Anything and Everything

Who: Eben and Jesse
When: after school
Where: on-campus arcade

Jesse didn't feel like going directly home after band practice let out. He was still kind of thrown by his encounter with Chance. Usually he was better at hiding things than that, but ... what he'd seen was just too fucked up. Mirror doorways, what the hell. He'd wandered for a while until he decided on a spot to go and headed to NMU campus. There was an arcade there, and he had the itch to shoot some zombies. He had his headphones firmly on as he pumped quarters into House of the Dead and picked up the little plastic gun. He spread his legs and concentrated, tongue poking out just slightly between his lips.

Eben went for a walk after school, mostly just wandering. He liked wandering around campus in particular, because the buildings were neat, and there was a lot of different architecture involved. There were also video games, and he was cool with those. So, wandering into the arcade there, he smiled when he spotted Jesse. Walking over, he didn't say anything to the guy, and instead just stood and watched for a few minutes.

Unaware at first of his audience, Jesse pumped light-rounds into zombies to a particularly awesome Prodigy song that was being pumped into his ears at the moment. One really didn't need to hear these games to do well at them, and he was a fairly good shot. As the level shifted, he happened to glance around and saw that someone was standing kinda close to him. And that it was Eben Willows. He blinked, and gave a sort of salute with the game-pistol. Eben was a completely acceptable life form.

Eben knocked off a second salute in return. "At ease, soldier." he said, smiling. "Nice zombie defenses I see. Always a practical, good skill to have." he added, nodding sagely. He hadn't seen Jesse in a while, but then again, Eben had had a busy life of late, too. So, this was cool.

Jesse saw him talking but didn't catch it, so he pulled the headphones off and looked questioning. He and Eben weren't best-good friends or anything -- he didn't really have any of those -- but they'd hung out once or twice successfully and Jesse had to admit he kinda liked the guy. He was ... so different from everybody else. "Huh?" he said helpfully.

"I said 'at ease, soldier'." Eben provided. "Then I rambled a bit about zombie protection being a valid skill to have and stuff, nothing important. Can I join you?" he asked. Generally he didn't go in for violent games, but that didn't mean he didn't have fun playing them with other people. Some things were just only entertaining if you had company.

"Sure, be my guest," he said, gesturing to the second gun that was holstered in the game. He flashed Eben a crooked sort of grin and then snapped to as the next level began and it was shoot or be eaten. So he went with the first option, reaching up just briefly to tuck some blonde hair back on one side.

Eben dropped money into the machine, then grabbed the second gun and started assessing the game situations. He was better at assessing people. Video games weren't really his forte--though he could pull the trigger and hit the things that popped up fairly well. Just not anywhere near as good as Jesse. He was a lover not a fighter. But it also gave him ideas for a painting so maybe that was coolness. "Now I'm thinking about a painting to do...." he shared with the rest of the class.

"Yeah?" Jesse asked while he was shooting zombies, not taking his eyes off of the screen. There were more of them with two players, but that was okay. "What's that?" He'd sometimes wished in a vague sense that he had more talent of the artistic persuasion. His stick figures were pretty cool, but that was about as far as that went. Music was more his thing. Some random images of Eben drifted under the surface of his thoughts, quieter with the distraction and the fact that he kind of knew the guy.

"Something with a lot of hard angles. Reds and blacks, mostly. Shadows in the distance, vaguely human but not necessarily fully so." Eben said, trying to pick important parts out of the mess in his head. He started to see little sparks of chaos spiking up from the game, and for a short bit was a hell of a lot better at predicting where the next one would pop up.

At least he had a pretty vivid imagination. Even if what he was picturing wasn't what Eben was, it still looked cool in his mind's eye. "You should go for it, my man," he said, flickering a quick coke-bottle glance over before he shot another few digital enemies. "Do you know anything about mirrors?" he asked, prior to giving it any thought at all.

"Hm. Like...they're glass? Or vampires can't see themselves in them theoretically because they have no souls? Or like 'hey a few weeks ago monsters came out of them and put a bunch of people in the hospital, like me and my family' or 'mirrors--a good way to get around medusa if you happen to be Perseus'?" Eben asked. "Of course there are a lot of other things too that I could name, but those are the first off the top of my head."

Jesse grunted and shot another zombie before his attention was completely diverted and he just looked over at the other guy. "Second to last one, kinda sorta ... mirrors as passageways? Not just for the monstrous and those with questionable realities," he said, re-holstering the plastic pistol. He wasn't going to name names, not going to tell Reed's secret, but if there was anybody he could maybe ask, it would be Eben.

Eben shot a few more pixelated monsters, thinking about that. "Well...everyone's reality is questionable." he said thoughtfully. "Everything is different to everyone, you and I can see exactly the same thing and come out with some different take on it." he said. "Though I guess that's neither here nor there. Um...passageways and such. It would stand to reason, I suppose, or, the concept is out there. The whole mirrors are gateways to someplace else thing. It's there in mythology, I guess. Kinda a concept that shows up fairly consistently. Why?" he asked. "Have you found a way to get through mirrors? Because that would be neat."

"Nope. Just kinda came across something today that piqued the old interest, wondered if you had the story." He glanced over and watched Eben play for a moment. So no solid answers there, but it definitely bore further research. Just not direct Chance-Reed-palm-reading research anytime soon. The area was a little sore, he was thinking, and he might find more than he really bargained for. "So how's it hangin, homeslice? Arm all better?"

"Yes, mostly." Eben said, dying, because he was better at this with someone else. So he stuck the gun back down as well then turned to Jesse, leaning back against the game itself. "Things have been interesting the past few weeks. I met this woman who was...beautiful and probably the most naive person I've met. She was near thirty. I...taught her a few things." Eben said. "And I had a girlfriend for a while! Then she disappeared. Not sure what happened there. I've met a few nice girls lately, but they're those types who're beautiful but for some reason can't appreciate that, and that bothers me." he said, rattling off the highlights. "How about you? Anything interesting?"

Jesse arched a bit of an eyebrow. That was ... a lot more eventful than his life had been lately, that was for sure. Especially in the girl department. Of which he'd not had in quite a long time. Or a boy, for that matter. "Definitely not all that, Dry Spell is my middle name," he said with a crooked chuckle. "Just livin' the life, gettin' on as I can. Not shoved in any lockers lately, that's been something. Or not-something, which is just as good sometimes." He shrugged and tucked his hands into his khaki pockets.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, the girlfriend thing was really mostly confusing and then she poofed, and the older woman thing was fun for a short bit but now she's gone too so who knows." Eben said. "Drea, the girl who I've been accompanying to social events lately, isn't interested, I'm sure. She seems to be searching for male friends of a more..." he paused, trying to come up with a word. "Voracious, or vital variety." he opted for, even if he knew that wasn't quite the wording he was looking for.

Even if it wasn't the right word, all the v's were easy on the ears, and Jesse grinned a bit. "Not quite enough of a strapping young lumberjack type, hey?" he chuckled. "Never fear, my friend, the stars tell me you will never be short of knee-deep in women." He jingled the change in his pocket and jerked his head a little bit toward the door. "Sustenance? I could certainly go for some orange chicken and lo mein, myself," he suggested. If dating was out of the question, eating was just as good. Sort of.

"Sounds good to me." Eben said. As for the knee-deep in women thing, Eben wasn't sure that sounded like such a good thing. Things got complicated really fast when that kind of thing happened. He started to head out with Jesse. "But yes, I believe she's searching for the more...jock-types to hang around with. Athletic and sporty and the types who would adopt her as their new little sister, according to her."

The psychic gave a snort-chuckle and shook his head. "To each their weird and wonderful own, am I right? No accounting for taste." He pushed out the door and back into the quasi-cold, zipping his hoodie up the rest of the way. If he knew anything, he knew that life was chock-full of a rainbow of preferences, especially about other people. "So what are you lookin' for?" he asked, glancing over. Which wasn't completely a fish, not at all. "If anything in particular."

"Not anything, really." Eben said. "I'm less of a searching sort of person and more an experience life as it comes at me type." he mused, sticking his hands into his coat pockets as they walked. "I'm more of a person who's in the present as opposed to seeking some future that's tomorrow or distant. I'd rather just enjoy what I have right in front of me. Which isn't a judgment on other people who are doing that constantly striving thing, of course. If no one did then there'd be very little progress made in the world. However, I'm not out to change the world, maybe just...initiate some forms of positive change in the people around me should the opportunity arise."

That was more or less the answer that Jesse had expected, and it had nothing to do with being psychic. It was just being observant. For some reason it made him think of his mother and what she was now going through, how she potentially didn't have a future. It sounded like a good enough philosophy, because how many of them really knew, right? Especially given what the town had been going through lately. "You're Jesus, man," he told Eben with some faint humor in his voice. "Jesus and Buddha rolled into one gorgeous package. Or at least a good mouthpiece, live in the moment, today is what's important, because who knows about tomorrow."

Eben smiled at Jesse. "Thank you." he said. "Though I don't claim to be anyone of vast import. Religion is..." he paused, trying to think of the word. "Something I've always sort of just let wash over me. I mean, going through as many cults as I have been, eventually you just learn that anyone can believe anything, and follow it around blindly. That if someone is convincing enough when they tell people something, they can get someone to believe them. It's interesting." he mused. Then he paused. "And thanks for saying I'm gorgeous." he added with a smile.

He waved a hand before sticking it back in his pocket, walking along. "In the philosophical sense, I mean, philosophically speaking only," he said, though Eben probably knew that. "Don't expect you to start laying on hands or being an aesthetic for years on end, just to see. For the most part, the religious part of religion is a crock of shit. Good pretty shit, but shit all the same. It's the philosophy in it, that's important." He glanced over and just gave a half-smile at the last bit, getting a random flash of Eben with a facemask and a welder. Sparks suited him.

"I always thought it was the belief that mattered. I've seen people from all different walks of life that align themselves with the most insane ideas. And all because of belief. That and an inherent despondency that the human race has leveled on itself because it likes to ostricize people. So people are surrounded by others, but they're not really part of anything. And humanity as a whole is a social creature, so that's an issue. A lot of the lost souls I've met have wanted to belong, and they'd delude themself with anything so they could do that. Be a part of something, be a single part of the whole. Which is really fucked considering how much people want to be individuals. It's like some people trade that for a hive-mind, and they do it on purpose." Eben rambled thoughtfully, not really having a point so much as thinking aloud with company.

"Mmmm, they're lookin' for the tribe again," he mused in turn. "It's all tribal, the whole thing. Used to be, you had your own little community, your own little home, your own set of people what knew you, you gave your own little part, whether it was making clothes or tilling fields, you were needed 'cause it was all needed to keep it together and get everybody fed. And it was like that for thousands of years. But technology advances faster than we evolve, and now so many people are just cogs in the machinery, dig? There's no sense of importance in data entry or assembly line shit, and the brain is still like 'what the fuck, guy? Where's your place, where's your tribe what needs you?' So they seek out groups who may only be slightly like-minded and cling, because there's such a difference as being an important part of a whole and just a cog. It's everywhere, the tribe-mind. Religion, politics, nationalism, hell, even like ... being super-fans of a band, man. Our brains are behind and striving."

Eben listened. "Okay, so what's the end result?" he asked. "Eventual breakdown of the mind, evolution that seems to just be a traded sense of self, or a shift down into a non-self that exists because so many people are now invisible. Things have gotten easier so humanity's drifted apart, we're just not very good at it? But at the same time, we feel we ought to be. But then humanity is the most unsatisfied being on the planet. Nothing's ever quite good enough, so it keeps having to be refined. And then further refined, over and over until it actually takes humanity out of it at all, setting up automated systems so that cog in the machine thing--it is the machine, and suddenly instead of being an important part of the system, we're reduced to being less important than wires and metal, gears that turn and no one has to pay attention to." Yep. Very clearly rambling. But it was interesting.

Jesse didn't mind rambling at all. It was rare he got to talk to people about much of anything, after all, much less working out the problems of the world, so this had his stamp of approval. He was nodding his agreement to what Eben was saying. "Seems to be dissolving into isolationism, fanaticism, general malaise. Think more people in the world are unhappy than ever used to be, now. Certainly on more drugs, more pills, trying to make themselves happy. Think our options are descend into chaos and hit the reset button, or recognize and adapt, man. Now I'm not sayin' that better plows and the cotton gin and the internet are bad things, we just haven't found compensation for life-satisfaction yet. It's all been fast. We're missing that importance, like you said. Hardly anybody realizes how beautiful and complex and mind-blowing they are, yeah? Like those girls you mentioned, don't know how beautiful. Bet you a dollar they're down on themselves in other areas too, and if you told 'em they were an amazing and unique snowflake, they would look at you funny," he said, rambling kind of all over, himself. "Just think about eyes, man. About how eyes biologically work, and tell me we appreciate ourselves. Who fuckin' even thinks about that? Nobody."

"I know for a fact Charlotte is one of those girls. The type that's completely unappreciative of who she is and what she gives to the world around her. It's frustrating, I have to admit. Because there are people out there who don't have what she has, and she's denying it like it's not there, even when it is. I don't know if I actually think that humanity is unhappier now than previously, however. I think there's been a steady level of misery throughout history, they just didn't have shrinks to tell everyone about it, or widespread media to highlight it. Quality of life has gotten both better and worse, so I think it actually evens out. Such as people live longer, but living longer often means it's prolonged suffering. It gives people a bigger sense of immortality, because it's not kicking off at forty anymore, it's kicking off at eighty. We talk about medical advances and all, and there's been cures created, but there are still just as many diseases out there. More popping up, more things that can't be cured. So I think it's less an actual fact and more just people are aware. They used to only know what was happening in their own tribe." Eben said, calling back Jesse's reference. "And now they can find out about anyone's they want to, if they have a computer. And with the internet, people are both more open, and more faceless than ever before, because they can feel free to fully express their opinions--and yet they hide behind false identities, behind their computer screens. And people aren't real anymore at that point. They're words on a screen. They aren't a human being on the other end with feelings. Like people forget someone working behind a counter is human, and not actually there to take your shit--it's like the internet turned everyone into the guy behind the counter."

He gave a little laugh, not really because the subject matter was funny, but because it was so true. "Funny how in the so-called Information Age, information is sort of rotting us away. Or how the info is presented. You hear so much on the news, little girls bein' killed by their parents, wars, genocides, famines ... you were right, it all happened forever ago too, but you hear so much about it now, it all bleeds together to most people. We are animals full of atrocity, but there's so much potential to be more. People don't see it. Like your girl Charlotte. People think, 'oh, I'm just one of six billion, what do I matter?' They feel faceless 'cause other people are faceless to them. But if everyone just opened their fucking eyes and were aware of other people. That would be all it took to start making a difference. That somebody next to you, right in front of you, in your neighboring country, man ... they've got thoughts and feelings and dreams and families and they are you, we're all connected ... it's like cutting off your own arm. Doesn't make sense, the whole deal's poison."

"It is." Eben agreed. Because the logic was sound. "It makes no sense, and it's just a rotting, festering disease that's eating away at everyone. But at the same time...it's just the newest bout. People have been awful forever. It's always whatever's facing people at the time. It's how much humanity understands, too. How willing people are to understand that it's alright if my worldview and yours aren't the same. Some societies have become tolerent, but not all of them. So levels of enlightenment are all over the place, and who's to say the more civilized people in the world are right, even? As you said, we're animals. We are. There's the schools of thought that oppose one another, either we're basically good, or we're basically selfish. I don't know about either one of those, I've seen both. I can't say why anyone turns out they way they do, or what's at the baseline level. You take a serial killer and look into his history and come up with a horrible home life--but there are a lot of people out there with horrible home lives, and they don't all start eating their neighbors. That's when you come down to the individual...and if we're talking about the erosion of self, then that's a pretty big problem."

"It's a huge problem," Jesse nodded. "But ... it's like that old movie, the one with the dudes underground running things for the pretty boys up top? And their so-called 'utopia' was miserable? And like Brave New World. There'd still be problems, even if we were more compassionate at each other. On the other side of the serial killers ... some of them had fine home lives. Some of them are just cracked. Nothing's gonna be perfect, ever. If it's not one thing, it's another." He shrugged. "I just think those things could be less harsh or handled a lot better if we were all more aware on the whole. Just dunno if it's ever going to happen. Dunno, read some stuff once that said this is all exactly how it's supposed to be, just another step in the reincarnation cycle of enlightenment, it's all around to teach us. But that's real metaphysical shit that I'm not sure I buy."

"Oh there'll always be issues." Eben agreed. "Actually, if there weren't issues, the world would be a really, really weird place, bordering on pointless. Because on the flipside, adversity makes us stronger and initiates change and evolution. So if there wasn't any there wouldn't be any need and then there'd just be a great lot of stagnation. Everything would break down just because there wasn't any forward momentum. And with the more aware thing...definitely. But like we were talking about, people actually are more aware. I think they just happen to be more aware yet less emotionally connected at the same time."

"Definitely can't sit around and sing kumbaya all day," he said with a faint chuckle. Well ... some people could, but not everyone, that was for sure. Forward momentum, forward momentum. He felt like he was losing that. If he ever had it. His brain was too consumed with everyone else around him, he only really had his music. Jesse reached up to rub above one eyebrow, looking thoughtful for a moment. "It's all a paradox. World with no issues is pointless, which is an issue. World with so many issues seems to be only going places on the very surface, trying to have no issues."

"I don't know, I think that it's going places, just not necessarily places that are positive." Eben said as they walked, nearing the szechuan. "I mean, change is all sorts of things. Chaos reins, and it doesn't care whether change is good or bad, just so long as things don't remain stagnant and the same. And with the ebb and flow of everything, what should be happening is horrible things happen, people do something about it to try and make it better. Good things happen, and someone tries to slap it down."

"Think that's happening?" Jesse posed, glancing over again. "Or do you think horrible things are happening on a much grander scale than the good things, and nobody's doing anything to make it better?" Because he felt that way sometimes, but he didn't know if that was just him being cynical. "I'm a big believer in small-scale wonderful, tiny beauties in the world, they're everywhere and powerful if you pay attention to them, but ... I dunno, guy, sometimes seems good's outnumbered."

"That's just because people don't want to hear about the awesome things in the world, they want to hear about the death toll of the last natural disaster." Eben said. "It doesn't mean good things aren't happening--it means that it's less covered by the media because there's less of a marketable story in there." he explained. "Don't give up the faith, my friend. Good is out there, you just have to look harder for it."

"Mmm. I think we will discover some in here," he said, opening up the door to the restaurant and making a grand gesture for Eben to go in. He was smiling, though. He knew first hand that so many people weren't optimists, himself included sometimes. It was refreshing to talk to one. Who also happened to be drop-dead gorgeous, that was just an added bonus. Icing on the conversation cake.

Eben smiled serenely at Jesse as he walked in. "Thank you." he said, grabbing the second inside door for Jesse as they headed in. "There is in fact, good in here. See? It's all about the little things." he said. "Its all findable. It's allowing oneself to appreciate things on a small scale."

Jesse breathed in the awesome smell of Chinese food and found that he definitely had to agree. Very good things in here, and he was goddamn hungry. He followed the hostess girl to a booth and slipped into one side of it, ducking out from under his bag and sliding a menu over to himself. "On a lighter note, make anything mind-blowing lately?" he asked as his eyes ticked over selections.

Eben dropped down across from Jesse and took a menu as well. "I'm not sure about mind-blowing." he said. "Though I made masks for myself and Drea for the masquerade." he said. "She seemed to like hers. And I've been venturing into metal working sculpture lately, just for something different." he added. He still didn't know what the hell the thing was that he'd been making when Drea had called him.

"Nice, nice," Jesse said, and it managed to come off as not dismissive. Eben continually impressed him, it seemed that everything arty the guy touched was gold. Though he'd been mind-privy to a few memory-peices that hadn't been great. He remembered at random that he wanted orange chicken and slid the menu away again, looking up at his lunch partner through his thick lenses.

"Other than that I've been doing portraits lately, so that's always fun. I like working with people." People were always intriguing, one way or another, so Eben could appreciate that kind of thing. "I have shots of Charlotte, all those ones of the woman I told you about--did I mention her eyes were different colors? She was gorgeous. Redhead, too, and a natural one. Still...occasionally difficult to get past the naive."

"You didn't, but that's pretty cool," he said, starting to beat out a little rhythm on the table with his fingers. "I can't ever decide if I think people who are still naive in this day and age -- and you said she was older, right? -- are like ... treasures to be guarded, or really funny and delusional people. Guess it depends. Too bad she vanished."

"I think in her case, it was detrimental. I mean the chick was almost thirty and sometimes it felt like I was dealing with a twelve year old, y'know?" Eben suggested. "I do get what you mean about the treasures thing, however. How sometimes seeing someone who isn't jaded and cynical, who hasn't really been messed up by the world around them so much is really an amazing thing, something to be cherished." he mused. "Though I also have to agree some of that has got to be delusion. If nothing else, extreme denial."

"Well ... there's a difference between not letting all that shit get you down in the dumps, and not being aware of it at all, dig? Like your brain is wrapped with cotton candy and your eyes are closed on purpose," he mused. Which sounded like what he was describing. "I'd rather have somebody who knows shit and accepts it than somebody who denies it's there altogether, yeah? Doesn't have to make us jaded and cynical. You're not," he pointed out, meeting Eben's eyes. And he knew that Eben Knew Shit.

"It's true, but I think I'm in the major minority, on that one." he assessed. "I think it actually kind of plays back into Christianity's concept of the whole knowledge losing innocence thing. The more you know, the more you can't actually look past anymore, or see beyond. Innocence doesn't regenerate." And Eben had seen a lot of people who's innocence had died. It was always sad, in a way.

Jesse was nodding, because he knew that feeling. More and more, he knew that feeling. Not that he'd been terribly naive to begin with, but after puberty and his ability really kicked in ... childhood innocence had gone out the window pretty fast. And he'd seen more of his parents than any kid ever wanted to. "Amen to that, brother," he said to Eben now, and put in his food order when the waitress came around. "But I think too many motherfuckers are so ego-centric. They're pissed that their innocence is gone, in a way, blame it on the world for being hard instead of adapting to it properly. Get cynical and pissed. And you can't get pissed at a mountain, man, it's just beating your head on rocks."

"That's true, but if no one ever challenged the system, or status quo, we'd all still be back in the dark ages." Eben said, propping his head on his hand as he thoughtfully stared out the window, mind turning on their subject. "And granted, quite a lot of it is the social equivalent of beating a dead horse, but it still has to happen in some fashion. Otherwise people would get complacent."

"There's the status quo and society's rules and regs, and then there's the natural part of it all," Jesse pointed out. Which was more what he'd meant. "The beginning of time shit, just the stuff that rubs in your face that we're not all immortal and invincible, and superheroes. Accidents, kids die, people get sick young ... people take that shit personal. 'Why'd this happen to me.' What the fuck, man, it's been happening to everyone forever, you're not special." And it was possible there was a bit more of an edge to his voice there, but he went on. "But I agree. Socially, there has to be forward momentum, and people have to push it along. Don't think it happens enough in this country on a large scale in this day and age."

Eben picked up on the edge thing, and his eyes ticked back over to Jesse. "Have you dealt with a lot of people whining about the why's of the universe?" he asked curiously, wondering if he'd get an explanation for it. He was curious, definitely. He wanted to know.

Jesse was silent for a second, looking off into the middle distance over Eben's shoulder before he refocused. He was thinking of all the depressive memories he got in the hospital when he went with his mom to her treatment. He'd never heard her ask the 'why me's and was grateful for it. She was stronger than that. "I've heard quite a bit of it," he answered the guy, but didn't elaborate.

Eben kept his eyes on Jesse, pondering things out. "Like what? When?" he asked, not sure if it was a subject he should push, but no one ever connected with someone else without attempting. So, he was putting in the effort.

He shrugged a shoulder and shook his head a bit, not wanting to talk about it. Which was going to be hella-obvious, he knew, but he didn't talk to people about his mom. Not yet. Because she wasn't going to die, she just wasn't, so what was the point in getting all that fake sympathy from anyone? There wasn't one. "Just around, it's everywhere, man. A plague of self-pity," he said instead.

Eben was quiet for a minute, then just accepted that and moved forward. "Alright." he said. He didn't press further, of course, but he also was at the end of his leash on where the philosophical debate should go from there. It had lost it's objectivity, obviously, so... Not that he minded or seemed to be irked by it at all. He wasn't.

Jesse let the silence kind of stretch out for a minute or two, let it thrum with the steady waves of other peoples' memories that always crept back in when there was nothing to distract. My mom might be dying, he almost blurted. Eben was a sort-of friend, it would probably be okay. Not used for ammunition. Maybe advice. But it wouldn't come out. "You wanna come over after this?" he asked instead, not sure where it came from, but there it was. "House is free."

"Sure!" Eben said brightly, not at all adverse to that idea. "I wouldn't mind at all. I've got nothing else to do, and I like hanging out with you." he said, tossing the compliment Jesse's way with ease. "It's not everyday I get to debate humanity at random." Mostly because people didn't want to debate anything, they wanted to be entertained, or have easy conversations that all had pat answers.

He chuckled and smiled in a way that was more pleased than he would've expected. Nobody said that. They liked hanging out with him. He'd take it, from Eben. "Sweet," he said, and sat back a bit as their food arrived. It would be nice to have some company for a change. Some company that wasn't related to him or married to his mom, and actually wanted to be around.

After they'd finished up their meal and headed out of the restaurant, Eben was gazing thoughtfully at the sky as they strolled towards Jesse's house. He wasn't sure what they were going to be up to and all, but he was, as ever, cool with chaos. So whatever went, went.

Jesse led the way, hands tucked in his pockets, glancing over every so often at Eben, and wondering in a very vague way if he'd be content with having a movie stuck in or something. He wasn't sure how to entertain people that weren't himself. And he really kind of wanted to catch a nap, if he could. But that was a whole different thought-path. "If you could only go one other place in the world that wasn't Marquette, where would you go?" he asked idly.

Eben thought about that for a few long moments. "The Sedlec Ossuary." he answered, and he didn't sound like he was wavering on that answer. That it was solid in his head, and that's what he was going with. "What about you?" he asked curiously, watching Jesse as they walked, not really bothering to hide the scrutiny.

He looked over with a crooked sort of grin. That was a new one on him. "It's gonna sound trite, but I would really love to go to Egypt. Only it would've been better to go to Egypt in like ... the nineteen-thirties, when stuff was still being discovered, y'know? Just walk around in places where people walked thousands of years ago, get that vibe. ... but now you have to tell me what the Sedlec Ossuary is."

"Egypt crossed my mind." Eben said honestly. "So, no, definitely not trite." he added. He didn't think so. A lot of ruins crossed his mind too, it was all just so damn interesting. All that history. "So I completely back up your choice in places." he said. Then he smiled a bit, trying to think of how to describe the Ossuary. "It's a church. Somewhere in the Czech Republic. And a ton of it's decorations and furnishings and shit are made of human remains." he explained. "So...bones."

Jesse could almost picture it. Just a place lined with what was left of people. He'd never gotten any readings off of anything that wasn't alive, and what he could really picture was sitting somewhere in that place, deserted, basking completely in the silence. "Huh," he said in a dreamy-musing way. "So why there? Out of anywhere?" He was curious now, Eben had never struck him as a morbid sort or anything. He would've more pictured him in some zen temple somewhere. He was his own zen.

"I find it fascinating." Eben said. "Particularly because most people would find it so intensely inappropriate, but I think it's so incredibly interesting. Those people...whoever they happened to be, are now a lasting, timeless work of art. Add in with that that it's in a religious atmosphere, it's even spiritual for some. Though I think one would have to be hard pressed to enter a building with that much skeletal decoration and not feel some sort of spirituality, regardless of the name you're referring to your deity or deities as. It's...beautiful really. I know most people would likely be creeped out by it and think it's awful, but it was a situation where there were mass graves because of the black death...things like that, and now? No one's ever going to go untouched by them, if they go to the Ossuary."

"Interesting," Jesse murmured as they walked. He could see that, he really could. And it made sense, when put in the context that it was a work of art. Being that Eben was an artist. He could only imagine the pictures the guy could get there. "I think it'd be peaceful," he added a bit quietly. "I hope you get there someday." He honestly did and thought the guy would. If anybody would, it would be Eben. He was just that kind of guy. They were coming up on his street, and he turned them down and headed toward the house.

"You do?" he asked. "Why would you think it would be peaceful?" he asked. "I tend to agree, though I lean more towards the mind alteringly fascinating, but I'm very curious why you would find it peaceful." Eben continued, finding that bit of information quite interesting. "And thank you, I hope I do too. And I hope you get to Egypt someday."

"I can just hear the quiet, man," Jesse said, not sure how else to say it. It wasn't like he could say that there wouldn't be anyone else's brain invading his thoughts. Even though Eben knew things, he didn't know about him. Not yet anyway. "I'm not sure that any place can be quieter than a place like that. In all kinds of ways, y'know?" He hoped that made some kind of sense, but it probably didn't. "It sounds like a place where there'd be reverence. Like people wouldn't want to disturb it. Just ... emptiness."

"I understand what point of view you are expressing." Eben said, getting what Jesse was driving at, but at the same time, he had a different viewpoint. "For me, though, I suppose I wouldn't think of it as quiet, or empty. I'd see echoes everywhere, feel like there were tons of imprints on the place from all who've gone into it, every footstep a reverberation, and that's not just talking about the living who've been there but the dead who still are. I'd kind of feel like it was...a cacopheny of time and space, everything following ripples through it all."

That was probably because Eben didn't live with everyone and their mother's memories and past lives in his head all the time. Any place where the living didn't want to go too often would be quiet to him, at least for a while. He needed a mountaintop somewhere, at least for like a week. "I can see that too. Places like that, I think everybody can take something different away from it," he said. He gestured toward his house as they turned up the driveway, and he went to unlock the front door to let them both in.

Eben followed along. "Well, that's like anything." he said. "Absoutely everything in this entire world is different for each person. The world is a unique place to everyone. No one takes the exact same impression off of anything as someone else. That's part of what makes it all so interesting." he said. "Though places like that'll have a lot more diverse reactions than saaaay...disney land."

Jesse laughed a little. "Yeah, hard to imagine anyone feeling terrified and disturbed at the magic kingdom," he agreed wryly. "Except for when they're looking at the price lists for shit." He dropped his bag near the door and shrugged out of his hoodie, letting it fall on top. "That's all the human experience, it's amazing that some people think that other people's impressions can be wrong. Thirsty, man?" he asked, heading for the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'll take anything." Eben answered, following Jesse. "I think disney land is a fascinating concept too. If y'know, someplace I'll probably never really want to go. I like my trips to be a bit more culture related than consumer." He was quiet for a minute. "People with fear of giant mice. Or schizophrenics. Or epileptics. They might all fear disney land."

"Well okay, them, but the proportions are off in comparison," he said good-naturedly. He would never go to that fucking place, that was for sure. Talk about a nightmare of a cacopheny. Jesse went to the fridge and pulled out a couple of cans of Mountain Dew, and handed one off to Eben. "Unfortunately, to some people that is culture. I've never understood it, but." He shrugged a shoulder and popped his open.

Eben took the offered can, and leaned against a counter as he thought about that. "I suppose in some respects it is, but it's a falsified one. It's not really a people, it's roots are in fairytale, which is very cultural, but it's all bastardized. Turned from warnings for children into entertainment where everything ends happily ever after. Any real point they had is completely neutered by the time they're through with it."

"In a way, it's kind of corrupted several generations against reality. Kids are impressionable, and a lot of 'em grow up thinkin' that everything will be happily ever after, and that being in love is the end-all be-all to existance and it'll all work out perfect if you've got the one. It's kind of insidious, in a way. How everybody lies to their kids. I know it's hard shit to understand, adult stuff, but you don't have to pump 'em full of mental sugar just to avoid real parenting explanations." Or maybe that was kind of cynical. But whatever, he felt it was true. "Not a Disney fan, here," he added with a wry grin.

"I can tell!" Eben said, clearly amused with that. "I think that is a bit cynical. Not necessarily untrue, though. I think it's less a crutch for explaining things as a parent, and more the first thing--the illusion of a happily ever after. One thing it definitely never really deals with are relationship issues. Everything ends at the hookup. That builds a false expectation for marriage, at the very least."

Jesse shrugged, leaning up against the counter next to Eben. "I just think that after a certain point, you get to know better. And not just about the relationship shit, about how bad shit really does happen to good people, and the heroes have flaws too, and the good guys -- quote unquote -- don't always win," he said. "It's just too ... pretty, for me. And on the off chance I ever have kids, I don't want them to have to find out they'd been lied to in their young lives. Not that I'm gonna show 'em pictures of the Holocaust or anything, but there's gotta be a middle ground."

"I can back you on all of it besides the bad things happening to good people thing." Eben said thoughtfully, sipping his mountain dew. "Bambi's mom was shot. Snow White was chased out of the kingdom because her stepmother wanted her heart on a platter. Sleeping beauty was asleep for fucking ever. Cinderella was abused her whole life." he rattled off. "It's more the presentation that none of the bad matters in the face of true love. And I have to say the unflawed heroes and shit really does get to me. Flaws are what makes people unique. It's what makes them interesting."

"... point, yeah," he said in a considering manner, in regards to shitty things happening to people in Disney movies. Or animals, as the case may be. He sipped thoughtfully for a moment. "Maybe that's what gets to me. That smoochin' on the right person will fix everything, no worries about your deep-seated psychological issues, the pretty sparkles just make all those go away." He looked down into his soda and chuckled faintly, shaking his head. "Can't love someone who's perfect. They're not real. Can't love someone not real."

"Perfection is a concept that's only a reflection of the beholder." Eben said, smiling at Jesse. "It's all subjective. Like I was saying before about how the world is a different place for each and every individual, so is perfection. What disney presents is a perfection that is somehow standardized, where standardization is an impossibility. I believe in perfection only when it's taken into account with everything else. Such as...I may find someone perfect, but if I do think so, it's incorporating all of their flaws, which are, inherently, imperfect. And to other people those same flaws that I would find a vital part of the whole, they would rather do away with them, to create a different kind of perfection, one that fits in with their own view. If we're making this a less personal example, take artwork. Something that's pleasing to one person is an eyesore to another. Others will look at the same piece, and think that it's almost right--except for that bit right there, and if they could just change it, then it would be perfect. If we want to link it back to disney, let's say, you might be happier with an ending that highlighted the possibility for more reality involved. Like someone tripping and falling while they walk off into the sunset. Or, for instance, love stories that didn't always involve a male and a female."

Jesse had to laugh at the prospect of an 'alternative lifestyle' Disney movie. He tried to picture polyamorous anthropomorphic animals and honestly got into a giggle fit, his soda can up near his mouth. "God, the Righteous Right would have aneurisms all over the fucking place," he said, highly amused. He took another sip and hummed, nodding to the rest -- the important parts -- of what Eben had said. "You speak the truth, my friend. You are like Buddha with an emo haircut. That's what really makes love. Loving someone as a whole person, flaws and all. Without any motivation to fix or change or any of that impossible bullshit. How fucking boring the world would be without those things. Like Scott smacking when he chews, and how my mom always overspends at the grocery store. They wouldn't be themselves without that kind of shit."

Eben looked pleased that he'd gotten Jesse to laugh, even if he hadn't been going for funny on things. He liked when people laughed, they were so terribly attractive while doing it. There was something pure about laughter, something that drew from a purer place in the soul than anything else. "Exactly." he said. "Everyone is who they are because of the things they do, the views they hold, everything. I've been told I'm too laid back." he offered. "That it drives some people crazy that I don't get myself all bent out of shape nearly ever. I've had girlfriends and boyfriends accuse me of not caring, because of that, when that's not the truth. But that's what their specific lens of the world suggested to them."

"Naw man, you're just ... you," he said, not sure how else to put it. Which was exactly what they were talking about, but he definitely dug who Eben was. This whole conversation was awesome, he liked having the guy around. He took a thoughtful sip of coke and went back over in his mind the times he'd been broken up with. All three of them. They hadn't really given reasons, besides Girl Number Two's frustrated expression of "you're just ... just weird." He tapped the can against his bottom lip. "It's somethin' when you learn that people are loving you the way that they know how and it might not be the way you expect or love them back," he murmured.

Eben looked at Jesse curiously at that remark. "Explain that out further." he requested, intrigued. He sipped some more of his pop, then pushed himself up to sitting on the countertop to level his attention on Jesse.

Jesse arched an eyebrow, having kind of thought that Eben would get that intuitively, but he didn't mind elaborating. "Well it's like ... everybody learns to love differently. Or like, express love. Not everybody can do poems and flowers and shit, or even love their parents or kids the same. Like some moms clean the fuck outta the house and show up to every recital and read bedtime stories or whatever, some give as much freedom as possible," he said, nodding to Eben, 'cause he was kind of an example. "Some boyfriend dudes give presents, some just keep their heart completely open. It's subjective, like everything, like you said, and I think? One of the keys to a good relationship -- not that I know shit about it for sure, but conjecture, my man -- I think is learning to see that how somebody loves you might not be what you had in mind. If it meshes with your expectation and how you love, that's groovy, you've got the jive, but it's possible for them to be different and you to just appreciate what the perspective means." It made sense to him, anyway.

Eben thought that over as Jesse explained. "I can see what you're saying." he said with a nod. "I think a lot of it is finding someone you can love that's got a compatible level of it. There's got to be enough give and take, a flow if you will. And most people don't have the objectivity to appreciate someone's doing their best if it isn't enough for them, or on the flipside, people can't appreciate that someone isn't deliberately trying to drown them in it. But then again, a lot of people have a lot to learn, and aren't willing to do it, which never helps."

Jesse chuckled. "Isn't that the truth," he said, and reached out to clunk his can against Eben's like it was a toast or something. It was just true of humanity in general, that they had a lot to learn. "Not like I'm all enlightened or some shit," he added his next thought to that, nodding his head a bit. "But I try an keep my mind open." He grinned wryly; not like he could help it, right?

"I consider that more enlightened than most people." Eben told Jesse honestly. "Most people don't have the open mind, or don't think they need it, or think they know everything. One of the most intelligent things a person can understand is that they don't know everything. That not every point of view is correct, and that everything is fluid. If you've got that down, then I say you're ahead of the game."

"Socrates," he said, still with that lopsided little grin. "True knowledge exists in knowing you know nothing." It was funny sometimes how the old philosophers still had so much right, and still most people completely ignored it. As a species, they sure as hell evolved a lot slower than their technology. "Hell, my brain has expanded just in the past ... couple hours," he said, glancing down at his watch. "Much appreciated, my blue-eyed wonder." He finished off his coke and rinsed the can in the sink before tossing it into a bin inside one lower cabinet. Now he was definitely damn ready for a nap. Or something.

Laughing, Eben winked at him. "It's my lot in life. Expanding people's horizons." he said. "Any way I can. But lucky you, you got it much more directly, generally I do it through art. Thanks for the conversation, though, honestly most people I'd never be able to have that same talk with." he said genuinely. "Or...even anything like it."

"Anytime, anytime, and back at you," Jesse said, flashing him a grin. He felt good. Kinda vibey and warm, like an excellent connection had been made that wasn't there before. It was good. "I'm in the same boat. Cerebrally dry. Really though, anytime. As in, we should do it again soon. As like a planned thing." Which was really as close as he would get at the moment to date-asking. He was never good at that, so hedging was better.

"Sure!" Eben said brightly. "I'd love to. Just lemme know when, and we'll get together." He finished off his own soda, and got down from the counter, setting it near the sink. "I suppose I should get going, though. So...call? Do you have my number?" he asked, not sure if Jesse did or not.

"Definitely got it," he said, completely pleased with the enthusiasm. That was always nice. And rare to be directed at him, but whatever. He'd take it. He started to walk the other guy to the door, still having the feeling that this whole deal would help him sleep. He felt thought-purged, so he'd just stick on some low Radiohead and pass the fuck out, hopefully. "I'll talk at you later, chief."

"Definitely. Have a good rest of the day." Eben told him, then headed out, starting to whistle as he did so, a tune he was making up as he went. He felt creative now, and wanted to go write some music. Sounded like a great plan to him.