It's clear, it's nearing evening, and most of the bustle around the transit system involves folk coming home from their workday. Mostly leisurely. Not Darwin. He is rushing, weaving through people on the sidewalk to catch a bus that had just pulled up. He might make it if he doesn't have to swerve around anymore people. The distant hiss of brakes can be heard. The way is clear.
Then the way is not clear, and Darwin collides with someone. It's not a graze, not even a shove. It's a full-on collision, a PAFF-THUD, a and folder of papers goes flying, fluttering into the street and median.
It is easy to overlook Ji-Ho. This isn't the first time someone has run into him. It won't be the last time that someone runs into him. He's standing around waiting for his own bus, which is _not_ this one, and he's carrying a bag of groceries which has a bag of apples and an artisanal baguette sticking out of the bag, because how would you ever be able to tell it was groceries if not for the baguette?
The apples explode, apple_sauced_ by the force of impact as the bag splits, drops, and looses apples and baguette.
Apparently that's all it holds. Apples and a baguette.
"Hey!" Ji-Ho barks, haha, in a sharp and startled yelp.
Darwin pivots in his stagger, and as a chunk of apple flies by and the baguette hits the concrete, the bus takes off. Darwin just stands there, tense and braced, his lesson plans fluttering around him to settle with the apples. The passers-by helpfully walk _around_ the disaster.
Darwin's lips curl. He steps over, steps _on top of_ the baguette, and reaches to try and haul Ji-Ho upright by the collar.
"HEY! HEY HEY HEY." And just like that, Ji-Ho slips loose, slips free, in a way that _honestly_ he probably shouldn't. It's like the fabric of his collar just slides through Darwin's fingers, fluid as water. "Buddy, pal, guy: your super important papers are blowing away forever!"
Darwin clearly doesn't expect his grip to slip. The anger in the coil of his shoulders scatters to confusion, then panic when he notices the flight of his papers. "Help me then!" he snaps, pushing away to try and fish a stapled packet out of the gutter.
"You owe me," Ji-Ho calls as he goes diving for the papers. HE SAID SO. Darwin hasn't disagreed! That makes it a deal! He scrambles to grab things, even darting into the road and toward the median. He dances between cars, his shadow long, long, long in the light of the headlights as sunset falls.
"You owe _me_," Darwin snaps back, incredulous, like peacefully standing with groceries was a grave crime. He rises with a small stack, watching the rest roll down the road, then turns to witness Ji-Jo _dancing into traffic_. "Oh my god, what are you doing!? Get out of the road! Forget the papers!"
"S'fine!" Ji-Ho is quite clearly difficult to see in the twilight. The honking is INCREDIBLE. The brake-check is INTENSE. Ji-Ho goes yelping back for the sidewalk and slams into Darwin again, forcing him to drop the stack he's collected.
"It's not fine! It could not be less fine!" Darwin shouts, now direly concerned for the the safety of this strange man. Up until he smacks into him again, and his stack falls. He drops both hands on Ji-Ho's shoulders, fingers curling into the fabric with more force, if only to prevent him from zipping back out. "Do you have a death wish?"
"I was helping!" Ji-Ho yelps as he slithers out of the curling grip of Darwin's fingers. It is literally impossible to keep hold of him.
+---------------------------+ Darwin rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Wits +Occult +Purity
Result: Success (3) -- (6 10 10 6 5 2 8)
+-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+
'What in the fuck', mouths Darwin as Ji-Ho slips free _again_. Is he wearing slippery clothing?! Doesn't seem like it. As street lamps flick on and the roar of engines thins out, Darwin inhales slowly, watching Ji-Ho with new suspicion. He sniffs, then blinks. "...What's your name," he asks evenly.
"No way. You're gonna track me down and murder me: death by a thousand papercuts." Ji-Ho crouches to collect what remains of his apples and goes, "Aww, baguette!"
Yeah that's fair. Darwin chews his lip, looking back towards the bus station. "I'll buy you a new baguette. And apples. I just... _really_ didn't want to miss that bus. Where are you headed?" he asks, tucking away what remains of his scattered worksheets.
"Well. You missed it," Ji-Ho says, not entirely unsympathetic. "Headed back toward U of C." He seems more willing to share that than his name, but maybe one has more influence on his death by papercut. "Hey -- hey! The light's changing. C'mon, you can get the ones over there." This time, he waits for the traffic to more or less come to a halt at which point he darts out to gather what remains in the middle of the road. "How important are these, exactly?" he calls back.
Darwin feels his hand rising up to clutch loosely over his heart as Ji-Ho heads out again. He eyes the light, then carefully steps out into the road to gather the rest with Ji-Ho. "They're for my students. Drama class. But not at the university," he flicks his hand. "Was headed to a night class. Just... tell me where I can send your groceries. I'll have to get them afterwards."
"What? No! Murder!" Ji-Ho hands the papers back to Darwin after he collects ... some. Not all, but definitely! A few.
Okay, not that many.
The light is changing, and with the flow of traffic picking up again, they are briefly left stranded on the midway as traffic flows to either side. The currents of air catch papers and scatter them in every direction. "Man, your papers are _gone_."
Darwin had mustered some hope that hey, maybe he won't have to rush home and make copies. But no, the papers are off in a breeze. There they go. Ji-Ho narrates helpfully. And now they're between the two-way traffic. Darwin flusters. "Okay, fine! I owe you nothing! We are settled, then!" He tries to depart, but finds himself stuck there.
"Settled? No, way. You owe me a baguette." Ji-Ho folds his arms over his chest as he watches the light and waits for it to flip. "You can buy me another one if you wanna walk down to 47th, though. It's like two blocks." He looks to Darwin with a challenging light in his eyes. B A G U E T T E. "There's a step right on the corner."
Darwin sets his jaw, pulling his unimpressed gaze away to follow the roll of his head. He stares up at the night sky, then glances at his watch. He looks back at Ji-Ho, and all it takes is that look of challenge to flip his demeanor. "...You wanna' race?"
"Haha, are you for real?" Ji-Ho stretches, and stretches, and stretches, and then he smirks and he says, "Yeah, okay. I'm pretty sure I'll lose you so head to 47th, turn right, you'll see the place, bakery. And if you're trying to ditch me, I still got some of your papers!" He waves them.
Darwin hesitates, then narrows his eyes. He tries to swipe the papers back. How slippery is this guy.
+---------------------------+ Darwin rolls 4 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Dexterity +Athletics
Result: Failure -- (5 2 6 5)
+-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+
+----------------------------+ Ji-Ho rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Dexterity +Athletics
Result: Success (2) -- (3 2 10 6 9 6)
+-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+
As Darwin grabs, Ji-Ho twists with an, "Ah-ah-ah!" and then sets off, bolting for the baguettes.
+----------------------------+ Ji-Ho rolls 5 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Stamina +Athletics
Result: Exceptional Success! (5) -- (10 3 10 10 1 2 8 9)
+------------------------------------------- exceptional success! (public) ----+
+---------------------------+ Darwin rolls 2 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Stamina +Athletics
Result: Success (1) -- (8 1)
+-------------------------------------------------------- success (public) ----+
Darwin reflects on his situation as he darts after Ji-Ho, overcoat fluttering. A chime on his watch marks the start of class. He falls behind quickly, in spite of throwing genuine effort into it, and slows near the door to the bakery, doubling over to lean against his knees and catch his breath. "Not as satisfying-- as I'd-- hoped."
"He'll pay," Ji-Ho says at the counter with the baguette waiting and the cashier turning to look at Darwin expectantly.
Darwin will pay! Grudgingly. He straightens and digs into his pockets for his wallet, frowning at Ji-Ho. "You sure that's the one you want? Looks a little... sad."
"What's wrong with it?! It looks less sad than a baguette that's been _stepped on_," says Ji-Ho, waving the baguette at Darwin.
Darwin laughs, pushing the cash across the counter and turning to leave. "Come on. I have a question for you."
Ji-Ho takes his baguette and trots after Darwin with a glance at his watch. "Hey, what time was your class starting, anyway? Next bus should be coming pretty soon," he says like someone not at all trying to be evasive. (He's trying to be evasive.)
Darwin steps onto the sidewalk, in front of the glass display with the light shining out. He takes a lengthy breath, then nods sharply. "Yeah, you're weird. Something weird. But you're not dangerous." He shrugs. "They'll be glad I didn't show up. By the time I get there, they'll assume class is canceled. They _always_ assume that." He sniffs again. "What are you?"
Ji-Ho hugs his bread a little tighter. He folds his arms over it. (The bread snaps somewhere in the bag.) "That's a) real fucking rude and b) real fucking personal, don't you think?"
Darwin had being wearing a leisurely smile up until this point. When it becomes clear he'd overstepped a boundary, he takes a small step back and parts his hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in a negative way. I'm just curious." His lashes sweep low over his cheeks as fingertips steeple, inverted, at his middle. "My name is Darwin."
Ji-Ho is fairly obviously twitchy, in ways he hadn't been before. He shoves the pages back at Darwin, and he seems halfway on the edge of disappearing into every shadow as people pass them. "Okay, but why're you curious? Why're you asking?"
Darwin takes his papers with a fumble, crinkling them as he draws out his folder again. As Ji-Ho grows twitchy and seems to be looking for an exit, Darwin scrambles to backtrack. "Er, I'm trying-- to make connections. Because--" He falters. "The city is isolating and I don't trust the people here," he admits, then reaches into his pocket to hand Ji-Ho a simple business card with a number. THERE.
Ji-Ho CRUSH the business card in his fist, and then carefully smooths it out again with a mutter under his breath: "Sorry, just. Twitchy. Look. Why do you think I'm weird? That's what I care about."
Darwin winces, then blinks. "Well... you leapt out into traffic. But more than that, you slipped out of my fingers. Twice. Like butter? I tend to know when people are--" He pauses, thoughtful. "Hiding the truth."
"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are," Ji-Ho says as his eyes narrow. "You wouldn't be _hiding the truth_ right now, would you?"
+----------------------------+ Ji-Ho rolls 6 Dice +----------------------------+
Roll: Wits +Subterfuge.Detecting Lies
Result: Failure -- (5 1 1 4 3 4)
+-------------------------------------------------------- failure (public) ----+
Darwin appears to be earnest! He sucks in a short breath, then, "Okay, maybe I'm not as good at it as I think I am. Maybe I've got you all wrong. I'm fully capable of admitting when I've fucked up. It doesn't matter what you are. You helped me pick up my papers after I smashed your apples. So that means you're decent." He nods once. "I'll go catch my dumb bus. But if you wanna' know how to make a killer sandwich with that baguette, you have my number."
"What? No, I do-- ohhhh." Ji-Ho looks down at the crumpled card. Then he looks back up at Darwin. His eyes narrow. He still looks suspicious. His wariness is overt, and he's skittish, hop-stepping to the side with baguette and TWO WHOLE APPLES left in his pockets. "Better catch your dumb bus, Darwin." After a beat, he grudgingly says, "It's Ji-Ho."
Darwin grins! And heads off.
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