Eavesdropping
The following week was hard.
Jon seemed to be more than just a little off from what had happened with Rebecca. It was barely noticeable at the start. Wednesday Martin had called them both off and they spent most the day going over moving plans. It was more dreamingly talking about where they would want to live, rather than where they could realistically move to. Martin mentioned wanting a place in a forest, where he could have a little garden, while Jon seemed more interested in what was on the inside. He wanted a room where he could make a little hole for himself where he could keep his favorite statements, with windows so let fresh air in unlike the basement. They joked slightly about having the window facing Martin’s fantasy garden so Jon could watch.
Then Thursday they returned to work, but Jon seemed to not want anything to do with work at all. He didn’t pressure anyone to not slack off or pick up new statements. Majority of the time, he focused on looking at flats with Martin, or locked up in his office working on something. The mystery ‘something’ he wouldn’t share details, not even with Martin, but he called it “Blowing off some steam”. When Tim asked if it was spooky steam. Jon paused before just shrugging and closed the door.
Sasha was the first to really realize something was up, not counting Martin since he knew what happened Wednesday, and didn’t share with the team. It was something she could’ve missed so easily, and if she had been in any other place at the time, she would’ve missed it entirely. She overheard a conversation between Jon and Elias when she returned from lunch. She wasn’t sure if they didn’t notice her, or didn’t care if she heard them, but they continued talking while she listened in from the other side of the cracked door.
“That’s fascinating.” Elias’s voice sounded like they were talking about some sort of discovery. Sasha wished she’d been a bit faster to catch the first part.
“That’s a word for it.” Jon sounded less impressed. “I didn’t tell you for you to be ‘fascinated’ by it. Just wanted to let you know I’m closer to winning our bet than you are.”
“Really Jon. What do you plan on accomplishing by telling me this? Do you think I’ll slip up, or call your bluff?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“We are on the same side, why do you fight it so. With the new growth, how can you not be curious to want to explore it? I’d be happy to assist you. “
Jon let out a bitter laugh. “I doubt you could be of any help. You’re just a sad scared old man. And same side? When was the last time you were even curious about something that didn’t just serve to benefit you?”
“We each serve our god differently, it’s impolite to judge. I’ve got resources and access to methods you could use to explore this new venture. Don’t you want to know? Dreams are the End’s territory more than anything else, and you’ve-”
“You don’t Know, do you.” Jon laughed as he cut Elias off but it sounded a lot less out of humor, and more of just being overwhelmed. “And the Beholding isn’t telling you cause it likes me more? Mmmm, I suppose if you really wanted to, I could take your statement and you could see for yourself. You aren’t part of the archives, so I’m sure I would be able to invite you in.”
Sasha could feel the Static in the air even through the door. It was like two cats having a hissing fight.
“Thank you for the invitation, but I’ll have to decline. I’m not too keen on what that entails.”
“Mmm Figured you wouldn’t. Honestly, I would be content never having your statement. It would probably taste like dust anyway. If there isn’t anything else, I’ve got things to do.“
“I’ll leave you to it.”
The static died and Sasha hurried to her desk before Elias opened the door and exited Jon’s office. The man looked dreadful like he’d just had his hand in the mouth of a hungry lion.
She watched cautiously as Elias hurried out of the archives. Jon stood in the doorway and looked to Sasha, his eyes still glowing uncomfortably.
“You got any questions?”
Sasha jumped. “Jon holy- I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Sorry. I’m a bit on edge right now. Forgot to-” He inhaled. “Nevermind. Any way. I know you overheard some of that. Don’t want you to jump to conclusions. I’ve been there before, and it’s not great.”
“...Yeah. What was that about?”
“Which part?” Jon sat at Tim’s desk so they would be eye level with each other.
“What did Elias find fascinating?”
“I’m able to manipulate my dreams more than I thought I could last time I told you all about my nightmares. Just found out Wednesday night. So it’s new.”
“That sounds like a later conversation, but you were telling Elias why?”
“To taunt him really. It’s fun to Know something if he knows he is missing information. It’s-” Jon leaned back in the chair a bit, wow, Tim really has a reclining chair. It leans way more than the others. “It’s a bit of payback. He enjoyed it so much keeping me in the dark, lost and confused while he only gave me tiny bits of information while I was starving for it. Granted when Becoming, it is best to discover the path without assistance, determines the strength of the connection.
“But, I- uh, I find it more entertaining to do the opposite. I let him know what he doesn’t know and give him just enough answers that he knows enough for it not to count for him learning it on his own, then leaving him to deal with the weakness that follows. It annoys him more that way then if he just didn’t know about it. Like coming home to the smell of a biscuit, but there wasn’t enough for you to eat.”
“Well. I guess that makes sense?” Sasha didn’t quite understand how telling Elias the things he didn’t know counted as revenge.
“Don’t worry if it doesn’t. That's a really bad explanation for it. Basically, it annoys him when I know things and he doesn’t. So I told him about the shift in my domain, but he wanted to Know why. So I invited him in to experience it, since the only way in would be for me to take his statement-”
“Thus making him actively say ‘no’ to gaining knowledge?” Sasha finished Jon’s sentence as she followed it a little better this time.
“Yup. Exactly. I’m curious if it will weaken him if I take his statement, or if it's a pride thing, so I'm going to be pestering him about it more often. Works out nice that I have something he wants to explore as horrifying as it is.”
“Horrifying?”
“I’ll explain it later when everyone is around. It’s kinda weird to try and explain, I don’t want to do it more than once if I can avoid it. It’s hard not being human at the best of times, you know?”
“I wouldn’t actually…” Sasha was getting very unsettled. Jon was hiding something and he was a shit liar about it.
“Oh. Right right. Sorry.” Jon got up from Tims chair. “The others are about to get back, I’ll be in my office if there is anything else.” Jon made his escape.
Sasha understood privacy, but Jon didn’t seem like himself. And if she tried hard, Martin was acting a little off as well.
--
Sasha ended up telling Tim about the interaction she caught with Jon and Elias on the weekend after Jon canceled their weekend get together. It had something to do with Nikki and his flat. Jon wasn’t clear about it in the text, but he told everyone to use the company card if they wanted to get takeout anyway.
The two of them sat at her table poking at whatever food they’d ordered.
“Tim. what if we can’t trust Jon. I probably should’ve asked, but I overheard him say something about a bet with Elias. He never mentioned anything like that in the explanations.”
“Maybe he forgot? Jon has a lot going on in that brain of his, and even before the whole spooktacular shift, he wasn’t all the great at not assuming some things to be common knowledge. Remember that one case were he found the key to a man’s apartment taped to the underside of the mailbox and acted like we were the crazy ones for not checking it first?”
“I guess...but this is Elias. He hates him so why have a bet?”
“Dunno. But don’t think you gotta like who you place bets with. Just got to know they would reliably pay if you win. Could be an ‘I hate you but trust you will pay up’ kinda thing.“
“But why leave it out.”
Tim shrugged. “We can ask on Monday. If he gets all ‘nervously changes topic’ then we can go full investigator, meantime, I believe Elias is going to buy us dessert cause I’m feeling something sweet is in order.”
--
Jon was in the middle of moving things out of his flat so Nikki could take over his lease when he suddenly stopped. Jon grinned as he Watched his ‘blowing off steam’ pay off in the form of all of Peter Lukas’ burner phones ringing off the hook as soon as the Tundra was in the range of a cell tower.
He Knew all of Peter’s numbers for the phones he collected to make it harder for people to reach him, and each are now buzzing from various automated call centers. It was worth all the times he had to enter them into various systems around the world.
He told Nikki about it and she had to stop helping him pack in order to compose herself. One of the Lonely being unable to feel alone was beautiful. Martin meanwhile returned to find the two Avatars laughing up a storm with very little packed.