Jono was tired. Jono was tired, and cranky, and he had a lollipop sticking out of his hair, a pocket full of bottlecaps and small seashells, an actual pirate cutlass from the seventeenth century at his hip, a bright blue frog on one shoulder, three Pokémon gym badges (he'd bid a fond farewell to the Vulpix, Raticate, and Ekans he'd won them with when he caught his connecting portal out of Vermillion), a whole array of paint splatters across his clothing, a small armload of rare records on vinyl, a sunburn, and a complimentary voucher in his pocket for one free Portalocity trip, provided he booked his arrangements within the week.
He'd get Hannibal to use it for him. Provided the tie-dye underwear he was wearing under his not-so-usual getup didn't get him kicked out of the house.
It had been A Trip, okay?
//So,// he said, stepping through the front door and immediately looking for somewhere to deposit the frog, //you first.//
[OOC: I'm baaaaaaaack. Some of Jono's assorted nonsense might be inspired by actual events. Mostly the sunburn. Mostly for Hannibal, but I'm around for other threads if there are visitors!]
- Hannibal's House (That Jono Has Never Been a Pony In), Sunday Evening
2016-07-18 01:34 am (UTC) (Link)
Beethoven was up on a shelf, still suspicious that the blue pony was going to come back. He didn't even care that Joni was curled up on his back.
Everything in the house was slightly askew from having been floating for most of a day and then returned unceremoniously to the ground.
And Hannibal's tax return form 8283 for charitable donations was sitting on the coffee table. He hadn't gotten around to returning it to the office yet.
For Hannibal, this was pretty damn close to chaos.
He looked Jono over, grimaced at the paint and lollipop, and got up to greet him.
"I thought you couldn't get burnt?"
2016-07-18 01:42 am (UTC) (Link)
Anymore.
He held his arms open for a hug, anyway. Chaotic as everything seemed to be, it was good to be home. Doubly good that his fiance didn't appear to have hooves.
2016-07-18 02:37 am (UTC) (Link)
"You seem to need a shower almost as much as I did. An entire week of layovers?"
2016-07-18 02:42 am (UTC) (Link)
Hendrix (possibly Hendrix four or five, considering the brief stint with goldfish in high school and the frogs he'd kept at the Boards for a while) was mostly just interested in supervising from his perch atop one of the now rainbow metallic studs in Jono's jacket.
//Remind me that I care about those children enough to risk that ever happening again? And then tell me about your week.//
2016-07-18 03:22 am (UTC) (Link)
He'd had A Week. He wasn't bothering with subtle right now.
2016-07-18 03:33 am (UTC) (Link)
//Just a frog, mostly unintentional, but by the time I realized he'd hitched a ride, I'd already left Australia.// He shrugged the shoulder that wasn't currently occupied by frog. //He was the part of the stopover there that I didn't mind so much. The sunburn is the unpleasant souvenir. No eating Hendrix.//
He kind of appreciated how straightforward Hannibal was being, anyway.
2016-07-18 03:49 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-18 03:54 am (UTC) (Link)
//... Good plan. I'll have to go out tomorrow, find something to put him in that he'll be more happy in.//
Yeah, sorry, Hannibal. Jono was keeping the frog.
//He's practically furniture, anyway.//
But he was Jono's furniture, and that was what really mattered.
2016-07-18 04:08 am (UTC) (Link)
"I doubt Beethoven would appreciate that argument. Or that either of them would appreciate being sat upon by the other."
So it was the porch with you for now, Hendrix.
"At least it isn't raining chocolate and hailing candy anymore."
2016-07-18 10:12 am (UTC) (Link)
Lessons learned.
//So... things really were mad here, weren't they? I don't think I've ever seen this place in such a state before.//
2016-07-18 11:39 pm (UTC) (Link)
Unable to let it go any longer, he plucked the lollipop from Jono's hair and tossed it in the garbage. "And you?"
2016-07-18 11:47 pm (UTC) (Link)
It was possible that he was mostly bitter that he couldn't sample any.
//Portals I had to hike on foot between towns to get to- I spent three bloody weeks in a place where people had perfected cockfighting with basically any species of animal they came across. If you have never seen a butterfly take out a giant snake made out of stone, I promise you, it's one hell of a sight.//
There was video on his phone. Maybe he'd show Hannibal later.
2016-07-19 12:23 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-19 12:32 am (UTC) (Link)
He really, really hated that place's name.
2016-07-19 12:35 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-19 12:48 am (UTC) (Link)
He shook his head.
//Wasn't so bad, I suppose. Got a cutlass and a pocket full of seashells for my trouble. Not... sure quite what to do with the shells, admittedly.//
2016-07-19 12:56 am (UTC) (Link)
He reached out to take Jono's colorfully-studded jacket. "If I'd known it had been that long, I might have gone to Portalocity myself. There didn't seem much point with the oddities here as well."
Not to mention he wasn't nearly as intimidating as a blue pony.
2016-07-19 01:04 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-19 01:38 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-19 01:44 am (UTC) (Link)
Sure, it had some SPF going on, but he might as well have just wrapped himself in aluminium foil and baked himself like a potato in that heat.
2016-07-19 01:57 am (UTC) (Link)
Joni, finally realizing that was really her human home, scrambled to dive from the shelf to his shoulder, and Hannibal interrupted her, earning himself a pathetic mew as he held her up to meet Jono instead.
2016-07-19 02:03 am (UTC) (Link)
//With reflexes like that, careful,// he said, jokingly. //They'll try to put you in a costume with an X on it yet.//
2016-07-19 02:21 am (UTC) (Link)
"Do you have any other surprises?" he asked.
2016-07-19 02:36 am (UTC) (Link)
2016-07-19 02:54 am (UTC) (Link)
He tugged at the sleeve of Jono's...pirate blouse. "Why don't you get undressed, and I'll pour a beer and meet you by the tub?"
2016-07-19 03:03 am (UTC) (Link)
//That sounds fantastic,// Jono admitted. //I'm absolutely up for every bit of that suggestion.//
And not just to get the leftover lollipop gunk out of his hair.
2016-07-20 01:01 am (UTC) (Link)