Talk that was a long time coming
The weekend Jon gathered only the group of his friends that knew the ritual details, they were tense through the whole ordeal.
Jon nervously shared that he planned to get all the marks on his terms, then just not perform the ritual. He’d explained that it made the most sense in that it would keep Elias in check from hurting any of them in the crossfire, along with once he was ready, there were ways to prevent him from opening the door. He didn’t know what tricks Elias would use, but it would be easier to keep an eye out for them, along with keeping other entities from learning why the rituals keep failing.
Jon did leave out one part that only he and Martin had talked about, where the final benefit was if another ritual seemed to figure out the key. Jon could at least negate a worst entity from holding the world in it’s hand. That was a side effect and not part of the plan. Just an option.
Dangerous as Jon’s plan was, after he explained the details to everyone who knew about the ritual details, they reluctantly came to an agreement about it. Tim and Basira were the most against it, but Basira figured she would rather be involved with the mess than having Jon do it behind her back. Tim wasn’t as willing to back down. Tim wasn’t as willing to put his trust in Jon’s ‘self-control’ seeing as there were far fewer examples of it in action than not.
Tim only ended up agreeing after Martin pointed out that they could discuss details later. Not like Jon could get them all in one month or anything. While the Entries were annoyingly common in their life, it’s not like they are waiting in line to take a bite into Jon. Most don’t even know that is a thing, and they have got to do it naturally otherwise someone is bound to catch on.
Daisy and Sasha didn’t seem all that concerned. Sasha figured it made perfect sense, and she was quite curious about it, while Daisy just laughed and told Jon he could take a nap in the coffin without her this time, but she would be happy to help with whatever else.
Georgie was the only one who agreed silently without any sort of comment. Just a nod while petting, the no longer kitten but now cat, Marshal. It wasn’t till everyone left for the kitchen that she finally pulled Jon into a conversation.
“Jon, I’m sorry, but I’m not coming to another one of these meetings. You are getting involved in things I can’t follow you in. I won't stop you, but I can’t be a part of you planning to get yourself hurt.”
Jon’s heart fell into his stomach.
“Hey now. Don’t make that face. I’m not cutting you out of my life or anything. But I can’t help you hurt yourself. It’s not healthy. We agreed on that when you came to me crying last year. I’ve been game for trying to help you prevent it, but this shift isn’t healthy, and you know that.”
“I don’t have…” Jon’s voice shook.
“I know, your options are limited.” Georgie went in for a hug which Jon returned without fuss. “I just, I hate seeing you hurt, and while you do this, you are going to just keep going in deeper, and don’t say you’ve already been in deep. You’ve been out. And you know that.”
Jon remained silent.
“I’m still happy to help you with the petty stuff, and there is always ice cream in my freezer with your name on it.” She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Not like we are going to stop hanging out, I still like you as a person. That’s not going away cause I’m taking a step back.”
Jon nodded reluctantly.
“Besides you got yourself a right batch of buttkicking friends supporting you in your bad directions. I’ll just be here for the less world-ending ones like spooky shadows or whatever Melanie’s latest thing is. You are both garbage at editing anything you touch.”
That got a laugh from Jon. “I can’t help she is determined to have me corrupt all her footage.”
“You are both reckless fools. Babysitting you two with the tiny spookies is enough for me I think.”
“Thank you, Georgie. For everything.”
“Mmhmm. You know it. Now for some other important business. You ever gunna ask Martin to marry you?”
Jon choked on air before trying to recover. “I- I’m not- ahem. Depends. You ever going to ask Melanie out?”
“Jonathan Sims. Are you meddling with my romantic endeavors? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?” She was overdramatic as she made her way to the stairs.
“You’ve caught me. I’m actually a being made of stardust here to fill in for cupid cause they got their hands full with a time-consuming hobby.”
“Ah, that makes perfect sense.” She laughed as they both joined up with the rest of the crew.