I’m aware it’s a very personal feeling but sometimes it feels like nowadays you either Like Jon and Think he is a Good Person (and therefore Basira is Wrong and We Don’t Like Her) or we are not cool with Jon and what he did was irredeemable and he is always on thin ice (and therefore Basira was Right and We Adore her in Every Way)
so anyway
- Basira forgetting to go back to the precinct in season 2 because she’s in the middle of a conversation with Jon about Vampires and Whether they’re Real or Not and Jon is making her listen to Trevor’s first statement and they’re being All Dark Humour about it and then Tim interrupts them and winks and tells them it’s five pm ‘and Martin’s starting to worry neither of you are going to make it out before the sun goes down’ and he grins suggestively and Jon gets red in the face and Basira pulls A FaceTM and Jon stammers his way into saying goodbye and Basira just. flees.
- Basira giving her jacket to Jon after she saved him from Daisy, fingers taping nervously on her steering wheel, glancing at traumatized, determined Jon, all scarred and pale, and trying very hard to justify to herself what Daisy had almost done; thinking of Jon in her nightmares, and not knowing whether she hopes Daisy was wrong, or herself.
- Jon apologizing to Basira after she gets stuck in the institute, and Basira being very ‘not your actual fault’ matter-of-fact about it, and asking him about those powers of his; Jon being a bit startled and taken aback but trying to explain. Basira going “okay, so what does that mean?” and Jon saying tiredly “I don’t know. Yet.” and he looks exhausted and still so human, and Basira’s nightmares are gone and she hears about Jon from Martin all the time, so she relaxes a bit and goes: “so i read this book –” and Jon blinks and says “oh?” and they get nerdy together again.
- Basira who lost Daisy; who seems Melanie getting angrier and angrier every day, humming music; who sees Martin fading slowly in the background; Basira who’s got nobody left to be partners with. and sees a tower to defend, and only herself to trust.
- Basira who looks at Jon, and he looks tired and sad and emotional, and dangerous. And she cares, but she can’t trust him. That doesn’t work like that anymore. She saw Jon’s closest friend walk out on him. She sees Jon with Breekon, as well. And she sees Jon who manages to do all the things she couldn’t do. Helping Melanie get better. Saving Daisy. But he does it using scary powers. (and the both of them, they’re different from the ones Basira had gotten to know; mean Melanie and rough Daisy; they’re both trying to be softer, and here is Basira, who gets tougher and tougher, because if they’re all gentle now, there needs to be someone who hardens.)
- Jon who, despite all, is comfortable with Basira but in his most monstrous ways; because he knows – and maybe she does, too – that she’s touched by the same thing he is, even if it’s lighter for now. Jon who has seen Basira not blinking at Breekon, and at Melanie’s surgery, and who doesn’t ask for her trust anymore but wants to make himself useful, and isn’t that what they’ve always shared, knowledge? Who feels comfortable enough that he grabs a statement in front of her, and knows she’ll go with it. (or maybe who wants her to see; look, look what i can do.)
- (Jon and Basira, who don’t know what the black sun will do to Jon; who knows it could be fatal. Jon who says “let me” and basira who says “okay”)
- Basira who’s extra angry because 1. she didn’t see it in Jon, even with her guard’s up. 2. who let it happens once, willingly, and doesn’t know with the fact that there were others. 3. who clings to Daisy’s different, Daisy’s changed. 4. who is helpless about it, apart telling Jon to stop, apart looking for external causes with him, because if it’s not Jon, then she can fix it still, she can justify to herself caring for Jon still.
- Basira gets too harsh, and Jon’s genuinely taken aback towards it. it’s not just that Basira doesn’t trust Jon anymore; it’s that Jon doesn’t trust Basira either, not anymore, not instinctively.
- Basira who’s faced with the fact that she isn’t the protector of anything or anybody; that when Jon is in danger, he calls Daisy first, before her.
- Jon who gets frustrated of Basira’s double standards; who knows exactly how much Basira knew and didn’t do when Daisy was full Murderer.
- and despite all of that, Jon and Basira who have “anti-lonely sessions” with Daisy; Jon and Basira who bicker about guns; Jon and Basira who talk over each other’s about bouts of knowledge. Basira who covers for him, so he can go find Martin.
anyway, Jon did wrong things, Basira did wrong things, I adore them both.
bye