Old Friends (For John Andrew Far)

[vanisher]

After his long, frightening confrontation with Shere, Flash just had to get away for awhile to think things over. What his older neighbor told him earlier was really upsetting and the fact his words were true made the experience more so. He shivered thinking about it. Desiring nothing more than to wipe the image from his mind, Flash retreated to the park.

Feeling upset he did something he thought he'd never do due to his eisoptrophobia, he sat down at the pond's edge and stared at his reflection. He didn't want to, but he had to make sure of something and besides he promised himself he wouldn't look too long. At first he thought he looked normal, but when he noticed a sudden change in his eyes he let out a startled cry and nearly fell over backwards. "No!" He exclaimed, letting out a startled gasp. "It cannot be!" Glaring at the pond, he crawled over to it along his belly. "No, there must be some mistake. It's been so long since I last looked at my reflection that I must have forgotten how to use it. Yes, that must be it. I'm sure," he reassured himself. But, when he looked back into the pond's water he knew it was no mistake. His once beautiful green eyes had turned as yellow as that blasted parrot's. Agitated, Flash splashed the water with his outstretched hand and just sat there, silently fuming.

'I never wanted to play host to any Disney character especially Iago's. I am no villain's accomplice! I'm one of the good guys. So, in that way I'm different. Although he does turn good in the sequel, but bah who cares? Thanks to my idiot neighbor, Shere I can no longer deny it. I'm Iago's host and I have no idea how to unlock him not that I want to. But oh that blasted tiger's right in a way I already have unlocked Iago, which is why I can mimic as well as him. Just don't have him all the way unlocked otherwise I could use his flying ability to get as far away from this dump as possible,' Flash thought to himself with a shrug. 'Eh, what could it hurt? No one is around might as well try to shapeshift into that loud mouthed bird then I can get out of here and never have to see that tiger again,' he told himself.

Checking again to make sure no one was watching, Flash sat down in a soft bed of grass, closed his eyes and began to meditate. 'Hope this works. I don't know how to awaken characters,' he thought as he meditated. He hoped no one would come walking by and interrupt him, but knowing his luck it was bound to happen. But, hopefully by then he would have awakened Iago fully.

[jafar]

The park was not one of John’s favourite haunts. He was more of an indoors person, always preferring the comfort and familiarity of his office than any green space. But today his office was like an oven, and he couldn’t bear being in it for a moment longer. The sunlight had been aimed directly through his window all day, and since he’d been teaching almost non-stop from nine o’clock that morning, he hadn’t realised how hot the room was getting. So when he’d walked in at the end of the day to get a bit of marking done, he was quite overwhelmed and had to leave again almost immediately. Outside wasn’t really much better, but there was a light breeze that was just cutting the edge off the heat and making it slightly more tolerable.

The forty-one year old let his eyes flicker over the other people in the park: a woman pushing her son and gurgling little baby noises at him; a couple holding hands and smiling as they walked together under the shade of the trees; a boy leaning over the edge of the pond, apparently to look at his own reflection; an old woman sat by the other side of the pond, throwing bread to the ducks; a group of gi- Stop! John obediently stopped walking, quite surprised by the outburst from the fellow occupant of his mind (which would sound very strange if it wasn’t for the fact that most people in Memory were in fact inhabited by a Disney character, and a statement like that made perfect sense… yes, it’s odd).

That boy, by the pond, Jafar continued, pulling their eyes back to the boy who was now crawling towards the pond on his belly. John raised an eyebrow, quite confused as to why they were staring at the boy who was acting so strangely.
…Yes? John thought back at him, his bemusement evident in his tone.
Is he in one of our classes? the strangely serious voice returned. It was unlike Jafar to be so focused on something as trivial as some random young man in a park.
No, I don’t think so, he looks like he’s in college, John replied after re-examining the boy, who now seemed to be talking to himself. Why exactly are we looking at him?
Jafar was silent again. I’m sure I recognise him…
Well if I don’t, then you can’t... unless…
Jafar’s interest peaked at the ‘unless’. Yes?
Do you recognise him from Aladi-
DON’T… say that name.
Alright, alright, keep your hair on... our hair on. Do you recognise him from your movie?
There was another short pause. Perhaps… I want to find out.
Before John could object, the two of them started heading towards the boy who now seemed to be meditating. Urgh, why must you only recognise the weirdoes?

They stopped just behind the boy, John folding his arms and raising an eyebrow, still not overly impressed by the young man before him. The man’s eyes were closed, so John took the opportunity to examine him more closely. Black hair, quite pale, long sleeved clothes despite the weather (though it was perhaps hypocritical of John to point that out seeing as he was still wearing his suit, minus the jacket which was thrown over his arm). His appearance didn’t really give much away; it could still be any of the male characters from the movie, from the genie to Ala- sorry, the street rat.

By this point, Jafar was getting very agitated, trying to urge John to talk to the boy, to get some kind of information from him to find out his actual identity, rather than just guessing. John did have to point out that it wasn’t completely normal to go up to someone and say ‘hi, the voice in my head recognises you, could you tell me if there is someone from a Disney film living in you that might want to have a chat with him?’ Granted it was slightly more normal than in most other places, but it would still be better to come up with a topic of conversation first.

All this had only taken a couple of seconds, but John was starting to feel awkward about staring at this boy. Without any particular goal in mind, he decided to start up a conversation anyway. He could be quite sociable when he wanted to be, and could probably charm his way through the lack of topic for a while. “Excuse me,”

[/color] John said, his mind working over time, with Jafar’s assistance, to try and come up with something to end that sentence with. “I’m sorry to interrupt your… meditating… but do you happen to know what time it is?”[/color] He pushed his watch further up his arm and pulled his shirt sleeve over it as he spoke. Ok, so time wasn’t the most thrilling topic, and it was quite sad that two minds working as hard as possible couldn’t figure out something better, but it was a good excuse to get talking, and he could probably come up with something better later. Who knows? Maybe he’d work it out in the few words of dialogue he’d receive from his little question. Unlikely, but possible.
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_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 874
Notes?![/color]:[/b] Sorry this took so long. But hey, no exams now, I should be more free ^^.
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

And then it happened. It had taken a few minutes longer than Flash's previous guess, but it happened nonetheless. A man's voice had interrupted his meditating and before he got anywhere too. The stranger's rather abrupt question repeated inside Flash's head, 'do you happen to know what time it is?' A low grumble escaped from Flash's throat. Indeed, Flash knew perfectly well what time it was for he had glanced at his own watch before meditating, but Flash was in no mood for chit chat and he was annoyed at the man for interrupting him. "It's time for you to go buy a watch," Flash sarcastically grumbled without opening his eyes and looking at the man. "Now please go away. Can't you see I'm busy?" Flash told the man, agitated at having his meditation interrupted. 'Honestly, is everyone in this stupid town rude?' Flash thought to himself.

Furthermore, Flash found it odd that the stranger was asking him about the time when most people wore watches. Wondering if this was just a ploy to get him talking, Flash cautiously opened one eye and glanced up at the stranger that loomed over him. First thing he looked at was the man's arm. His eye searched for a watch of any kind, but saw none. 'Odd,' he thought with some curiousity.

After that he opened his other eye and looked the watchless guy over. This guy was...how should he describe him? Tall and thin, dressed in a suit. Not many professional jobs were available in Maine, so Flash deduced he was a teacher. Flash tried to recognize him as one of his college professors, but couldn't. In fact, he couldn't say if he ever saw this man before. Realizing, he may have been staring at the stranger for too long, Flash, embarassed turned away. "I'm sorry. I was curious is all. Are you...are you a teacher?" Flash, curious, asked.

[jafar]

Why that insolent- John couldn’t help but snicker; partly at the boy’s surprisingly angry response to his question, and partly at Jafar’s indignation at being spoken to that way. He had to physically grit his teeth to stop Jafar yelling out some angry retort that would most likely have started with ‘Do you know who you’re talking to?’ and ended with ‘pathetic street rat’. Because apparently that was the only insult Jafar could come up with under pressure; he wasn't exactly eloquent when his emotions got the better of him.

The smirk remained on his face long after his laughter had stopped. “Oh, I am sorry,” he droned, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he let Jafar control his words to get a little bit of revenge for the boy’s attitude. “I didn’t realise how important sitting very still in the grass was to young people nowadays, Please, continue.”

[/color] He waved a hand at him, signalling him to go back to his meditation, and turned round to walk away.

He only took a couple of steps before stopping and turning back to him, one eyebrow raised with the smirk still implanted on his lips in an almost teasing way, as though he was waiting for the boy to call him back. “Of course,” he added, back in control of his own voice now, “if you did fancy talking to someone a little more exciting than yourself, I’d be happy to offer my services. Though I don’t doubt you probably enjoy your own company, at least more than anyone else does if you speak to them the way you just did to me.”[/color] Though that jibe was mostly for fun (just a bit of humour on John’s part), he did intend to get the message across that he wouldn’t tolerate behaviour like that, even if John had worded it in quite an arrogant way. He was quite a bit more cocky than Jafar, but the two of them both enjoyed toying with their… prey, so Jafar never really reeled him back for reactions such as this one. John could almost feel him rolling his eyes though.

Was that really necessary?[/color][/b][/i] Jafar asked, once John had finished his little show.
Weeeell, probably not, but it was fun.[/i][/color]
I’ll do the rest of the talking, shall I?[/i]
If you must,[/i][/color] John replied with a sigh, thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets, making sure his jacket was safely over his arm before doing so. He couldn’t help but notice that the young man was staring rather intently at him. It was slightly hypocritical of him to be bothered by this, since it was exactly what John had been doing only a minute earlier, but he was kind of hoping he would look away soon, or at least speak.

The boy seemed to realise his social error and looked a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I was curious is all. Are you...are you a teacher?" That was all? He was trying to work out his occupation? The easiest way would have been to ask rather than stare, which, to be fair to him, was what he was doing now. John’s expression softened slightly and his smirk became more of a smile. Remembering what they’d decided on earlier, he let Jafar word the next part of the conversation, though in all honesty he probably would have said the same thing. “Yes actually, I teach Sorcery at Classic Academy. Professor John Far, pleased to meet you. And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?” He almost stumbled over the word ‘pleasure’, not sure that was the right word to describe this encounter. Nevertheless, he held out his hand for the young man to shake, partly hoping he would have the manners to stand up but not holding out much hope on that front.
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 637
Notes?![/color]:[/b] This one's more of a normal length. And John's being a bit of a jerk at the moment, but he'll cheer up soon.
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

Flash watched the stranger who addressed himself as John Far warily. Flash wasn't so sure about him. He couldn't explain it, but there was definitely something about this guy he both liked and hated. Flash couldn't make any sense out of it either, but that feeling was there all the same. It almost made him want to directly ask who his character was as he suddenly felt like he knew this guy forever or at least from somewhere from before like a past life thing.

When John offered his hand, Flash still unsure, slowly stood up and cautiously shook John's outstretched hand. It felt cold and clammy to the touch. "Oh, the name's Flash. Flash Mcgavin. I uh well I go to the local college. I'm a student there..." Flash nervously revealed. Nervously, Flash reached into his pocket and took out a cigarette and without even asking this time, he lit it. "So uh so um you teach sorcery at the local highschool. That's gotta be exciting," he said, blowing on his cigarette causing smoke to go everywhere. "I mean sorcery it's uh...it's interesting stuff and...and I, myself sort of dabble in it. I mean I know a little bit about the stuff," he added with a shrug as more smoke came out of his cigarette.

It seemed Flash didn't even realize he was smoking until just then. He frowned and glanced over at John. "Oh, dreadfully sorry Professor. Nasty habit of mine. And about earlier," he said with a sigh, "you would not believe the day I've been having. It's just been crazy," then remembering Shere's final threat he quickly added, "but I'd rather not bore you with the details."

Flash, looking back at him continued to wonder who John's character was. He was putting all the pieces together. His name was John Far and he knew magic, far more than Flash did. 'Hmmm...I wonder..." Flash thought to himself. Finally he decided he had to test it. He had to be sure. He smiled slyly at John. "So uh John since you yourself know magic and all, what do you think of...magical creatures? Do you have a...favorite and a kind you hate the most?" He slyly asked. If John mentioned anything about genies then he would have to be Jafar.

[jafar]

Wow, he did stand; that was slightly impressive. And coupled with his newfound politeness, John felt a little happier about this confrontation. Plus, the boy seemed incredibly nervous about even talking to John, which Jafar was positively loving. John could hear him laughing quietly in his head as he watched the young man splutter and struggle to reply to John’s introduction.

Flash? Seriously, Flash? Was that even a name? What was the world coming to nowadays if people were naming their children after the light from a camera? But he was soon distracted from these thoughts by a cloud of smoke from the cancer stick now perched between Flash’s lips, causing John’s hands to ball up into fists. He didn’t mind people smoking, as such – if you wanted to slowly kill yourself that was totally fine – he just took exception when you tried to drag him down with you. He personally didn’t fancy dying of second hand smoke (or dying at all, but that’s a different story). But he tried to push those thoughts aside as Flash continued talking.

“Hmm, well perhaps you can show me something that you can do? I assume you mean things a little more impressive than pulling a bunny out of a hat.”

[/color] He was about to continue when another cloud of smoke cut him off. He almost snarled, and could feel the cobra ring on his middle finger heat up with Jafar’s anxiety to teach him a lesson. To add insult to injury, Flash had apparently only just noticed what he was doing, and tried to apologise for all of his bad behaviour with a simple ‘I had a bad day’ excuse. This child is trying my patience…[/i][/color]
John smiled slightly, in total agreement with his counterpart. He slipped his hand back out of his pockets, adjusting the ring on his left hand and examining it with a subtle smirk. I suppose we should teach him a lesson then.[/i][/color]

“Oh don’t worry about me. But, you know, smoking is very bad for your health.”[/color] With a light flourish of his hand, the eyes of the cobra head started to glow red and the smirk on John’s lips became much more obvious. The cloud of smoke surrounding the two of them shot back through the cigarette and down Flash’s throat, before forcing its way back out of Flash’s ears and nose. Jafar’s approving tone sounded in his mind as John admired his work. You have learned well.
Why thank you, I thought you’d like it.[/i][/color]
However, this is hardly discovering his identity.
Give me time. I have a plan.[/i][/color]
Oh really?[/color]
Well, no, but I’ll come up with one soon. John tried to push Jafar to the back of his mind, but he knew before he tried that that would never work.

With Jafar trying harder to force himself into the forefront of John’s mind in defiance, making it a lot more difficult to concentrate on the boy, John frowned slightly, wondering if he’d misheard the question. “Magical creatures? Do you mean things like dragons, or erm… ogres or…?”[/color] He hesitated. “Genies?”[/color] Jafar added to his list.
I suppose that’s your version of helping?[/i][/color]
You appeared to be struggling. And your constant hesitations are dragging out this encounter. Whoever this boy really is, he’s not worth such a large proportion of my time.[/color]
No-one is worth your time, that’s why you don’t have any friends.[/i]
Jafar’s furious response was covered by John’s oh-so-mature Not listening, not listening.[/i]

As Jafar continued his angry rant, full of threats he couldn’t carry out whilst being trapped inside John’s mind, John made another attempt at answering Flash’s strange question. “I haven’t met many of said creatures in my lifetime unfortunately. But I suppose I’d be drawn towards dragons, for their power. Or possibly griffins or harpies, since I’ve always liked birds. Was there any particular reason for such an unusual question or just for fun?” He purposefully dodged the ‘hated’ part of the question, since Jafar had finally stopped talking, and was keen to have his input in the conversation. And John couldn’t bear another hour long conversation about how terrible genies were, for the pure reason that they were stronger than he was.
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 705
Notes?![/color]:[/b] I can't stop singing Prince Ali after re-watching this film xD.
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

At John's...challenge, Flash merely smiled and he began to laugh. He laughed so hard he began choking. "A bunny out of a hat hahaha I'm dying. What you serious?" He said, clearly amused as he looked slyly back at John. He frowned when he realized John was indeed being quite serious. "Oh, you are serious. Well, in that case, yes I can make better...illusions than mere bunnies appearing out of one's hat. Behold as I turn this ordinary leaf into a...pidgeon," Flash said, picking up a leaf and held it up to where he stared at it for a few moments. Flash spoke a few words in Arabic causing the leaf to transform into a pidgeon where it then flew away. "So um ta da. Uh, definitely better than that 'ole bunny out of a hat trick, eh?" Flash asked.

But Flash didn't have much chance to talk for he suddenly found himself gagging on his own cigarette smoke. As he bent over, gagging, Flash shot John a glare. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" He asked in between coughs. Then standing up again, he looked back at John and shook his head. "But no, you are going about it the wrong way. If you really wanted to kill me you could just inflict some sort of death curse on me. Go ahead do it. Who would care? Who would miss me? Nobody, that's who. So, you might as well do it and get it over with," Flash said, flipping out. Yes, Flash totally snapped due to all the stress he had been feeling.

Seriously, this was only the second time this week where he had been bullied by a stranger. Well, actually the first guy was his neighbor, but still it wasn't as though he knew him very well either. In fact, he just met Shere and now he met John. Ah yes, John. Flash looked back at him, wondering what his deal was.

But as clearly agitated he was, Flash still listened to the other's response to his previous question. Flash appeared somewhat bored by the other's answers since he didn't really mention genies, that is until John admitted liking birds. His now yellow eyes lit up in curiousity. "I see...birds, heh well if you like 'em more power to ya pal, but well I think I'll just stick with... Well, what do you know... I don't even like animals all that much, but hey if you like birds then that's cool too," Flash said as he struggled to think of a good excuse to leave for he sensed this man was definitely Jafar and Flash didn't want him to discover he was really Iago. And it had to be far better than the one he used last time. Flash cringed at the whole, 'I left my lawn mower on,' lie. Seriously, why did he think anybody would believe that. Was he that desperate?

Looking back at John he casually added, "I only asked because I was...curious. I mean we just met and I don't know, magical creatures and the like seem to be in your area of expertise, so just seemed like an appropriate topic."

[jafar]

“Impressive,” John replied once Flash had finished his little trick, but his tone sounded anything but impressed. He’d been silent whilst Flash was laughing, with just a fixed grin across his face to stop himself from snapping at him to shut up. “But you still have a long way to go if you want to match up to the likes of me.”

[/color] He looked up at the pigeon that Flash had created, and with a little twitch of his finger, it transformed again, this time into a small red dragon, about the size of the pigeon it had previously been. It shot a little breath of fire, which seemed to reverse direction and engulf the dragon. When the fire disappeared, the original leaf was all that remained, and it slowly drifted down to the floor again.

John grinned, quite proud of his little trick. He often made little dragons, it was one of his favourite transformations to do. As he’d previously mentioned, he did like dragons; they were always depicted as extremely powerful, fearsome creatures which John had always found fascinating. They were also reptiles, and since Jafar had such a liking for snakes – so much so that he turned into one to kill his worst enemy (though that was slightly based on a pun, as always) – it made sense that the two of them would appreciate dragons. So when John was bored, he had a habit of transforming his spare pens into little dragons that scampered across his desk whilst he was working.

A snicker escaped his lips as Flash coughed on the smoke. Good, that was the point. If he was going to make other people around him choke, then he deserved to experience it too. Maybe that would teach him some manners. But Flash was kind of ruining John’s fun, as he continued in a little rant about how he may as well not be alive. It was less fun to mess with someone if they wanted you to do it, even if it was in a suicidal sort of way. Even Jafar admitted that this boy had issues. The two of them made a joint effort in their response, mixing John’s cocky, argumentative style with Jafar’s more sleek, thought-out response.

“True, if I wanted to kill you I could very easily do it. Perhaps I could force you into the pond and hold you under until you stop moving? Or since you’ve seen how I like fire, I could kill you with that, that could be fun. Or perhaps I do it myself, maybe transform into a lion and just eat you?”[/color] John wasn’t a particularly sadistic person normally, but he could easily make up things like that to scare people. “But why would I want to do that? Apart from your terrible manners, I have no reason to want you dead. Yet. As for who would miss you, I really don’t know or care, and if you really want to die, there are ways you can do that, but I think that’s a little drastic just because I made you cough a little. Now by all means, continue to feel sorry for yourself. But please don’t try to make me feel guilty about my actions, it won’t work.”[/color]
Zing, John shot happily to Jafar, evidently pleased with their comeback. We actually can make a good team.
Yes, I suppose we can. If you would listen to me more, then-[/color]
Oh don’t start.

Flash’s reaction to John saying he liked birds surprised him a little. Why was that a big deal? Was it just that Flash liked them too, or something more? If John had actually been thinking straight, he would probably have made the link between this reaction and Flash’s character, but no, he was too busy listening to the young man’s next statement. “I don’t know that much about creatures, unfortunately, it’s not really in the curriculum I teach. And you don’t like any animals? But birds, I assume from your appreciation of my answer that you like birds?”[/color]

John rubbed the back of his neck, the heat from the Sun having been burning it since the beginning of the conversation. He shifted his position so the Sun hit him more side on, which didn’t really help but it was a start. Jafar was constantly mocking him for his inability to cope with warm weather. After all, Jafar lived under the burning heat of the Agrabah sky, whilst John was brought up in England, a place renowned for it’s bad weather.
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 757
Notes?![/color]:[/b] This is almost John being nice xD
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

Startled, Flash jumped a bit as John turned his pidgeon into a small fire breathing dragon. This trick certainly impressed Flash. So much so he clapped a little. "Oh, sweet move," he said as he watched the small dragon transform back into a leaf. But not wanting to look totally impressed, he calmed down and clearing his throat he added, "it's...it's a good trick."

After having coughed on his own smoke thanks to John's evil trick, Flash slowly began to breathe again with the spell slowly wearing off. Standing up straight again, he just looked at him, frowning. "So...so evil. You mean to tell me you only want me to live, so I can suffer even more. Is that it? If that's the case then you my friend are one evil dude. But, I am by no means trying to make you feel guilty after all I think I know who you are. You are so damn stubborn. Doubt anything could ever make you feel guilty," Flash told him with a small smile on his face. Flash's smile only widened at John's question. "And birds I loathe," he said with a slight chuckle.

Flash purposely left the other man in suspension not saying a single word on his own character's identity nor admitting John's. Flash somehow...liked the idea of having some power over someone and just stood there grinning knowingly at John. Of course he knew this wouldn't last long. As soon as John discovers Flash is really Iago, his days of hiding and denying his character's identity will be gone and he'll be just like the genie, showing off his character. Flash groaned at the very thought. 'Ewww...' He thought to himself.

[jafar]

John was big-headed and he openly admitted it. If someone complimented him, they’d straight away be in his good books, but if they insulted him, he’d most likely hate them for at least a few years. So when Flash clapped at his little trick, John couldn’t help but smile, his opinion of him instantly improving. Not by a lot, but it definitely improved. Even Jafar seemed to like him a little more after that. At least the boy appreciates talent when he sees it.

[/color]
Yes, I thought you’d like that. Are you perhaps starting to like him a little bit? Could we have finally met someone that you don’t completely hate?
Don’t count on it,[/color] Jafar snapped back, in a very definite end-of-conversation sort of way that managed to break the jokey atmosphere.

As Flash went on to try and cover up his reaction though, both John and Jafar couldn’t help but laugh. Isn’t he adorable? Awww, Jafar, can we keep him? he thought to the co-inhabitant of his mind, who just blatantly ignored the ‘stupid question’ and replied as though John hadn’t spoken.
This ‘Flash’ certainly is a source of entertainment. I wonder who he really is…[/color]
This boy was increasingly fun to play with, and John was quite glad Jafar had pulled them in his direction. True, they hadn’t worked out his character yet, but that had never been John’s main goal (he’d only approached Flash to appease Jafar), and they hadn’t been trying very hard on that front since they'd first spoken to him. No, since Flash’s oh-so-rude introduction, John had mainly been thinking up ways to play with the little college student, hence the smoke attack and the show-off dragon. He was proving very entertaining. And as Flash continued talking, his entertainment value just increased.

“Evil is such a strong word, I prefer dark-hearted,”[/color] he said, snickering to himself and causing Jafar to groan in his head. “And I never said I wanted you to suffer. If you misinterpreted my little speech, that’s not my problem.”[/color] As Flash stopped choking, another idea crept into his head, another little intimidation technique to toy with Flash even more. With an extravagant gesture from his left hand, accompanied by the glowing of the cobra ring's eyes, the smoke that had previously been attacking Flash coiled together, forming the shape of a cobra. With a hiss, it coiled itself around Flash, a pair of glowing red eyes appearing amidst the smoke. “Fancy giving up smoking yet?” John asked with a snicker, as the cobra hissed again and raised it’s head to Flash’s level, before disappearing into the air with another flick of John’s wrist.

He paused as the conversation continued, though Flash was now acting like he’d gained the upper hand, and John let another small laugh escape his lips. Stubborn are we? Nothing could make us feel guilty?[/color]
You know, he may well be onto something there, but are those such bad qualities?[/color] John replied, still snickering to himself. He continued his side of the conversation in quite a patronising voice, almost laughing between every sentence. “You know who I am? Well by all means, enlighten me. I mean, I’ve been making no effort to hide it, and if you’d just asked me I would have been more than willing to tell you. But go on, let me hear your guess, you’ve got me all intrigued now.”[/color]

Still laughing, he just about caught Flash’s last line of dialogue. So he hated birds, huh? That could come in useful later, either as a weapon and a way to mess with Flash further, or as part of the puzzle of working out his true identity. Since Flash had apparently worked out his, he may as well try and guess the young man’s in return. But not now. No, first he wanted to see how Flash would react to his baiting.
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 649
Notes?![/color]:[/b] Yeah, not so nice now...
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

Flash's eyes widened as the smoke John previously used against him shifted into cobra form. He let out a frightened gasp as the smokey cobra wrapped itself around him and those eyes. Damn those two, spooky red eyes staring right at him. It was almost as if the smoke formed snake was staring straight into his soul causing Flash to just sweat and tremble in fear. Then in the midst of his fear, he said something he shouldn't have, "ahhhh not the snake staff Jafar. Get that thing away from me." Flash then desperately swatted at the smoke formed cobra in an attempt to make it go away.

But, luckily for him John did eventually call the smoke formed cobra off leaving Flash breathing rapidly after the encounter. Heartbeat slowing down back to normal speed, Flash shot John an unamused glare. "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack? Give me that thing! You clearly don't know how to use it. You'd just end up taking the wrong person's eye out," Flash said, clearly agitated by John's toying with him. Just as Flash made a wild grab for John's ring, he stopped halfway, realizing he may have made a slight conversational error. Not just once, but twice. First time was when he not only called out John's character's name, but he also recognized John's ring as Jafar's notorious snake staff. And of course the second time was soon after when he threatened to take John's ring.

He recoiled, quickly regretting all he said. Gulping, he said, "Uh not that I know anything about snake staffs myself being from where I'm from. But hey, it looks like you're doing a real good job handeling that...ring, so I'm just gonna go now and leave you to it. So bye," Flash nervously stammered as he slowly started backing away from John who was now no doubt ticked with Flash's attempt to take his ring.

[jafar]

Sorry, what? Had he misheard what the young man had said?
“not the snake staff Jafar”
No, apparently not. John wasn’t entirely sure how to react to someone calling him by his character’s name and not his own, and even less sure how to react to Flash knowing about the snake staff. As his thoughts slowly ordered themselves, the situation became clearer, and Flash’s knowledge made more sense; after all, they had been quite sure Flash was from Ala-, err, sorry, the ‘street rat’s movie’, so it made sense for him to recognise the staff as the source of John and Jafar’s power. Even in ring form it shared the resemblance of the staff, just a smaller version, and it was quite obvious John’s power came from there, due to the way his hand would move and the ring would glow whenever he used any magic. And since Flash had already suggested that he knew John’s inner character, the whole thing did start to make more sense. Still, it was an unusual statement, no matter how scared he was.

Because that’s what it had been for. To scare him. And Flash’s reaction was just perfect. He’d started sweating and shaking, and though his words had distracted John at first, they did add a particular comedic value to the whole scene. Even when the smoke snake had disappeared and Flash started to calm down he was funny, with his over dramatic response and frantic heartbeat audible over his voice. Until he did something that quite definitely broke the mood.

John leapt backwards as Flash made a grab for his ring. How DARE he!

[/color] Jafar screeched in his head, quickly taking control over John’s actions in an effort to save his precious staff. Instinctively reacting to Jafar’s anger, the ring slid off his finger, hovering for a split second in front of him, before suddenly growing, the loop part of the ring becoming straight and stretching downwards, the cobra head growing in size to match the ring’s new ‘length’. Within a couple of seconds, the innocent looking gold ring had changed into Jafar’s infamous snake staff that Flash had identified earlier. It shot into John’s left hand, and he gripped it tightly, the cobra head pointing towards Flash, ready to defend himself if he made another grab for it. That insolent child! Does he know who he is dealing with?![/color]
Err yes? Isn’t that what we were just discussing?
Silence! How DARE he suggest I don’t know how to use my own staff, my OWN magic! After his pathetic trick with the pigeon, he dares to suggest HE could do better?![/color]
You know, you have a serious superiority complex…
SILENCE! Look at him, squawking out some pathetic excuse when he knows that-[/color]
Wait, hang on… squawking?

Then it clicked.

Iago.

Flash was Iago.

It all made sense now. The way Jafar had recognised him, his apparent obsession with birds (whether he was saying he liked them or not, he’d mentioned them quite a few times), the way he spoke (loud and worked up since the start of their conversation), the fact he not only knew about the snake staff but seemed to know just how powerful it could be, even the yellow eyes; they all led to that one conclusion – Flash was Iago. Well, that made things more interesting. And Jafar had gone strangely quiet with that revelation, the one time John actually wanted his input. He seemed to have cut himself off from John, thinking something over by himself, only the occasional smug murmur escaping. John was definitely not a fan of this new method, especially since Jafar had recently suggested that the two of them should listen to each other more. Well? It’s Iago! Your little sidekick! Haven’t you got anything to say?
…[/color]
Nothing at all? Not even ‘I knew it was him all along’ or some other obnoxious comment?
…[/color]
Oh fine, be like that. I’ll deal with this.

Turning his attention back to Flash, who was now quickly making his excuses to leave, he decided to confront Flash alone, since Jafar didn’t seem in the mood to do anything himself. “Oh, just one last thing before you go,” John said, as Flash started backing away from him. Lifting his hand up to eye level, he revealed a little cracker held between his fingers, which looked very similar to the ones from the movie. With a smirk, John raised an eyebrow, acting like his question was a genuine one. “Pretty polly want a cracker?”[/color]
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 756
Notes?![/color]:[/b] Should be interesting now they both know each others characters.
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

As he backed slowly away from John and his precious ring, he saw that John was indeed mad at his pathetic attempt to take the ring from him. Once again his eyes widened as John caused his ring grew in size, transforming into Jafar's infamous snake staff that Flash's inner character knew all too well about. He gulped as the cobra head stared right at him as though threatening to blast him with powerful magic if he dared make a move towards it. Flash did not move a muscle, fearing he would get hit again. He stood there quietly, trembling some more. Then desperately thinking of a way to defend himself, Flash decided to try to calm the angered John down. "Now now John let's not doing anything rash. We uh we can talk about this you know. Just...don't do anything we'll both regret, hmmm," Flash said in a nervous voice while trying to sound calm.

But surprisingly enough John did calm down, but not because of Flash's words, but because... “Pretty polly want a cracker?” Were the words that fell out of John's mouth. Flash hung his mouth wide open, looking absolutely stunned. 'He knew? But...but how and...?' Flash just groaned. Of course, he had been careless with his choice of words, cocky even and now because of his stupid mistakes John knew who he was. 'I knew I shouldn't have gone to the park today. I should have stayed home and watched the advertisement network and order useless junk instead like I previously planned, but oh no I had to listen to my stupid instincts and go anyway. So thanks a lot instincts. Thanks a lot!

Flash just turned and shot John another angry glare. "What was that?" He hissed in agitation. "What did you call me? I am not a bird you...you old man! But I suppose you would think that given your love for birds. Hell, I'm surprised you don't accuse every other random person on the street of playing host to a Disney bird," Flash spat. Then Flash dared to walk towards him, obviously too peeved to care about the snake staff in John's hand. Flash stopped when he was right in front of him and there he looked him straight in the eye and with a sly smile snatched the cracker from John's fingers. "And another thing I can't stand crackers! Never did. Too fattening," he said defiantly, throwing the cracker on the ground then stepping on it. Looking back at John, he smirked. "And that is what I think of your crackers Jafar," he boldly added, saying his character's name again.

[jafar]

The fear in the boy’s eyes just encouraged the angered Jafar to continue his little intimidation tactics. But John had other ideas, and with one of their ever common fights for control, John managed to subdue the Disney character… to some extent. “Just...don't do anything we'll both regret, hmmm." When Flash tried to reason with the twosome, Jafar sparked up again before John could stop him. “I doubt I will regret what I do. Though I can see why you would be worried.”

[/color] John shut him up before he could continue with his threat.

Of course, Jafar probably would have stopped anyway when he saw Flash’s face change. A smirk crept across John’s lips at Flash’s stunned expression. I mean really, it wasn’t that hard to guess, was it? He must have realised how much he’d slipped up, and how easy that would make it for John to work out his character. The young boy stayed quiet for a while in which John let himself enjoy a moment of victory. But it didn’t last.

Flash’s expression quickly changed to one of anger, and John instinctively tightened his grip on the snake staff. Not that he was really worried about anything the little parrot could do, it was more the fact that Flash had already tried to steal his ring once, and he could easily try it again. To be fair though, even if Flash did manage to get the staff, he wouldn’t be able to do much with it: he didn’t know how to use it (or at least, not as well as John or Jafar did) so couldn’t do much damage with it, and John would probably be able to get it back easily enough. But it left John at the massive disadvantage that without it he could no longer do magic. Perhaps a very small amount, but not enough to defend himself, and since he was so used to having magic at the tips of his fingers now, he’d be pretty vulnerable without it.

But the staff didn’t seem to be Flash’s goal. He approached them, ranting about John calling him a bird, apparently all his fear gone (which kind of took the fun out of the confrontation). John was struck by a strange mix of amusement and anger (John providing the former, Jafar the latter). Flash’s ferocious response to such a simple little query was really very funny, and John would have been laughing out loud if it wasn’t for Jafar’s fury at being insulted by his own little sidekick, balancing his emotions out to neutral.
This is not a laughing matter![/color]
Haha, it really is. You’d think I’d insulted him or something.
And that’s what he’s doing to us, why aren’t you reprimanding him?![/color]
Because, one, he’s not my student so ‘reprimanding’ him isn’t my job. Two, I’m really not that insulted if his very best insult is ‘old man’. And three, he’s your sidekick, you should deal with him.
…Very well.[/color]

Leaving John to snicker at the back of his mind, Jafar turned his staff towards Flash, the eyes glowing as a rope of magic looped its way around Flash’s wrist after he’d crushed the cracker on the ground, pulling him face to face and stopping him from getting away. It was another little favourite of his; after all, it was how he’d exposed ‘Prince Ali’ for who he really was to his precious little Jasmine, and how he’d forced her and her pathetic father to bow to him. Such power in such a tiny little bit of magic. “Calm yourself, Iago,”[/color] Jafar purred, his anger slightly hidden in his tone. He started circling Flash, still holding him in position with the band of magic connected to his wrist. “I don’t falsely accuse anyone. I know who you are my little feathered friend, and I know you never enjoyed crackers. I also know your temper is very short.”[/b] He stopped walking once he was back in front of him. As he continued though, his voice slowly got louder and more angry and menacing. “But most importantly, I know you know better than to mess with the likes of me! So I suggest you apologise and hope I don’t decide to kill you for your pure idiocy! Am I understood?!”
[/blockquote][/size]

_Tag?![/color]:[/b] Flash
Words?![/color]:[/b] 714
Notes?![/color]:[/b] I let Jafar talk more this time, so it should be fun to see how Flash reacts.
Lyrics?![/color]:[/b] What's This? ~ The Nightmare Before Christmas
Credit?![/color]:[/b] Le Twix ! @ Caution 2.0[/sub][/size]

[vanisher]

Flash's eyes widened once more and he gasped just as soon as he saw the cobra head's red eyes glow. He knew what was coming next only too well. Magic and not the good kind. As soon as the eyes started glowing, Flash tried to run, but it was too late as a magical rope grabbed hm and wrapped itself around his right wrist, effectively preventing him from fleeing. He grunted in discomfort as he immediately started struggling against the magical rope. "Let me go!" He cried out as he desperately tried pulling at the rope. But after a few more moments of pulling and tugging at the magical rope, Flash knew it was pointless. He wasn't going anywhere. So with a defeated sigh, he just stood there quietly and listened as John...no wait that is definitely Jafar's voice...talk.

Flash certainly looked surprised to see that John has allowed Jafar to take over. Flash was definitely freaking out now seeing as Jafar and not John was in control. He gulped. As Jafar circled around him, Flash became unnerved. He sweated some more and his heart pounded. Flash just gulped at Jafar's threat.

But then he tried his best to not look at all worried by his threat. He forced a smile on his face as he struggled to find the right words. "Oh Jafar, you should really know better than to think I would ever oppose you. I...I wouldn't dream of going against you. It's just you're absolutely right of course, I...do get mad really easily. Oh, but I have tried so many times to get better. I've seen many psychiatrists throughout my life, but alas none of them could help me and hehe we both know why that is...sir," Flash nervously stammered. He had to force himself to call Jafar, sir because he hated being at the bottom of the whole power hierachy thing. But, the situation being what it was he didn't have much choice in the matter if he wanted to appease him.

And so clearing his throat he added, "so...so that said, I do apologize for my temper. I...I can't promise anything, but I'll try not to anger you again in the future...sir." Sure on the outside he was sounding all nice and respectful towards Jafar, but on the inside he was silently fuming about it. He hated being nice to him. But that might just be because he didn't fully unlock Iago yet. But if the bird was such a kiss up to Jafar as depicted in the movie, Flash wasn't sure if he really wanted to unlock him anymore. After 'apologizing' to Jafar, which he was merely doing to appease him, Flash just stood there quietly, waiting for Jafar's reaction.