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Ding. Hey- there's a park near this bus stop. It's pretty much deserted most times. If you got time, come meet me there so we can take a walk. Or lemme know if you're too busy, either's fine by me. -oJ
Vorpal sent the text message and tucked his phone away again. He'd already done a circuit through the park to make sure there wasn't anyone around at the time. It wasn't to say nobody'd show later, but it was an easy precaution to make sure they could talk without likely being overheard.
I can be there in half an hour or so, see you then
Thirty four and a half minutes later, if Vorpal's counting, Jack wanders into the park, looking for Vorpal's collection of shadows. He's got his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders rounded, his expression flat and leaning toward angry. The picture of 'don't fucking talk to me.'
"Oiiiii~" Vorpal waves to Jack as he catches sight of the fellow, popping up from the park bench he took over to wait out thirty four and a half minutes. "Super cool of you to come meet me. You, uh. Had better days, from the look of it?"
When he sees the other Jack, his face actually clears a little. He upnods to return the greeting. "Hey, yeah 'course. No offense, but I see a..." He glances around the park, confirming that there's no one around. "...One of us with my sister, I kinda wanna know what's going on, you know?" His tone is light enough that it's not really an accusation.
"Chance, my man." He offers a hand to shake when Jack's close enough. "Ran into her on a bus, conversation led to what used to be my profitable occupation, and she mentioned she's fought in the past. Don't sweat, there's nothing Us-related going on with her. And I'll hear anyone coming before they get close enough to overhear. Relax- we're good." He looks Jack over a moment, then asks, "So her buddy, Devan. Did you know he's got, like. The basic details on us down pat? He walked into Lakryss's tea shop and basically said "Oh hey, sure are a lot of ya in here, shouldn't you all be more careful". So, uh. I don't think she knows about us yet? But I wouldn't count on it staying that way."
Jack pulls a gloved hand out of his pocket to shake Vorpal's hand. "Don't know anything about any of her buddies, honestly, we...I mean you saw. We don't talk much anymore." He grimaces. "I don't think her knowing about us'd help that any. Devan, you said? He someone to keep an eye on...?"
"If for his own good, yeah. He's a fine chap, but he sticks his nose into places it doesn't belong. And I mean that, like- my level of sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. He seems a good friend for her, he's got her back. I've got no doubts there. Just-" He tilts his head. "-imagining how it's gonna go when she finds out her brother, her twin, has had something this big going on all this time and never heard about it. I mean- how would you feel if things were backwards?" He straightens. "Legit question, by the way, not a guilt trip. I'm honestly wondering. It's hard for me to puzzle this shit out and I'm trynna help make sure you two aren't driving wedges between ya you don't need."
"Mmh." He nods, filing away the information about Devan for later. "She and I had a wedge way before any of this shit happened, and me disappearing for six weeks was just a blip in the overall scheme of things." There's a beat as he gives Vorpal's question some thought. "Honestly? She's got her secrets, I've got mine. I'd like to know more about her, but...I think we may be too far gone for that. I'd get why she wouldn't wanna tell me something like this. I think."
"Dude." Vorpal chides. "Neither of you like this and it's super obvious. You guys knew what it was to be close. Both of you obviously want that back. What the hell sorta wedge is there that's bad enough you'd rather have it like this than go through a little show and tell to clear things up?"
"Aunt Marisha, for one. But...fuck, we just...drifted, I guess. I joined the Army, she went to college. Didn't work out for either of us. I fell into...some shit, and then this, but...there wasn't one defining event. Makes it hard to fix."
"Lots of shit is hard to fix, man," Vorpal offered, moving to sit back down on the bench and waving Jack over to sit. "You wanna talk hard to fix, dude. I could tell you A Story." He glances, to see if it's A Story Jack wants to hear. "But something like this, man. Not everyone has siblings. Nearly nobody has a twin. Like... she can handle whatever you've got to lay on her, and she could and should be a fucking rock for you. She's tough, and she cares. You guys can work this out, I know it."
"You saw how she was when I asked her a question about her life." He drops down onto the bench with a sigh. "It's hard to talk to a wall. Shit, I'd love to have a sister again, we were so close when we were kids. What's your Story, though?"
"She doesn't think you'll understand. She doesn't know you right now. She's afraid of damaging what she has left, dude, and if you don't open up, she'll stay locked up behind that wall, trying to preserve scraps of what she had because she thinks that's all she can get, man," Vorpal lays out. "So seriously. Tell her yourself, before Devan outs you on accident and you're not the one to open the doors to this world. You can tell her about me, too. She knows something is up but not what, and I trust her not to throw our secrets to the dogs." Then he asks the question, and Vorpal grins. "Ooh, boy. Alright, settle in. So. I know I'm - pretty unsettling, yeah? Like folx give me weird looks and shy away and I know why. It's cool. I'm walking around with the kinda payload our bosses have, but none of the history to put minds at ease." He leans back to peer at the sky overhead. "Would you believe me if I told you it used to be worse?"
"Jesus - how long have you been back?" Jack leans away slightly, getting a better look at him. "To get to where you are."
"Uhhhh..." He has to think on that. "Ten years? Close to a decade I think. Yeah. That's about right. But it's got more to do with the environments. I spent a lotta time in some real scary places, and soaked up a lotta juice, and-" He takes a deep breath. "Like look, I used to be about one step short of bein' Them. Like gimme some fancy names and a shitty pad and Youda been hard pressed to tell the difference." He stares up still, studying the sky. "Told myself I needed it. That we needed to have power that could stand up to them. That I needed to be unassailable. Strong enough to stand against any comer, no matter the cost." "Almost lost myself, man. Like permanently. There was a tiny little spark of me left and it almost went fuccn out."
"That's...that sounds fuckin terrifying." He shudders. "How'd you find your way back from that?"
"That's the worst of it, man. When you're in the middle of that, it doesn't feel bad at all. I thought I was a god. Like, literally. Part of a pantheon. And who was there to tell me I was wrong?" A long breath, and a sigh. "That spark, though. That's how I got back. I had some amazing people help stoke that little spark, show me that there was value in the mortal, squishy bits of ourselves, in the Person parts and not just the Story parts. They gave me a reason to come back, and then they gave me the time to do it. Took... years, dude. Of like... fasting, essentially. Little juice as possible. Just bein' a boring person. Boring the juice outta myself. Enough pages of descriptions of fancy hats at a party and all the magic starts to leak out on its own. That. That was hard." He glances to Jack. "Talking to your sister'll be hard, too. But way faster return on investment, I promise."
Jack's silent for a moment, processing. When he speaks, he speaks to the ground, his voice quiet. "She's the reason I'm even back. Of the little I can remember...I remember remembering her. Knowing I'd do anything to see her again. And then I get back and I'm not even a fucking Person. I'm not something that'll make sense to her. She'd never believe me, and I don't blame her." He kicks some dirty snow on the ground. " I just miss her. And I don't even know where to start."
"Bruh." Vorpal sits up. "She caught me twisting shadows and assumed I was an umbrakinetic. We had an argument over whether cold is a thing that can be manipulated, cuz it's just an absence of heat. I promise, the supernatural is on her radar. You're hamstringing your relationship because you haven't trusted her with your own secrets. You're not even talking about the choice between her knowing and not knowing. She hangs with Devan. She's gonna find out. The only wrong move is her not finding out from you."
"I..." His face shifts from confusion to amazement and then fear as he puts all the pieces together, and the significance of everything Vorpal's said about her clicks into place. "She knows? How..." He sits backwards with a heavy exhale. "God, I guess this is what fucking happens when I make myself hard to reach." He seems frustrated, mostly at himself.
"Bro, it's cool, she doesn't know that you're anything peculiar, and she doesn't know what we are. She just knows there's Stuff out there. Trust me, talk to her, it'll all make sense. She wasn't exposed to any of this because of you, she ran into it herself, and there's not really anything you coulda done to insulate her from this. All of which you'da known already if you'd talked. Like siblings do about stuff," Vorpal points out. It's not chiding, just doubling back to firm up the point.
"I can be there with you if it'd help."
"I...I think it might make shit worse, to have someone else around. We...we can get into it, no one wants to see that. Or...I don't want anyone to see it," he clarifies with a grimace. "Thanks for offering. And...thanks for looking out for her, too."
"..." Vorpal sighs and lets his head fall back again. "Okay, bro. Yeah. I got her back, don't sweat it. But... don't sit on this, man. I'm telling you, you're doing yourself zero favors and you'll kick yourself later if she finds this shit out from someone else. She's sharp. She's gonna."
"Sounds like she's got most of the pieces already." He shoves his hands deeper in his pockets. "And a big part of me wants to tell you to fuck right off for telling me what to do, but I'm not gonna do that 'cause you seem decent and I've already burned enough bridges as it is. Plus, it's probably good advice." He offers a mostly humorless smile. "There people in your life who don't know all your shit?"
"To be blunt, dude, no. Nobody who I'd call close to me is in the dark about my shit. Hell, dude, you're not even in the dark at this point. If I keep my shit to myself, nobody but me learns from it, and maybe not even that. If I share it? Maybe someone else learns. And if you wanna tell me to fuck off, you can. I won't feel two ways about it. Ain't here to give orders. Just doin' the whole prophet of disaster thing and giving you your fair warning. What happens from here is on you."
"I'm not gonna tell you to fuck off, don't worry." He shakes his head. "Just don't think I'm ready to talk to her. Call me a coward, but..." he opens his arms to shrug. "Not a lot of people I talk to about...well anything, at this point. Maybe that'll change someday."
"I really hope it does, man. You can talk to me if you need. And I ain't gonna call you anything besides Jack. Scary shit is scary. I ain't gonna fault you for balking. Just encourage you to not." He flashes a thumbs up. "You outta here?"
"Yeah, I should probably get going. Maybe...next time we can talk about something besides my relationship with my sister?" He's equal parts joking and hopeful.
"Deal." He flashes a thumbs up to Jack. "Stay safe, in the meantime, awright?"
"You too." He nods. "See you around."
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