craved them, if you could excuse the slightly creepy phrasing. There was this online quiz he once took which talked about love languages or some vague other unbased horoscope thing like that (except the love language stuff seemed to be actually legitimate, or at least based on something solid scientifically) and when he took it it told him that one of his #1 things was being touched? Not sure how much of the case that was, but he did crave getting hugged a ton. Enough for it to like, give him this mental image that hugging was warm and it was special and that it would give him a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
...It wasn't quite like that.
It mainly felt like Joanne's arms touching against his body, skin on skin as the two felt each other's warmth.
Not exactly fuzzy.
Not exactly comforting.
Just kinda awkward in general, but still an appreciated gesture?
...Yeah, this was weird.
He was the first to disengage. She took another second to do so in kind. He heard her say her goodbyes (well, her pre-goodbye message, guess the onus was on him to end this) and given that it was probably pretty rude to keep things going when they were winding down, he decided to give his in turn.
"Don't worry, I, um, will."
He scratched his head. Looked around for a bit.
"Seeeeeee ya?"
Yeah.
See ya.
Would probably prefer to be ya.
((Jonathan Meyers, continued elsewhere))
Because, um, his body honestly sorta craved them, if you could excuse the slightly creepy phrasing. There was this online quiz he once took which talked about love languages or some vague other unbased horoscope thing like that (except the love language stuff seemed to be actually legitimate, or at least based on something solid scientifically) and when he took it it told him that one of his #1 things was being touched? Not sure how much of the case that was, but he did crave getting hugged a ton. Enough for it to like, give him this mental image that hugging was warm and it was special and that it would give him a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
...It wasn't quite like that.
It mainly felt like Joanne's arms touching against his body, skin on skin as the two felt each other's warmth.
Not exactly fuzzy.
Not exactly comforting.
Just kinda awkward in general, but still an appreciated gesture?
...Yeah, this was weird.
He was the first to disengage. She took another second to do so in kind. He heard her say her goodbyes (well, her pre-goodbye message, guess the onus was on him to end this) and given that it was probably pretty rude to keep things going when they were winding down, he decided to give his in turn.
"Don't worry, I, um, will."
He scratched his head. Looked around for a bit.
"Seeeeeee ya?"
Yeah.
See ya.
Would probably prefer to be ya.
((Jonathan Meyers, continued elsewhere))