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 Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:29 am
Jonah was so thrilled to be useful, so pleased with the thought that August said he had potential that hearing about magic and monsters hardly surprised him at all.
Or maybe the shock didn’t set in because he’d already seen the monsters. That there was magic involved, too, and a war going on through it all, didn’t seem quite so strange as it would have if he’d never experienced any of the things he’d seen over the years. Destiny City had been such an odd place for so long, he couldn’t really remember the last time anything about it felt normal.
As far as keeping this information a secret, Jonah could do that easily. The only person he spoke to in his family was his sister, and he only had one other person in his life he could possibly consider a friend; he would never want to burden either of them with this. Jonah nodded to ensure August knew he understood, that he would tell no one, that he could be trusted.
“I… I want to help,” he said again.
He doubted he’d be much good in a war. Celeste didn’t have to be so mean about it, but she was right about that much. Even so, if August needed him, Jonah would do whatever he could, even if it was as little as patching up his wounds and making sure he had food available to him when he returned from dealing with it all.
“Are you…” Jonah hesitated, glancing between August and Celeste, nervous but determined. “Do you fight the youma then?”--- Celeste poured herself another drink and swallowed the entire thing in a matter of seconds, then poured herself a third and did the same.
As far as she was concerned, August could handle the rest of it.
“I’m going to shower,” she announced, setting her glass down with a loud thunk, before stalking off in the direction of August’s room. “Have your houseboy deal with you.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:21 am
August ignored Celeste for the time being. She was already insufferable enough without her bitching about Jonah, so she could drink herself silly and take a shower if that was what she wanted to do.
He shook his head at Jonah instead. “Not exactly,” he admitted. “We control the youma. What attacked me before when you found me was a creature created by someone who fought for the other side of the war. A Knight with a giant canine for a familiar,” he explained, hoping he wasn’t making things too complicated for Jonah. But Jonah was smart and could piece things together. He’d done well already to draw his own conclusions about things.
“I know you’re had some issues with youma in the past, but it’s because of the Negaverse, the organization I fight for, that more aren’t out on the streets. Occasionally some will escape and cause havoc, but we keep the vast majority locked away in the Rift. That’s where Celeste and I were tonight. We were on a rescue mission to recover someone who had been trapped inside the Rift with all of these youma. And yes, we were able to get them out in one piece, but Celeste and I took some injuries in the process.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:22 pm
Jonah almost breathed a sigh of relief when Celeste left the room, but he thought that would be rude so he held it back at the last second.
He listened to August attentively, making sure to pay careful attention to what he said, though his brain was always at risk of wandering off. The youma he knew about already, but the Knights and their familiars were entirely foreign to him. Briefly, he glanced down at August’s leg as the memory of that night flashed through his mind.
Somehow, it didn’t surprise him that there were dangerous creatures other than youma wandering around.
Staring at August with wide eyes, Jonah slowly moved closer to the living area to set the glass of liquor August had given him onto the coffee table. He mumbled a quiet “Okay, hold on,” so August wouldn’t think he was scampering off after his explanation, but it did look a bit like scampering as he collected some warm water and washcloths so that he could begin treating August’s wounds. The medkit wouldn’t help much until he was clean.
Jonah approached with a damp cloth and lifted it to gently dab at the side of August’s face, where the blood was drying in streaks.
“So… what do you need me to do?” he asked, voice a little quiet as he took in all of this new information. “Celeste is right. I don’t think I’d make much of a fighter. This Rift sounds… sort of scary, and I don’t know anything about magic or Knights, except… I mean, medieval knights and that sort of thing.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:26 pm
“I don’t need you to fight,” August said, allowing Jonah to dab at the blood on the side of his face. “You’re not trained to fight, but it would be wise if you were to learn the basics. There’s more than just fighting,” he said, which he knew Celeste knew as well. If there was just fighting then they wouldn’t be recruiting people so poorly prepared, so poorly trained.
“I need you to collect intelligence for me. To be my eyes and ears. I can’t always be around because of my work schedule, but I need you to keep a lookout for anything in the city that might be White Moon. I also need you to gather intel on other agents, find out who is good at what, if they could be trusted. We need to know who we can count on if anything goes south.”
He thought that was a pretty reasonable assignment. He didn’t think Jonah was too taken aback by being called good for fodder. August wouldn’t go through the trouble of having him corrupted into the Negaverse if he was just going to let him die, and hopefully Jonah realized that. And if he didn’t… well, he would just figure it out along the way.
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:42 pm
Jonah didn’t know what to think about the prospect of being fodder, so he decided not to think about it at all.
August had an assignment for him, and if it was as important as August made it seem, he wouldn’t just casually dispose of Jonah when the moment suited him. Information was knowledge, and knowledge was its own sort of power.
“I can do that,” Jonah said, dabbing at August’s face some more, not quite meeting his eye, but not directing his gaze away from him either.
He wanted to ask what the “White Moon” was, but if he started asking questions now, he probably wouldn’t stop for hours. There were other matters to see to first. August was injured. He was bleeding. He needed to wash up, and eat something once their food arrived, and rehydrate, and get plenty of rest so he could heal.
Cautiously, Jonah looked into August’s eyes. If he had a head injury, it was important to check them, wasn’t it? Not that Jonah knew exactly what to look for, but he supposed as long as August’s eyes looked the way they normally did, then that was all he needed to know for now.
“Would you have asked me to do this… even if I didn’t already know about the youma?” he wondered.
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:56 pm
August looked back at Jonah when he asked his question, and he paused to take a moment to think about it as Jonah continued dabbing at the blood. Would he have asked Jonah to do this?
When Jonah found him in the alley, August hadn’t mentioned anything about youma, but Jonah asked. He’d also mentioned it again when he brought that other kid to be patched up. If anything, Jonah’s knowledge of youma probably made August hesitate in asking him. If Jonah knew what youma were, then he might have been involved with the White Moon. In fact, he’d been cautious about it when he first had Jonah over at the condo.
“Yes,” he said after a few moments, and it was the truth. He had no reason to lie about something like this. And he wasn’t even sure what it mattered to Jonah if he would have asked him whether or not he knew. Maybe he wanted to find out if the knowledge he had on youma helped August make his decision? If that was the case, then he supposed Jonah would probably be upset. But he’d been interested in Jonah well before knowing that he had any idea what a youma was.
“You knowing what they are helps save some time explaining,” August said after another moment. “They can be dangerous, but they obey Negaverse officers, like myself and Celeste. Once you’ve been recruited, you should be able to command them as well to an extent.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:08 pm
Jonah asked because he wanted to know if he would have been useful to August if he was completely ignorant. He wanted to know if it was his existing knowledge that gave him potential, or if that potential lied more in his abilities.
Pleased by the answer, Jonah smiled. It was a small, timid thing, but it brightened his eyes and eased some of the tension that always seemed to tighten his facial features.
“I’ll do my best,” he promised, “so you won’t have any reason to… regret… asking me for help.”
He would hate that, if he ever gave August any reason to second guess his decision. Jonah might not be what this Negaverse typically looked for in an officer, but he would do everything in his power to improve, whether that meant learning how to fight or compiling as much information as he could. As long as August was there, Jonah was sure he could grow, and learn, and better himself, and hopefully be an asset to what seemed like an important organization.
They were protecting the city. That was bigger than anything Jonah had ever done in his life.
But, he reminded himself again, he shouldn’t get too far ahead of himself.
Snapping out of a satisfied daze, Jonah said, “You should sit. Let me see what I can do about your injuries, and… and after, you can tell me more, and I’ll… I’ll do whatever you need me to.”
Never once did Jonah stop to wonder if he would be the one to regret this.
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