"I just wish there was some way we could both turn our fortunes around," Jon muttered, giving voice to his forlorn thoughts. Unfortunately, it was at that very moment that the wish he'd made more than twenty years prior finally went into effect, and he felt his fingers touch a hard object in his pocket just as the words were leaving his mouth. There was a loud FWOOM and a blinding flash of light, before Jon vanished in a brilliant puff of purple smoke.
Suddenly he reappeared in a dark, old timey looking lounge, like something out of that Poirot show Morgan had badgered him into watching. He'd been dropped on a velvet loveseat, and frankly looked very out of place in the tee shirt and flannel he was wearing. Smoke dissipated around him as he rubbed his finger from where he'd jammed it on the unexpected rock in his pocket. "OW, what the-HOLY SHIT, THE GODDAMN STONE!!" Jon yelled as his memories suddenly flooded back to him. "I'm a FUCKING IDIOT!" He cursed his teenage self for locking away something so life changing and powerful, just because he was intimidated. 40 year old Jon had countless regrets, missed opportunities and paths not taken that the Wishing Stone could have fixed or improved, and he'd just cast it away for decades.
"I'm glad we agree on something."
Jon's head snapped up at the voice, suddenly aware he wasn't alone in... wherever he was. Leaning on a drinks cabinet was a rail thin mustachioed man in a sharp white-tie suit, including gloves, tails and a top hat. The man was tall, but it was hard to get an accurate measure when he wasn't standing straight, and most startlingly, black gossamer fairy wings extended from his back. "You, Jon Gibson, are incredibly frustrating."
"Who are you?" Jon demanded, the ramifications of the stone returning taking a momentary back seat, "and where are we?"
"Oh, so now he wants answers," the man drawled as he poured himself a snifter of brandy, "when you used to be happy just burying anything interesting and forgetting all about it. Do you have any idea how boring it was to watch you live your pathetic, mundane little life for 24 bloody years?"
"You've been watching me," Jon asked, a little creeped out.
"Unfortunately," the winged man replied, "to answer your question, I am Oberon, King of the Fairies, and that rock that just dropped back in your pocket belongs to me." Jon placed his hand protectively over his pocket, not wanting to loose the stone as soon as he'd gotten it, but that only made Oberon smack his his palm to his forehead in exasperation. "No, not like that. I mean it is intrinsically connected to me, not that it's like my powerdrill you never returned and I want back. Which, by the by, is the utter snorefest type of story-line you've been giving me. The stone is a conduit of my power, dropped into the mortal world to cause a little fun and a little mischief for me and my court to watch. Mortals are supposed to pick it up and make a bunch of wishes with wacky results, have hijinks, go nuts, that sort of thing, not soberly put it on a magically isolated shelf where no one can use it!"
Jon was offended, "so what, I was supposed to be like reality television for you? You're just making me glad I was responsible with it."
"YOU WEREN'T RESPONSIBLE, YOU WERE BORING!!" Oberon suddenly bellowed, slamming his glass down on to the side table. "Do you have any idea how pissed Titania has been with me for nudging the stone towards such a dull mortal? I get to choose how the wishes are granted, but you just had to be so damn specific with how you locked the stone away..." The fairy took a deep breath as he began to pour another drink. "No matter, it's all in the past. You have finally made a wish, and things can get back on track."
"Wait, you mean when I said-"
"I just wish there was some way we could both turn our fortunes around," Oberon finished for him with a smug smile, "referring to yourself and the failing Lakepoint Mall. A lovely vague sort of wish that gave me the opportunity to intervene personally. I'm here to give you that 'way' to turn around your fortunes, Jon. So sit back, and have a drink, because I've got a deal for you!"
