Wild Bouts of Divination

Who: Nate and Jesse
When: post-school
Where: MSHS

It was cold. It felt good, for some reason, the cold. It was cleansing. Jesse had gotten an excuse from band because his mother was having a chemo treatment that afternoon. Only Scott was taking her, and Jesse didn't want to go. The hospital was a nightmare for him, he hated it. But who was he kidding, the whole thing was a nightmare. All of it, and it seemed that the worst from everyone's head wanted to beat at his brain until he was ready to scream. So he wasn't going. They understood.

Instead, he was laying on the low wall near the back entrance of the school, looking up at the dreary gray sky and idly shuffling his tarot cards on his stomach. It was soothing movement, and sort of made up for the fact that he didn't have his headphones on at the moment. He was listening to people, their snippets and flashes, as they walked by. Most of which they weren't even aware of. He was halfway searching for mirrors, but not putting any real effort into it, and looked pretty zoned for all intents and purposes, blonde hair sticking out of the side of his hood.

Nate strolled outside and was barely away from the school when he lit up a cigarette, sighing a relief at getting the nicotine at last. The breaks between classes were just generally not long enough to sneak out for a cigarette and Nate was more addicted than he wanted to admit. He was completely unaware of the boy up on the wall, pretty sure he was alone out there with his thoughts.

There was a lot on his mind, the whole Dylan situation, Kavin's crap and the questions on if he was okay, his own damn back and Charlie's dream weighing him down. Picking up his phone he sent a text message to Kavin, not having heard from him since the night before and yeah, he worried.

A new mind moved in closer to where Jesse was, a new set of things. Teeth-brushing, tv-watching, burrito-microwaving normality, that was all that was -- ... wait. He frowned slightly as a flash of a girl swarmed with huge cats intent on blood went through his mind. Screaming. That was never good. He recognized those cats, of course. That whole thing had been ... awful. But the tone of the flash, the scenery, wasn't Marquette. Jesse moved, turning his head to see a skinny sort of shaggy-haired dude he didn't recognize smoking a cigarette and messing around with his phone. Jesse sat up and turned so his legs were hanging down and shuffled his deck again. "Hey," he said to the guy.

If Nate was easily startled, he would be when Jesse suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He looked up with visible surprise and quirked a small crooked smile. "Hey. Thought I was alone out here." He slipped his phone back in his pocket and pulled his coat tighter around himself. "You do that a lot? Sneak attack from the top of walls?" Kidding, of course, if he'd been paying closer attention he probably would have seen the guy.

"It's the only way to roll, homeskillet," Jesse said easily, flashing a quick and crooked grin. "Ninjas made great use of the tops of walls, there's a historical precedent. Here, pick a card." He leaned forward and spread his tarot deck out like normal playing cards, even though they were a lot bigger and more awkward. This was the only time he was ever cool with people touching his deck, when he was looking for something in particular. It wasn't exactly a reading, but it was close enough.

Nate laughed, a little surprised by the sudden command or request and more than a little amused by the boy's words. Homeskillet. Cute. "You trying to figure everyone out in school?" He asked but humored him, tapping a card before slowly pulling it out of the deck but not handing it over right away. "What's the catch here?" He asked, only half-teasing. Sure, it was just Tarot to most people but he hadn't been raised to completely dismiss things like that as nothing.

"Nope, just you," Jesse said absently without thinking it through as he took the card and turned it around to see. It was The Moon, but he wasn't exactly concerned with the card itself, more what he was getting from pushing through it. The vision hadn't been this guy's. It seemed dream-like because it had been, but it hadn't been this dude's dream. Hrm. He got a few more details, but that was about all. Not why the guy was getting other people's dreams or whose it had been. Interesting. "Shadows and shifting shapes," he muttered, tucking the card back into the deck. "It's a strange time for you, currently. Strange encounters, seeking mysteries. Mood swings and tides of emotion ... or you could just be a teenager, one." He smirked faintly.

"Well I think that's obvious, me being a teenager," Nate replied though he was closer to being an actual adult than the people he was stuck in school with. "Nothing more detailed than that? I'll have to call you a hack then," he added, grinning in amusement. The guy looked funny and the whole Tarot thing just added to the image of odd. Nate kind of liked that. "It's so easy to say vague stuff like that and make people think you're totally the real thing."

"Oh that sounds like a challenge, my friend," he said with a half-laugh. He pushed himself off of the wall and landed next to Nate, righting the messenger bag at his hip as he did so. "Jesse Jericho," he introduced himself, since the guy didn't even really look familiar. Jesse stuck his hand out to shake. "Have a seat with me and we'll do you up a full spread, if you're going to be a Doubting Thomas."

Nate was always up for a good laugh and he shook Jesse's hand firmly. "Nate Alden, nice to meet you mystic man. So, did you arrive with the circus and get left behind? Or is this just a hobby?" He grinned at him and wondered where to sit. Of course he'd prefer inside since holy fuck it was getting cold outside.

"Nate. Nate Nate ... Nathan? Or a natural Nate?" Jesse asked as he started to head in just that direction. Outside was too risky, there was the breeze and everything. "Not a hobby, it's a way of life. Or something like that. Not so black and white, at least. And if I'd been with the circus, bet your ass I'd be hitching back to them and not going to school." He flashed another grin and held the door.

"Just Nate," Nate replied since he wasn't all that fond of his full name. He should be, he knew, since it had been his mother's name for him but Frank's distaste for it had apparently rubbed off on him. Tacky romance novel name, didn't really suit him. "So you wouldn't be totally backwards and running away from the circus?" He teased tossing his cigarette away before stepping inside. Warm.

Since the building had more or less emptied out, Jesse picked the floor right in front of the door to plop down on and get comfortable. They were technically inside so nothing would blow away, and he didn't seem to consider their possibly being in the way. He idly thought that there was always something attractive about a smoking man. Something inherently phallic with cigarettes. And Nate-not-Nathan had nice lips. But that wasn't the point. "The circus would be more normal than this place, I'd think," he answered, and offered the tarot deck out. "Shuffle."

Nate looked around since he was more aware of the fact they might be in the way but it seemed like almost everyone was gone anyway and it wasn't the only exit either. So he plopped down in front of Jesse and took the deck, shuffling it carefully. "Should I be focusing on something?" He asked with a small smirk but didn't wait for an answer before he handed it back.

Jesse had grunted and shook his head anyway, and started laying down a Celtic Cross layout, focusing as he did so. Sometimes the cards matched up with what he saw, sometimes not. He knew that it was his own mind picking things out and reading into them, that the cards were just a focus ... but they did it very well. He laid the whole thing out and looked at it, eyes ticking here and there, analyzing as he opened up to whatever Nate was going to give him. "You've been in flux, your life has been changing," he started, gesturing to the High Priestess card. "How you interact with others has some drawbacks that you feel overshadow their positives, and your happiness is kind of stilted, not sure if that's going to end anytime soon, and you've got strong male figures around you. Older and peers. I see hunting, pursuance of something ... that may or may not be good for you." He paused and frowned slightly, getting some very unhappy things that had nothing to do with the cards.

It all sounded like a bunch of drivel to Nate until he mentioned hunting. Now that had his attention fast. Well, changes fit but wasn't life a constant change, really? It was one of those words people used when they tried to pass as real psychics or whatever. Changes, love, uncertainty - generic state of being that was easily applied to any situation. Hunting however, yeah that was a little too specific. "And you're frowning," he pointed out. "That can't be good." He smiled faintly, playing it off as fun and games.

Dreams. He was getting lots of dreams, things that had to be dreams, like flying and shifting architecture. And that falling through miles and miles of gray one that people had. But they didn't seem to be Nate's. He was present, but not the focus. It was oddly familiar and different at the same time. But the bulk of them were bad. Really bad. That chest-tightening feeling of fighting for your life, lots of shooting, demons, raging vampires, the shit that was horror come to life. It was hard to tell what was real memory and what wasn't. Jesse wet his lips and rubbed one eyebrow. "You're involved in a very dangerous life," he said quietly, aware he should be talking and probably throwing out bullshit to misdirect. "It's cuddled up to you every day, and your nights are worse. Worse and not your own." Which he could very much empathize with.

Pokerface wasn't one of Nate's abilities and his smile had faded as Jesse talked, his gaze darting between the cards and the boy's face. "I wouldn't say my life was dangerous," he said quietly, after all it wasn't him that went out there and faced those things. He just saw them in a warped dream vision belonging to his dad. Sure, he was probably in danger sometimes but he didn't feel it most of the time, no adrenaline rush or being scared in his own home. "No more so than anyone else's, could get hit by a bus tomorrow, probably die of lung cancer if I don't but, not really dangerous." What else was Jesse seeing? And did he even want to know?

Jesse was thrown that this had more or less happened twice in the space of a few days. First Chance Reed and now this guy Nate. Unexpected involvement in the things in the world that people liked to pretend didn't exist. But this kid obviously had ties to people with guns, so maybe it wasn't in his best interest to keep talking. He looked up and pushed his glasses back up out of habit, studying Nate with a kind of weary sadness behind the thick lenses. This shit was really doing nothing for his social life, he needed to quit being nosy. "It's all interpretation anyway," he murmured, and started to sweep all the cards together to gather back up.

"I watch too many horror movies," Nate offered lamely, slowly regaining his composure. "I mean, serious addiction. Maybe that's taking me down a bad road." That or getting nearly killed by who the hell knew what those things really were that flooded Charlie's mind. "I did just find out I have a brother so, chaos and horror movies." He managed a smile and it came surprisingly easy to use that bad excuse. Maybe he was getting a little better at what his dad usually did, lying. "You're pretty good at this though, I'll give you that," he added, hoping to maybe change the subject a little with flattery.

The psychic didn't believe that for a second, but for the sake of diplomacy, he wasn't gonna let on that he didn't. He looked up with a faint smile and a soft chuckle and half-bowed as he straightened the stack of cards and started digging around in his pack for their box. "Thank you, thank you. Unsettling people since 2004," he said, tucking the things away. He didn't want to see anything else, and after that glut of horror, he was glad that it had died down to mild under-flashes again that he could ignore. He was curious, yes, but he was also tired and wanted to just talk to someone like a normal fucking person. "You just found out you had a brother?" he asked, leaning back against the wall and putting his knees up comfortably.

"Half brother, yeah," Nate replied and he wasn't oblivious to the fact that Jesse looked a little tired somehow. Of course that made him wonder if there was more to the boy's reading than just the cards, there was plenty of weird out there and some of it was bound to be in Marquette, otherwise Frank wouldn't be here. "Found out yesterday and a few hours later he showed up. Talk about a mindfuck, you know?" It wasn't really something he'd blurt out to someone he didn't know but after that reading, family-soap-drama seemed pretty trite in comparison to what Jesse seemed to somehow know.

Jesse looked kind of incredulous, and shook his head, glancing off for a second. "Yeah, that's one hell of a mindfuck," he agreed. How did that even happen? Parents just ... not telling about other kids they had out there. "I'd be pissed, dude. Really really pissed." The bad vibes were starting to fade out a little better and he could look at the guy more objectively. He looked maybe a little tiny bit older, but some people just looked that way. Jesse liked his hair in a longish-solidarity kind of way, and he had completely gorgeous eyes. Always a bonus. He was probably totally straight, but he seemed cool so far. Aside from that whole monster-killing business.

"Yeah, most people probably would be," Nate said with a shrug and the question why he wasn't furious didn't really cross his mind. He'd been pissed off but for his mom's sake. Dylan's age meant Frank had been off somewhere with another woman while Jennifer sat at home with two or three year old Nate and that shit just didn't fly. Still, he had a hard time being made at Frank, it just felt unnatural and uncomfortable so he usually skipped straight to forgiveness or indifference. "Do you have any siblings?" He asked then, not really wanting to dwell on topics he should by all rights be furious about and completely failed at that.

The blonde shook his head. He lightly drummed his fingers on his legs. "Nope, just me. And my mom and Scott my stepdad," he said. Who were currently sitting in the hospital while poisonous fluids slowly dripped into his mothers pretty veins on the off-chance that they would kill the cancer and not her. "I used to want 'em, but." He shrugged. A sister would've been nice. Maybe an older sister who could've helped him out, made things easier. "Things are as they are as they are. Until you get a new brother dropped in your lap, of course," he added with a faint smile. "I know you've had this lobbed at your head ten thousand times already probably, but you're new, right? I'm slow, the social trickledown doesn't really reach me."

"Yeah, very new," Nate chuckled. "Found out I'm not the only one though, it's like every other person I talk to is new, if not more. Grew up alone too, would have been nice to have a brother a little sooner, right now it's just weird and kind of awkward. But yeah, anyway. You a local?" He asked, trying to remember just how many locals he'd actually met. There weren't many, amusingly enough.

"Been here since middle school, so yeah, long enough to be considered a local, I'd guess," Jesse said easily, still picking out a rhythm on his thighs with his fingertips. "But welcome, welcome, I knew I shoulda brought that basket of fruit and cheese with me today. So far you're the most interesting newcomer I've met, but I haven't covered the spectrum yet, don't think." Still, Nate did get props. Not many people took his weirdness in so much stride. "What do you do? Besides smoke and make yourself a prime ninja target?"

"Longer than most by the look of it," Nate replied and gave him a look. "I'm interesting? Don't really feel like I am but thanks, I guess. I don't have much time for anything, don't you know? Being prime ninja target takes a lot of time and practice. Sometimes I barely have time to smoke." He grinned and leaned back on his hands, watching the other curiously. "How about you? Other than being a drumming ninja?"

Jesse gave a snicker-snort and spread his hands. He may not have felt interesting, but he hadn't seen what Jesse had seen. Or wasn't owning up to it, anyway. Which was perfectly understandable, the Reader wasn't sure he would want to freely talk about that shit either. "This is about it man. Drums, school, ninja, sleep, wild bouts of divination. We should do the chill-thing sometime," he suggested. It wasn't like there were a whole lot of people who would give him the time of day. Unless they wanted to shove him around.

"Sounds good," Nate replied, wondering if Jesse toked. It was kind of the default question when he met people since it took up a lot of his time - no matter how often he meant to tone it down. His phone went off and it was Kavin so he took a moment to reply before grinning at Jesse. "You coming to the bonfire?"

His nosy nature kind of wanted to know who Nate was texting with, but it wasn't his business obviously, so he didn't ask. He arched an eyebrow. "Didn't know there was one," he admitted, and shrugged a shoulder. "Prob'ly not, depending on who's there, I might end up in the bonfire. Gotta self-preserve, y'know, skin extra crispy isn't the best thing." He gave a very faint smile.

"Dude," Nate muttered, furrowing his brows even as he grinned. "I'll be there, I'll make sure they don't barbecue you. It's going to be mostly chicks anyway, far as I know they're mostly peaceful. Unless you've somehow managed to piss off all the new girls somehow." He tried to picture that, Jesse seemed cool, odd in a fun way. He didn't seem like the type to go around bothering people, but then looks were often deceiving.

"Not that I know of, but you never know for sure," Jesse said with a chuckle. He didn't really bother people, was the thing. He was just himself and different, and he'd come to find out that a lot of folks were uncomfortable with that. But that was okay, he could pick out which ones wet the bed until they were twelve and jerked it to animal porn. "Sure then, maybe. I'll give it a think." Maybe he'd just go for a while, scope it out. Social events usually weren't his thing, but maybe it wouldn't be too crowded.

"It's at Wetmore Landing," Nate told him, digging his phone out of his pocket and handing it over to Jesse. "Put in your number and I'll send you a text about the when and where and whatnot." Man his phone was getting full of numbers, he didn't know why it felt so easy here, maybe because Kavin had broken the ice and most people since had been really friendly. He felt more relaxed here than he had in his last three schools, that was for sure. If not all of them, actually. Even in Austin he'd not been this casual with strangers.

He leaned forward and took it, navigating the little device to put his number in, complete with last name, just in case Nate knew more than one Jesse. It was possible. "Word," he said, and handed it back, settling back against the painted cinderblock wall again. He had his own cell on him, but if Nate actually did text, he would have the guy's number. Not that he'd call, probably. He tended to not do that with people.

Nate slipped the phone back in his pocket and grinned at him. "I might be driving around in a van loaded with firewood. I'll be that guy. You should come, it's for the newbies to get to know people and so far it's mostly newbies who've been invited. Seems like we should have some locals to tell us ghost stories about the town or whatever."

Jesse let out a short laugh and reached up to run his fingers through his hair to get it out of his face. "I'm your man, then, this town is chock-full of 'em and I know a lot," he said, halfway amused. Ghost stories were perhaps the tamest that Marquette had to offer. It was the vampire stories that were better. "But okay, I'll see if my ninja-ing schedule is clear. Just lemme know when and all that happy shit."

Nate thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Think we'd settled on eight but yeah, I'll text you and let you know when I know more about it. You can bring your cards and freak someone else out too." He grinned but it was a little wry. "And seriously, you kind of have to come. I promised to invite guys and I'm not doing very well at it."

That was a plan he wasn't sure he wanted to go through with, given the track record lately, but that didn't warrant explanation. "Well if I have to come, then it's settled," he said with a chuckle. "And I'll try not to freak out the new girls too much, or they'll never let you handle invites again." He grinned a bit.

"Thanks," Nate said, feigning earnest relief before laughing quietly. "So, the Tarot," he said then, changing the subject out of curiosity. "Do you really believe in that stuff or is it just for laughs?" He kind of hoped it was the latter, the reading had been a little too intense and if Jesse really believed this stuff, well, he felt like he might possibly be in a little trouble. Not a lot, but generally when people got too close to knowing the truth he felt a little awkward and nervous.

Jesse wasn't sure how to answer at first. Because it wasn't really the Tarot he really believed in -- though sometimes it was eerily accurate to what he was seeing -- it was what came into his own head. But he did take it kind of seriously, he couldn't exactly explain that, and ... yeah that reading hadn't really had any laughs in it. "It's ... not exactly for laughs," he said kind of carefully, watching Nate's expression. "I dunno how to take it sometimes."

"Yeah I know what you mean," Nate muttered. "Stuff like that, even if you don't believe in it... I don't know, superstition or whatever, you don't want to fuck with it." He shrugged, feeling a bit like a liar since he knew all this shit like magic and werewolves and vampires actually existed. For all he knew, Jesse was one of those supernatural things, hell the whole school could be crawling with them and he wouldn't know it. It made him wish he could smell it on people or something.

He didn't point out that Nate was down with having his cards read. Because some people were really cavalier about it. Not Jesse. And he was suddenly really self-conscious of the bag of runes that was also at his side, keeping the deck of cards company. He shifted a bit, and tried not to fidget. "Everything's subject to change," he said quietly, as though that were somehow relevant. "No refunds guaranteed." He caught another quick flash, only audio, of echoey screams.

Huh? "Yeah, I guess." Nate gave him a somewhat puzzled smile. "Very cryptic." His phone went off again and he checked it, thinking it was probably Kavin but it wasn't. He replied and stared at the message that arrived in turn for a few moments before shaking his head and replying, then grinned at Jesse. "Man, okay so my brother is apparently weird or something. What the hell is orkwad?"

It made sense in Jesse's head, but that didn't necessarily meant it translated. It often didn't. "Orkwad?" he repeated with a light laugh. "A very strangely-accented way to spell 'awkward'? I dunno, what's the context?" If it was an insult, he'd probably just left the D off of 'dorkwad', but that was the much less fun theory.

"Orkwad. Your dad is weird," he read out and furrowed his brows. "Orkwad... Awkward? Man he can't write for shit... I'm thinking of ... wads of orcs here. Which makes no sense." He shook his head and pocketed his phone again. "What the hell do I buy for food if I can't buy meat?" This was going to be tricky.

"Maybe he meant dorkwad," Jesse suggested, since Nate didn't think of it. "In which case, he's taking to his little brother status like a duck to water. You're in for a time." He chuckled and shifted forward so that he was sitting on his knees and looking inquisitive. "I would say ... vegetables? Fruits? Peanut butter? Why can't you buy meat?"

"Apparently he doesn't want it? Man, is this kid related to me?" Nate shook his head and slowly got up, stretching his legs. "So, things at home are awkward or I'm a dorkwad and I'm supposed to bring food. You need a ride anywhere?" He yawned and patted down his pockets for his carkeys. It was the only downside of wearing baggy clothes with a lot of pockets, never remembering which he used.

He blinked a bit at the offer. "Um ... sure. I'm only a few blocks in the southerly direction, if you don't mind too much," Jesse said, getting up himself. He readjusted his messenger bag comfortably and gave the other guy a little grateful smile. Generally he walked everywhere, but he'd take a ride, sure. "If you're supposed to bring already-prepped food, there's an awesome pasta shop not far from here that makes great vegeterian shit, and you can get some meatballs for you while you're there." Heh.

"Sounds good," Nate said and grinned. He could cook if the occasion called for it but their kitchen hardly invited any such activities so ready made stuff sounded ace. "And yeah, just give me directions and I'll drop you off, no sweat." He headed outside, not bothering with shouldering his backpack since all it did was hurt. Not much anymore but there was still that dull ache everywhere. At least he healed well, there was that.