Tag: jillian trent

Dear Berenice, in your own words, what went wrong between you and Jillian Johnson growing up?

emeralddodge:

Jill took me out to dinner last year. We talked about our childhoods over sushi. It turns out that I don’t like sushi, but I enjoyed the conversation.

Short answer: we were both immature.

Long answer: we both have big personalities, and we were both jealous of each other. I was jealous that she had, in my opinion, the superior powers. I was stronger, but she was faster, more agile, and had better reflexes. She could outsmart me in fights and make me look stupid. She, it turns out, was jealous of how petted I was by my parents. I have a great relationship with my parents, and my sister before she died. This did not go unnoticed. 

There was a lot of posturing and bullying, though I have to admit that I was more likely to be the bully. I did and said some things that I’m truly sorry about, and I hope that Jill doesn’t think back on them with pain. We’re friends now, and I’m happy about it.

What did each Trent really think about Benjamin defecting? Did they all think that Jill was controlling him?

emeralddodge:

Janice firmly believed that Jill was controlling her son. She loved Benjamin to the point of blindness.

Beau has almost zero emotional intelligence, so he assumed that Benjamin hung around Jill for sex. It made sense, from a logical perspective–Jill is Ben’s type, and they were living together. 

For the brief amount of time that Henry had to think about it, he was the closest to the truth: Benjamin was acting out on long-time frustrations and unhappiness. Henry never knew the depths of Benjamin’s inner turmoil, but he knew that his youngest child had never quite fit in with the rest of the family. That said, Benjamin’s departure wasn’t a surprise, but his joining a superhero team was. Even Henry didn’t expect Benjamin to be so bold.

Only Eleanor sensed that Benjamin was falling in love with Jill, and while she wasn’t a fan of superheroes, she acknowledged Benjamin’s autonomy in the situation. At the end of the day, Eleanor just wants her baby brother to be happy.

What would’ve happened if Jill had taken the job with the Trents in Ignite?

emeralddodge:

There are a lot of fun “what ifs” that I’ve thought about over these last few months. This one is one of the few that isn’t totally depressing.

Jill would’ve known that she couldn’t have done anything without alerting at least Ember. She would’ve told her that she was going to fake her death and run away. Knowing Jill’s mental health at the time of Ignite, she would’ve asked Ember to plant a memory in someone’s head of her jumping off the bridge. Ember would’ve been deeply unhappy, but would’ve complied. After Jill didn’t come home from patrol, Patrick would’ve sent them out to find her. That’s when Ember would’ve “found” the homeless person who “saw” Jill take a swan dive off the bridge and never resurface. Luckily for Jill, Patrick was an elder’s son; his word would’ve been enough to smother any suspicion that Jill wasn’t dead. He certainly would’ve believed it–after all, he’d aimed to make her miserable.

Reid would’ve mourned his poor, sad teammate who’d served with him so bravely. After the wave of excruciating grief had passed, Marco would’ve noticed that Ember acted weird whenever anyone talked about Jill, and he would’ve figured out that Ember knew something. Being sharp as a tack, he would’ve guessed the truth before too long and forced it out of Ember, then gone to find her.

Hours after Jillian Johnson died, “Ruth St. James” would’ve walked into a women’s shelter and asked for a place to stay. She’d chosen her name simply because she liked the name Ruth, and St. James was obviously an important surname to her. From there, she would’ve made a phone call to the number on the business card and said she’d changed her mind. Janice would’ve cheekily sent Benjamin to fetch Ruth the next morning, and he would’ve been appalled to see where she was staying. Just like in Battlecry, Ruth’s sad secret would’ve stirred deep protective instincts in him, and their relationship would start.

Ruth would’ve been honest about her lack of qualifications, and Janice would’ve patiently put her in a minor, but extremely well-paying administrative assistant job–about $25/hr. She would’ve made appointments, copied documents, answered the phone, and done other tasks that didn’t require much training. Janice would’ve made it very clear to the other people in the office that Ruth had done the Trent family an immense and personal favor, and that absolutely nobody was allowed to be unkind to her. As a result, Ruth would’ve adored her job, where everyone was so nice to her! 

The bosses’ handsome younger son would’ve started picking Ruth up from work and taking her home (he would’ve gotten her out of the shelter as soon as possible), and soon they would’ve been dating seriously. Benjamin would’ve sensed that she was hiding a huge secret. Maybe it was the way she searched every crowd, as if she expected to see someone. Maybe it was that she never went out at night, like she was certain she’d meet someone she didn’t want to. Maybe it was that she always hesitated when she introduced herself as “Ruth St. James,” like another name was on the tip of her tongue.

He would’ve eventually asked her about it, and she would’ve finally relented and told the truth, and then asked him to help her get the others out.

And that’s when he would’ve realized that he was in love with Jillian. 

Will Jill and Gregory ever make up?

emeralddodge:

I think, one day, Gregory will pull his head out of his butt and show up on Jillian’s doorstep with his hat in his hands. I don’t know what will make him see the light; perhaps his sister’s constant presence on television, or maybe a dishy tell-all written by a former superhero will finally make things click. Maybe Dean will find him and talk some sense into his head.