theattic | Weird-looking, half blind, spook wrangling world-walkers that smoke.

"There's gotta be some way to work around it...because I've been visiting this place for months and keeping a close eye on the news. Nothin' weird seems to have cropped up."

At least he wasn't watching the History Channel.

A gust of wind bites at his ears and JW takes up one of the long floppy ends of the scarf and winds it around his head. Was this how you scarf? It was working anyway.

"You deal in anomalies like this anyway. It might be my job to let you have a peek."

James was trying very hard to talk himself into it.

Logically speaking, Ginko knew that it probably wasn't a good idea.

But it wasn't like he had never let curiosity outweigh caution before.

"Right. And if there are mushi around, it would probably be best to know about it. Just have to be careful."

JW's grin slowly returned.

"I like the way you think, Clover! We're doin' mankind a favor! They oughtta be thanking us!"

The antlered man suddenly took the lead, yammering on about billboards and Mushi Land and how much money there was to be made but how it probably would'nt help because money in Nowhere Japan was different than US Dollars or anywhere else really. Finally the empty stream bed presented itself and JW skidded down the bank, scarf trailing behind him.

"It's this way. Your ears might pop, don't freak out."

Ginko trailed behind JW in comfortable silence; as overwhelming as dealing with him had been at first, Ginko was gradually getting used to his... particular brand of enthusiasm.

He followed more carefully down the bank, gripping the shoulder strap of his box as he tried to stay balanced. He gave a slight, uncertain nod at the warning. "I'll keep that in mind."

Honestly, Ginko is the only thing he's felt this enthusiastic about since finding all those coupons in the basement that were somehow still good. He took hold of one of the thin trees with his mark darn on it and held out a hand to help his new friend up the bank.

"It's kind of gradual, but when it happens, you'll notice. It's not so bad after the first few times."

The threshold was hard to notice, but it was there if you knew where to look. If you peered between two specific trees, the world was suddenly autumn, not winter. The trees were thinner, paler, the ground covered in nuts and mushrooms and puddles. Beyond the first hill were mounds of soggy hay bales and miles and miles of long-since-trampled barbed wire.

He took hold of JW's hand gratefully to climb up the bank after him. When he noticed that one spot, the change in season and location between the two trees, his eyes widened slightly - far more a look of fascination than one of shock or fear.

"...That's Hawksaw, then?"

JW strained to pull him up. Ginko made nearly a JW and a half. But once he was up and peering into the future, he wasn't worried about his aching joints.

"Only a tiny piece of it. The back woods, wait till you see the buildings."

Ginko peered between the trees in silence for another few seconds. He'd seen one space lead to another in ways that didn't seem possible before - the Uros' tunnels couldn't possible fit in the trees they seemed to occupy, and he knew perfectly well there was no way to access the light flow merely by digging. That's wasn't what amazed him about all this.

The tunnels, the river, those were their own spaces. They existed where they did, and only there, to serve their own purpose. This wasn't like that. He was looking at another time, another place entirely, hundreds of miles and over a century away.

He turned to JW again, a tentative sort of excitement lighting up his one eye. "Better get going, then."

Laughing, James led the way.

Like a couple of wild hares, he led the white-haired man on a run down the pig path he'd been following for months. The feeling that he was doing Something Wrong never left. However, instead of filling him with dread like he expected, it only egged him on. It reminded him of being young again and stirring up trouble in Westchester.

Briers and barbed wire tugged at their clothes and as the trees grew farther apart, the skeletons of old farm equipment emerged from the undergrowth, their blades rusted still long before JW was even born. One was a combine harvester and the other, a bush hog. In the distance was what was left of a barn. It sighed and leaned in the fall wind.

As the two of them moved through the forest, Ginko kept glancing around, his own uncertainty still outweighed by quiet excitement. It didn't take long for him to slow down next to one of the machines, examining it curiously. "What's this?"

JW stopped several feet down the way, having taken the machines for granted as just part of the scenery. On his way back, he puffed and stopped with his hands on his knees.

"An old farm machine. I think...that one used to gather and clean wheat. Don't touch it, it's rusty."

He liked this Ginko a lot but he didn't have the funds to take him to the emergency room.

It was impossible to hide the concern that flitted briefly across Ginko's face; it didn't seem to him that they had been walking for long enough for JW to be this tired. Granted, Ginko was used to walking more or less continuously for hours on end while carrying a massive wooden box of supplies on his back, but still.

"I wasn't going to." He did keep looking over it for a moment, though, before turning to JW again. "You alright?"

JW straightened back up, still puffing, not yet realizing that he'd been Caught. "Well I had to make sure. You did blind yourself an hour ago." Surprised by Ginko's sudden question he just shrugged. "Sure?"

"Believe it or not, we do have rust in Japan."

He nodded, still not looking totally convinced that nothing was wrong. "You look kind of tired, is all."

JW made a face.

Okay, Ginko had him there. He decided to find something else to look at, like the half destroyed bird's nest above them.

"It's been a long day. You walk between worlds often? Takes it outta ya. C'mon, you aint seen nothin' yet."

He waved for Ginko to follow and started puffing up the ridge. Not far away was a cow pond and a less dilapidated house.

Ginko raised an eyebrow, but he left it alone. For now.

He followed behind JW with relative ease, taking in the scenery in silence until JW pointed something out - or until something struck him as especially odd. At least he was pretty used to rural areas, even if this one wasn't quite what he was accustomed to.

Suddenly their wandering through the woods emptied them out onto a paved road with faded paint down the middle. JW leaned out of the brush not unlike an actual deer and looked both ways. A distant hiss grew into a growl and in a rush of wind, a pale blue pickup rattled past and was gone. With the coast clear, he jumped out onto the asphalt and motioned for Ginko to follow.

"The house isn't far now. We just gotta cut through a pasture and climb a hill."

When JW stepped onto the road, Ginko did not follow him. This probably had to do with the fact that Ginko was standing, frozen with startled fear, a couple feet back from the road, having jumped back when the TERRIFYING BLUE MACHINE drove past and not moved since.

"What was that?!"

When JW noticed his white-haired shadow wasn't behind him, he turned, standing in the center of the road.

"A truck--one of those machines I was telling you about. They stay on the roads, so don't worry about it."

He failed to inform Ginko about four-wheelers.

"Then why are you standing in the road?!"

He kind of looked like he was expecting another one to come out of nowhere at any second.

JW blinked back at Ginko. He still had so much to explain.

"You can hear them coming. It's okay, I promise!" He offered the other man an encouraging grin and spread his arms there in the road as if INVITING DEATH ON WHEELS TO COME. But none did.

Ginko winced a little when JW spread his arms out, then, when no metal hell machines appeared to flatten him, took a deep breath and hurried across the road, his hands still shoved deep in his pockets.

He did not like this.

When Ginko met with him, JW led him across the ditch and up the incline. Through a thin band of trees, a grassy pasture fenced in hotwire opened. It was full of dozy black cows who didn't so much as bat an eye at them. JW climbed up a lightning blasted tree and hopped into the pasture.

"Don't touch the wires."

There were lots of things you weren't supposed to touch in the future.

Ginko climbed up after him, somewhat awkwardly thanks to the weight of his pack. He frowned slightly at the warning then jumped down after JW, grunting and stumbling a little when he landed. He hoped he had added enough cushioning for his supplies.

"Why not?"

"Hotwire. It'll shock the crap out of you." JW jabbed Ginko's shoulder with a finger. "Not really sure why this farmer bothers, the cows'll lean across it to get at thistles and don't act like they even feel it. But it'll hurt us. I'll show you the way back over when you want to go home."

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