John Young | The Tomorrow People (isnotyourson) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2019-08-18 11:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2019 august, ~25 points, ~~john young (isnotyourson), ~~stephen jameson (synergized) |
WHO: Stephen Jameson and John Young
WHAT: Having food and a talk
WHEN: Today
WHERE: Hinkles
WARNINGS: Nah
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
John was glad that whole...pod person thing was over. He was still pretty embarrassed that he hadn’t been able to avoid it and had gotten struck down so early, but it was all over now and he wasn’t going to dwell on it. He’d been in Madison Valley long enough to know that strange things happened on a regular basis, and he was just going to consider this one of those things and move on with life. And hopefully, be more prepared next time.
After he’d been freed and everything got back to normal, he’d messaged Stephen and suggested that they meet up at Hinkles. There really wasn’t any particular reason - he just wanted to check up on what Jedikiah was up to, and what was going on with Stephen. After all, they were from the same world, and he considered them friends. It was nice to have someone else here who knew and could fight against Jedikiah if necessary.
John teleported to the alley closest to Hinkles, then walked around the corner and inside to take a seat, perusing the menu as he waited for his friend to arrive.
***
Somehow Stephen had managed to avoid becoming a pod person, though he was grateful that the people he considered friends, like Evie and John, were back to themselves. There was always something going on in Madison Valley and it annoyed him, though it never seemed to be as bad as what he dealt with at home. At least so far since Jedikiah was behaving himself.
He was glad that he graduated and didn’t have to worry about school anymore. It gave him the opportunity to pick up more hours at the club while still having plenty of free time, so when John suggested burgers, he was happy to oblige.
“Hey, man,” he said, sliding into the booth across from his friend. Their relationship may not have always been smooth or easy, but Stephen was glad that he was here.
***
“Hey,” he said, putting down the menu. It wasn’t a long one, and he’d already pretty much known what he wanted, so he’d basically been reading it just to pass the time at this point.
“What’s up? How did things go down during that...weirdness? Did anybody at your place get screwed up by it?” He had very few memories of what had happened, and had no idea what his pod-self had done. Hopefully nothing too bad. It was a strange sort of violation to have that sort of thing happen, to have someone running around with his face and doing things in his name. Another reason that he was glad it was all over.
The waitress came and he ordered, then turned back to Stephen.
“Kind of wanted to check in and make sure your uncle isn’t causing any trouble, either.”
***
As many times as Stephen had been to Hinkles, he didn’t even need to look at the menu to decide what he wanted to order. “Couple people I know, yeah,” he said. “Everyone seems okay now though.” Evie’s behavior had been incredibly off and he was glad to see her acting more like herself. She was one of the few people he counted as a friend here.
“He’s behaving as far as I know,” Stephen said. “I met Karolina a little while back, told her to let me know if anything comes up.”
It was weird, but he was glad that Jedikiah seemed to be settling into a normal life here.
***
“I wish Karolina wasn’t living with him,” he frowned. He was fond of the girl, and had kind of made it his responsibility to look out for her. “I don’t like the idea of anyone with powers living with him.” He did believe that he’d let her know enough about the guy that she’d keep her powers hidden, though. That was something.
“I just can’t bring myself to trust him, no matter how good he seems to be behaving. Or maybe I’m just paranoid.
God knew he had every reason to be.
***
“Can’t blame you for that,” Stephen said. He wasn’t sure how Karolina ended up with Jedikiah, but he had a lot of concerns about someone with abilities being under the man’s roof. “She seems like a smart girl though, so she’s not likely to fall for any of his bull.”
Not like Stephen had for years.
He shrugged. “Plus we’re both keeping an eye on things, so that’s gotta help. Jedikiah knows we’re monitoring what he’s doing.”
***
“Do you think he cares? He didn’t before.” He’d surely known they’d been monitoring before, too, back home. Of course, then he’d had legions of flunkies to throw at them, so that made things quite a bit different. Now it was just the two of them against him, making him vastly outnumbered.
“I keep an eye on her. Check in with her when I can. But it’s like this place has a sick sense of humor to put her with him in the first place.”
***
Stephen wasn’t sure if Jedikiah really cared, though his few conversations with the man made him want to believe that he was on the level. That could be his naivete talking though. “He doesn’t have the kind of power here that he had back home,” he said. “And there’s no escape, so if he causes trouble, he knows he’ll get caught.”
Even if he somehow managed to neutralize Stephen and John, there were dozens of others around who were more than capable of taking him out if he became a threat.
“Yeah, it’s a shame that she didn’t get a better guardian option,” he said. “Though, does she have to stay? I mean, could she live with you or someone else?” The fact that he was eighteen and technically could serve as a guardian didn’t occur to him.
***
“I don’t know that I’d make a very good Guardian,” he said with a shake of his head. “I mean, sure, she’s mostly grown up and I’m sure she can take care of herself, but I just...don’t know. I guess if she ever asked me I’d let her, but she hasn’t. And I just don’t know if my life is stable enough to be in charge of anyone.”
John just didn’t really see himself as the sort who was dependable and trustworthy with stuff like that. He’d sort of been in charge of everyone back home, but apparently he’d done a pretty shit job since Cara had ousted him.
“Plus, it might give her away, if I stepped in and took her from Jedikiah right now. It would look suspicious.”
***
That was a fair point. If she’d managed to keep her abilities under wraps so far, it was safer for her if Jedikiah just never found out. “Makes sense,” he said. “Either way, at least she knows that we’re both here if she needs us.” And she knew that his uncle might be a potential threat, so she could be aware.
“So what else have you been up to?” Stephen asked. “Anything interesting or exciting?”
***
“Me? Nah. Nothing interesting. I’m so used to just laying low that I can’t help keeping a low profile around here. And now that I’m myself again instead of that pod thing, I’m probably going to lay even lower because honestly, I have no idea how that damn thing was able to get the best of me.”
It was a bit of an embarrassment for him, honestly.
“What about you? Anything interesting?”
***
“Not really,” Stephen said. “Working at the club, spending time with a few friends.” Mostly friends he was also hooking up with on occasion, though he didn’t see a need to mention that. “A couple people left recently.” He missed Madison and Five, hoped they were both okay in their respective worlds.
He still wasn’t great at making friends.
***
“Yeah. It seems that happens here pretty regularly.” He didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do about it either. He didn’t want to leave this place, and he hoped he wouldn’t be the next to leave. If he had the chance, he’d stay here for the rest of his life. He’d never felt so safe and so free, even if Jedikiah was here.
“I’m sorry, though. I don’t miss home, but I do miss having...people. There was a usefulness in it.”
***
Stephen pretty much felt the same way. He missed his family, Cara, and the others, but life here wasn’t bad at all, even with the constant comings and goings. “I’m glad I at least have you,” he said. They may have had their differences in the past, but at the end of the day, Stephen knew that he and John would always have each other’s backs.
“You dating at all?” he asked.
***
“I haven’t, no,” he said. He’d kind of like to change that but he’d been laying so low he hadn’t really had a lot of time to check out girls. Well, at least not enough to have one in mind that he was interested in pursuing. “I should, I guess. I mean, there are a lot of smart, beautiful women in this town.”
He’d have to think on that a bit more.
“What about you?”
***
That depended largely on your definition of dating, Stephen supposed. He shrugged. “There are people I hang out with. Have fun with.” Both sexually and not. Part of him felt a little disloyal to Cara for thinking about actually dating though. Which was silly, since they hadn’t even really been together at the time he was pulled here, though he thought that maybe the’d been working towards getting back to that.
“You gonna go to that speed dating thing?”
***
John was grateful that he didn’t bring up Cara. That was a bit of a sore spot for him, although he didn’t really hold it against Stephen. Well...maybe a little. But not too much.
“Yeah, I think I probably will. It’s a good way to get out and meet people, and I definitely am not great like that. Guess I’m too used to hiding.”
He couldn’t really remember a time he wasn’t hiding.
***
“Yeah, I get that,” Stephen said. “I’m going to.” It seemed like a decent way to spend an evening.
He felt better knowing that John would be there.
***
“And hell, maybe I’ll even meet someone. That Darcy girl said long-term relationships had come from it.”
He wasn’t sure how much he believed that you could fall in love with someone in five minutes, but he did believe you could tell if you wanted to talk to them again, and then it could develop from there.
***
Stephen wasn’t looking for love, but he’d be happy to support John if he found it. “Dibs on being best man,” he joked as their food was delivered.
***
John choked out a laugh at that. “Really doubt it’ll come to that, but sure. You’ve got it.”
Then the food was there, and it was time to eat.