Move in day
“Where the fuck’d you get the money to buy a 3 story, Sims?” Basira had to see the place to believe it, so she and Daisy had come to help Jon and Martin move into their new place.
“Elias. I told him to give us the money for it cause I know what his bank account looks like and it’s not like he will need it when I end the world. Not that I’m planning on it, but he couldn’t rebuttal it cause then he would accept he needed the money in case. Not like the bastard will miss it. Also, you all got raises.”
Tim did an air fist pump before grabbing one of the boxes from the moving truck and taking it inside.
“No more apocalypse talk.” Sasha climbed down from the moving truck. “Didn’t you say some of your uni friends were coming to join in?”
Jon nodded. “Yeah, Brian decided he was going to help, and Lyf is in town so they figured they would drop by.”
“More like Brian is probably dragging them here.”
Jon smiled. “Wouldn’t be surprising.”
“Be nice to meet them. Basira was telling me they are about as prickly as you are.” Daisy was exiting Jon’s new place leaving the door open for Tim and Sasha.
Jon gave her a look before going to grab a box himself.
It’d been one heck of a move so far. Finding a place they could move into so suddenly would’ve required a bit of luck, if Jon hadn’t Known the listing just went up and wouldn’t have been hard to get. The realtor was very friendly and played the whole, ‘wow, what fantastic timing!’. Both Jon and Martin laughed with her about it.
It was a small house sandwiched between a family of 5 on one side, and the other had an older couple. There was enough of a yard they could have a small garden that may or may not be enhanced using the Leitner that Jon forgot to burn from several months ago. Might as well use it to help bring some life into a yard that needed some extra love. Jon figured he would just use the book while passively pretending to read outside once spring starts to come along.
In the meantime, getting the inside ready was the goal. Between all of Jon’s and Martin’s things, they had enough to fill their bedroom, a guest room, the kitchen, and living room pretty snuggly. Leaving the 3rd floor open for what Jon was going to call his personal Archive. He’d come up with the idea after a nap he had at work, that he wanted to be able to have a backup space. Also, it could double as a pantry for Martin, should he ever end up becoming dependent on statements like he had. They both weren’t all that sure if Martin would follow in Jon’s footsteps or not.
To get it all set up, Jon and Martin planned on slowly stealing all the good statements from Jonah.
It was a good hour before Brian had text Jon that he and Lyf were only minutes away, so Jon figured it would be a good time for everyone to take a break inside. Martin was excited to use the stovetop for the first time.
Jon went left everyone to lock up the truck while they waited. There was a “pop” sound behind Jon, followed by a small stinging pain in the back of Jon’s head. There was laughter from the direction of the sound behind him.
“If it wasn’t me, you would be really embarrassed right now.”
“Come on Jonny, can’t blame me for it, can you? Let me have my revenge.” Brian held up a fancy looking nerf gun that was decked out to look as steampunk as possible.
“I suppose I’ve had that revenge coming since the last show hm?” Jon smiled picking up the bullet.
“Mmhmm, your poor gun has missed you in my storage. I brought a box of your things.”
“You mean I brought them…” Lyf stood with a box while they looked very unimpressed. “Marius sends his regards. He couldn’t get off work for the visit.”
Jon looked at his two friends with a smile. “Thanks. I can’t believe you hung onto all our old gear this whole time.”
“Yeah, didn’t feel right to just toss it. Here.” Brian handed Jon the nerf gun. “If you wanna toss it, that is on you.”
“I doubt I could.” Jon laughed at the old trinket. He remembered just gluing on gears to make it look cooler after painting it, then eagerly working on other's stage weapons.
“Shame you all broke up before I could get any good to join, considering you used my name in a story.” Lyf shoved the box to Brian now that his hands were free. “I can play the cello now, so you better include me in any reunion shows.”
“Doubt I’d have time, but who knows.” Jon started to walk towards his place and the other two followed.
--
Jon introduced Brian and Lyf to the archive crew and there was some friendly banter between Brian and Basira afterwards. Martin and Lyf started to debate about tea versus coffee when Daisy pulled Jon into the other room.
“Jon, I’m sure you noticed, cause that your thing, to notice...but that Lyf…”
“Yeah, they’ve got a pretty hefty mark from the spiral. I wouldn’t be surprised if they became sometime in the next year. Doesn’t look like anything to be worried about, but I might text them about it later.”
“Hmm, you really do just attract the entities don’t you…?” Daisy gave Jon a sharp look.
“Maybe it's my shampoo?” Jon grinned as Daisy punched his arm.
“Yes, the embodiments of horrors like your shampoo. That has to be it.”
“Martin likes it.”
“Of course he likes it you dork.”
“Let's head back before anyone misses us.”
--
Jon interacting with his friends from uni was so entertaining to Martin. It was an angle that he’d never really seen. Like there was the new years party, but this wasn’t a party. It was just hanging out. The joy he saw in Jon just relaxing, no fears what so ever. Heck, there was a nerf gun fight in their new home when they had found a second gun in the box Brian found.
Jon didn’t miss a shot, and each time Brian acted over dramatically. Brian appeared to be equally good, and to see Jon just fall limp each time he was hit made Martin melt. He’d never known Jon could be so dramatic. Even after watching some of the live shows on youtube, the makeup and stage lighting added a small barrier, or maybe a filter? However, seeing it in action, not Jonny, Jon without makeup, just Jon, falling over laughing. Martin had a poem to write.
--
The rest of helping move things in went pretty smoothly. Daisy, Tim, Martin, and Brian took care of the large furniture, with Brian offering to help get the desks to the 3rd floor once Martin and Jon got around to it. There was also a bit of joking into Jon’s uselessness in setting up the large things while he was in the kitchen unpacking boxes with Lyf.
Majority of the group left after the truck was finished, leaving only Brian and Lyf behind. Brian was helping Martin set up the beds in the main room and guest rooms leaving Jon and Lyf alone.
“You work in a place that deals with weird encounters right?” Lyf was staring at a cup they held.
“Mmhmm. Bump into something odd I take it.” Jon sounded a little distance. He could taste a statement, but he wasn’t going to take it from Lyf. All his friends were off-limits.
“Yeah. Feels like a joke played on me from a cosmic level to be honest, considering the story you wrote about the Bifrost. I keep thinking it was just a terrible nightmare, but I can’t shake that it happened. I had to take a train north for work, and once I was on it, the train went on for what seemed like infinity. No matter which way I went, I couldn’t make it to the front or back- ”
“Stop. You can’t tell me anymore.”
Lyf looked a bit confused and slightly offended.
“I- Sorry, it’s just.” Jon took a breath and closed his eyes. “It's complicated, and not that I don’t want to help you, but there are side effects from telling me stories like that.”
“Side effects, what the heck does that mean?” Lyf didn’t sound amused.
“The weird thing that happened to you on the train, I had something similar happen-”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- if you aren’t comfortable-”
“No, no don’t worry about that. Thank you, but it’s not a trauma response, Let me explain it a bit better.” Jon composed himself a bit. “I just had an, encounter, with something that I can’t shake, and that thing feeds off stories like what happened to you. The side effects would be on your side.”
Lyf laughed. Jon wasn’t expecting a laugh like that cause it wasn’t a taunting sort.
“The irony of that. It’s a joke on us both. The great Jonny D’ville, story extraordinaire, bound to a monster that eats stories, while Inspector Lyfrassir Edda has a run-in with a terrifying train. The universe hates us. You could probably yell ‘called it’ and some cosmic being will just go ‘drat’ in response.”
Jon joined in with Lyf after hearing that. “You’re right. This is ridiculous.“ It was 3 for 3 encounters if one took in Nikki affilation to the Stranger, but Jon wasn't going to share that with them.
Lyf’s eyes had a bit of a colorful swirl to them once they both stopped. “So what now?”
“We continue taking mugs out of boxes?” Jon looked at them like it was an obvious answer.
“I didn’t- I mean about the things we encountered? Do we just deal with it?”
“What I’ve been doing. I tried fighting it, didn’t go well for me. I’m here if you want help, but I can’t listen to the tale. The side effects are unpleasent. Might even hit you harder cause technically the two entries we bumped into don’t normally play together nicely.”
“So like cats and dogs?”
“More like cats and cats.”
Lyf made a face. “Oh, thats- thanks for the warning.”