Jonas Marx

"while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

[leonlioness]

Astrid glanced briefly over her shoulder to catch sight of her assistant following several paces behind. Still on the phone. “Are you on billboards, Monsieur Marx? I can’t recall ever seeing one,” she mused sarcastically, watching as two large oaken doors with golden detailing opened before them, vaulted ceilings greeting the pair as Astrid dismissed the attendants. “Business is doing quite well without my other distractions, I find,” she shrugged, a finger pressing a golden button to call the elevator as they reached the other side of the room. “Après vous,” she offered, stepping on only after Jonas had, standing in front of a retina scanner before illuminating the button for floor 5. Marx Tech, Astrid thought to herself with a grin.

[makingitmarx-blog]

“Probably because you’re too busy gazing into the blue eyes of lover boy.” Jonas quips with a chuckle, giving the woman an expression that communicated the fact that he knew about her and Avery. The design of this place was beautiful, something that he could appreciate for once without his face being plastered to his iPhone -- simultaneously trying to run an entire franchise on the go. After stepping into the elevator, he exhales. “I can imagine, it’s hard to think about clothes when you’re initial concern is surviving a dictator.” A shrug follows. “But I am ready to see what sort of new designs you have in store for me.”

[leonlioness]

“Demandez-leur de plier bagage le site aujourd'hui, alors. Je n'ai pas le temps pour inconviences,” Astrid’s voice rang through the marble floored boutique, handing her purse to the assistant waiting while directing him to finish the phonecall as she shoved the phone into his chest. Up and moving three boutiques from Rome, Venice, and Milan had driven clients back to Paris just as she’d arrived home, herself, and Jonas’ assertion that she seemed busy was a glorious underrepresentation of how swamped she was. 

“No one could forget about you, Jonas,” she lulled, sickeningly sweet with all the beauty of her French accent wrapped around the English words. “Come,” she instructed. “To the back.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“Yeah, but having my name plastered on billboards everywhere sort of helps with such things.” The man replies casually as he stands from the comfort of the sofa, following the woman’s stride. As they walk he can’t help but feel glad to see a familiar face. This was his first day doing something other drawing up prototypes in a sun-chair in nearly a month, since he was on a small vacation. “I can relate to your pain, I have to handle Rome’s aftermath on Marx Tech too.” Jonas states simply, something he’d normally be extremely stressed and agitated about but after working hard to find his balance again, he couldn’t slip back into that side of himself. 

[makingitmarx-blog]

@leonlioness

Boredom, The undesired byproduct of relaxation. Boredom is precisely what Jonas felt as he sat in the perfectly decorated waiting room of Astrid’s boutique. Brown eyes scanned the room, jumping from the furniture, to the fashion magazines on the table, and finally back to the window. Paris was beautiful -- it was a wonder he didn’t choose this place over Rome initially. By now lost in his head, Jonas was only brought back to reality by the clicking of heels making their way toward him. “You seem to be a very busy woman Astrid, a man could almost think you’d forgotten about him.” 

[codingxsinclair-blog]

Ethan watched Jonas. That was it. The extent of what the hacker could do when faced with a terrifyingly unbridled passion for aiding others. He observed the man, tablet pressed to his thigh as limbs dangled by his side. 

“What do you want to do?”

[makingitmarx-blog]

He was having one of his moments, where his mind was so bombarded that his body and his mouth moved at light speed. Jonas had a system a very efficient, well thought out system that worked fine until recent events. “I need to..” Finally he takes pause. Jonas breathes for a moment and just thinks before looking to the hacker. Then it hits him.

“I got it!” He proclaims. “Radios!” The man blurts out victoriously as if Ethan was supposed to have read his thoughts and immediately understood. When he sees the confused expression on his face, an explanation follows. “I’ve worked on radios my entire life before Marx tech, if I could get my hands on some simple hardware I can track soldier com signals, keep tabs, interfere with messages, and -- well you get the gist.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“I may be no match for these guards but Ricardo is not scaring me out of Rome. I have too much built here to just abandon ship -- the problem is just finding a way to actually be of some help to everyone.”

[claire-hooley]

“Giving up isn’t a choice,” Claire reminded. “That’s as as good as letting Ricardo win, and I don’t know about you but I won’t be letting that happen.” She hadn’t spent too much time at her apartment. Mainly to sleep, but even then there was too much on her mind to do more than a few hours of tossing and turning. “It can’t last forever.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“You mistake my physical exhaustion with a lack of willpower, which is false.” He responds to the girl in front of him, rather plainly. “If there is anyone who finds this entire situation upsetting and needs for it to be changed, it is me.” Jonas had never imagined coming to Rome would be just as stressful as staying in America, but he learned to call this place home and he had no intentions of changing that. Even if that meant he had to endure the destruction of one man’s deranged tyranny. “However, the human brain can only survive for so long in situations of high stress and trauma without error, which I cannot afford-- so my lack of action is merely a form of self preservation so that I may carry out action to my fullest potential in future situations. Ricardo will not win.”

[penelopexsinclair]

“Do what?” Penelope asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the man. She understood everyone wanted de Rossi gone, as well as his blasted soldiers but the man sounded like there was a personal vendetta or like he was about to die or something in that matter, and it was making Penelope restless. “The sooner we get out of here the better. We’re of no use hiding to anyone. They’ll find us eventually.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“Has the dodging bullets and angry armed men somehow evaded you? This is not normal , this is in no way okay!” Jonas responds rather annoyedly as he stands back up, his joints popping loudly and painfully as he did so. “I couldn’t agree more.” With little thought he begins to walk away, turning his back to Penelope. Those eyes, the man knew them too well. She looked at him with sympathy and that was unacceptable, it might as well be pure condescension in his book. He knew he was weak and not the best person to get stuck with in the midst of anarchy, but that didn’t mean he’d sit back and play the part. “Any word from Ethan?”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“These soldiers are relentless.” Jonas breathes out in frustration while leaning against the nearest wall, running wasn’t the biggest issue in his mind ironically. It was the fact that he wasn’t used to going this long without his tech, or at least brainstorming and sketching new prototypes and ideas. When running for your life there was much time for those things, and that pissed the man off. Add a few weeks with minimal sleep to the mix and you have one cranky Jonas. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” 

[lynn-sylvestre-blog]

“I’m running from them actually. Like everyone else is apparently.” She fidgeted with her hands a moment, not sure she wanted to go off running just yet. “I had to get my daughter back to her father and…god perfect timing right?”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“Apparently.” He agrees calmly before letting his eyes examine the woman before him, searching for anything that didn’t add up. But, as far as he could tell she was being honest and forthcoming. “Is she ok?” He inquires, his gaze falling to the worn brick of the wall nearby. “Your daughter.”

[quentin-flores-blog]

Quentin keeps surprisingly calm given the sudden situation, having been in this position one too many times. He glances at the solitary, dark eye of the gun’s muzzle, half-wondering if the man will still pull the trigger. He remains frozen in place, his face calm while his mind works a mile a minute. “But you didn’t, so you mind pointing that thing somewhere else? I’m not a soldier, man.” 

[makingitmarx-blog]

Jonas did not feel quite right about this man, maybe it was his blank stare or the unusual calmness in his tone, whatever it was it left the man on edge. It was obvious that he was not a soldier otherwise this conversation wouldn’t even be taking place. One of them would have a bullet in their skull. “I guess you aren’t.” He replies impassively, bringing the gun down with hesitation. “What direction did you come here from and where was the nearest batch of soldiers?”

[codingxsinclair-blog]

Watching the screen light up slightly, Ethan found himself captivated by the technology in front of him. It was a wonder more people didn’t have it, but he surmised instantaneously that most people could not appreciate the investment, nor would they be able to utilize the technology completely. People were remarkably daft and absolutely infuriating most days. Somewhere deep in the recesses of a mind humming with thoughts of the human race’s inadequacies was an affirmative to Jonas’ statement. If he would appreciate it, then Ethan would stay. The hacker turned to Jonas and gave a single, appreciative nod. Securing the city would be infinitely easier with a bit more to work with. “All I need is a 13 inch screen and a keyboard.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

Upon seeing Ethan nod his head, Jonas was already walking to where the locked closet was containing various assortments of his gear and tech. The room itself is normally used for investors or anyone that the company wants to keep in their good graces and thus they give them a free sample of Marx Tech’s latest and greatest. Though the machines would be much more practical and helpful in the current context and circumstances. “I know it’s in here...” He mumbles, speaking more to himself than to the man behind him. And suddenly he finds the box. “Alright, we’re in business.” Jonas states excitedly before placing the box on the empty portion of his table, a small distance to the right of where he sat. There was always a sense of joy to feel a finished product, to see others enjoying the hard work and thought he put into creating such things. His hands worked quickly to set up the device and have it booted in an impressive two minutes and thirteen seconds. “Isn’t she a beauty?” Jonas remarks as the screen lights up revealing the desktop. “A thousand gigs of RAM, custom 4k resolution and display, standard 2tb storage capacity, seam--” Rambling. Stroking his chin, the man stops mid sentence to allow Ethan to do his thing. “I apologize, the city is in danger and I am talking about my own work.” After clearing his throat, Jonas then takes a seat and returns to business on his laptop. There’s a thought in his mind but for some reason he has trouble expressing it. “I --” a pause “I hope that.. you can use my work to .. to help make a difference, is all.”

[lynn-sylvestre-blog]

“I was trying to get around,” Lynn quickly defended, her trembling hands raising in a show of surrender. Her heart was racing in her chest, thudding away like a freight train. “I’m sorry.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“Don’t worry about it.” He responds calmly, placing his weapon back in it’s designated spot in his pants before looking around for any other threats. “You just startled me. I thought you were one of them.”

[codingxsinclair-blog]

Wandering the streets securing the locations of the few people about whom Ethan had the presence of mind to worry was far from his brightest idea, but there was no way to silence that part of his mind once it’d begun to itch. He would never be able to focus on anything if he hadn’t made sure of their safety. Ethan leveled Jonas with a gaze that almost appeared grateful or flattered. The owner of quite possibly the best tech in the industry had sounded words that were simple and yet the greatest compliment Ethan could think of, though he wasn’t thinking long. “I can stay with you for a while,” Ethan offered, unlocking his phone with a series of security codes. “I have whereabouts on threats.” He pinched the screen to widen the area for a second, going back to their immediate location seconds later. “You can come with me to a safer, less quiet location if you want later.” Following the line of Jonas’ arm, Ethan nodded. “Thank you.” He walked over to the counter, placing his phone on the mat.

[makingitmarx-blog]

After closing his thermos securely and placing it back on the table, Jonas finds his gaze back in Ethan’s direction where there is a slightly peculiar expression written on his features. It was a positive sort of peculiar though, emotional language as his therapist would put it was not Jonas’ strong suit, unsure quite what to do he nods at the man before sitting back down. He appreciated Ethan for various reasons, his obvious skill only at the bottom of the list. There was a sort of connection that he had with his technology, a balance even, and Jonas found himself constantly frustrated with others at Marx Tech for not being able to see it. They always saw two separate things, either Jonas or his technology. Ethan Sinclair, however, he knew of the intricacies and value that existed within the combination of a human mind and endless series of codes, a symbiosis of sorts. Blinking up from his gaze on the keyboard, the man replies to Ethan’s offer to stay. “Yes. I’d appreciate that.” He speaks, an awkward smile forming on his lips. “I have some extra gear here if you’d like to use something with a bit bigger than a 5 inch screen.”

[codingxsinclair-blog]

Ethan understood. He did. He reminded himself five times that he understood without ever moving from where he stood. The gun had been placed down, but Ethan could see the ghost of it as though the barrel were still pointed directly at him. He wasn’t a soldier. Ethan could never be a soldier. Static. Jonas made mention of his servers and Ethan looked up. “I got around your protocols well enough to know you were still here. Came to make sure you were alive.” Jonas couldn’t risk doing the one thing that would keep Ethan out: shut it all down. He ran a tech company and everything needed power, so Ethan exploited it. He shook his head. “I think I’m okay. Are you?”

[makingitmarx-blog]

Jonas had been alone in here for over 14 hours already, the voices of his mind being the only company he was offered in that time, so to see Ethan was a bit of a relief. Apparently the man had gotten into some sort of altercation, judging by the dried blood and fresh bruising on his features -- but Jonas knew better than to ask their origin. “If there’s anyone who can get past my tightest security it’s you.” He responds with a short chuckle, thinking back to how impressed he was by Ethan’s skills during the competition some time ago. “Physically I’m fine, I haven’t gotten found yet so that’s good. The only downside is I’m stuck in this room for an undefined amount of time, my anxiety is through the roof and I am terrified at even the sound of a pin dropping.” Jonas sips his coffee to cut himself off, his therapist's words about over sharing ringing in his mind. He then clears his throat and points at a black board that was sitting upon the counter. “Charging mat. If you need it.”

[mrglenn-johnson-blog]

“I ain’t sneakin’ man. I mean, I’ll apologize if that’s what you thought I was doing.” Glenn let his hand rest on the handgun sticking out of the waistband of his pants, if only partially to let this man know they were on equal playing grounds. “I was trying to find some shelter for the time being. Got sorta crazy out there on the streets. Some sort of riot.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

Brown eyes immediately travel down to rest upon the gun that the man obviously wanted him to see, letting out a quiet exhale before bringing his own weapon back. “No apologies necessary, if you wanted to kill me you probably would’ve done so by now. I’m just on edge with all of this craziness.” Jonas responds with a calm tone, nodding for Glenn to follow him as he walked ahead. He could hear in his voice and see in his eyes that there was no ulterior motives or deception so consequently there was no reason to leave him cold heartedly out in the midst of danger. “Well you can stay here until the crazy blows over.” Jonas responds while locking the door, turning to Glenn and pointing at a thermos nearby. “Coffee?” 

[codingxsinclair-blog]

Frozen. Ethan ran through twenty-six ways to get out of the situation, but none of them left him quite as unscathed as he’d been walking here. His phone shook in his hand, the screen with Jonas’ location going black from lack of use as Ethan stared down the barrel of a gun. “I-” he breathed shakily, swallowing the terror causing his lips to tremble. “…checking on you.”

[makingitmarx-blog]

Panic had induced a sense of paranoia within Jonas that seemed to blur the lens in which he saw everything, which made it so that by the time he saw and recognized the hacker it was already too late. It was as if muscle memory from his self defense courses kicked in as a response to the fear. Exhaling deeply, the man calmly puts down his weapon before speaking to Ethan. “I apologize for the gun.” Jonas states blankly. “Self defense.” Afterward, he makes his way back to the small table which had only a laptop, a thermos, and four small boxes of nerds candies. “I imagine you tried to contact me but didn’t get a response because I have the servers on lockdown, no incoming or outgoing signals of any kind. Thank you for coming to check though.” The man stretches his neck, faint popping noises resulting. “Are you alright? Is there anything you need?”

[makingitmarx-blog]

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jonas inquires angrily, his sweaty palms gripping tightly to the pistol he was holding, aiming right for the chest of the strange person. Upon learning that the person was not here for his life -- or better yet his life’s work, he releases them. “I could’ve killed you, ya know? All this chaos going on you can’t sneak up on a man like that.”