xp_logs | Evacuation Log: Jono and Dani

Jono and Dani are making sure everyone's out during the evacuation, and manage to find some small humor in the situation.

This was the second - or was it third? - evacuation she'd had to help with since coming to Xaviers. And one kidnapping that she'd been involved in directly. Idly, she sat against the wall on the floor, her hair hanging in her face. She was braiding a random lock because she needed something to focus on instead of the fear or counting the incidents since she'd arrived at the school. The kids were safe, she was safe and for the moment that is what mattered.

Jono was walking the halls and consciously extending his telepathy into each room he passed, making sure none of the younger students had decided to ignore the evacuation drill. Satisfied that this floor was clear, he headed for the stairs before noticing one exhausted mind near the bottom of the stairwell. Leaning his head over, he caught sight of Dani and knocked cautiously on the bannister to get her attention.

Idly she waved, looking up through her hair. Crazy Dani was considering emerging soon, "It's clear down here," she called, climbing to her feet and pushing her hair out of her face. "Just us left, ain't it?"

Jono nodded. "Kids should all be in the vans," he said cautiously, reminding himself that he'd heard Dani was somewhat skittish around telepaths. "Just the folks that're staying behind are all that's left, and the junior X-folks that I'm shuttling."

"Guess we should get goin' then," she and Jono were each driving a van. "Why ain't you wearin' leather?" she asked curiously. She hadn't really met the new music teacher other than to know who he was and take care of ordering some of his materials. She stared at him unashamed.

Jono arched an eyebrow, looking down at his black jeans and the containment shirt Forge had made for him. "Because my jacket's in the van already?" he answered, completely missing Dani's meaning.

Dani rolled her eyes, and people thought she was crazy sometimes, "I mean, an X-Man."

Jono just stared at Dani, then bent over, broadcasting the jangling psionic static that passed for laughter with his powers. "Oh, that's nice. No, really. Me, an X-Man? Uniforms and orders and silly code names? Nah, that's Paige's deal, not mine. They can go out and save the world, I'll just stay here and provide the soundtrack and try and keep myself in one piece."

He conveniently neglected to mention the trip to Afghanistan with Garrison, of course.

"And yet, here we are. Last defense for the kids should something happen," she pointed out. It was times like these that Dani really wished she had a gun. Preferably a rifle, she'd always been a better shot with a rifle than with a handgun. His laughter was jarring, but not altogether bad.

"Between here and this apartment place in the city?" Jono asked. He'd understood that Emma had bought out an apartment building for the Snow Valley employees, but he'd hoped to be visiting his friends there under slightly less chaotic circumstances. "As I understand it, we've got folks who've fought dinosaurs here, right? Nothing to worry about. Probably just one of those saber-rattling false alarms, you know?"

Dani had fought the dinosaurs too, "The fear is real," she turned wide eyes on Jono, "This ain't sabre-rattling. The fear goes too deep, too much," it was almost overwhelming for a while, but it had tapered off now that the X-Men were gone.

Spoken like someone who knew what she was talking about. The look in Dani's eyes told Jono all he needed to, and he just nodded. "Then we'd better get moving, shall we? Upstanding adult supervision and all."

The one comfort Dani could rely on was the fear. It was always somewhere, lurking. "The dinosaurs weren't so bad," she replied conversationally, "It was the masses of people running from them that were the problem."

Jono flashed back to the chaos of the gunfight in Afghanistan and shuddered briefly. He knew what it was like to be in tune with that kind of panic. "Well then," he said, "we should do our best to make sure we can keep the running and screaming to a minimum. So," he walked down to the bottom of the stairs and extended an elbow. "Walk you to your carriage, miss?"

Dani looked at him oddly before awkwardly accepting his arm. She hadn't been escorted like this since her wedding, which had been very small and held at the local courthouse. "You are very odd, ain't it," she made a face as a realization dawned, :"I forgot your name."

"Jono. Jono Starsmore. Doesn't quite have the panache of 'Bond, James Bond', but I'm working on it, right?"

Abruptly, Dani bent over laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face, "Ain't we a pair!" she gasped, drawing looks from the nearby trainees as they walked into the garage, "Moonstar!"

Jono's eyes twinkled. "Then Miss Moonstar, let's get this show on the road."