the afflicted

Jeffrey Gordon. Sixteen.

[jeffreygordon]

I would kill to get out of here and meet some new people.

[jackxhughes-blog]

Well, it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Jack. Jack Hughes. And you are?

[jeffreygordon]

Yeah, you too. I'm Jeffrey. What brought you to this...lovely island?

[jeffreygordon]

I would kill to get out of here and meet some new people.

[janie-weatherby-blog]

Someone my own age! Finally. I’m Janie, by the way.

[jeffreygordon]

Hey, I'm Jeffrey, nice to meet you. Yeah, I get what you mean. This place is clearly not a popular getaway for anyone under the age of thirty.

[jeffreygordon]

I would kill to get out of here and meet some new people.

No offense, but I'm getting really tired of seeing the same faces all the time.

[jeffreygordon]

ooc: HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! ALSO HAPPY I JOINED META A YEAR AGO TODAY (aka the best thing to ever happen to you people)!

[jeffreygordon]

A Very Meta Christmas - Traditions

Becks and Jace had a tradition, dating back to their first year as partners. They shared a mutual disdain for traditional Christmas celebrations, and neither of them had anyone they really wanted to spend the day with (Becks' dad was dead and Jace's...well, she didn't really like talking about it), so they spent each Christmas together doing, for the most part, absolutely nothing.

This year was no different, and on the afternoon of the day that just so happened to be the 25th of December, Jace arrived in their hotel room carrying a case of beers, a bag of chips, and a B- action movie. She dumped them unceremoniously on the bed, put on hand on her hip, and turned to Becks.

"Why the hell did a Collins in ridiculous reindeer horns stop me on the way here to ask if the two of us were lesbians?" she said, looking at her partner pointedly.

"He's wearing reindeer antlers?" Becks said, missing the point entirely, or more likely just choosing to ignore it. "I didn't peg him for the Christmas cheer type," she added, opening up the bag of chips and peeking inside eagerly. "But I guess it makes sense. He's definitely the annoying type."

"Did you say anything to him?" Jace asked, steering the conversation back the way she wanted it.

Becks snorted. "No, of course not. That would involve talking to him about something other than what our job contractually obligates us to say to him. Maybe you've just been shooting longing, hopelessly devoted look at me across the dining table again. Stop being so in love with me, it's annoying."

Jace yanked the bag of chips out of Becks' hand, ignoring her pout. "For that comment you get to be the one to set up the movie," she said, settling into the bed and tugging the blankets up over her legs. When Becks shot her the death glare, Jace only rolled her eyes, and flapped her hand at the TV encouragingly. "Consider it your punishment. Someone has to train the ego out of you."

"I bet I can think of a much better punishment," Becks said, grinning slowly at Jace.

"Nope, you'd just enjoy that," Jace said. "Now put the movie on," she repeated, throwing the DVD case at Becks, who caught it with a sigh, before putting it in the DVD player, and sulking her way back over to the bed. Jace wordlessly handed her an open beer bottle, and Becks settled into the bed beside her.

Admittedly, they only ended up watching the first half of the movie before Becks' wandering hands got the better of both of them- but to be fair, that was just part of their Christmas tradition.

[davidhenriebrasil]

[jeffreygordon]

When We Were Gone Astray || Jeffrey and Leo

[leoregan-blog]

Leo shook his head and sighed. For someone so mature and grown up, Jeffrey could sometimes be quite forgetful at times. “I got you that phone because I thought you would be mature and responsible enough to use it properly. If you aren’t ready for a phone, just tell me and I can cancel your account, okay?” That was mean, Leo knew, but it was the same thing his father had done with him. Then again, Daddy Dara didn’t do a very good job of raising his son, given how Leo had turned out. And it wasn’t like Jeffrey didn’t know how to take care of his things. “I’m kidding, Jeffrey. It’s fine if you forget your phone once in a while. Just… while the storm is going on, I want to make sure I know where you are. Okay?”

So Jeffrey did have an… unconventional taste in videos. That was very interesting indeed. Leo made a mental note and wondered what the best way to find out what other sorts of videos he would be willing to watch and enjoy. It wouldn’t do at all to scare his foster son off. Things like that tended to get reported to the state, and the last thing Leo wanted was the state breathing down his neck.

Of course Leo knew Jeffrey was joking. He wasn’t stupid after all; he just wanted to poke fun at his foster child, but it had failed. In the future, he would have to watch others, so he could learn to imitate them and pass as a normal person. “Oh. Of course. But aren’t you a little old for those movies now? I thought teenagers preferred other types of film.” He smirked to himself. Jeffrey always got so awkward whenever Leo mentioned sex. That was something they would have to work on, if Jeffrey would ever be able to follow Leo’s line of work. But that would be in the future, and it could wait. “the other guests here are hysterical fools, and I’m sure you could tell that just by looking at them. I hope you don’t believe everything you hear.”

Inside, however, Leo couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nervousness. They hadn’t even been trapped for a day and his nerves were already starting to go. He didn’t know how long he could hold out until he snapped. Hopefully, if and when he snapped, there would be time and space to get rid of the evidence.

[jeffreygordon]

"I'm responsible enough!" Jeffrey blurted, forgetting to carefully measure his thoughts before turning them into words. He'd practically taken care of himself his entire life, he spent most of him time alone, he'd dealt with homes that varied from neglectful to overbearing to boring to abusive. He was responsible, and he disliked the implication that he couldn't handle something as simple as a phone. Whining at Leo wasn't going to make a difference in how his guardian viewed him though. Jeffrey bit back his annoyance -and the slight strain of what was definitely not guilt at letting Leo down- and carried on with the conversation.

Besides, Leo didn't seem like he'd meant the first part. Or maybe he had, and he was just trying to smooth it over with the second comment, soften the blow. Either way it didn't matter. Leo's opinion of him only mattered in that it decided whether or not Jeffrey got to live with him on the Island. As long as Leo thought that Jeffrey was worth keeping overall, then it was fine.

Jeffrey frowned at Leo's comment about movies, taking a beat to long to realize what the older man was implying. As soon as he did though, his frown immediately cleared to a more blank and dumb expression. How was he supposed to respond to that? Yeah, he liked...those kinds of videos too. But that didn't mean he wanted to talk about them with Leo! Luckily for him, Leo moved the conversation on quickly, and Jeffrey was able to ignore that part of their talk. "Nah, they don't seem like they're saying anything worth believing," he agreed, with a shrug. "I think that for most of them this is the worst thing that's ever happened to them," he said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. If in the grande scheme of things, your worst problem was that you were stuck in a storm, then you were living a pretty damn good life. "How long do you think it'll last?" he asked. "I mean, has there been a storm this big here before?" There hadn't been anything on this scale in the two years that he'd lived with Leo, but that didn't mean anything. Two years was barely any time. 

[davidhenriebrasil]

[jeffreygordon]

good luck on the finals! <33

thank you! <3333

marc-szalinski replied to your post: ooc: jysk I have finals in a week so I might not...

MUST SUCK GOING TO A REAL SCHOOL

IT'S RLY HARD I HAVE TO SHOW UP TO CLASS AND STUDY AND LEARN???

thinksecond replied to your post: ooc: jysk I have finals in a week so I might not...

Three weeks break for you to not post in! YAY!

don't hate me cause you ain't me~

[metatextsfromlastnight]

[jeffreygordon]

ooc: jysk I have finals in a week

so I might not be around super often until late next week

I mean I have lots of studying and even MORE procrastinating to do so~

ily all tho! <3

[jeffreygordon]

now you owe me jacks sexiitimes~

[jeffreygordon]

When We Were Gone Astray || Jeffrey and Leo

[leoregan-blog]

“Do you have your phone on you? You could have called me. Before the reception went out, at least.” Leo shook his head and absently mused Jeffrey’s hair. That’s what fathers were supposed to do with their teenage sons, right? Or did it read more like the warning signs for child abuse? This was why Leo hated being out in places where there were other people when he was with his son. One on one, he was probably not a bad foster parent, as long as he held the real Leo Regan at bay, but in public he never quite knew how to behave, even after almost two years. Playing one character was hard enough, but two was more than even Leo could manage.

He sighed a little and shook his head. The kid could probably take care of himself better than most grown men could. Sometimes, Leo wondered if it just would have been easier to adopt a younger boy, or even an infant from the foster system. But no. Young children could not take care of themselves, were loud and messy and needy, and Leo doubted he could deal with one without snapping its scrawny little neck.

Still, for someone so tough and with such a dark past, and Leo was sure Jeffrey had to have a dark past, because otherwise he wouldn’t be so self-reliant and closed off, Jeffrey still could act like a much younger child at times. Apparently he, like nearly every boy, like Leo when he was young and had not grown into his mind, enjoyed watching things get destroyed. “Haven’t you ever watched demolition videos on the Internet? It’s actually pretty easy to take a bridge out. It’s not like they are military bases or anything. and when you have an old bridge?” Leo shrugged and put his hand on his foster son’s shoulder. It was meant to be a fatherly gesture, but like everything to do with Jeffrey, it felt forced and uncomfortable.

“Do you think this is a sign of the apocalypse, Jeffrey?”

[jeffreygordon]

"I left it in the room," Jeffrey admitted. "And by the time I thought about going back to get it and calling you, the reception was already out. Once it's back I'll do a better job of keeping track of my phone," he promised, decisively. It just wasn't something he thought about, even though he'd owned it for a while now. Especially not just to run downstairs for a few minutes. Who was going to text or call him within that short of a time span? He hadn't counted on the bridge collapsing, or for Leo to be out searching for him in the Inn. He made a mental note to get better at keeping his phone on him. Keeping Leo happy was the key to avoiding getting kicked out and sent to a new home. "Whatever, it all worked out in the end, so I guess it's all good, right?"

He had, in fact, watched demolition videos on youtube before. Who hadn't? Back in middle school all his friends "Yeah, but in those videos there's usually explosives and stuff on bridges in those videos. I didn't know wind could do the same thing." Or, in reality, he'd never really thought about it? But either way, the result was the same- he'd been more than a little surprised to see the bridge tumble down into the water. "Obviously it can though," he added, with a small laugh. 

He frowned at Leo's next few comments. No, he didn't think it was a sign of the apocalypse. He wasn't a little kid- he'd just been making a joke. Did Leo really think of him as the kind of person who'd look at a storm and think the world was ending? "Nah, I was just kidding. I just think it's just kind of funny because in movies they usually start off with a bridge or building collapsing in a storm," he explained. Jokes weren't very funny when you had to explain them, though. "Plus if you listen to some of the conversation's going on in this place, you'd think the world really was ending," he said, ruefully. Some of the things he'd overheard while looking for Leo were approaching hilarious. Yeah, the bridge was out, but they weren't all going to starve to death, and the communications would probably be up in a few days.

[jeffreygordon]

JACK IS PICKING CHARLIE UP BRIDAL STYLE AND TWIRLING HIM AROUND

JACK IS PICKING CHARLIE UP BRIDAL STYLE AND TWIRLING HIM AROUND

JACK IS PICKING CHARLIE UP BRIDAL STYLE AND TWIRLING HIM AROUND

JACK IS PICKING CHARLIE UP BRIDAL STYLE AND TWIRLING HIM AROUND

[jeffreygordon]

When We Were Gone Astray || Jeffrey and Leo

[leoregan-blog]

Belatedly, Leo realized he had never told Jeff where to meet him in case of emergency. It was hardly not understandable; why the hell would they need a contingency plan while at a conference with his father? Still, someone was bound to notice Jeff wandering around, or Jeff would innocently ask some stranger where his daddy was, and then shit would hit the fan. The last thing Leo wanted to deal with, other than the police and FBI and quite possibly Interpol, was Child Services. But then again, Jeff wasn’t exactly the type of teenager to go and ask an adult for help. Based on what the courts had released, the kid had more or less raised himself for most of his life, and Leo had grudging respect for him in that regards.

Still, Leo pulled his cellphone out to text his young charge. There was no reception. Of course there wasn’t any. “Fuck.” If small children were around, Leo couldn’t be bothered. Just to be safe, he checked. No, no small children in the near vicinity, just hysterical townspeople and tourists fretting about travel plans and getting money back for plane tickets and oh lord how will the children ever get to school. Leo had more realistic worries, like how there would be enough food and water for everyone if and when rescue never came, if there were police officers on the island and who they were, whether corpses floated if they had been dismembered, and where his foster son had gone.

With a sigh, Leo found a chair and sat down. An older lady glared at him, but he pretended not to notice. His legs were just as tired as anybody else’s, and why did she deserve special treatment just because she had managed to live longer than him?

A dark haired boy bobbed and weaved in the crowd. Only one sullen teenager walked like that, avoiding eye contact, flinching whenever anyone touched him. Rolling his eyes, Leo got up and started to push through the crowd towards Jeff. Maybe he stepped on a couple feet on the way, and maybe he almost knocked a toddler over, but they were not important, mere peasants to him. Jeff was heading in the opposite direction, and for a second, Leo thought he had lost him in the crowd. But then he popped up again, just a few feet away. With a well-placed hip check to one of the more pudgy guests, he managed to get a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Son, where were you? I’ve been worried sick, looking for you.” Leo pasted his fatherly grin on, the one that always got women to smile sweetly at him, the one that erased any suspicion.

[jeffreygordon]

He'd been moving through the slowly thinning crowd for a minute or two, and still no sign of Leo. Jeffrey frowned, stopping for a moment to look around him. Nothing yet. Shortly after he started moving forward again, a hand on his shoulder startled him and pulled him out of his thoughts. When he looked over, it was only Leo, thankfully.

His guardian had a habit of sneaking up on him, somehow always managing to move too quietly to detect. It was something Jeff had gotten used to while living with Leo. One thing he hadn't gotten used to was Leo's habit of calling Jeffrey "son". Son was usually reserved for kids you planned on keeping. From time to time Jeffrey wondered if he should start calling Leo dad. It would probably make the other man feel better about their relationship, and ensure that Jeffrey managed to stay in one place until he turned eighteen. But that thought never lasted long. Something about the word 'dad' stuck in his throat when he tried to apply it to any of his foster parents. They were all transient homes, and this one wasn't any different, even if he'd already been here for a few years.

"Sorry. I wanted to see what was going on down here," Jeffrey said, with a shrug. "I wasn't sure if you were still sleeping or anything," he added, hoping that would be enough to erase any hard feelings Leo might have about Jeffrey wandering downstairs in the middle of a crisis and disappearing. In Jeffrey's defense, he hadn't known it was a crisis when he'd left his room, and when the bridge had collapsed, his first thought hadn't been to run back upstairs and check in with Leo. He'd spent too long relying on himself for that to be his initial reaction to anything, honestly. 

"Did you see out there?" he asked, jerking his head back towards the window behind them. Dumb question, Leo obviously had, but whatever it was a conversation starter. And it changed the subject away from Leo being apparently worried sick about him. The idea that Leo had been searching for him made Jeffrey internally squirm with something scarily close to guilt. "I had no idea a storm could literally take out a bridge, except in lame apocalypse movies." To be fair, the world supposedly had less than a month to go. For all they knew, this storm was the start of the 2012 apocalypse. But somehow he doubted it.

[jeffreygordon]

When We Were Gone Astray || Jeffrey and Leo

It didn't seem like the storm was going to die down anytime soon. Apparently it wasn't content with keeping everyone stranded on the island, it wanted to keep them stuck inside the Mockingbird Inn too. Standing around and staring out the window at the remains of the bridge wasn't going to do anything, although plenty of people seemed to think that was the best choice of action.  A few of the more forward thinking ones were starting to break off into smaller groups, talking to each other with creased, worried expressions. Other people were trying their cell phones, probably calling friends, family, trying to see who was safe.

Jeffrey reached for his cell phone, only to realize belatedly he'd left it in his room upstairs. There wasn't anyone back at school he particularly wanted to check up on, -despite his two years on the island he barely spoke to anyone in his classes- but he should probably try to find his guardian, Leo, and see what he thought about the whole mess. He'd know what to do. 

Originally, they hadn't planned on staying here much longer. Once Leo's dad left for his conference, they were supposed to head back home. There was no way they were going back to the mainland anytime soon though, not with that downpour. Odds were they would just stay stuck in the Mockingbird Inn until it blew over. 

His guardian was in the hotel somewhere, but God knew where- Jeffrey hadn't thought to check base with him before wandering downstairs and getting caught up in the commotion. Leo had probably found his way into the main rooms of the Inn  though. Based on how crowded the place was, it felt like the entire island had found their way here. Didn't they have anywhere else to go?  Jeffrey turned and ducked through the crowds of people, heading back to his room. It'd be easier to find his phone and call Leo, instead of searching for him in the crowd.

He kept his gaze straight ahead, avoiding eye contact, not wanting someone to try and suck him into their conversation. Everyone was grouping together and talking, and all the conversations were the same. From what he could overhear as he walked past, no one had any idea what to do in the situation. Unfortunately another common theme in the conversations around him was the lack of cell phone service. 

Damn, so much for his plan to track Leo down that way. Guess he'd have to resort to actually looking through the mass of people on the ground floor, and hope he managed to push through all the bodies to find Leo. 

[all-the-crazy-things-i-love-blog]