Traeger Dillinger (jumpings) wrote in freedomtownic, @ 2020-03-06 22:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, griffin o'conner (jumpings), ~derek reese (ltdreese) |
who Derek Reese and Griffin O'Conner
where the park
when [backdate] 01/09/2020
what meeting
status completed
It was pretty early in the morning. Griffin had fallen asleep playing videos and was woken up by people over his headset. He sat up with controller in had which had unpaused the game. He didn't have enough time to react before the character died on the screen. Jeers from the headset being heard as he paused the game again. "Whatever," he said as he tossed the headset to the coffee table. He walked around to go make himself a cup of coffee. Looking in his cabinets he realized that there wasn't any. Being.. well him, he lived off coffee. He put on a jacket and jumped to where he thought the coffee cart in the park would be. He knew it wasn't in the same spot everyday. Just as he landed in the new area he had to actually jump out of the way of someone coming. Derek had been antsy and depressive since he got there. He got the “kids” off to school and then decided he would go off to the park for a run. He was halfway through the run, trying to keep his mind off things when he ran into someone. Or rather the guy ran into him. Derek stopped, sweat dripping off his forehead. “What the fuck? Watch where you are going!” He snapped at the other man. He hated anyone touching him. The only movement Griffin had done was to try to move out of the way. So when the other man told him to watch where he was going he quickly turned to face him. “Me? You’re the run that almost ran me over,” he said as he gestured to the spot he had just moved from. He wasn’t taking in account that he had just suddenly appeared in the man’s way. It was kind of hard to avoid something if it wasn’t there a second ago. Derek smirked and sighed. Then he sized the other man up. It was out of habit. He sized all of his officers up to intimidate them. Then it dawned on him. “Did you just appear out of nowhere? Or am I fucking crazy?” He asked out loud. "Not sure I know you well enough to say if you're crazy or not," Although the dirty blonde didn't deny appearing out of nowhere. It was usually done better. He had a thing about jumping blind but he had been to the park before. It was the moving objects aka people that posed the danger when jumping there. Griffin wasn't the type to be intimidated by anyone. He wasn't big in size but he had an ego that was basically the size of the park. Derek was still sizing him up, and studying him just like he did with his soldiers. Truth was, that Derek had a little crazy in him. But he wouldn’t admit that. “I’m pretty sure you don’t know me at all. I’m Derek Baum...” He paused realizing that he gave his cover name, out of habit. He remembered that didn’t have to use that name here. “No I’m First Lieutenant Derek Reese. And you are?” He asked curiously. Griffin couldn't help but stare at the man as he introduced himself. "Um.. are you sure? You don't seem sure," he said as he looked the bigger man up and down. Normally people didn't mess up their name. "I'm Griffin O'Conner, the guy you almost ran over," he said before shooting a slight smirk at the man. Derek scowled. “I know who I am. I accidentally gave you a cover name that I used back home. Here there is no need to use it.” He explained as he took his wet shirt and tried to wipe the sweat off his face. “More like you ran me over. Are you going to admit already that you just appeared out of nowhere? I don’t miss shit like that.” He said and added a smirk. Griffin hid the fact that the other man scowling had cracked him up. So serious. Wasn't sure that was a good way to go through life. He had been known to be serious when it came to his life but he didn't have any worries here. That didn't mean his house wasn't hard to get to. "It's just you didn't sound sure," he said with a shrug. "Stationary people can't run other people over," He pointed out with a slight tone in his voice. He wasn't exactly stationary since he had just appeared in the middle of the path but he wasn't running around. "What would you do if I didn't answer, huh?" Derek hid his surprise with another scowl. “Normally I shoot first and ask questions later. But I’m not about to get arrested...again.” He sneered. “I’m not interested in game play. So move along, little boy.” He taunted. The curiosity still had him though. He folded his arms and gave his best steely glare. The only steely glare that got his soldiers following his commands. "It's good to know the muscles are only for show,"Griffin laughed as he shook his head lightly. He knew that it probably wasn't a great idea to pick at someone that was twice as big as him but he teleports. He didn't see it as a super big risk. He couldn't deny that he was having fun with this conversation. Derek rolled his eyes at that comment. “I told you. I’m not getting arrested here.” He said. Then he casually walked around the other man and started jogging away. There were rare times when he missed that metal chick Cameron and this was one of them. That wasn't the response that he had planned on getting from his little remark. He debated just letting the man go but his interest was already peaked. It wasn't as if he hid what he could do here so he just teleported in front of the man. This time on purpose. "Hey looks like I did appear in front of you," he laughed. Derek slowed down, and his eyebrows raised. “Yes, you did. What’s your purpose here?” He asked. Derek was a man of few words especially when he was annoyed. "Here in front of you or here in the sense of the planet. Because we're all on Galador for no real reason," Griffin said as he gestured around the park. He needed to know before he could answer the man's question. Although he did kind of answer it if Derek was asking about the gem. “What is your purpose with me?” Derek grouchily snapped. “It seems like you have little to do than to fuck with me.” He was going was going to deny it, but he liked the attention. “If you are going to run with me, then you had better be prepared to do it the old fashioned way. I’m a time traveling soldier from the future.” He finally admitted. Griffin thought about it for a second. There wasn't a real reason that the jumper had popped in front of the time traveling soldier a second time. All he could think of was that he was bored and it seemed better than getting caffine. At least it did at the moment. He couldn't say he wouldn't change his mind just as fast as he teleported to the park. "Yeah, I don't run anywhere," he could teleport as it was clear to see. He didn't know why this guy thought he would run... for fun. He played video games for fun and occasionally jump stalk a random person like he was doing now. "But really, I don't have a good reason as to why I'm in front of you," he said as he looked at the bigger man. "I was so sure you were going to try to deck me back there that it was interesting when you didn't." Derek studied the other man with amused smirk .”So, you are just stalking me? You have nothing better to do? That’s creepy, you know.” He sat on a nearby bench and motioned to the other man to sit with him. “I mostly keep to myself these days. Little disappointment with myself. I live in Freedom Town with my brother, and a friend.” Derek offered. “What about you?” He asked curiously. "I don't think it's stalking if you haven't even gone five feet," he said looking back at where they were before. It's more like just getting in his way at that point. If he had been on the other side of the park then maybe it could be called stalking. He walked over to the bench and stood near it. He was kind of full of energy despite not getting his coffee. "Well, you're not finding out where I live," he laughed and shrugged it off. There were somethings that he was used to keeping close to his chest. "I tend to keep to myself too. Play videos, check out new places that magically pop up around this place. Nothing too exciting." “I was like that before I came here. I had to hide everything to protect my mission. Now I don’t out right hide.” Derek groaned. “What is it with these video games? My nephew is into them. I think that they just rot your brain.” "Yeah yeah, because it's safe here," Griffin said with an obvious tone in his voice. He knew that was what everyone said. "The gem can bring anyone here, anyone. I, for one, am not going to make myself too comfortable." He hated when when talked about it being safe. It wasn't like they could guarantee it. He nodded when Derek talked about the video games. "It's a fun way to kill time. I wouldn't say they rot your brain, " he shrugged. Derek scowled again. “I’m not naive when it comes to that. “ He showed Griffin his Skynet prison camp tattoo. “I told you , I’m a time traveling soldier. I have seen things and been through things that you couldn’t imagine.” A haunted, dark look appeared in his eyes. “Where I’m from, there was a nuclear war, and killer robots took over the world. We called that day Judgement day. You think it’s all fun and games until it’s you that is targeted for termination.” He said with a sigh. “Nowhere is safe. Not even here.” Derek finished giving his famous lecture. “That’s not all of my story. But, it’s enough for now. But, you can imagine now what I think about those video games.” He added after a pause. Griffin wasn't the type to share war stories and he certainly didn't like the 'I've been through more shit' attitude that the older man had. He didn't have a prison camp tattoo but that didn't mean he hadn't been put through the ringer. "You're the one that isn't hiding anymore, not me, Reese," There was very little access to his place outside of jumping. "If you want to get comfortable so be it. Better go finish your jog before Starbucks opens." Derek rolled his eyes. “Yeah I will beat you to it.” He cracked sarcastically. This was how he met most people. He pushed them away with his cold, hard attitude. That had been the way he liked it in the past. There had been less people to trust or get close to. There were no connections to anyone because they would eventually be killed. Yet when he loved, he loved deeply. This was the first person he had come into contact with that wasn’t his family. This time it should be different. He sighed. “Look, I know that I’m a hard person to like. I have lost a lot in my life time. I even thought I got shot dead on my last mission, but I woke up here. I say we stop hiding, and give each other a chance. We don’t have to get comfortable. But...it can be lonely here if we don’t at least give someone a chance. What do you think?” He asked. It was totally uncharacteristic of him to say that. But here he had done a lot of things that didn’t make sense. If the guy said hell no, then no harm done. He would go on his way. "Not much of a Starbucks guy honestly," Griffin said with a shrug. He liked buying from the little guy. It had the benefit of tasting better too. Guess quantity doesn't always mean quality. He wasn't the easiest person to get along with either. He wasn't exactly made friendly with the life he had. He was sarcastic and short with people. It was just how he was which could be seen from their previous banter. "Well throw a rock, chances are you'll hit someone that's had a hard life here," he said as she gestured around at nothing. He had heard about some of the lives people here before the gem brought them to Galador. "Doesn't mean we can't all get along." It was hard for him to connect with people but it actually seemed like this guy was trying not to be an asshole. “I will drink any coffee that I can get.” He added. Derek studied the younger man with a smirk. “I’m surprised that you don’t have a whole bunch of chicks going after you with those powers of yours? That could have helped to get away from metal fast too.” He decided to try his best at making conversation. The guy wasn’t going anywhere, so he figured that was a yes to his question. “I’m not mister charming. So all I have going for me are my guns.” The bitter taste of Starbucks sent a horrible taste in his mouth. That was only from the memory of it. Only he couldn't do anything about people who don't care about the taste or actually like the bitter taste. So he just shrugged that off. "It's not like I go off advertising it," he would rather have people not know about it. That didn't mean people wouldn't find out about it. He just didn't go out of his way to let people know that he could teleport. He couldn't say he was that charming either, "More than some people have going for them." “There is my nephew, John. He’s handsome, charming, well spoken and has big guns. I get jealous of him sometimes. He’s married to a gorgeous wife and they are expecting. But then I look at his younger self who is also here and get really frustrated with him.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know what to do with myself here. I had a girlfriend back home. But that’s...” He sighed. “That’s a long story. Sorry. I’m just trying to make conversation. I’m not very good at it.” He admitted. “Honestly, I’ve never met someone that was good at conversation,” Griffin said with a bit of a shrug. It wasn’t as if there was a right and a wrong way to do it. It was just talking with another person. Although he couldn’t say he was good at it either. He was a bit of a loner which was made easier by being able to teleport. “How old is this... younger nephew? The one you’re frustrated with?” "I apparently suck at it. I was too busy fighting machines to bother. My older nephew is thirty five, and my younger nephew is a teenager. But essentially they are the same exact person. If you can get your head around that one. Older John was my CO back home." He replied. "Yeah, that kind of happens here. At least there isn't three of them," That could definitely happen on Galador. It seemed that there was so many versions of people. It seemed to be normal now. "I don't got anyone from back home here," It wasn't exactly a bad thing. It wasn't like he was close to his family. Derek chuckled. "I'm sure that might happen. I'm surprised there aren't two of me here." He looked at Griffin and smiled. "I will be your family. That is if you will allow me too." Why was he opening up to this stranger? He hardly knew anything about him. Yet, there was undeniable chemistry between them. "There's something about you." He finally admitted. "I don't know how I should say it." "Might just need to wait," The gem people could bring another one whenever it wanted. It might just be a matter of time until there was another Derek walking around. Or just someone that shared the same face as him and was actually completely different. Griffin wasn't sure how to respond to that. He stood there and sized up the man in front of him again. He couldn't say that the guy wasn't attractive but he had a pretty strong wall built up. "We'll have to see," the blonde said with a smirk. "Catch you later, Starbucks." With that he jumped out of the park and back to his place. Without his coffee too. |