xp_logs | This time Jono ventures across the hall!

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Before quite realizing what he is doing, Jono steps out of the protective darkness of the dorm and into the lit corridor. He looks to his right first, then his left, as if crossing a road and makes his way to the opposite door. He knocks.

Paige raises her head from where it has been bent over her Chemistry textbook, her neck awarding her with a terrible crack. She contemplates quickly straightening her room for a moment before realizing the futility of it all and instead calls from her chair, “Come in!”

Jono opens the door slowly, a bit warily, but doesn't step in the room. "Hey," he says.

“Hey yourself, stranger,” she replies with a playful smile as she spins around to face him properly. “I was getting worried that I’d never see you again.”

"You're out of luck there," Jono raises a shoulder in something resembling a shrug.

Paige merely grins and shakes her head a little. “So, what’s up? Or have you just come to stand outside my door and ease my worried mind?”

"Still want to help me with homework," Jono says, tilting his head questioningly. But he doesn't have anything to do homework with, no books, no pens.

“Of course, Jono. I’d be more than happy.” She stands, piling books together. “In the library again?”

He shrugs properly this time and moves out of the doorway to allow her to pass. He seems to be trying to hold himself apart from everything, with as little physical contact to the surrounding world as possible. "I haven't talked to you since I saw you riding," he observes detachedly after a while.

“I know. I got the feeling you were avoiding me,” Paige replies, trying to sound calm as they maneuver the halls together. “Although I certainly wouldn’t blame you for it, since your last view of me was all muddied up from riding.”

"It was the horse really," Jono states conversationally, keeping his eyes mostly on the floor.

Paige smiles warmly, if not a little worried, and pushes open the library doors. “So, what subject am I assisting you in today?”

There's a brief pause before Jono replies, following her into the library. "Whichever."

Paige laughs as she sets her books down at a table before turning around to face him with her arms crossed. “Mr. Starsmore, you’re going to have to give me a little more than that.”

Jono sits across from her and leans back in the chair. "I just like watching you with a book so pick whatever you like."

“I… um… okay. Thanks.” Paige blushes with a nervous smile and opens the book on top of her pile, not really noticing what the actual subject is.

Jono lets her peruse the book for a few silence-filled minutes before he suddenly reaches over the table and smoothes a strand of hair away from her face.

Paige looks up, her eyes wide in surprise but she remains perfectly still in fear of frightening him away. She holds his gaze for long moments before wetting suddenly very parched lips and managing to get out at a whisper, “Thank you.”

His hand hovers by her cheek for a moment and he briefly looks like he might climb over the table. But he doesn't, only draws back and settles into watching again. "You're welcome," he replies, strangely quiet.

There’s another pause where she just returns his gaze in silence, face pink, but still too surprised to actually form any coherent thought. Suddenly, she smiles with a slight tilt of her head as if they share a private joke. “So much for tutoring, hm?”

"Pretty much," Jono agrees, nodding. He raises one hand self-consciously to touch the black material covering the lower half of his face.

Paige puts her hand over his, slipping a finger under to rest against the strange substance that he uses to control his mutation. She feels the slight hum of power under her skin but doesn’t pull away.

“I don’t mind,” she says, to what exactly is unsure.

Jono stops himself from pulling away and instead just looks at her sadly. "I do," he replies and takes her hand, moving it away from his face and on the table, but not letting go.

Paige threads her fingers through his with a shy smile. “I know, but…” she trails off, standing to move to the chair beside him, putting their hands between them. “You’re the only one here who does.”

Jono tenses and starts to shy away automatically before catching himself and then staying still. "This is an odd place filled with odder people," he ventures.

She brushes away his hair as he did hers. “Maybe.”

Jono turns his head away. "...I feel like a hypocrite. I didn't think too much about mutants before, and when I did, it was never anything positive. And here I am. One of them, living in the middle of them."

“Hey…” she says, gently pulling a piece of his hair in an attempt to bring his focus back. “We’re all children of the media in some ways, Jono. Television sucked me into liking cartoons about ninjas with special powers. So it got you to have a certain dislike of often terrifying mutatations. At least you’re learning that we’re not all bad. I’m the one who still has a fondness for things called Megazords.”

"Makes those Mutant Acceptance assignments a bit difficult to finish," Jono manages to project the equivalent of muttering. "Maybe it'd be easier if we were called Megazords."

She smiles, ducking her head to catch his eye. “Maybe I’ll talk to Ms. Braddock about it. It would certainly earn you extra points for creativity.”

Jono's eyebrow twitches. "Megazord Acceptance."

Paige tries to keep a straight face and fails miserably, laughing much like her blonde hair would indicate she would. “I’ve missed you, Jono.”

"I wasn't too far away," he touches her hair again. "Just... preoccupied."

“You always come back now, y’hear?” she says in a glimpse of her accent, moving into the contact. “You know I’ll come get you if you need it, but… you just come back, even for a little bit.”

Jono didn’t reply.

OOC: The backlog in which Jono finds Paige riding is here!

Warning: Get your straws ready. And no, we have no idea how this happened or where it's going either.