Fourth floor common room, Thursday noonish

[dude-its-jude.livejournal.com]

No classes meant a whole lot of napping for Jude. But a boy must eat, so eventually he reluctantly crawled out of bed, kissed Setsuna, and limped off to the common room to see what kind of food could be prepared. Sadly, he was all out of sticks. Regular pancakes would have to do at the moment. Didn't stop him from making them funny shapes, though.

[[Open and pancakey.]]

Comments

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

"Nothing, dude, nothing," Conner said, waving a hand dismissively. "I just kind of wondered if you had to wear the helmet all the time to protect it from something."

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"Because you never know when an evil bandit is going to spring from the shadows?" Joxer asked.

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Dammit, he had a point. But. "Most of the rest of us don't bother, and we're doing okay."

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"And when the bandits do strike, you'll all regret it," Joxer said.

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Conner just gave Joxer a flat, skeptical look. "And they call me paranoid. Hello, have you seen most of the people at this school?"

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"I think so, yeah," Joxer said. "What about them?"

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

"In case you hadn't noticed? Most of them aren't exactly helpless in a fight," Conner told him. "If anybody should be worrying about bandits, it's probably the bandits."

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

Joxer eyed Conner. "But they're sneaky bandits," he said, like that explained everything.

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Conner crossed his arms over his chest and shot a pointed glance in the direction of Joxer's armor. "And what? You would know all about being sneaky?"

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"I'm a hero," Joxer said. "Heroes don't sneak."

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

"You're a hero." You couldn't have fit more skepticism into Conner's statement if you'd crammed it in and then tamped it down with a sledgehammer. Maybe it wasn't entirely fair, but Joxer always managed to get on his nerves, even just a little. Maybe it was the squeaking. Or the goofy flaps on the helmet. Conner could never be sure. "I've seen Alanna beat the crap out of you in Self-Defense."

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Joxer said. "I'm a hero. And I'd like to see you try to face Alanna sometime."

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

"Planning on it," Conner retorted, even though he knew that in a straight-out swordfight Alanna would probably beat him easily. "And if all it takes is for someone to jam a strainer on their head to be a hero where you come from, I can't believe you haven't been taken over by aliens yet."

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"If all it takes to be a hero where you come from is being a jerk, I'm surprised your home hasn't been taken over by angry centaurs!" Joxer retorted.

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

Silence for a moment, with a faint hint of gritted teeth. "When have I ever called myself a hero?"

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

"Well if you're not, you're just a big critic, and that makes you even worse," Joxer said.

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

"You don't get it, do you?" Conner asked, his voice suddenly low and tense. "You just don't get it. You think it's a game, something to use for bragging rights, or to boost your own ego, I don't know. I've known real heroes, Joxer. People who go out there and do whatever it takes to get the job done and keep people safe. Who never asked to get stuck in that job in the first place. It's not about being famous or getting a medal for them. They do it because they have to, even if they have to give up what they really want for themselves to do it. Even if nobody will ever know it was them. Because they can't just . . . stand by and let bad things happen to decent people. They couldn't live with themselves if they did."

By this time he was gesturing sharply with his hands, just abrupt and unfocused gestures to relieve a little of the agitation. "It's not the name that makes somebody a hero. It's what they do. You? You're just a little kid playing dress-up."

Conner hadn't noticed how badly worked up he'd gotten until he realized he had a finger up in Joxer's face. And that? That scared him. Abruptly, he turned and walked out of the common room to go find somewhere else he could calm down.

[joxertehmighty.livejournal.com]

Joxer stared at the space that used to contain Conner. He was seriously about to cry.