Jon makes plans
Jon returned to his flat while on auto-pilot. He barely remembered where he actually lived at this time in his life, but apparently the Beholding had his back. It also seemed to buzz in his mind when passing by people with Statements. They were all Statements that Jon had collected passively in the future so he didn’t have much trouble resisting. Like leftovers in a container that hadn’t yet expired, waiting for leftover night rather than making a fresh meal. He had shuttered at the thought.
As Jon entered his flat, a conversation with Helen bubbled in his mind. It seemed like ages ago, tho it technically hadn’t happened yet, about his feeding preferences. It was true that his frustration was that he got caught, wasn’t it? He would have to be careful to not go overboard as he wasn’t sure feeding could be avoided like the first time around. Seemed like whatever had caused this shift, had brought him back as a fully realized avatar. It wasn’t like before, and he Knew he was already past the point of paper statement only diet. Be like trying to live off chewing only gum.
Jon tossed his jacket to the floor and fell into his strange yet familiar couch. He sunk into the familiar him shaped dent in the old thing. The dent he’d help create while the couch still resided with his grandmother. Such a normal comfort.
It was about a year from now that things really started to pick up on the spooky frontlines in the office. But his first real statement would be only about a week away at best. The time would still give him some time to better plan how to protect everyone. How to set everything up like last time to keep Elias in the dark.
He was pretty sure Elias wasn't able to See him this time around, least he hasn't felt Elias even try yet today. Which Jon would need to think in on that later cause seemed very off character for Elias. Elias, not, watching? That thought was just as unsettling as when Elias was watching.
Pulling out his phone he opened the note app and worked on a list.
First thing to make this work was he needed rules for feeding. Maybe he would only seek out Lonely statements if it came to only live statement diet, since at least that way they would be less alone in the dreams? He Knew that he would be able to put it off for a while before he started to get weak. Got to make sure he doesn’t fly through the written statements too fast. No need to send Elias any flags if he could avoid it.
Basira wasn’t around to help stop him -though with a text maybe she could? At this point, it’d only been a few years since they last talked, and he was sure she was already sectioned at this point. No. He wouldn’t put that on her. This was his problem. If they were to reconnect, it would be for reunion drinks or she would be on duty.
Secondly, he had a year to prepare for Prentiss. Make sure everyone had access to CO2 long before they needed it? Maybe could stop her from developing as far or intercept while she was weak? He would have to do some digging for dates since tho he Knew some of them, time still felt a little weird. He has a strong hunch he's been outside of time far longer now that he was in it.
It’d only been a moment in his mind when a thought suddenly made Jon choke a sob. Martin was just on his lap this- No, Jon couldn't think about him. This was Jon’s chance to keep Martin and so many others from suffering. He couldn't fall apart this soon.
“Maybe get a cat...I can’t drag him in this time…” Jon inhaled deeply a little before finishing the sentence. It’d been the two of them, for so long. Jon could practically feel the Lonely side-eyeing him from wherever it was lurking. Peter was still alive.
Jon typed get a cat as the third bullet. He would have to wait for Peter to show up to keep the salty creature from ever touching Martin.
Thinking of the Institute led to a thought surfacing. Tomorrow would be Jon’s first day as a boss. He could...There was so much more he could do to keep them safe this time around, even from him. At this point, the most that the three knew of him was he was a bit standoffish prick on good days. He was not quite that anymore. Least not to the levels he used to be. But he had learned how important human connections were. He wasn’t going to ruin that this time.
Jon looked at the time on his phone. 7:22pm. He would have enough time to run to the store before it closed. If he was going to try to protect them by getting closer to them, he would need to have a paper trail for his sudden personality shift. Tim and Martin might find easy reasons to shrug it off, but Sasha would know right away something about Jon shifted. She worked in artifacts for a time and Gertrude wanted her to be the Archivist.
He would need to have a convincing paper trail to keep her from guessing he was an eye monster from the future....would that be a thing she would guess? Probably more likely she would blame it on a Leitner.
So first piece of paper trail was going to a book. Not a Leitner, hell no not a Leitner. Jon’s goal was a book called ‘So you are a Boss now, tips for building a happy workplace’ that he Knew was in stock at the bookstore two stops away. Bring that to work with him and ‘accidentally’ leave it in the break room. Tim would probably tease him, but would explain Jon being more friendly to the others while doing a terrible or at least awkward job at it. It was a dreadfully embarrassing book as well. The kind of book that no one should take advice from, enough so that it would help him hide any of his bad tells from lying from shear trying to deny it was his.
Jon spent the night making notes in the horrid book and roughing it up a bit to make it look like a used copy he was actively referencing. The book felt cursed enough he wouldn’t have been surprised to find a Leitner plate on it.