Summary:Eve and Jimmy meet for the first time, sensing each other's Weird Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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"Oi," says Eve.
There's an itch in the back of her brain. Not the usual itch of tentacles and eyes and slavering maws, no. Instead, an itch that denotes the presence of something extraordinary. Here she was at her favorite food truck, getting herself an awesome gyro, and there it is. Just… /something/ that doesn't feel quite write. Makes the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Unnatural life. And close, too. She picks up her gyro. "Thanks, Hank," she says to the older man at the window and then casually turns around.
She'll see who's there soon enough, no doubt. They can't be far away, after all.
It's a strange, uncommong feeling, for sure. It's not dark and dank like some kinds of horrific creature; it's not fire and brimstone like demons. This… presence, for lack of a better word, feels warm. It's like the shine of the sun on a warm day. It's vibrant, the sense of its health like a strong oak or a beast of burden in its prime.
When she looks behind herself, she sees him. A tall man, blond with sunglasses and a tan overcoat. There's a curious furrow to his brow as he looks this way and that, smacking his lips like he's trying to taste the air. He looks in her direction, but past her, not quite seeing her; he even walks right past her, as if heading to get a hot dog from another nearby truck. And once he's several feet past her, he stops and turns back, as if he'd forgotten something.
The longer he's near, the clearer it is: that presence is his. The sense of over-bright life moves with him. Odd. He doesn't /look/ like a tree.
"Mn," says Eve.
It's not the first time she's felt something /like/ that. Be around long enough, be in the superhero business too, and you're going to encounter people who Don't Die Right or even At all. This just seems like another such case to her and she gives a casual nod in that direction.
"Is this a 'There Can Only Be One' moment or is it more of a 'You too, huh?' moment?" she asks aloud, stuffing one end of the gyro into her mouth and taking a big old bite from it.
Chew chew chew…
Jimmy had his mouth open, just about ready to ask a question, but she cuts through to the point first. He flusters at that, losing his steam. Stepping in closer means he can lower his voice, though the busy early-evening street is still pretty noisy. "Well I'm no Highlander. I was just trying to figure out what, /who/, I'd found." He looks her quickly up and down. "And you don't look like you're going to start attacking people or driving them crazy by looking at them funny, so I think we're cool?"
"Potentially cool, in any case," replies Eve, after she swallows.
"You can never be sure. Both happen all the time, but well, I sense you, you sense me, and all that's left to determine is whether or not we're a big happy family or not. Something I can help you with or are you just indulging curiousity?" She holds a finger up to one yeye, pulling at the skin beneath it.
'Family' makes him grimace, though it's a brief, passing expression. "More protective instinct than indulging curiosity. I've had feelings like that before — that kind of 'someone here has different eyes, meant to see a different spectrum from a different sky' feeling — and the someone started tearing things up. But I'd prefer to just talk, and make sure we all get along." He holds out a hand to her. "I'm—" Pause. Brick wall. Frown. "I actually never worked out a name for… /this/ kind of thing."
"It was a reference to a terrible song if that wasn't clear. A terrible song and terrible tv show. Well, a sort of reference and… you know what, nevermind." Eve gives a lazy shrug and then has another bite of her gyro while she observes him, mulls over his words.
"Yeah, no one's tearing anything up right now. It's all good, no problem. I'm not some terrible monster." At least not outright.
She reaches out to take his hand, then, and give it a shake. She's polite enough for a terrible spawn of an elder god.
Jimmy raises an eyebrow as he looks at her. Not familiar with that song or that TV show, apparently. He just shakes his head and lets them never-mind it, instead turning focus onto the handshake. His hand is warm, perhaps a little bit too warm, and the contact makes that sense of vibrancy all the clearer. And for his part, his gaze goes distant, perhaps getting more of whatever he'd been sensing as well. "You're at least not acting like one, and that's the important thing. The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."
"Rehearsed that one a lot, eh?" says Eve, a hint of play in her tone after the hand shake. Her face screws up a bit. "I'm enjoying life well enough, thank you. Eve, by the way." She offers, at least, a name.
Then she looks upwards.
Jimmy pokes his tongue out. "It's a good quote, and I don't even care that it came from a big purple Pokemon." At least he's honest about his sources. "Eve. Call me Jimmy, then." If she's using a name, he may as well do so too, right? Even if he fidgets a little, yet uncertain about the crossed wires. He looks up too, following her gaze.
"Oh hey that IS from Pokemon, huh," replies Eve.
"Nice to meet you, Jimmy." Still looking up. "You been in the city long? Always good to keep one eye on the sky around here, what, with all the weird flying people and what not." Superheroes. All the superheroes.
Weird flying people. Not like Jimmy is one of those, oh no. "Y-Yeah," he says. "You're right. I'll remember that. Been here since I was a kid, and that still slips my mind."
"Right?! I've been here for, what, thirty years now and it's /still/ weird to see so many weird people in the sky even when I'm definitely weird myself. Gyro?" She asks, offering the wrapped second gyro she had ordered out to him. Not that he doesn't have his hot dog, but it's polite to offer to share.
Jimmy didn't actually get a hot dog; he just looked like he was heading in that direction when he walked past, still trying to find what that Curious Sensation had come from. Still, he's not hungry; he lifts a declining hand, saying "I'm good." He does step closer, standing at her side rather than in front of her, so they have an easier time both looking up into the same part of the sky. "Mm. The vast majority of people are still not-weird, I think. But in a city this size, you're going to get a lot of the weird even if the proportion isn't any higher." And it damn well might be.
"I mean, you're not wroing," says Eve, pointing at him with the gyro before she unfoils it and takes a bite, having previously finished her first one.
"But all the same, I think I preferred it when it wasn't so wild… not that it wasn't wild. Just a little longer between the wild bits. Also, I didn't worry about Godzilla appearing."
Jimmy laughs. "Now imagine if you were in Tokyo and how much more Godzilla you'd need to worry about. This has always been a city that never sleeps; difference is these days, some of that insomnia is from the noise being made by vampires and mutants and magicians all bumping around." His hands settle in his coat pockets. "You know, I've never been that open about me being weird, before." And they haven't actually seen anything from each other.
"You know, I really ought to go to Japan sometime, they have the /best/ Gothic fashion there," says Eve. It's not as if she isn't very, very clearly and obviously Goth, even if the paleness of her skin is more natural than makeup. She takes a moment to chew on her gyro before shrugging. "I mean, it wasn't like you could hide it, man."
Jimmy nods. "Yeah, Gothic Lolita, right? I've heard of that. Though it seems more… fancy-Victorian kind of thing? Do they still have the piercings and torn fishnets and such?" He pouts. "Hey, I usually do. It's not like people can see, hear, smell, or taste anything weird about me. You just have more senses than that."
"Well, I mean, there's more than one type of gothic fashion, yeah. Regular goth, like you're thinking, but pastel Goth, gothic Lolita, industrial goth, cyber goth… The list goes on. I have a variety of outfits that fall into the different types, even if I mostly steer to towards a more traditional ripped-and-ragged Goth look." Eve shrugs. "It's a whole thing. Gotta go with what feels right for the day. And sure, most people can't senase you. Something was bound to, though."
Jimmy tilts his head, taking in all these new terms. "Huh. That sounds… cool. I'll have to look some of those up. This, uh, 'standard' goth works well for you, though." He huffs. "Well… at least it was you, and not someone who's /actually/ a ravening monster." With that much life force, he'd surely be… nutritious.
"I'm one of the Old Goths," remarks Eve, dark humor in her tone. Yes, she actually makes this joek.
"And yeah, sure. No ravenous monsters here. Just me and a lot of gyros and what not." She seems relaxed, but then, wouldn't you be right now? "I assure you, were I ravening monster, I'd probably have been put down a while ago. I regularly get told I'll be set on fire should I be one. It's pretty awesome, actually."
Jimmy frowns, turning his head to look at her profile. To say something like that, while still being so relaxed… "That just sounds like a mean thing to say," he says. "I mean, so what if you're not human? There are all kinds of not-human people here. Doesn't mean they're any more dangerous or need to be threatened."
"I was being sarcastic about the awesome part," adds Eve. "It's mean, but it's also something people feel they have to do. You know, you sensed what I am, to an extent, and I imagine it made you a little uncomfortable, right? Well, I don't blame anyone for being uncomfortable, or cautious, or reminding me that I need to, you know, stay in control. I mean, I've been in control forever but they don't know that, and they don't know if I'll lose it and I don't klnow if I'll lose it. So everyone's just doing what they're supposed to do. I can't really hold any grudges over that except for the part where I totally will." She's grinning, humor in her tone. "You gotta keep a sense of humor about it."
Jimmy's eyes linger on her face for a while. It's a little harder to translate through an inhuman heart, but…
No, there's no sense in poking at it, in picking at the scab. So he nods. "You're right. That, and putting attention on other things when you can. Like being the best Goth you can be."
"I /am/ the best goth," agrees Eve heartily.
"I wanna be the very best. The best goth there ever was," She sing-songs. She is totally gonne poke fun at the Pokemon references for the future.
Totally.
Oh great, that's two people in one day deciding to poke at Jimmy in recurring ways. This one, at least, is easier on his heart. He just pokes his tongue out at her. "Next you have to come up with your 'test' and your 'cause'. I'm not going to try to guess at what Goths would do for something like that."
"I'll get to that eventually. These things come with time," says Eve, shrugging. "Anyway, I oughta get home. I gotta stream to do."
She gestures off in a vague direction. WEll, vaguely in the direction of her home. "IT was nice meeting you, Jimmy. I'm sure you can find me again if you want to."
Jimmy throws a wave with one hand. "Have a good'un, Eve. And yeah; it's a big city, but I'm sure we'll bump into each other somewhere along the way." And then, he works to remember just what he'd been doing. He turns in a circle, feet shuffling, and ultimately picks out a direction.