longestnight_old | Better Late Than Never

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Better Late Than Never

The yetis and elves had been extremely welcoming when they arrived back at the Pole. As soon as they shook themselves out of their shock at how battered they'd looked, they'd immediately brought out the blankets, spare clothes, first aid kits, food and drinks. Cocoa was pressed into people's hands whether they wanted it or not.

"Blughbloghughblug?"

"Out of nowhere. In broad daylight, no less," Katherine said to one of the yetis, holding her half-finished cup of hot cocoa in her hands. "It goes without saying that this is very, very bad."

"Ooghughaugh. Blughooghablorgblurgh?"

"Oh, well, that may be because they're still tethered to their worlds to a degree." She looked to the others. "He said someone named Wonder Woman, a Mr. Stark, and some undead fellow that had stayed behind at the Pole disappeared while you were meeting with me. I suppose that supports my hypothesis about the trans-dimensional tethering."

It had been a little while now since they'd returned and there was still no sign of Jack and Bunny. It was obviously bothering Katherine. In between her idle chatter with the yetis, who seemed to regard with her great fondness, she was pacing back and forth through the area that had been made into a "common area" while they'd been away. It was comfortable, full of plush red couches and cushions and tables for them to sit at to eat. Board games in many varieties had been stacked around.

The yetis were on standby, ready to get anything they needed, or show those who hadn't seen the Pole yet around.

"They should be back by now. I don't know why they're not back by now. Maybe the lindworms gave them trouble. Perhaps they had to take shelter in the Warren."

She chugged down her cocoa like someone else might nervously down a shot of whisky and then went for a refill.

[ooc: This is just for a few minutes of post-fight mingling and then the return of Jack and Bunny, then it'll be free-threading after this.]

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Howard hears Nico's footsteps and glances to see her shoes - he recognizes her by the boots. At this moment, he just wants the chair to swallow him whole. He kept his head totally cool during the actual fight, but now he's floundering in the aftermath - it's embarrassing. And scary. He knows Jack told him he's more resilient as a guardian, but it doesn't offer much comfort when he feels like his chest's caving in.

After a moment, he reaches over and pulls the cookies closer. His voice is weak and wispy. "Thanks, My Chemical Badass."

"Still not answering to that," she answered quietly, letting a little humor leak into her voice. "But you're welcome. Good job with the sleigh, by the way."

Nico still wasn't looking at him. Because he was hiding, so he obviously didn't want to deal with people. Not a weird reaction. But the Yeti were handing out food, and if she had a thing with stress and food, she'd eat the contents of Santa's wardrobe if he didn't.

"You just did." He tries to smirk and it seems more like a twitch at the corner of his mouth. He takes a cookie with one hand - his fingers are shaking. "You think so?"

He never really thought of putting things together as being hugely impressive, not like magic or anything. "Thanks for having our backs."

"I acknowledged that you called me that, I didn't answer to it," she replied, huffing a little in indignation. "And yeah, I do. When the 'Frog gets busted, we're usually pretty screwed until Victor or Chase has a good couple hours to try and figure out what went wrong and how to fix it."

She shrugged at his thanks, settling down onto the floor from her crouched position into a more not-about-to-leave sitting position. "You're welcome."

"You ride a frog?" Howard's heard of motorcycles being referred to as 'hogs', and he's sure weirder things have happened, but it's still strange. His mind latches onto that funny mental image like a lifeline to pull him from tar, and he giggles. "Like a mechanical frog?"

In a way, he's grateful for the company. He can feel his torso untense slightly, like the vice around it is being loosened, even though his stomach's still fumbling around.

"Giant mechanical frog," Nico agreed, shaking her head. "Don't ask me why the doctors Stein decided that they needed a frog-themed land-and-sea vehicle, I don't even know. But it's way less of a pain than that sleigh is -- it's got a roof and seatbelts, for one and two."

"Already has points in my book. And it's probably not held together with tape and balloons like the sleigh is now." He tries to giggle but it's a weak, mirthless little sound. His foot jiggles. "Your life is weird. Your life is so weird."

Maybe his home will be less awful if he emphasizes the bad traits of everyone else's.

"My life is so weird," Nico agreed, because anything else would be a bald-faced lie. "The giant magic-resistant mechanical frog is one of the least weird things in my life. You'd call me a liar if I told you."

But she did have stories to tell, and it might get him to stop looking like he was going to be sick or freak out. She could just skip the more traumatic ones.

"Nah. I kept a genderswapping zombie tied up in my basement for four months, and my best friend's made of rock. Nothing's so weird I'd think you were lying." He swallows and plunges his hands into his pockets, breathing deep out his nose.

"We found a deinonychus in my friend's basement," Nico said, because that seemed like the best jumping-off point available there. "And my ex-boyfriend is a cyborg. And the two of us should never play 'Two Truths and a Lie'."

"I just had a genderswapping zombie." He leans back, trying to straighten up against the back of the stair. "Or maybe we should totally play Two Truths and a Lie."

And make it nothing more than a fun game.

" 'Actively trying to eat you' zombie, or 'weirdly friendly corpse' zombie?" Nico asked. "Pfft. If we do play, the lies are just going to be the ones that sound the least ridiculous."

"Wanted to whip us to death zombie." Howard raises an eyebrow. "Are you saying I got no imagination?"

" 'Unnecessarily creepy' zombie, got it." Nico rolled her eyes. "Fine, the lies are the ones that are either the least ridiculous or the most horrific. I bet you're just as mean as I am when it comes to imagination."

"Probably. Okay." Howard bites his lip, wrinkles his nose and tries. "Our bats fly underwater, I've seen a kid literally cough his lungs out, and before I showed up here, I could shoot lasers."

"Please be the second one," Nico said, mouth curling down in a grimace. She was pretty sure that one wasn't the lie though; because Howard's home reality is an awful, awful place.

"Pssht, like I'd be lucky enough to get laser beams." He raises an eyebrow and shudders a bit. "Your turn."

"Ugh."

Nico shook it off and thought for a moment.

"My parents were first generation immigrants to the U.S., I'm a former altar girl, and the second spell I ever cast summoned a bunch of pelicans."

"Mmmm, the first one. You're some kinda Asian, right? Japanese, maybe? We got a lot of third or fourth gen Asians in SoCal." Howard scratches his chin.

"My dad's family's been here since the early nineteen-hundreds at least," Nico confirmed. And they were all evil and crazy, she didn't add, even though it was so very true. "Your turn."

"Uhhhh. I haven't seen the sun in two years, I was a premie baby and so you're an asshole if you make fun of my height, and my favorite game is World of Warcraft."

"I'm going to say the second one because if that were true, you'd have brought it up earlier," Nico said, propping herself upright with her Staff.

"Dude, no. League of Legends all the way." He rolls his eyes.

"Whatever," Nico said, rolling her eyes right back at him.

"I've been bitten by a vampire, I can play the tuba, and I once punched someone for calling me 'Cho Chang'."

"You can't even carry a tuba." He shakes his head, wrings his hands. His palms are clammy. "I got stuffed in a tuba case once."

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