westfallcorndog | Jock vs Nerd Round 2: Lunch Chat Edition

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viatorus

Jock vs Nerd Round 2: Lunch Chat Edition

Harrowheart sits with his phone in his hands debating how to start this. He'd gotten Viatorus's number, and he fully intended to text him, but it wasn't easy. Everyone seemed to like Viatorus so much. They all vouched for him and insisted on his better qualities, but Harrow had been so rude when last they'd met, and he was certain the kid was some kind of anti-undead racist. Most of this felt pointless, but he had to try, if not for himself then for his friends.

It took him far too long to send his eventual text:

Viatorus this is Harrowheart. I looked up you're number. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot last time. Would you like to meet and try again?

He follows it up with a text of his current location. An authentic little Earth diner transplanted into the Nexus, a humble and half-clean place by the name of McDonald's. Flaccid fries and soggy burgers are universal – nay, interdimensional – and fast food joints are only appropriate for the meeting of two magical minds. Plus, there's a big playground.

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The kid's clammed up again. Harrow's eyebrows twitch as he focuses on keeping a neutral expression while he stares out the window. He's got to brace himself for V's expression before he turns back to see him. Aaaaand...

Yep. He's frowning. Harrow frowns in kind, but only for a second. He forces a small smile and shakes his head.

"Okay, so... Since you're new to all'a this? Free-willed undead like makin' jokes. But not the normal kinda jokes. We like... Y'know... Morbid stuff? We tease each other like that. We tease our breather friends like that. It's how we connect with each other and how we invite the livin' into our unlives. Then we expect them to make some jokes back at us eventually. Either we laugh 'cause it's good, or we groan 'cause it's bad, but really either way it's good. Y'know?

"Or... Maybe you don't like jokes? But I bet you do. I bet you've got some a-mage-ing jokes yourself. I mean, come on, Viatorus! I'm sure you can conjure up somethin' witty! I'm sure your humor'll be charming!"

Viatorus, you are always free to leave. Leave this terrible man. Listen to the evil pouring out of that mouth. Your ears do not have to take this.

Harrowheart's lesson on undead humour troubles Viatorus more, at first. The creases in his brow deepen, distress peeking through. Jokes were hard enough to work with without them being of a distasteful calibre.

But then, much to his own surprise, Viatorus finds the corner of his mouth tugging into a small smile on hearing those terrible, terrible puns. If he hadn't been frowning so hard a moment ago, his smile might be wider. Instead, it's small, weak, and he ducks his head shyly. "I'm... I'm not very good at making jokes."

He got a smile. HE GOT A SMILE! It isn't easy for Harrowheart not to grin too broadly at seeing Viatorus's tiny hint of enjoyment. He'd been waiting for that most of the afternoon, and now that he's succeeded he can't go and wreck it. Not immediately, anyway. Certainly he'll wreck it later. For now he contains his eagerness and smiles only slightly more than Viatorus, just enough to light up his eyes.

"Hun, you don't gotta be good at 'em right away. You can go home and think up a good one to use on me next time we meet. Jokes're like any other craft. It takes practice, it takes listenin' and watchin'. But the good part is that once you learn a joke, you can use it over and over again on different people. After all, there's only so many ghost and skeleton puns out there for us deaders to use. If we had to make up a new one every time we'd be boned."

He winks at V and can't help but chuckle quietly to himself.

"How about... You tell me somethin' other than dreams that you like, or want to know more about, or brings you a little peace in a crazy world? Teach me what you like so we can talk about those things together, hmm?"

Like the others, the pun tugs his mouth into a smile. It's a little easier now that it's been explained that morbid jokes are acceptable. Not that he's about to be making any of his own any time soon.

The suggestion brings him back to hesitation. At least he's getting a prompt. That's helpful. So he takes a moment to think and bring together an answer. "I... I like walks, and swimming. I like water. Lakes, the sea. A-And magic, of course. I like learning new things, and learning about other people, other cultures."

Harrow nods slowly as he tries to commit these things to memory. Water. Magic. Other cultures.

"I like other cultures, too. Verity told me they speak over 800 languages in New York City. Earth must be a real special place to be full of all those kinds of folks. Maybe... Maybe you could teach me a little about Earth cultures some day? I'd really love to hear about it!" He smiles very honestly and bobs his head in an eager way.

"I'd be happy to teach you about Azeroth's cultures, too! Don't know how it is on your Earth, but I guess most Earths are full of humans? On Azeroth we got... Shoot... All sorts of folks. Tons of elves. Dwarves and gnomes and goblins. Lots of animal folks, too. Pandaren are bears, tauren are cows, worgen are..."

He rolls his eyes to shake the memory loose. "Werewolves? Sometimes a human, sometimes a wolf? They got those on your Earth?"

"I could try. I don't know all that much about modern culture. Mostly I know about... about ancient and old religious and magical practices..." Why yes, it does keep coming back to a few of the same old things. Hopefully that won't frustrate Harrowheart as it does other people.

He'd be happy enough to listen about Azeroth if Harrowheart prefers. His eyes go wide, brow lifting and then falling thoughtfully as he listens. "We have werewolves, yes. There are different kinds though. Some are cursed, but some choose to change. Some can control themselves when they change, some can't. A-And there are others. Were-bears, were-jaguars... All kinds. What are Worgen like?"

"Worgen are like that too!" Oh, no, you've got him all excited now. "Worgen are humans who're given the gift of Goldrinn, an ancient wolf god. His power's tremendous, and it can't be controlled without a ritual by the goddess of the moon, Elune. So we got feral worgen just like you got feral werewolves, and then there's the folks who underwent the ritual who're able to change at will. A whole nation of folks got turned into worgen and cleansed by Elune, and now they fight with the Alliance for the forces of goodness and freedom."

Harrow jabs one thumb into his chest and grins. He must be part of the Alliance, and his opinion is therefore wholly unbiased.

"And of course I'd like to hear about Ancient Earth! Time's all relative here anyway, right? My buddy Jim's from Future Earth, and my other pal Steve's from 1940's Earth, which... That's the past to you, right? Are you from the year two thousand?"

Suddenly he has a realization that comes with a quick gasp. He briefly forgets his manners and grips Viatorus's arm tightly with one hand. "Hold up! I just had an idea! We oughta find you a person from Ancient Earth here in the Nexus! They could tell us both all sorts of cool stuff!"

Goldrinn and Elune. He'll remember those names. It takes effort not to reach for his notebook and start jotting things down and piling on the questions. He'd like to ask about the Alliance, but that would involve asking about the enemy, which would probably bring the tone down more than he'd like right now. He'd like to delve into the details of the curse, but maybe now isn't the best time to go full on scholar on Harrowheart. They've only just come to terms with one another.

Viatorus nods. "I am. Jim and Steve are both nice, but their worlds, or lifestyles, must be so different from mine. You're going to get an awful lot of different perspectives..."

And it seems he's keen to add more. Hesitantly, Viatorus admits, "I... I've met someone here from Ancient Greece. Her name is Iphigenia... We talked a little. Maybe you'd like to talk to her too."

"Greece..." Harrow's eyes narrow and he focuses in silence on a memory that feels so distant. Did Viatorus say that word already? No, no, it was Greek, with a hard sound at the end. Probably an important distinction. He'd hate to look foolish... Oh, who is he kidding. No he wouldn't. "Is that like 'Greek'? Like your Morpheus God is Greek? So... So she might know him! Or know of him! That musta been a real trip, huh?"

Smiling, he draws his phone out from his pocket. "She got a number? I could text her, maybe meet up some time! And, here..."

He flicks through his contacts until he comes to the name Jesse, then he slides his phone across the table for Viatorus to examine the number.

"You told me to talk to Iphigenia, so I'll tell you to talk to my buddy Jesse. He's a zombie, but... Not a magic kind. His Earth's fulla zombies, and they're all caused by a disease. Not a lick of magic. So you don't gotta be scared or worried! He's real funny, real cool, real chill. Got no nose, but he's a good guy. Tell him Harrow sent ya, I'm sure it'll be a fun time."

"Yes. Greece is the country. Greek is the nationality, and the language." Far from sounding stupid to the young scholar, Viatorus smiles slightly, pleased that Harrowheart made the connection and the effort to learn. The subject of his meeting Iphigenia dampens his cheer somewhat and he shrugs. "It was, but... I don't think I made a very good impression. I... I didn't get her number. We... We just agreed on a time and a place to meet. She's still around, I think."

Again, he hesitates, cheeks flushing red and lips pulling back as he swallows. Dead people have got to be one of the biggest challenges he's come across in the Nexus. "Is... Is he contagious?"

"Is he...?" At first Harrow's eyebrows lower, but after a half-second's thought they rise again. "Huh," he grunts. "Guess I never thought about it that way. I mean, sure, he's probably contagious on his world, but I saw him 'round a ton of breathers back at the Samhain Ball. I'm sure it's safe to be around him here in the Nexus. Anti-violence field and all."

He leans in slightly and gives the tiniest nod of encouragement. "Now, tell me about meetin' Miss Iphigenia. How could you have made a bad first impression with her? You stared at her chest, didn't you? Ladies don't like that, man! You can't do that."

Still not convinced, Viatorus murmurs, "I'm not sure that disease counts as violence..." Though it does make him wonder if that medical treatment Verity suggested would prevent zombification....

Harrowheart is probably going to make Viatorus blush a lot, and now is one of those times. He blinks rapidly, pouting without meaning to. "I-I didn't stare at her... I didn't. That's not it. I... I don't know. I just... I was..." Himself. That's the problem. He frowns. "I didn't know what to say to her."

V doesn't know how to talk to boys, he doesn't know how to talk to girls. There is a very sad riddle unraveling itself in front of Harrowheart. Without even being conscious that he's doing it, he instinctively reaches to delicately pat the backs of V's hands.

"I used to be like you too, man. Shy and worried all the time. I thought if I opened my mouth people were gonna call me an idiot, or tell me my ideas were bad, or ignore me and make me feel worthless. I didn't talk much growin' up. Didn't talk much at all until I got to the Nexus, really. But I'll tell you one thing: I promise you that meetin' new folks is just as hard for other people as it is for you. Even the ones who're bold like Jim or loud like me, we don't ever really know how things're gonna go. We just try to be more hopeful for what we can learn about other folks than afraid of how they can hurt us. Guess it's a little like masterin' dangerous spells that way, hmm?"

He returns his hands to himself and folds them under the table.

"So next time we meet we can talk about Earth and Azeroth... But maybe we can talk about what to do around other people, too?"

The contact surprises him and a few months ago he might have flinched away, but he doesn't. Harrowheart's kind words have plenty of distractions in them to stop him from over thinking the implications of animated corpse hand contact. Or worse, contact with hands that handled McDonald's chicken nuggets.

"You... used to be shy? But... You're so..." He looks Harrowheart up and down, trying to reconcile this idea with his image of the mage. "You're so... vibrant. You're not... You're not nervous at all."

"Vibrant?..." Harrow paws at his cheek with one hand in a poor effort to hide the vague touch of a blush that colors his already discolored cheeks. "Sh-shoot, Viatorus, that's probably the nicest word anyone ever used to describe me. Nicer'n anything my boyfriend ever said, that's for sure."

He laughs quietly and looks down at the table under which his hands disappear once more. "Who says I ain't nervous? I'm nervous all the time, sure. Just... Show it different than you, I guess? You get quiet and take a step back. I overthink it, talk more, try to change the subject, laugh a little. It's still hard for me to talk to people sometimes. And... Sometimes I ain't graceful, and I mess it up real bad, and then I gotta go hide for a while until I'm brave enough to apologize."

Once again he laughs, but this time he cuts it short quickly. Tries to, anyway. Being conscious of his own nervous laughter bubbles up a little bit of honest laughter. He looks up at Viatorus with a smile, hoping to gauge whether or not he's noticed.

His mouth opens and closes while he tries to decide whether that means he should say 'you're welcome' or 'sorry'. Ducking his head a little and mumbling, he settles on a shy, "You're welcome."

This is a new perspective, new information, and he takes time to absorb it, to fully understand it. With the laughter, he looks up and, thinking over what was just said, offers up his own small smile. He looks at his hands and lifts a shoulder. "I... I do accept your apology, by the way. I... I didn't say it aloud and it's important that I do. I didn't know you were nervous. You seemed so... confident. Self-assured. You still do. It's like talking to people is so natural for you."

The acceptance of his apology is met with closed eyes and a respectful little nod. Harrow can't help but smile just a little, pleased with how this all turned out despite his unfortunate missteps on more than one occasion. " 'Precciate it," he says simply. Best to leave those difficult things behind them for now.

"Anyway, I only seemed confident 'cause I thought I had the upper hand. Guess that ain't a good way to think about social interactions, though, 'cause then you wind up makin' a fool outta yourself like I did. But that's neither here nor there."

He glances around the establishment and bro-nods at the bodyguard as his gaze passes by.

"Tell you what, my man," he says to Viatorus. "This is a good topic, but not for a place like this. How about we call our meeting to a close today and promise to meet up in the future, hmm? Good terms, positivity, friendliness. We'll talk about private stuff in a private setting. Stuff like gettin' over shyness and Earth and Azeroth and dreams and all. Until then, I'll release you from my dark clutches. You head on home, put in a nice word for me with your sister, and I'll see you – and your guard? – next time we meet."

He raises his phone and shakes it to call attention to it. "Remember, you can always text me if you want someone to talk to. You won't be a pest, promise. I don't mind hearin' problems or worries or anything like that. Plus, I don't need sleep, so I can be up at any old hour. Benefit of undead friends, huh?" With a wink and a quiet chuckle he pockets his phone again.

Will you look at that, he manages a tiny tremble of his lips, almost a smile, at the 'dark clutches' comment! He nods gently at the suggestion. It's all very reasonable. Kind, even. Possibly the greatest offer of friendliness since Verity and he first talked.

It's so difficult to understand it coming from an undead creature.

With a final nod to stop his head bobbing, he gets to his feet. "Thank you. It's... It's very kind of you to offer all of this, it... If you, for some reason, want to talk to me... I do sleep, but I will get back to you."

A second passes and then he offers his hand. "Until next time?"

The implications of Viatorus's offer to shake isn't lost on Harrow. He's careful not to move too quickly or boldly when he takes V's hand, nor does he shake too hard. He inclines his head respectfully and smiles at his new friend.

"Until next time, my man. You be good."

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Jock vs Nerd Round 2: Lunch Chat Edition

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If V learns his humour from Harrowheart, there will have to be apologies made

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V should hunt down Iphigenia and learn her Ancient Greek knowledge!

V should try that again with a better set of social skills ^^

I'm a day late and a dollar short as usual, haha

^^

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