One single fact
If you could find out one single fact about every person you met, what fact would you want to know, and why?The happiest moment in their life. I know, that makes me sound like a total sap, but see, I get to know most of the other crap anyway. When you meet people - well, when I meet them, or did during the majority of my life - it's in a fighting
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To: H.Osborn@oscorp.net
Subject: Renegotiations.
And here I thought between three different fathers and a stepfather wannabe (i.e. annoying hanger-on of my mother), I had it covered. At least none of mine gave me the silent treatment to teach me lessonsunless the getting kicked out because of the three months under the sea and later because of Cordy counts. Sorry, man.
Tucker: I see he's being a dick to Kara now in her journal. Sheesh. He's older than both of us, if you can believe that, and I know I'm not exactly Mr. Maturity myself, but at least I never threw a fit on the lines of "how dare you have a toy when I'm the only one supposed to have one". Look, just give me plausible deniability about you and Kara, okay? I meant it when I said you should marry and retire to the Fijis, because that would be way better for her than hanging around us lot, but that doesn't mean I can encourage you to do that now when she's still sixteen. No matter how many layers she has.
Personal soap operas: Cordelia couldn't make up her mind for a while (thought that wasn't her fault, as I found out later, but that's another freaky story) between... someone else and me and kept changing it, so I know a bit about how that must have sucked for you. Now Peter is the one who sounds a bit like Angel. Actually like all my fathers. Getting lied at "for your own good" is just infuriating, and the worst thing about it is that you start to join the liar club yourself and do the same thing sooner or later. Two sets of memories being a case in point. Though they keep me from committing suicide, I guess, so I suppose I'm grateful.
Future Source of Profit: I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to come out of the closet to begin with. At least tell me you're not going to tell Ophra how I originally proposed, Osborn.
No.3 is the father who actually raised me. He came back from the dead just recently (don't ask), and that gives me another chance to make things right for him. His life was pretty much ruined by my natural parents and he sort of killed himself because of me, so that's a not so minor miracle and really, really important.
So do you get nightly visits by people who climb up the wall on a regular basis just so you can practice your aim? And here I thought I was special.
Hamlet Senior: your choice, and yes, that was an offer. My mother - the not-vampiric-one - thinks that already, without hacking into my correspondance. I spent most of the drive from Monterey back to Los Angeles trying to convince her on the phone that "detective" isn't a euphemism for rent boy. My sister Mere just thinks you'll forget all about me if you meet her. I'll check out the local clergy and shamans in case you change your mind.
Neutralized scandal: okay. All kidding aside. On the one hand, thanks. I do appreciate it, and I'm sure Kara does. On the other... Wolfram & Hart is bad news. As in: major bad news. That Slayer I mentioned who would have wiped the floor with me? They tried to hire her as an assassin once. The first time I visited their building because I had some questions, they tried to vivisect me. And the reason why I'm walking around with a double set of memories is because they offered Angel a deal which ended up getting most of his co-workers killed. So be careful, okay? And whatever you do, keep Kara away from them as far as possible.
Worried,
Connor
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To: abetterlie@livejournal.com
Subject: Which of your surnames do I take or are you going for Connor Osborn?
It could have been worse and I know this. Ouch on the kicking out. Mostly my father just kept sending me to boarding schools to be done with me and then I'd promptly get kicked out. After five schools he had no choice but to let me live at home and I attended public school for my senior year.
Tucker: I had to restrain myself from commenting to him in her journal because frankly as long as she wishes to handle it on her own, it's her business and not mine. I'm trying to be respectful of their relationship, but there is no reason for him to be a jackass to her. You'd think he was the jilted boyfriend and not the guy who is just sulking because Kara decided to stop waiting around for him to pat her on the head. I really don't like the guy. I'm not going to propose to a sixteen year girl, girlfriend or not. I'm into her, but trust me I'm working on restraint. Kara is worth waiting for. That's all I really have to say about it.
I created my own prison: Yeah that had to bite. You said your dad kicked you out after Cordy...he wasn't the other guy was he? So since we're being straight with each other I will own up to the fact that I only dated MJ to catch Peter's attention. He loved her from the day they first met each other back when they were kids. He wouldn't make a more on me her so I did what every rich kid who thinks they own the world does. I made my move. Maybe she loves him, I don't know. I will say I can't think of two people more deserving of each other than MJ and Peter. All I ever wanted was the truth. If he'd stayed with me that night when I caught him, wearing the mask, dropping off my father's body, things would have been different. He broke my trust and I don't know. Like I said. They deserve each other.
An engagement party to plan: I would never spill the intimate details of the night you swept my off my feet by proposing. That is our secret, wonder boy, until the day you try and leave me for another and I need to get my vengeance on.
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You'd be surprised. Doctor Octavious showed up once and held me over the balcony to force me to do his bidding. Good times. Peter can crawl up walls too. You're still special, wonder boy. No need to get insecure.
Father Figure: Speaking of shamans. Ok. I need to talk to someone about this and this is going to sound sad and pathetic, but you're pretty much my only friend that I could talk to. I trust you with it but I ask that you keep it between us until I figure out how to bring this up to Kara. I came across Kara talking to that shaman kid, that looks like you, Mike.
Apparently past versions of me in other dimensions have died because they decided to listen to their father's spirits or whatever telling them avenge their death by killing Peter. I had the chance to kill Peter the night I took off the mask and I couldn't. It's Pete. I may hate him, but it's Pete.
Apparently in these dimensions my father has a bad history of not staying dead either. Fuck. I am sure you can imagine that this sudden influx of information is freaking me out. I won't experiment with his drugs. Especially since I've been told that is how the other versions of me snapped with a mental break down, killed people and then died from the poison of said green goo drugs.
Mike suggested I get rid of it...but here is the thing Connor and you're probably going to flip out or whatever, but I'm kind of hoping maybe you understand. The night I found out about Pete he didn't tell me why he killed my dad. I let him go anyway. That's the night my dad decided to appear to me and demand I avenge him and when I tried to get him to leave me alone I stumbled into his secret lab.
All my life I thought that OsCorp was his legacy but then suddenly I am looking at the Green Goblin mask and a lab full of enhancement drugs and weapons and that fucking glider. I knew then why Peter had to kill him. I also knew that it had been my father who tried to kill me that day. I couldn't destroy the lab for a variety of reasons. The biggest two being, 1-I know nothing about this stuff. I was the worst possible student when it came to Science and I was afraid if I tried to burn it down or whatever that I would just end up doing more harm than good by poisoning the water supply or blowing up half of NY. 2- It's all I had left of the real him. It's a reminder of my genetics and what could happen if I ever let myself forget there are consequences to my actions. It's all I have left of him.
What do I do, man? Do I trust the new law firm to dispose of things? Because if you are right and they are shady, which I believe because no one has that much power without having ulterior means, couldn't they just use it to create their own successor to the green goblin mask? I can trust them with my money and cleaning up a couple of scandals, but this stuff can kill people, has killed people, and I can't take it on my conscience. Any advice would be appreciated.
Kara heard enough from Mike that she probably thinks she's dating a monster. I'm just waiting for her to confront me with what she found out.
New legal representation: I won't get too involved with them. They're just handling the OsCorp stuff and well I don't really care all that much about the business. Long story. I'll keep everything you'd told me in mind though.
Hoping the serial killer need for world domination gene skips a generation,
Harry
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To: H.Osborn@oscorp.net
Subject: Why can’t we take a new name altogether, like Summers?
Though I’m becoming somewhat fond of Osborn. No, the first one was kind of an anticlimax, because I was expecting him to kill me. I had dreamt about that all summer. It was the second one that stung. Just out of curiosity, what are boarding schools like? The guy who provided me with happy-go-lucky memories had absolutely no intel on that, and there weren’t any where I actually grew up. Were you trying to get kicked out or did that sort of happen?
Tucker: my thoughts precisely. Just be careful of any rats in the near future. He can do some conjuring tricks, and that’s how he retaliated against my mother’s annoying hanger-on, only the guy who actually got bitten was his lawyer. (The hanger-on’s lawyer, not Tucker’s.)
Screwed-up relationships: in the interest of owning up, I’m going off strike here. Yes, Angel was the other guy. Not that he actually ever dated Cordy (as far as I know). But he was in love with her back then. She was also his best friend, and whether or not she was in love with him I don’t know, she never told me. But as I said before, she was the first woman I ever fell in love with, and just when I thought I’d never have a chance, she - well. You know. Anyway. Considering what you told me, there are some weird parallels there, between you and Angel, again. And Cordy and Peter, perhaps. I don’t know him, but just for the record, Angel almost killed Cordelia, but didn’t, and now they’re friends again.
Speaking of weird parallels, though: the other woman I fell in love with - other than Tracy, who was the girlfriend I got courtesy of a W&H sorceror and his fake memories - used to be in love with my other father. And before you say anything, I don’t know what it is with me and my relations and the people who date them. I truly don’t. Did I mention we’re all pretty screwed up?
Hell Hath No Fury: I should have guessed your millionaire types are all possessive. But okay, I’ll try to say monogamous.
Profit: If they actually give you that kind of money for printing the insanity - yes, sure. I’ll soon have to pay for college myself anyway, and so it could come really handy. Am curious what Kara says about splitting it, though.
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from: H.Osborn@oscorp.net
Subject: How about Keating just for the sense of irony?
The question is have you grown fond of being called wonder boy yet? I can see why that would sting. I never got kicked out. My father could be in the same room and pretend I didn't exist. He was pretty talented. Boarding schools are like college in a way except you know those rich frat boy types that you probably wanted to kick the shit out of? 90% of the people in boarding schools are that type. I'm serious. Mostly it was a bunch of rich punks with a sense of entitlement and more daddy and mommy issues than you can imagine. I purposely got myself kicked out because I kept thinking he'd want me to stay. It took five schools for him to give up. Point set match to me.
Tucker: I'm standing back and letting him make an ass of himself. He's being transparent and I have confidence that Kara will see him for what he is. Now if she chooses to remain loyal to him despite the fact that he is a prick and apparently wants her for his harem, then I will just bite my tongue and respect the fact she truly is one of a kind when it comes to loyalty.
Next time on Jerry Springer: Wow. That had to be tough. You know the I never game that we won't speak of? I was so pissed because you saw right through to my core issue. See, my father adored Peter. Like if he could have found a way to adopt him or sacrificed me to make Peter his, he'd have done it without a second thought. Peter was everything my father wanted me to be and it's strange how it turned out to be his golden boy that took him out. I sometimes wonder if the reason I wanted Peter so bad was so my father couldn't have him. You and I should book a family issues tour of talk shows to go with our book tour.
Well, I think life has a sick sense of humor, man. I mean, I'm guessing you never saw either of them as a mother figure, but hey if you did I've heard of stranger things. It seems like maybe genetics came into play on both sides if that makes sense. I'm guessing you are at least somewhat like both of your fathers, one who raised you aka nurture and the other who is bound to you by genetics, aka nature. It would make sense that you would be attracted to the same type of woman they would be attracted too and if you possess certain qualities they have, then it makes sense that the woman or in your case women would be attracted to you as well.
You know the how it goes. They say boys are looking for a girl just like mom and girls want a guy just like dad. I don't know if that is true, but now you have me trying to remember my mother and debating how much she is like the people I've been attracted too. Thanks a lot, dude.
Mine: I just had this talk with Kara. I'm an only child and hopelessly spoiled. I don't share well with others, but I do believe in pampering the object of my affection or you know my friends.
Money for nothing (hah): I will bring it up to her. She's sixteen so I'm sure the mature thing for me to do would be to put her share in a trust. I don't know. I don't like the idea of treating my girlfriend like a child. Yes, I know I just left myself wide open for a variety of remarks. Have at it.
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I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe the other guys and I should work out a schedule so we don’t crash into each other when we break in your penthouse.
Destiny: is only good for ruining your life. Trust me. I ended up in a hell dimension because a friend of Angel’s thought he’d save me from some stupid prophecy that said Angel would kill me. Turned out a demon named Sahjahn faked that one because there was that other prophecy which said I would kill him (Sahjahn, not Angel). And the kicker? Both became true anyway, but they wouldn’t have if the first guy would have just left well enough alone. So screw what other versions of you did in other dimensions. You don’t have to do the same thing. (How reliable is that Mike person as a source of information anyway? I don’t trust doppelgangers as a rule. My family has a really bad history of those, especially when they’re the Jekyll & Hyde variation in the same body.) Seems to me you already chose a different path by not killing Peter. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to continue to do that - make your own choices.
Green Goblin stuff: I suck at chemistry, too, but I know you don’t leave tools to become super powerful to Wolfram and Hart. I think you’re dead on, they’d just use it to create their own version. They’re always on the look out for obedient superpowered tools. Can’t you fill the lab with concrete on your own, though? Though that doesn’t help with the part where this is your father’s heritage, I suppose. Perhaps this is totally crazy, but how about this: if he’s really around as a ghost or actually comes back from the dead, than you don’t need the stuff as a reminder. You’ve got the man himself. To talk back to or make up with or reject or whatever, but he’s the point, not the green goo drug.
Kara: is living with two monsters right now, and loves at least one of them. I’m not joking or venting my parents issues. No matter how many people your dad killed, mine had several centuries time to perfect the art. And my mother had two centuries more. I’m not talking about needing blood for nourishment, either; I mean they really liked to torture and kill. When I said they ruined my other father’s life, I didn’t mean they sicced the taxman on him. They killed his wife and children, just for kicks, and that’s putting it mildly. I grew up hearing every fucking detail. But. They changed. And if Kara can see the people they are now, and accept them, and love as I said at least one of them, do you really think that what some stranger says some alternate version of you did in another dimension will change how she feels about you, who hasn’t done anything to begin with? Just tell her, man. You’ll see.
About the other thing. In one version of my life, I never had any friends. I had people who loved me, and people whom I loved, but that’s not the same thing. In the other, I had friends, but they weren’t real - I’ve tried to keep them after regaining the true memories, but it didn’t work out. Too many things I couldn’t say to them, and sometimes they freaked out even when I didn’t say anything, over stuff I did. So condition A applies again, and - I’d like to change that. Not to go all emo on you, as Kara would put it, but I think I need a friend as much as you do. Though for the record and as an advance warning, I’m not exactly the poster boy for sanity. I didn’t have centuries, but I’ve done things. As in: killed, and not for self-defense or to rescue people, either. I messed up so badly, and I’m still trying to find out a way to make up for it, hence, in part, the detective gig. Because that get-out-of-jail-free card Kara referred to on the flight just isn’t enough.
Hoping the same thing,
Connor
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Scheduling: I'd tell you to call ahead so we can arrange a meeting to work out who can stalk me when, but that would take the surprise out of it. Personally I hope you all show up on the same night and have to fight it out. It will make me feel wanted and I promise I'll be hoping that you win. Unless Kara arrives too and then I will be hoping she kicks your ass.
Dimensional doubles are a bitch: Mike seemed to know what he was talking about. He knew about Peter and my father and details about me that most people wouldn't be able to know. I think we all change destiny with every choice we make. If we choose to go right instead of left it does make a difference. how big of a difference who knows, but a difference none the less. I know that I can't allow myself to self destruct the way the other dimensions versions of me did, but I also know that I excel at self destruction.
Goblin stuff: I need to get rid of it, but I have to figure out the best way. Concrete could very well be the best method, but I've never had to concrete a wall before and it's not exactly a project I can trust contractors to come in on.
Kara: We've discussed it and she's been amazing about it actually. Her only concern is that I don't die on her and as I have no intention of testing the drugs on myself that shouldn't be a problem. Of course I didn't point out that I can't guarantee to not die by other methods.
Friendship: Sounds like your family tree is pretty interesting. I'm not going to judge you for the things you've done, Connor. I've got things in my past that I'm not proud of either. No, I didn't kill someone, but I could have and there are times I still wish I had. That I wish I could have done that for my father because maybe it would give him peace. I'm not him and you're not your parents. They may have the colorful past and leave us big shoes to follow, but personally I think we're better off not worrying so much about becoming like them and just learning to be comfortable in our own skin.
I say this fully realizing that it's easier said than done. I think one of the reasons I feel like I can say whatever to you is that you may be the one person, outside of Kara, who gets what I mean and for entirely different reasons than she does. Kara loves without condition and accepts people for who they are. It's something I admire about her and hope to someday learn to do as well.
I think the trick is maybe learning to stop hating ourselves first. I don't know. We can ask Jerry Springer or Dr. Phil on our tour.
Basically this is me saying yeah we're friends.
Harry.
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