sharp_as_knives | Post-Parents' Weekend destresser, Monday evening

Hannibal and Jono had both sent out e-mail to everyone they knew on the island, as well as posted in the school's boards, and everybody was invited. After this weekend, some of them seemed like they would need it.

Hannibal had a very well-stocked bar and wine cellar, there were darts and billiards and a card table downstairs as well as a media room, a music room and library on the first floor, outside decks on both if you didn't mind the flamingos, and of course, food.

Pork tenderloin crostini with cranberry pepper jelly
Pumpkin carrot soup shooters with coconut cream
Prosciutto, mango, and parmesan salad
Sweet potato ravioli with lemon sage brown butter
Mini beef wellingtons
Beef tenderloin with garlic and merlot jam
Chocolate and peanut ganache tartelettes
Chocolate orange mousse, spiced fruit brioche and yoghurt sorbet
Raspberry sorbet

[Open post! Everybody invited.]

Current Location: 22 Phoenix Place

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

furnaceface

//Kaylin, luv! Good to see you!//

Jono was... still chasing the cat around the house. Joni was fascinated with the prospect of slipping out through the door, even though she'd probably get as far as the flamingos before doubling back to cry to be let back in again, like usual.

From:

notamascot

"What are you doing?" she asked, totally distracted by Jono and the cat and whatever was going on.

From:

furnaceface

//Trying to keep Joni from making a break for it,// Jono explained, stooping down to scoop the little black cat into his arms. //She thinks she wants to be outside, but that'll change the moment she remembers the outside is bigger and meaner than she is.//

From:

notamascot

"She's... very small," Kaylin said. At least she wasn't afraid of breaking Elsa's dog, but this tiny thing... Kaylin carefully kept her hands to herself, even though a part of her had to admit the thing's fur looked very soft.

"I guess it would be dangerous for her outside. Can't you just tell her that?"

From:

furnaceface

//Tell her? Sure I could, but I've never known a cat to listen when she could just as easily pretend she didn't hear,// Jono replied, clearly amused. //Here, would you like to hold her? She's actually rather friendly, as far as cats go.//

From:

notamascot

"Wish I could get away with that," Kaylin mumbled, then looked not-at-all-terrified about holding the cat. Except where she really kind of wanted to.

"Are you sure I won't break her or something," she asked cautiously. "I'm not always the most careful person."

From:

furnaceface

The only reason Jono wasn't laughing right then was because he wasn't physically capable of doing so, Kaylin. In case you were wondering.

//Here,// he said, holding Joni out. //Just scoop one hand under her bottom, like this, and hold her close. She's not as breakable as she looks. I'm half certain cats are made of rubber bands and wire inside, anyway. Little hunters. Efficient ones, at that.//

With very large eyes.

From:

notamascot

Rubber bands and wire? She was side-eying the cat even as she ever so carefully took the cat out of Jono's arms and held it close. It - she - was even softer than she looked.

Kaylin froze for a moment when Joni started purring, then smiled. "It's like one of Marcus' kitlings when they're happy. Except they're a lot louder."

And bigger. They were the Leontine's children after all.

From:

furnaceface

//Well, she's likely a fair bit smaller,// Jono replied, a smile around the corners of his eyes. //Though she can work up a fairly mighty purr for something so small when she's got a mind to. Scratch her under the chin with one finger, she'll purr louder for you.//

Joni really liked the chin-scratchies.

From:

notamascot

"By, yeah, a lot," Kaylin admitted with a smile. She went to scratch Joni under the chin, then hesitated. "She likes that? If you did that with a Leontine, you might come back missing a hand."

She looked down at the tiny cat. "Or at least a finger."

From:

furnaceface

//If it was a trap, I'd warn you,// Jono promised. //Don't try to do the same thing with her belly, and you'll be fine. Her belly's a cute and fuzzy invitation, but only if you enjoy bleeding.//

She was a trap. An adorable trap.

From:

notamascot

"No belly rubs," Kaylin promised. She scratched Joni under the chin and couldn't help grinning as the cat's purr grew ridiculously loud. "She's very cute."

She was unconsciously snuggling the cat closer. "Elsa thinks I would like a pet, but I'm not sure I would do well at the taking care part. I - the last time I tried..." she shook her head. "Anyway, what would happen when I went back to be a Hawk? My hours are crazy. I'd never be home to take care of one. But they are nice..."

From:

furnaceface

//Cats are surprisingly independent,// Jono offered, not unkindly. //If you get home for a couple of hours a day, long enough to feed them and clean their litter, they're happy. Dogs are... a tad more needy. A cat's idea of being social often just consists of sitting on you while you sleep.//

And playing, yes, of course. But Joni had adapted well to Jono's ridiculous hours, and she was surprisingly social, so far as cats went.

From:

notamascot

"Really?" Kaylin looked at Joni thoughtfully. "Hmmm... though a lot of people would say that half the time I forget to feed myself."

She'd never forgotten to care for Jade and Steffi. Never. She went without food herself to make sure they had enough. But when they were gone... Well, she couldn't trust herself to care for something - or someone - ever again.

Her happiness dimmed a little and she snuggled the cat even closer. "Maybe I'll just have to like other people's pets. Might be safer."

From:

furnaceface

Jono pondered that for a moment, watching Joni sniff about for a moment before she started licking Kaylin's chin.

//Well, a cat really won't let you forget mealtimes,// he noted, tilting his head a bit. //That was my major concern when I got this little one. That, and just how dangerous my life can actually get. I didn't think it would be fair to something so small, who would rely on me so very much. Sometimes, I still worry.//

From:

notamascot

"Do you?" Kaylin asked. "Because... I worry a lot too. My life... hasn't always - I haven't always been so good and you never know when things could catch up to you."

She giggled a little as Joni licked her chin. "Silly,"

From:

furnaceface

//True enough,// Jono mused, watching with faint amusement as the cat tried to nuzzle up against Kaylin's face. //Life can catch up to anybody, that's the thing. And if you life your life in fear of that happening, constantly...//

He shrugged a little bit.

//A lot of people just forget to do any living altogether, when they start being afraid of what could happen.//

From:

notamascot

"I figure - I hope," she corrected herself. "That if I become a Hawk and spend my life being a good person - well, I can't ever make up for the bad stuff I did, but maybe I won't always feel so... ugly inside."

Kaylin snuggled the cat closer. It was easier to talk if no one but a cat could see your face.

From:

furnaceface

Which was exactly the reason Jono had talked Kaylin into giving Joni a chin-scratch, really. He was insidious that way.

//You know... I've been there?// His voice gentled a bit. //I'm still there, actually. Knowing you can't undo what happened, but you can at least make a difference in somebody's life for the better... it's a start. But there's a healing process to it, too. As much as you might worry that perhaps you don't deserve to let yourself heal.//

From:

notamascot

"I don't," Kaylin said without hesitation. "If you knew, if anyone knew... they wouldn't let me stay here. Even the Hawklord, he should have had me killed after I tried to assassinate him. I don't know why he didn't, but I... I thought he would. I was ready for him to. And I told you, I can do such bad things with my magic and I don't know how to make it stop, not once I start. Healing is easy, but when I - the other stuff... When I do it, all I want to do is keep doing it until the bad people are gone, even when the little kids got more afraid of me than the bad guys and..."

She buried her face in Joni's fur till she could shove it all back down inside safely again.

"But it's okay. It will all be okay if I can just be a Hawk."

From:

furnaceface

Jono's expression softened further, not that she could see it with her face pressed against the kitten that way.

//Kaylin... Kaylin, luv. You'd be surprised, the dark places I've been.// He looked away for a moment. //I'm sorry that you've been there too. And I... I know, there are some places that are beyond redemption. But if you don't let yourself heal... if you never let yourself be whole again, be the best that you can be... can you really give your all to becoming the Hawk that they deserve to have doing right by them?//

It had been a lesson hard-learned for Jonothon. He'd spent years running from it.

Sometimes, he still forgot.

//I know... I know it feels like a sin, like spitting in the face of those that you wronged,// he added, quietly. //But you can't truly begin to atone if you only let yourself live your life by half-measures. I've tried. It only leads to a hell of a lot more regrets, in the end.//

From:

notamascot

"I don't know," she whispered. "I just don't even want to think about it - all the bad things. There were so many. And I know I can never forgive... him"

She could never get the image of him, his hands dripping the blood of the children, out of her mind.

"I know I'll kill him if I ever see him again. Or die trying. Why should it be different for me? Shouldn't people want to kill me? I would."

Poor Joni. Lucky that she just saw this as more lovely snuggling.

From:

furnaceface

There was another long pause, there, and then Jono was reaching to rest a gentle hand on her shoulder.

//Maybe,// he murmured. //Maybe not. There are people who would have every right in the world to seek my life for the things I've done, too. And I can't blame them for it. They have every right to want to see justice, to want some sort of closure after the pain I caused them. But... we regret,// he said, softly. //We know what we've done, we understand the pain we've caused. We regret. And we want to atone. Do you suppose that person who's given you so much cause for hate has done the same?//

From:

notamascot

"I don't know. What he did... There's no making up for that. I don't even understand how - I just ran. I never would have thought, but I came home and they were dead and he - I just ran. And found someone who could teach me how to kill him one day."

She sniffled just a little, barely noticeable against Joni. "And now I've done such bad things. But not like that. Not like what he did."

From:

furnaceface

//You wanted to put a stop to it,// Jono replied, gently. //You wanted to make certain he couldn't go on to do what he did again.//

Oh, right. This was what it felt like when your heart bled. Jono remembered, now.

//Kaylin... you're not a bad person, luv. You were wronged, and wronged terribly. You're capable of doing terrible things, but power alone doesn't make a bad person.//