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 Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:41 pm
Dorian woke from a doze on the couch, with an arm slung over his eyes to block out the light from a lamp on the side table.
Someone was at his door. They knocked first, then rang the bell when they received no answer. Dorian dug around the cushions for his phone. The battery was low. Part of him wished it were dead. He pulled up the security camera app to decide if he wanted to bother answering the door.
He sighed heavily when the figures outside registered as familiar.
Rolling off the couch, he padded from the living room to the foyer. He glared at the trio on the front stoop — two frowning, one hiding behind them with his head ducked down.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Just after ten,” Celeste said. By the unimpressed tone of her voice, it was obvious she didn’t care. “We’ve been out later.”
She pushed by Dorian to let herself into his house. The state of it was no different than usual. Parts of it looked lived in — or lived on, in the case of the couch — whereas other parts of it looked as if they’d gone untouched for quite a while. (Why did Dorian even bother keeping a formal dining room? It wasn’t as if he ever entertained.)
“I assume you’ve got a decent supply of alcohol,” she continued on, finding the necessary cabinet in its usual spot on the far wall of the living room.
She didn’t wait for an answer before pouring herself a drink.
“Make yourselves at home,” Dorian grumbled, bitterly sarcastic and far from welcoming.
Still, Celeste had already let herself in. Dorian opened the door wider, to let August and August’s shy personal assistant follow along.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:50 pm
August thought he was being polite by even bothering to knock or ring the bell. He could have just powered up and teleported inside, but instead he was being considerate of how his friend felt.
“I have a business proposition for you,” August said as he made his way in, making sure Jonah was following him. He went over to the alcohol cabinet with Celeste and pulled out a couple of glasses -- for himself and Jonah of course.
“We’re in an organization that fights aliens that have invaded Earth,” he said, obviously completely serious about it. “I’m recruiting you. It’s about time you do something useful with your life.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:56 pm
“Something… what?”
Dorian was too tired for this. He rubbed a hand over his face, scratching at the stubble along his jaw. He followed behind August and August’s— what was his name again? Jonathan? Joshua? Dorian rarely saw him, and when he did, the poor man rarely spoke.
While his three uninvited guests got themselves drinks, Dorian dropped back down onto the couch, grabbing the remote to turn off the television, which was silently playing the news.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, already exasperated.
Something about aliens. Was this August’s idea of a joke?
He had a very shitty sense of humor.Celeste gulped at her drink rather than sipping it. She didn’t necessarily agree that Dorian would make a good recruit, but he couldn’t possibly be as aggravating as Jonah. She thought it a bit ridiculous that August only ever seemed to recruit his friends, but maybe he did it to guarantee he had loyal subordinates.
Certainly some of his co-workers would have been more useful. A nurse, perhaps? Or an anesthesiologist? The medical bay could use the help.
“He doesn’t think you’re serious,” she told August, with the tone of voice that said, and who can blame him.Jonah followed August and immediately felt out of place.
He knew of Dorian, but never spent long enough around him to actually know him. Sometimes Dorian joined August and Celeste at August’s apartment for drinks, but those occasions were rare, and he didn’t do much talking when those occasions occurred.
As college friends, August, Celeste, and Dorian had all known one another for more than a decade. Jonah was the odd one out — the outsider, the interloper. He was a stranger in a house he didn’t recognize.
He stood as close to August as he dared, wary of making a nuisance of himself, nervously sipping at the drink August gave him.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:01 pm
“For someone who claims they write for a living, he’s not very creative,” August said in response to Celeste, despite the fact that Dorian was sitting on the couch and could hear them. Not that Dorian could really get any use out of his writing. Maybe for fun, but August wanted more power, and that meant he needed more recruits.
“Would you believe me if I said I know your little brother is involved as well?” he asked and took another sip of his drink. He picked an open spot along the wall to lean against, watching Dorian’s expression as he did so. Jonah would just have to get used to being around the three of them.
“Would you believe me if I told you Ilian Jones is also involved?”
August knew how much Dorian adored his little brother, which was really sickening to think about, as well as knowing who he was.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:08 pm
“... what?” Dorian said, voice gone flat.
He heard Celeste mumble something like “that got his attention,” but ultimately ignored her, eyes locked on August.
He hadn’t seen Leigh in over a year. He hadn’t seen Leigh’s (boyfriend? husband? person of significance?) partner in even longer. The last thing he remembered of Ilian Jones was a scrawny teen sneaking into the house at night, whispering in Leigh’s room and trailing blood all over the floor. Then Ilian Jones went missing, and Leigh got in trouble with the cops, then Leigh ran away and… Dorian did nothing about it. He left it to Claude and their mother, the former of whom had no success and the latter of whom thought it was perfectly fine to let her sixteen-year-old son run off with his boyfriend, who clearly belonged to some sort of street gang.
Dorian’s hands curled into fists.
“Involved in what? What is Leigh doing?”Celeste remembered little Lovely Belrose as the brat who came to live with Dorian when France got too boring for him. Or maybe their mother got too insufferable. He liked horses and played the piano and generally stayed out of the way when she and August came to drink and complain about work. Back then, he’d been a pretty little thing angling for a girlfriend and whining about school.
She had a hard time believing he grew up to be General Aquamarine. Who would bother recruiting someone’s kid brother when they could recruit someone better positioned in society? If she hadn’t seen the proof for herself, she would’ve thought August had gone mad.
“Jonah,” she said, snapping her fingers at him. “You have the training guide memorized. What is the Negaverse?”“Nega-what?” Dorian said.Jonah frowned into his drink. The part of him that didn’t like how dismissive Celeste was wanted to deny her request, but the part of him that was dutiful and obedient wouldn’t allow him to.
Shyly, he stared down at the floor and said, “The Negaverse is an elite organization dedicated to protecting Earth from—”“Stop,” Dorian interrupted him.Jonah immediately shut his mouth and nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot.“You’re telling me there are aliens,” Dorian said. He’d yet to tear his eyes away from August, who clearly had the most to do with why this entire encounter was even happening. “You’re telling me there’s an organization fighting aliens, and Leigh and Ilian Jones are involved?”
He almost laughed, but it wasn’t funny. It was the opposite of funny, it was ridiculous. Who did August think he was, barging in here with this nonsense? Strange things happened in Destiny City, it was true, but they couldn’t expect him to believe this crap.
“This is a joke,” he decided. “You’ve got it in your head that you want to try your hand at being a comedian, and you’ve roped Celeste and your boyfriend into the prank. If you knew any of this about Leigh, you would’ve told me about it years ago, when I could’ve stopped him from joining a gang.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:11 pm
August knew he would have Dorian’s attention if he mentioned both Leigh and Ilian Jones. He also expected Dorian would start to throw accusations at him for not telling him sooner. As if August had any control over what teenagers did.
“There are aliens,” he confirmed, his arms crossed casually over his chest so he could still lift his drink up to his lips when he wanted to sip. “There are monsters called youma that we can control. I’m sure you’ve seen the strange things that go on all over the city in the news.”
He tried not to let it irritate him that Celeste treated Jonah so harshly, although she was probably still mad at him for not promoting her before him.
“I would have told you about Leigh years ago, yes. If I knew anything about who he was. Jonah,” he said and turned to make sure he hadn’t shrunk into a corner. “You were the one who initially discovered some of the information about Leigh and Ilian Jones. Why don’t you tell Dorian who they are, since he clearly won’t believe it from me.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:20 pm
“Um…” Jonah shifted again. If he didn’t have a drink to worry about, he would have fidgetted and wrung his hands together. “I… I mean, it was August who got suspicious, but… I… I know someone who’s seen them both, and…”
He swallowed. His eyes darted around the room, from the floor to August to Dorian, then back down again. Dorian hadn’t looked away from August, so the attention wasn’t entirely on Jonah, but the tension still frayed his nerves.
“We don’t have access to their personnel files, but… August dug up their medical records. The timing and extent of some of their injuries have coincided with Negaverse missions and events around Destiny City.”“Negaverse,” Dorian scoffed, unwilling to accept aliens and monsters as fact. It all sounded like some elaborate fantasy.“Um… After asking around a bit, we were able to piece together a rough timeline,” Jonah continued.
He thought it was understandable that Dorian would be skeptical. Even with the strange things that occurred around the city, the idea of aliens could still seem far-fetched, especially when one hadn’t encountered any of it firsthand. From what Jonah knew of Dorian, he probably hadn’t had many opportunities to get himself caught up in any of it, given that he didn’t seem to leave the house more than necessary.
“General Aquamarine joined the Negaverse about eight years ago.”“That would’ve made Leigh, what? Fifteen?” Celeste said, turning to pour herself another drink. “Isn’t that around the time he started acting out?”Dorian’s frown deepened. As a kid, Leigh had been arrogant and overindulged, but generally responsible. He did his school work, made good grades, took care of his horse, practiced the piano, and took fencing lessons because he thought it was cool. His overall demeanor made it difficult for him to make friends — the first of which had been Ilian Jones.
Leigh had been… fourteen, if Dorian remembered correctly. Leigh and Ilian met at a recital. They shared few similarities, except for their size, age, and talent. Dorian remembered Leigh complaining about Ilian — a poor kid from Hillworth who played the piano like he’d been born to do so.
Not long after Leigh turned fifteen, his behavior began to change. He became secretive, combative. He spent more time with Ilian than without. He came home with bruises he refused to explain. (“It’s nothing,” he’d said. Or, “Mind your own ******** business.”) He grew defensive, protective — of himself, and of Ilian.Jonah cleared his throat when Dorian failed to answer, then continued, “About a year ago… um… at a party, General Aquamarine made a toast to a Captain Lignite. We… We haven’t been able to find a lot of information on him, but… we know Lignite was killed in July of 2014…”“The same time as Sorin Jones,” Celeste concluded. She turned back to Dorian and gulped more of her drink. “Really tragic. It was in the papers. Just eighteen years old. His parents were already dead. That left his fourteen year old brother all alone, seeking revenge.”
That said fourteen year old grew up to become General-King Jet…
Well, at least he’d done alright for himself. He even seemed pretty well-adjusted.“You’re telling me Sorin Jones was in this… Negaverse,” Dorian said — slowly, like he had to make sure he understood. “He was killed protecting the Earth from aliens, and Leigh and Ilian joined to avenge him?”“Oh, no,” Celeste said, her tone of voice relatively unconcerned. “Ilian joined for revenge. Leigh probably joined because he happened to be there. Supposedly, they saw it happen. Must’ve been traumatic for a couple of kids. Or… three kids, wasn’t it? Haven’t met the third one yet.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:26 pm
“Would you like to meet him? Ilian Jones? Maybe see what Leigh has been up to?” August wondered as he finished off his glass and went to get more to drink. “You could probably give him a piece of your mind.”
Somehow August didn’t think that would end well for Dorian, but it would be amusing to see.
No, he didn’t want Dorian getting himself killed. That was okay, surely Dorian would understand that attacking a General King was not a good idea.
“Jonah, grab some more bottles. We’ll take them with us. I want you to help me with Dorian’s recruitment,” August decided and finished off the small glass he’d poured in one gulp.
“You want to help your brother, don’t you?” he turned with a knowing look at Dorian. There was no way he could pass up an opportunity to creep after his brother.
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2022 7:35 pm
Celeste scowled at the idea that Jonah would be assisting with the recruitment, but she supposed between the two of them, he required the most practice, seeing as he was dreadfully incompetent at anything but clerical duties. There would be plenty of opportunities for her to try her hand at a corruption. General King Jet would allow her to assist with one if she asked.Recruitment.
Dorian didn’t like the way that sounded. He didn’t like that August seemed intent on dragging him along to whatever this Negaverse was. He especially didn’t like that August was using Leigh to do it.
Maybe August was lying. Maybe he’d convinced Celeste and Jonah to go along with it. August had known Leigh years ago. He knew what occurred when Leigh ran away. He knew who Leigh went to. He knew that Dorian hadn’t been supportive of it, that the guilt of pushing Leigh away ate at him sometimes, but he was too bitter and resentful to accept any blame for it, to make amends.
It wasn’t his fault. Dorian had been concerned, maybe a little protective. He’d been twenty-six at the time — old enough that he sort of had his own life together, but too young to be handling an unruly teenager on his own. He’d done his best. He’d asked questions without prying. He’d expressed concern. He’d tried to help.
Leigh hadn’t wanted any of it.
The timeline fit. Monsters and aliens didn’t make much sense, but Dorian had long suspected that Ilian Jones was responsible for dragging Leigh into something neither of them could get out of.
“Where was Ilian Jones in January of 2016?” he asked.Quietly, Jonah said, “General King Jet… he was a Captain at the time, and… he and some others were taken captive by our enemies. General Aquamarine—... I mean, your brother. He was a Captain, too. He was part of the team that went to retrieve them.”
Jonah waited, eyes flicking to and fro. August told him to grab some of the drinks, and he would, but Jonah didn’t want to rush Dorian making up his mind. Even if Dorian was being persuaded, it should still be his decision in the end.There wasn’t much of a decision to make. Either August, Celeste, and Jonah were lying, and Dorian would find out when they couldn’t back up their claims (a part of him had to wonder if Jonah was even capable of lying), or they were telling the truth, in which case Dorian couldn’t just sit there, knowing, but doing nothing.
He’d done nothing before, when Leigh left. He wouldn’t do that again.
“Fine,” he said, and rose from the couch.
Everything led back to Ilian Jones.
“Take me to them.”
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