Leon Ash // Marco (withadeathwish) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2011-03-27 22:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | brandon ferris, jiang fan, leon ash, tad parker |
WHO: Leon, Tad, Brandon, and Jiang
WHAT: Leon lets more then a few secrets slip, and the Animorphs get a new member
WHEN: Sunday night.
WHERE: Leon, Brandon, and Tad's apartment in Portland, Oregon
WARNINGS: Swearing, mentions of death, and a large helping of angst today's specialty
Leon had never been so drunk before in his life. Hell, he'd never even wanted to be this drunk. But after everything that had happened, he decided that today was a day for exceptions. Lots, and lots of exceptions.
It started with his roommates Brandon and Tad, the later of whom was also his best friend and had been during the four years they'd been at college together. Leon and Tad never had been especially close to their new roommate when he'd moved in at the start of the year - he'd only gotten picked because of some stupid roommate lottery. But then, fuck if Leon knew what happened, they were suddenly acting all buddy buddy. Running off places without him, trying to avoid him for some reason Leon couldn't manage to figure out. He'd said nothing to them about it, preferring to watch and listen.
Then about a few days ago they suddenly decided to 'include' him on their little party. 'Include' here means 'stalking him like some creeps from that Lonely Island song and not letting him out of their sights.' It took him a while to catch onto it, but when some weird Asian kid named Jiang joined in on following him around every goddamn place he went Leon knew there was something weird going on. And why the hell were the three of them acting like they were all old friends? Last Leon checked, he hadn't even known Tad was aware that Jiang existed (and no one got that friendly because of some "paint fiasco"), and he certainly hadn't been so keen on hanging out with Brandon ever free second of the day. Because what else could they have been doing? They all had different schedules, but suddenly Brandon and Tad were gone at the same times. Coincidence? No way. Leon didn't know what exactly was going on, but he hoped it'd stop soon. Was it so wrong to want to go shopping for his own goddamn groceries by himself?
But that had just be weird. Not bad, or good. Just annoying and weird. Up until he woke up two nights ago in a cold sweat from the strangest nightmare he'd ever had in his life. He'd been changing, transforming into an animal, and then there was a fight and so much chaos- Which is right when a voice in the back of his head started talking to him. Leon had freaked out, and only just managed to keep from waking his roommates up. The guy, Marco, apparently, had tried explaining about being an Animorph, telling him about what had happened, but Leon wasn't having that. Bullshit. That was some kid's series he'd never finished reading when he was younger. Marco had challenged him - telling him to Google it if he didn't believe him. Feeling stupid for entertaining the whims of some voice in his head, Leon had done it. Shock and horror crept over him as every detail that Marco provided was right. Details Leon never could have known- he'd never made it past the tenth book. He hadn't been able to sleep that night, and it definitely showed the next day. No matter how hard he tried to stay calm, Leon had been jumpy. He was still half convinced that he was crazy, but even he couldn't deny that there wasn't much other explanation as to how a voice in his head could have known what he did.
The worst of it had come that morning, though. He'd gotten a phone call from a number he'd never seen before in his life. Confused and wary, he'd answered it. A part of him had been expecting a threat from a Yeerk, 'I know what you did in your last life,' style. Or maybe it was from a hospital, telling him they'd detected large amounts of crazy from him and needed him to come in.
It had been from a hospital all right, but it wasn't what he'd been expecting.
"We're so sorry, Mr. Ash." The man on the other line had said. "We only recently got a hold of your contact information. As her closest family member-"
"I know," Leon had snapped. The plastic of his cellphone had creaked as he squeezed it in his fist. "I'll buy a plane ticket as soon as I can. Thanks for letting me know." He didn't even bother saying goodbye to the guy.
Not even Marco had anything to say about the news he'd just received - and that kid was definitely a talker. He was as good as Leon was at dishing out the wit and sarcastic comments. Leon spent the morning in a daze, buying the plane ticket that would take him to New York City the next afternoon. New York City. What the hell was his mother doing there? He snorted to himself. As if it mattered. He was dimly aware that at some point Tad had suggested some kind of B movie marathon, and he agreed. It'd keep his mind off of things for a while at least. He'd brought out his bottle of vodka and some shot glasses, suggesting they could make a drinking game out of it. Funny thing, though. It mostly ended with Leon taking a sip of the stuff whenever his mind drifted from the movie and back to his phone call or his mother. It started out pretty sparingly, but those sips became more and more frequent as time passed until he was just drinking whenever he wanted it.
Now Leon was a pretty big guy with a decent alcohol tolerance - something he figured he inherited from his father - and the alcohol was cheap and pretty well diluted with water, but by the time night rolled around his head was spinning and he suspected that if he tried to stand up he'd just fall right back down. Marco was furious with him, but Leon knew he wouldn't do anything to stop him. It would have been too much like those Yeerks. Those little slugs that crawled into people's brains and took over them, body and mind. A grimace twisted on his face at the thought.
"You know what?" It was the first thing Leon had said in hours, and it was clear already that Leon was pretty smashed from the way he spoke. "The universe thinks it's so goddamn funny. Thinks it's just got this irony angle all covered and shit. The ultimate joker." He twisted on the couch so he could give Tad an unsteady half-glare, gesturing a little wildly with his free hand. "Well, the universe is fucking wrong. It's the shittiest jester I've ever seen. The universe can just go screw itself." He took another sip, his scowl deepening. "It's not fucking funny. And I know funny."