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

[goldeneyeball]

THREAD DIRECTORY

One Fine Day
A Taste of the Future
Pumpkins
Aches
Trauma 50% Off!
I Got a Disease and You're the Cure
Taco Night
Buck Eyes
The Turns Have Tabled
JW and Ginko's Fancy Dinner Date
You Know What They Say When You ASSume...
Sit, Stay, Beg

Comments

[goldeneyeball]

Even more worrying: the plastic cooler that JW had firmly tied to the base of a tree near the gate was empty. No note, no bottles of water. There was no snow here in the Mississippi bottom. Only mud, mud, dead leaf lasagna, and more mud.

The only visible tracks belonged to a family of pigs that had gotten loose a few years ago.

Nothing attacked Ginko during his trek and once the house on the hill came into view, the windows were dark and it was quiet, quiet. The wind didn't even stir here.

[onegreeneye]

Ginko didn't get any less worried on the trip there. When he finally reached JW's house, he slowed to a stop, hesitating for a moment before knocking.

"JW? ...Deuteronomy? It's, uh... it's Ginko, I was just... wondering if something was wrong."

[goldeneyeball]

For a little while, the only sound that came from inside was the hum of the fridge. Finally, when it looked like home must be lost, a groggy, "Door's unlocked." came from inside.

JW was piled on the sofa in a mountain of blankets. An empty bowl rested on the coffee table along with a couple of dark brown plastic bottles. The only thing that suggested the heap of cloth actually had a person under it was JW's nose jutting out between the folds to keep up a steady supply of air.

[onegreeneye]

Despite his ongoing efforts during the wait to convince himself that everything was probably fine and he was probably worrying over nothing, Ginko couldn't help a breath of relief upon hearing JW's voice, groggy though it may have been.

He came inside, shutting the door carefully behind him, and looked around the room with concern still written all over his face. "Hey, um... sorry if I'm intruding."

[goldeneyeball]

JW did not emerge from the blanket dimension.

"You're fine," he said. He felt embarrassed now that he could tell Ginko was looking at him and the mess he was. If he wasn't so sick, color would have worked its way onto his cheeks. "I'm glad you stopped by. There's lemonade in the fridge if you want it."

[onegreeneye]

"Right. Thanks." He did not move toward the fridge. Instead, he walked forward until he could crouch down in front of the sofa.

"Are you sick? You don't sound good."

[goldeneyeball]

"Flu," he croaked. "I'm not contagious any more, but it's still kicking my ass. Did you come all this way alone?"

Maybe Deuteronomy went and met him halfway. Or God forbid, Shirley was onto him.

[onegreeneye]

"Yeah. I... well, I got worried, when you didn't come by. Thought I should come check on you."

Actually saying it out loud was... more embarrassing than he had expected.

[goldeneyeball]

The thin man coughed again and finally a bony hand appeared from the blanket heap and tugged one of the folds down off of his head. JW's hair was plastered to his head with sweat and his eyes were baggier than usual.

"Thanks. Deuteronomy's off somewhere probably losing one of her leg bones in a gambling match. It's been lonely. You wanna sit? I won't breathe on you."

[onegreeneye]

"Sure."

He sat down carefully next to JW, resting his elbows on his legs. He was trying not to do too much WORRIED STARING, but he was having... limited success, really.

[goldeneyeball]

Now that his eyes were uncovered, it was pretty darn easy to see the state of Ginko's stress. It was nice having another human think so much of him--so much as to cross the barrier between worlds and climb up a steep hill.

"Don't look at me like that, I aint gonna die."

[onegreeneye]

"I know that." He still sounded pretty worried.

After a couple more seconds of uncertain fidgeting, he asked, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

[goldeneyeball]

"Um--hmm." He leaned up to look around. He had his medicine in range. The remote was close by. "I guess if you're itchin' to do something, you could put my soup bowl in the sink so it's out of the way."

The last thing he wanted to do was knock it over by accident.

Any further suggestions were cut off by a loud and ugly bout of coughing.

"So, what's been goin' on back in Mushi Land?"

[onegreeneye]

Ginko nodded, grabbing the bowl and bringing it to the kitchen. He returned to the couch as quickly as he could, sitting back down next to JW and cringing a little at his coughing.

"Hmm... same as usual, mostly." He tapped his fingers idly against the couch as he considered what had happened that he could actually tell JW about. "The suiko infestation in the village seems to be gone for good now, so that's been a relief."

[goldeneyeball]

"Suiko...oh. Oh, those." His brows lifted in concern. Oh no. OKAY BE SMOOTH ABOUT THIS, JW. He coughed. "So you won't be needin' to stop by again?"

[onegreeneye]

He hesitated for a moment. Technically speaking, yes, the apparently-final disappearance of the infestation meant that his job in the village was done. If he came by again, it would be purely by chance, and there was no telling how many months - or even years - in the future that would be.

"...Well. The fact that it seems to be gone doesn't mean there's no chance of it coming back. Probably for the best to keep checking."

He would just... try not to think too much about why he was so set on this.

[goldeneyeball]

For a long moment, JW remained nervous. Then he let a relieved smile take over his face and leaned back against the sofa.

"Good. Never hurts to be prepared. From what you tell me, mushi are a little like herpes. Never know when they'll come back."

He was really groggy ok.

[onegreeneye]

Ginko gave a quiet snort, relaxing a little again and leaning back next to JW. "Right. Like that."

[goldeneyeball]

"And besides, I might need help with the mushi on this side of the river too. I'll show you some--" JW broke off and fell prey to another loud coughing fit. His face twisted up in frustration as he waited for it to end so he could continue. "-- show-how you some weird spots I haven't been able to figure out."

[onegreeneye]

He winced a little at the coughing, but it was clear that JW had already done about as much as he could about it.

"Sure; I'll see if I can help you out."

[goldeneyeball]

"Good." He sank further back into the sofa and after a thought, regretted it because he was all bundled up and now the remote was on the coffee table. "Hey. Here's a project for ya. Grab that little back square thing, hit the green button, then punch in fourteen."

Should Ginko follow the instructions, he would be rewarded with the image of a man with enormous hair talking in a soothing voice as he painted.

[onegreeneye]

Ginko picked up the remote uncertainly and followed JW's directions, blinking in surprise when the television flickered to life. He sat back against the couch, tilting his head slightly as he examined the image on the screen.

"...What's this?"

[goldeneyeball]

"The Joy of Painting."

Bob was painting a scenic lake today and they had caught him in the middle of adding a little fishing lodge off to the side. With a few swipes of his palette knife which had obviously been blessed by Satan himself, the lodge appeared.

"You paint? I know a lady that paints. Horses, mostly."

[onegreeneye]

Okay, that was impressive, Ginko had to admit. He shook his head slightly at JW's question.

"Me? No, not at all. Known a few people who were pretty good, though."

[goldeneyeball]

Bob materialized an entire tree with three flicks of his Cursed Hand.

"Yeah? What kinda things they paint in Nowhere Japan? Have ya'll hit the Bullshit Period yet? People putting colored squares on a canvas and adding, I dunno, a dead cat off to one side and calling it art. I'll show you some time, it's awful."