<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: so how come nacho said you said to say hi huh
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: HAHA
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: i mean wow that's weird so interesting
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: wtf lol
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: so you can talk to ghosts too and you're just over here holding out on me
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: It's a little more complicated than that
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: Most of the time I can't
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: can you give me a little more than that man cuz that's p fucking weird that you talked to my brother
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: when he's dead lol
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: Uh not by text this is already p weird
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: yeah no shit
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: you wanna get coffee or something
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: cuz i'm not just gonna forget about it lol sorry
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: Smoothies and a walk?
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: sure
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: when
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: To weird for a coffee shop and it's too hot for coffee
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: lol fair
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: uh idk when ... ever.
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: you free now?
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: i guess
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: you are pretty intense about it
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: i mean if you need a minute that's fine but idk why you thought i was gonna be anything other than freaked out man, idk what to tell you. we're still cool tho, no worries on that
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: I guess anything else I have to say deserves a smoothie so I can meet you at (Park) in like 30 minutes or something. BYO
<TXT> From Javi to Ji-Ho: :thumbs up:
<TXT> From Ji-Ho to Javi: 👍
Nestled in the midst of Hyde Park, Nichols Park is eleven-plus acres of community flower gardens, community vegetable gardens, and a wildflower meadow. There's a building which has seen better days for events, two entire playgrounds, a baseball diamond, a walking path, and a sandbox that you should probably avoid because the neighborhood cats do not.
Ji-Ho is seated in the heavy shade beneath old trees on a bench sipping a smoothie. He is remarkably easy to overlook.
It's not too much longer before Javi shows up. He is a lot //less// easily overlooked, but only because he's not supernatural. At least, not really. If they were both human, maybe they would be more on par, since he doesn't particularly //stand out//, either, but as it is there's no comparison. He does have a smoothie, too, so he's answered the brief, but he's not paying it much attention. He's scanning for Ji-Ho, of course, and his gaze actually passes over him three or four times. It might be a little awkward, actually, although maybe Ji-Ho is used to it! But eventually, finally, his eyes manage to catch on him.
"Oh, hey." He starts toward him, lifting his cup in a vague toast. "Sorry, didn't see you.
While Ji-Ho might spot Javi first, he does absolutely nothing helpful like wave. He slouches down a little, almost like he thinks he can get away with slouching out of the whole entire conversation. He's dressed in shades of darker greens and grays: nothing bright, and overall effect a little muddied. It might not actually literally be camo, but it _might as well be_.
Too bad for him that it isn't!
"Hi, Javi." Then, looking at the wrong shoulder, Ji-Ho says, "Hi, Nacho."
Does Javi realize that Ji-Ho was actually trying to avoid being found? Well, maybe. Or at least on some level. He doesn't understand the exact mechanics of things, but he does seem to get //vibes// about things sometimes. However, at least he doesn't call the man on it. Instead, he snorts.
"He's over there," he remarks. And the fact that Ji-Ho has gotten it wrong has him looking //very// curious indeed, as well as a little wary. How did he get it wrong now when he'd clearly talked to him at some point? A beat; then: "He says hi."
"Oh." Ji-Ho glances back over, a little bit wrong -- askew, rather than so TRANSPARENTLY wrong. His lips twitch, twist, and settled in a crooked smile. He pops to his feet and falls in next to Javi. "Okay! We're walking. We're trading questions. Since there are two of you, you can go first. You're welcome."
"Uh..." Well, at least Ji-Ho has a plan! And to be fair to Javi, he might not be a //planner//, so maybe he appreciates in on some level. Ultimately, he decides not to argue, and just nods, lifting his cup to take a sip as he starts them off in some likely direction. It doesn't matter which one, right? They're just walking.
"So," he begins, cutting a glance to the side at his companion. "How'd you talk to him when you obviously can't see him right now?" He pauses, looking over to the side where Nacho must actually //be/, and something makes him shake his head. Maybe he's vetoing a different question!
"Ugh. This is gonna require a metaphor. Okay, so. I can't see him just like you can't see--" Ji-Ho makes a figure, the plane of his hand intersecting another plane in a cross. "No, wait. That won't work. Hang on. Oh!" He perks up, sure he Has It. "I kind of turn into a ghost."
"You turn into a ghost?" This may not actually clarify as much as Ji-Ho thinks. Sorry, Ji-Ho. Javi squints, peering at him a little skeptically, before looking him up and down in a critical manner. He does not //look// like a ghost. And he also pretty clearly has Nacho in his ear trying to speak, judging from the vague sense of distraction in his expression, but as his brother is a ghost, he doesn't get to talk right now, apparently.
"Wait." Hopefully something has sparked. "So is that how you guys walk through mirrors and shit?"
Ji-Ho gives a startled little side-step of a scuttle. He twitches, looking at Javi sidelong. He points his smoothie at him, straw first: "No! That's two questions! It's my turn!" And he immediately turns it on Javi with eyes sharp, narrow: "What do you mean, you guys?"
Javi snorts, shaking his head as he sucks his tongue against his teeth, but fair is fair. He waves a little vaguely to indicate that Ji-Ho should go on. But this one is easy. Does he think Ji=Ho has wasted a question? Perhaps. "You know," he replies a little impatiently. "You guys. Lost. That's your deal. Right? He told me you said you used to be somewhere else." Does the 'right?' count as his return question? He's new to the game, so maybe he'll have to make sure he's firm on the rules.
Don't worry: Ji-Ho is there to rule-check him, hesitating: "So what's your question there, exactly?"
Javi's brows draw together, and his head tilts to one side, but after a moment he rephrases. "Is that your deal? You're a lost person." Another pause; then: "Who was somewhere else." Which he did say, but maybe he feels it bears repeating.
Ji-Ho slurrrrrrrps his smoothie. He draws back, pulling the straw out to scrape the edges. He is avoiding Javi's gaze. He's avoiding pretty much everything, actually. He's really focused on those açai berries. "Yeah," he says after a moment. "Who've you seen walking through mirrors?"
Javi doesn't rush him through it, just waits. And he actually doesn't look at him, either, except out of the periphery so he doesn't lose track of where he is. Maybe he's giving him space. The confirmation, though, gets a nod. "Yeah." Like it was what he'd expected. When the question comes, though, he //does// look, and shakes his head. "Nah, man," he replies -- maybe even a little apologetically. "Not gonna say nothing that ain't about me or him." Nacho, presumably. "Not my secret to tell. So you can have another one if you want."
Ji-Ho gives Javi a brilliant smile. "I'll give you credit," he says, warmer for the non-answer than perhaps any answer would have made him. It's a wider smile than his usual, and warmer too, as he inclines his head to Javi and waits.
There's a moment of surprise when Ji-Ho responds -- Javi's head comes up again, regarding the other man above the rim of the smoothie that he's currently taking a sip from. However, it's brief; a moment later, he laughs, and nods. "Okay." He takes a moment to consider his options, before he speaks. "Did you, like...do it on purpose?" However, he seems to realize this may not make sense, because he clarifies a moment later. "Like, did you just happen to be wandering around and you saw him? Or were you following me again." He sounds a //little// dry, but mostly just amused.
"Oh. _Oh_, oh, yeah, that's why it bothered you!" Ji-Ho assumes, not asks, very important that he very carefully does not ask that. His eyes are wide, startled into surprise, and he snorts a little snorfle of a laugh. "I'd be bugged, too. Nah, that was just like -- I mean, I definitely thought I saw you, so I headed over, and saw _him_, but I wasn't _following_-following you. I just came closer while I was doing some other stuff in the area. So what's Nacho prefer when I can't really talk to him or whatever? Most of the time I can't, but I'll say hi if he wants -- and, you know, it's quiet or whatever. Or nothing, if that's weirder."
Javi still looks amused, especially when Ji-Ho so carefully avoids actually //asking//. However, it seems that he'll throw the man a bone, because even though it wasn't a real question, he nods again to confirm it. He really does seem okay, though -- so maybe they really //are// still cool. "Okay," he says, "that's fine. Guess I get it." Sort of.
This next question will take a little conferring, and so his eyes flick to that empty spot in the air, that is of course not actually empty at all. A few seconds' pause, before he replies, "He says he's good with whatever. If you wanna say hi, cool, if you don't, it's fine."
He lifts his cup to take another sip, again shifting a little more thoughtfully as he comes up with the next one. Or sifts through //all// the the questions he has to find just one. "So," he eventually says, "I wanna ask a lotta stuff about your deal, right? But I got kinda...an idea that you can't really talk about it. Like, //can't// cant. Like it might hurt you." He doesn't say //why//, but maybe it relates back to that boundary he'd set before, that he's only going to talk about himself, or his brother. "And I don't wanna ask something that's gonna fuck you up."
"Mmm." Ji-Ho rolls his head on his shoulder and relents, somewhat: answers, without a deal. "It's not like I can't talk about it, like -- if I try my throat is gonna close up and I will start choking or something. It's not like that. It's just like, you know. Sometimes you don't really wanna talk about all the parts of everything that's awful." He glances to Javi then, with a brief diversion of his eyes this way and that, dusting off each of Javi's shoulders, wherever his invisible friends might be. "Some of it's cool. A lot of it's bad. And mostly I just really don't wanna get lost again, and I'll do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen, and to keep others from the same."
Javi becomes more serious as Ji-Ho answers -- not that he'd actually //asked// a question, but still. He nods again, slowly this time, his mouth pulling a little bit to the side. He's keeping his eyes forward now, not looking at Ji-Ho at all, so there's plenty of time for the other man to do whatever study of him he wants to do. Though not Nacho, of course, in this form.
"Yeah," he says a little more quietly, "I get that, I guess." Again, kind of. However: "Kinda like the ghosts. Like, some of it's cool, but yeah. A lot of it sucks." He shrugs, reaching up to rub a hand across his forehead. "So //can// you walk through mirrors?" he asks.
Ji-Ho nips the edge of a smirk that begins to break across his features: he catches it in his teeth, pulling the edge back in. His expression is sly. He looks back over at Javi and tilts his head to the side. "Can you _not_ walk through mirrors?" he asks, wide-eyed again, as if this is a very simple thing.
Javi stops, taking a moment to regard Ji-Ho with a more narrow-eyed look, before he snorts. "Man, what a waste of a fucking question," he remarks. "You know I can't. I'm just a regular motherfucker. Not like you all." He takes this moment to sip the smoothie a //little// aggressively, like perhaps he's salty about it, but it's mostly good-natured. "What's the coolest thing you can do? Like, in your opinion."
"How do you _know_ you can't walk through mirrors? How do you know you haven't _already_ walked through a mirror? How do you know that once, long ago, you stepped through a mirror and left something behind on the other side?" Ji-Ho asks in a rapid-fire assault that's teasing, surely. He can't expect an answer to that. "Stepping through mirrors is pretty cool, though. I've been -- I've been a lot of places. Some of them I'd give anything to go back to. Beauty that'd drive you to your knees, Javi. Weeping."
It's a good thing none of those are real questions, because yes, Javi would have no idea how to answer. Judging from his //very// skeptical expression, he probably wouldn't even try, either. Eventually, he just laughs -- a bright sound that has any lingering awkwardness about this whole situation dissipating alongside it. "This fucking guy," he says, to no one in particular. Or maybe one specific invisible person.
His expression softens a little at the answer, though, and as Ji-Ho goes on a breath leaves him, not quite a sigh. "Yeah," he murmurs, a little wistfully. "That'd probably be pretty fucking cool."
"And pretty fucking awful, too," Ji-Ho says in a quieter voice. "Because what do you do once you've been there? What do you do when you can't find your way back?"
Javi looks over at Ji-Ho again then, and after a second he nods. He may not have been through the mirror, but it seems he's perfectly capable of imagining it enough to understand that that would //really suck//. He stays quiet, but a moment later he reaches out to knock a fist gently against Ji-Ho's shoulder, maybe in solidarity.
Ji-Ho bumps his shoulder back against Javi's fist. "It's whatever, I guess. It's weird, really. Talking about it is weird, too. We don't all ... talk about it. A lot. Kind of having a little freak out about saying as much as I did already." He tap-a-tap-taps over his chest, thumping like his heart must be.
"Yeah," Javi murmurs. "I definitely get that." He smiles, though -- it's not the same sort of wide, bright one as is usual for him, and that he wears very well, but it's no less sincere for that. "Well, I won't say nothing," he adds, "in case you were worried about that." Which may not be what Ji-Ho //was// worried about, and instead something more general.
But he seems to sense that possibility, too, because the next thing he says is, "I gotta go take care of some things, yeah?" It //definitely// sounds like an excuse, but the kind of excuse that may mean he feels they've both asked and answered enough for one day, and may need a moment to process. That's a lot of subtext to glean from one statement, but he's not exactly the most subtle person. "But I'll see you, yeah? Text me or whatever, we'll hang out. Okay?"
"I kind of figured that, when you wouldn't tell me who else." Ji-Ho looks up at Javi as he admits that, almost shy in his confession of trust. But -- then he reaches out, gripping Javi's arm and squeezing, just a bit, with a thump-thump that ISN'T a hug, they are NOT at a hug, but it is a VERY GOOD thump-pat. "You just keep not telling people things. We'll talk later, Javi. Bye, Nacho." He addresses that in something _closer_ to the right direction -- but he's still off.
He tried.
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