Mushie Tea

Alexander Campbell and Jasper-Declan MacDermott

Events and happenings began influencing who our characters are long before the SOTF ACT was even a glimmer in someone's eye. Have an interesting memory of your character's to share? Want to show the world why they are the way they are? Even if you just want to establish why they like comic books, this is the place to do it!
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nowave†
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Mushie Tea

#1

Post by nowave† »

"Well now." Alexander Campbell murmured to himself. "This is all starting to get a little strange." He said.

He leaned slightly on the wall of the TARDIS, and nodded to the passing unicorn.

Wait. What?

He shook his head. "Wow." he said quietly and was briefly thankful that for once he was holding nothing on him more potent than cigarettes. He looked up at the sky, leaning back against the building (as it turned out to be in reality) as he lit a cigarette. It was ten pm, mid december. School would be breaking soon for christmas. Alex drew the jacket tighter around himself, glad for it warmth and thickness. The smoke tasted strange. Well, anything would taste strange after that vile fucking tea, he thought to himself.

He had been around at his dealers house, not buying, but dropping off some money for some stuff he'd got on tic.

The dealer, only five or six years older than him, had offered a cup of Mushie Tea. He'd heard of it before, supposedly one of the less unpleasant ways to take psylocybin mushrooms. If that was the case, he'd hate to taste one of the more unpleasant ways. He remembered at one point in scotland, he'd picked a bit of moss off the wall and eaten it, just out of childish curiosity. The tea was worse.

But it was effective. It had only kicked in midway through his walk home, but boy had it kicked him. Around him, the curvature of the world seemed to distort into strange patterns.

This was wierd.

Not that good kind of wierd either.

He could feel a glimmer of fear. That was not good. Fear can colour a trip, make it worse, he'd read that somewhere. This thought did little to abate the fear, in fact it rather worsened it. He began to walk down the street, looking at the pavement in front of him, trying to ignore the wierd shit that was happening more and more around him.

He passed a park and paused midstep, looking in. It was darkish, sure, but the paths were at least well lit. It seemed nice in there. Serene and peaceful almost. He turned and began to walk in. The jacket remained tight around him, the cigarette clenched between his lips, leaving little puffs of smoke as he walked, like a train. He paused as he seen someone up ahead sitting on the bench ahead. Huh. It was a skater type boy, sitting on his own, seeming to kind of stare vacantly into space.

Alex chuckled. Probably off his face. Like I'm one to be pointing fingers.

He walked over to the bench and took a seat.

"Hey man, how's tricks." he said, though he noticed midway through the sentence, his words were slightly slurred.
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Hollyquin†
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#2

Post by Hollyquin† »

Dark. Cold. Quiet. Just the way he liked it.

The boy sat alone on a park bench, his eyes pointed towards the sky, though he didn't seem to be focusing on anything in particular. He wasn't, of course- when was he ever really focused? He took note of the moon in the sky- the lights of the surrounding city blocked out any hope of seeing stars. His skin had broken out into goosebumps, but he took no notice of that. It was only to be expected- he was, after all, wearing a short-sleeve button-down and jeans, with no coat or jacket or gloves or scarf or really anything that one would expect someone to wear in the dead of December. The only concession towards warmth he seemed to have made was an olive green knit hat covering his head, but even that seemed to be an afterthought.

It occurred to the boy that he must look rather strange. His eyes were basically unblinking, and his skateboard sat underneath his feet, dirty and chipped as it always was. One of his hands was twisting one thin piece of his long, long hair- it reached his mid-back in choppy bits and pieces. It was later than a teenager would normally be allowed out, but the boy's parents were particularly laid back when it came to him- they knew he wasn't doing anything bad, that he just needed his space, and so they didn't worry about him.

The boy was particularly fond of the park. It was quiet- at this time of night not many people came through here. It was dark- there were precious few lights in the park itself, and the trees blocked out much of the light from outside. And it was certainly cold. Most people would be a bit afraid to be here- being in a park in the middle of a city in the dark of night seemed likely to attract trouble. But the boy was unfazed- he was never afraid, after all. He thought himself essentially invincible, though he'd never use that word.

He heard footsteps. Again, any normal person would look up, feel at least a tiny bit of fear, but the boy's eyes didn't move. Even as the footsteps came closer, he did not move even the slightest amount. Hell, even when the figure whom the footsteps belonged to sat down next to him, the boy's eyes remained locked on the sky. It was only when the other person- boy, he could tell from the voice- spoke- "Hey man, how's tricks?" - did he turn around, doing so slowly, as though he was reluctant to stop looking at the sky.

The other boy's words were slurred- clearly he was on something. But the boy wasn't worried- he had seen this other boy before, probably at school, and he definitely wasn't any older than he was. He was just being friendly. Which was odd- most people were turned off by his unusual attitude and ignored him. But he was friendly, if a little eccentric. He replied in a quiet voice, his speech unusually formal for a boy his age.

"...I suppose things are going as well as one could hope for. I can only assume that it's unwise for you to be out at this hour whilst intoxicated. I do believe I've seen you before, however. My name is...Jasper-Declan."
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nowave†
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#3

Post by nowave† »

He watched as the boy slowly turned and looked at him. That was... disconcerting. But he smiled when Jasper spoke. He could sense the friendliness in the others voice despite the formality. Not just that, but he recognised him from school.


"...I suppose things are going as well as one could hope for. I can only assume that it's unwise for you to be out at this hour whilst intoxicated. I do believe I've seen you before, however. My name is...Jasper-Declan."

He smiled widely and took the other boys hand, shaking it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jasper." he said, immediately deciding that Jasper-Declan was frankly a bit of a mouthful. "I'm Alexander Campbell. Alex for short." he said.

Alex didn't look to bad, there was no danger of him passing out or falling over, but his eyes were dilated wide like saucers and his every movement seemed planned and deliberate. This preoccupied his thoughts and he spaced out for a second. He felt concious of each twitch of each muscle in his body. He shook his head and chuckled.

"Intoxicated, a bit, yes." he said, logical sentence structure temporarily abandoning him for a second as he refocused on what he was doing. "I was walking through here to try and straighten out a bit. I've got a feeling these mushrooms might get on top of me. He paused for a second, thinking. "Hey, um, listen." he said. "If you're not doing anything, you fancy coming back to mine and chilling for a bit? This is my first trip, and I'm kind of regretting not having any company." he said. "I mean, if you don't fancy it, it's cool." he said.

It was rather a spur of the moment suggestion, but then it had been rather a spur of the moment idea. Maybe it was the drugs, but he got a strong feeling of trustworthiness off Jasper. Still, it was an awkward question for him to ask. He thought about what he said for a second.

"Oh.. shit.. Umm, I'm not coming on to you either. I mean... it could seem that way... with two guys meeting in a park... but that's really not my intention."

He looked down and stood up suddenly. "I'm just digging a hole here. Head's not on straight right now. You coming?" he said.
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Hollyquin†
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#4

Post by Hollyquin† »

Jasper-Declan shook the other boy's hand, surprised at the gesture. It was the kind of thing he did himself when meeting new people- most boys his age preferred to greet others with one of those odd, teenage-boy specific maneuvers, the 'pound' or the 'man-hug'. That wasn't his style- he was more old-fashioned, more of a gentleman, so to speak. That was probably mostly due to his lack of experience with teenage boys. But this one seemed to actually want to talk to him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jasper," the other boy said. Jasper-Declan resisted the urge he always had when he introduced himself- that urge to explain why he had two names and how the other boy could pick whichever he wanted. That explanation often highlighted his weirdness to others, though, and he didn't want to scare the other boy off. The hand that had been messing with his hair moved over to play with the ring on his chain instead. "I'm Alexander Campbell. Alex for short." He nodded, storing that name in his memory banks.

Jasper-Declan listened to Alex as he tried to focus, revealing mushrooms as the source of his current state. The boy's eyes appear to be attempting a hostile takeover of his face, he thought, amused. He was a tad bit taken aback by the boy's invitation, though. He recognized that most people wouldn't invite a stranger they just met on the street to their house, and he wondered if it was just the drugs that were causing him to make the suggestion.

"Oh.. shit.. Umm, I'm not coming on to you either. I mean... it could seem that way... with two guys meeting in a park... but that's really not my intention."

Jasper-Declan blinked, his expression hardly changing at all- as it hadn't for the length of this conversation. He was amused by the remark, though, and that was betrayed by a tiny twitch of the corner of his mouth. Only those who knew him well- his parents and siblings, in other words- knew that that was his usual version of a smile. "Well, assuming that you are in fact not...how did you put it?...coming on to me, I would be quite happy to return to your home, Alexander. As you can likely conclude from my being here, I have absolutely nothing to do."
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nowave†
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#5

Post by nowave† »

He looked the other boy over cautiously as he accepted the offer. A part of Alex's brain that wasn't high was telling him that this was a terrible idea, that he was in a state where his judgement perhaps wasn't at it's best.

"Well, assuming that you are in fact not...how did you put it?...coming on to me, I would be quite happy to return to your home, Alexander. As you can likely conclude from my being here, I have absolutely nothing to do."

He chuckled and offered a hand to the other to help him up.

"Ok. I'm assuming there is a reason or at least a personal preference towards the formal tone, but seriously, call me Alex." he said. "Alexander sounds fucking strange." he said. He turned and looked up at the sky, which seemed to have transformed into a van gogh painting when he wasn't looking. The stars all left trails of colours that he had never seen before, nor since. He considered trying to describe this to Jasper, but how the hell do you describe a colour. He moved his hand up and waved it in front of his face, watching as it left trails of colour in the air. "And believe me, I'm the authority on fucking strange right now." he said.

He began to walk back in the general direction of his home, through side streets and alleys, never losing his way. No money in his family equals no car. He knew the town like the back of his hand right now.

A UFO landed on the building next to them and Jasper seemed not to notice. Before Alex's eyes it trasformed into the brightly lit neon sign of a cinema. "So, what's with the name?" he said suddenly, it having just occured to him that he'd spent the last five minutes relatively silent. "I mean, I've heard of double barrelled surnames before, but never really a first one?"
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Hollyquin†
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#6

Post by Hollyquin† »

Jasper-Declan took the other boy's hand to help him up, purely out of the polite urge not to deny him. He picked up his skateboard from beneath where he had been sitting, tucking it underneath one arm as he began to walk alongside the other boy. "Ok. I'm assuming there is a reason or at least a personal preference towards the formal tone, but seriously, call me Alex. Alexander sounds fucking strange," the other boy said. Jasper-Declan cocked his head to one side as he often did when he was thinking about something. He never really understood nicknames. It seemed to him that the name your parents gave you was important, and should be used. His friends, few in number as they were, often thought of nicknames-the most common seemed to be Jazz- and he disliked it, but never complained. Out loud, though, he only said "I prefer Alexander. I apologize if it bothers you, and if it's truly problematic I'll stop. But I've never been one to use nicknames."

They continued walking. Jasper-Declan didn't recognize the area they were headed to- it was certainly nowhere near his own neighborhood. He looked around with interest, taking in the new scenery- he'd have to come back here some time. He slowed his pace- he realized that though he hadn't been walking fast, his long legs meant that he was unconsciously outpacing Alex. He heard the other boy's voice, drifting into his otherwise preoccupied headspace.

"So, what's with the name? I mean, I've heard of double barrelled surnames before, but never really a first one?"

It took Jasper-Declan a moment to respond, stuck as he was in his thoughts. Of course, it was a topic of interest to him, and so after a lengthy pause he responded. "...Jasper is the name my birth mother gave me. Declan is the name my adopted parents gave me. My adopted parents decided that they wished to respect my birth mother's wishes and so kept my original name as part of my legal name. Though I didn't learn about that until I moved here." His tone became slightly less formal as he spoke.
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nowave†
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#7

Post by nowave† »

"I prefer Alexander. I apologize if it bothers you, and if it's truly problematic I'll stop. But I've never been one to use nicknames." he said.

"Well.. I guess if you really want to." Alex chuckled softly and ran his hand through his long hair. His roots were starting to show again. He'd have to deal with that at some point.

They continued to walk on quietly through the night.

"...Jasper is the name my birth mother gave me. Declan is the name my adopted parents gave me. My adopted parents decided that they wished to respect my birth mother's wishes and so kept my original name as part of my legal name. Though I didn't learn about that until I moved here."

His tone became slightly less formal as he spoke. Alex picked up on this, curiosity piqued now, he wanted to understand the other boys strange mannerisms. "Why, what happened when you moved here?" he said.

Eventually they came up to a construction sight that opened up onto the back of Alex's street, cutting a good twenty minutes from their journey. It was a shortcut Alex had used before. The construction sight was always empty this time of night, with the exception of one security guard. He looked through the link of the fence, shaking his head to try and clear it. The guard was in his little hut.

Alex lifted up a section of the fence that had become loose from it's moorings. Holding up his finger to his lips and looking at Jasper. "It's a shortcut, but we've got to keep quiet, and we've got to be quick." he said.
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Hollyquin†
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#8

Post by Hollyquin† »

"Why, what happened when you moved here?" Jasper-Declan took another moment to respond. Though he was speaking to Alex, his eyes betrayed that he wasn't exactly present in the current time. He was twelve years old again, remembering precisely what happening to him as he relayed it back to Alex. His voice changed unconsciously- he wasn't so formal when he was younger; that way of speaking had evolved, ironically, as he spent more time interacting with the outside world.

"That's when I found my birth certificate, full name and all. My parents called me Declan for my entire childhood...in fact, they still do. So the Jasper part is relatively new. They also gave me my mother's ring," he finished, his hand moving again to the ring around his neck even as his eyes remained lost in space. Suddenly he blinked, and his head twitched imperceptibly. The corner of his mouth twitched again as he looked at Alex for a moment. "But of course none of this could be particularly interesting to one such as yourself," he said, nodding, his voice reverting back to its original tones.

As they continued walking, Jasper-Declan was surprised when they arrived at a construction site. Again, this was nowhere near his own home, and since he never really went anywhere but his house, school, and the park, he didn't know much about the city. The other boy lifted up a section of the fence around the site- ""It's a shortcut, but we've got to keep quiet, and we've got to be quick," the other boy said. Jasper-Declan smiled-it was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless- for the first time in months. He liked danger. Alex did not yet know that Jasper-Declan was invincible. It wasn't something he bragged about- it was simply the truth. After all, he never got hurt, and never got in trouble.

Silent as a mouse, Jasper-Declan curled his thin frame underneath the fence, straightening on the other side, his arms protectively covering his skateboard.
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nowave†
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#9

Post by nowave† »

He followed the other boy through the fence and held a finger up to his lips, indicating silence. He had seen the small smile pass over Jasper's face. While he was surprised at it's presence at all, it's significance was not lost on him. The boy liked danger, huh. Good, Alex thought, me too.

He felt his adrenaline beginning to pump through his body, making him more aware, more alert. He fixed on the sound of the security guards television, listening for any interruption in the stream of babbling soap opera voices.

Indicating the path, he pointed between two stacks of metal girders. "This way." he murmured. Sneaking between the stacks he looked up briefly at the sky. The chemicals in his system, while pared back by the adrenaline, were still acting on him. As he gazed up, the angles and lines of the girder began to warp and distort in strange ways. After a few more steps, they came out of the stack.

They came to a pipe that they walked through, doing their best to keep silent, though their footsteps were noticably louder in the impromptu echo chamber. Coming out the other side, they seen the other fence. Nearly there now.

Alex passed a small stack of tiles. As he walked passed it, his jacket brushed it.

Alex froze.

A tile teetered on the edge, knocked just out of place by Alex's jacket.

He watched it, willing it to stay in place.

"Be ready to run." he whispered.

Gravity at last resolved itself. The tile fell from the stack, and smashed on the ground. Alex crouched, looking over at the hut, waiting to see if the guard emerged.
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Hollyquin†
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#10

Post by Hollyquin† »

[[OOC: I feel like I'm kind of making Jasper-Declan seem a bit too skilled, but...a big part of his character is that he's never been hurt, or really in trouble, or any of that. Mostly so that he can break on the island. xD But yeah, that's why I'm letting him out of this so scot-free...]]

Jasper-Declan was dead quiet. Of course, he was dead quiet most of the time, so it didn't necessarily make a huge difference. He followed after Alex, trusting him to take him in the right direction- though if it was up to him, he would have spent all night here. This place was...interesting was probably the word. But there was that security guard again- staying here was probably not the best of ideas.

He couldn't help but notice how...jumpy Alex seemed. Adrenaline, Jasper-Declan thought. So different from himself- he was just as calm as he'd been previously. He heard Alex- "be ready to run"- but wasn't sure exactly why he'd said it until he heard the loud CRACK! of a single tile falling from a stack, breaking on the ground. Alex crouched, but Jasper-Declan did not-he figured it was too dark for the guard to see them unless he was shining his flashlight directly at them. He looked towards the guard's hut.

The television turned off. Footsteps. A door opening.

Jasper-Declan whispered. Go.

And he sure as hell took his own advice, taking off like a rocket. The boy prided himself on being incredibly fast, that speed increased further by his height and by extension his long legs. He went straight towards the nearest fence- they had been walking towards it, so Jasper-Declan could only assume it was their destination- and threw his skateboard over it. The skateboard had been through far worse and so was no worse for the wear, but it definitely made a loud bang as it hit the ground. Not that that mattered much- once he was over this fence, he'd be home free.

Jasper-Declan scaled the fence quickly, and as quietly as he could. Not that he had much experience scaling fences- he stored the experience in his memory banks as not being all that difficult. Perhaps it had something to do with the fence not being much taller than he was. At any rate, his first instinct, now that they were back on concrete, was to skate away at high speeds. But Alex wouldn't be able to catch up with him on skateboard- or if he kept running, most likely- so he grabbed his skateboard and waited, ready to run.
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nowave†
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#11

Post by nowave† »

[OOC: Actually that was my intention as well. Plus, nothing cements a friendship like a wee adventure]

Jasper-Declan whispered. "Go."

Now it was Alex who smiled. Danger was never as fun as when it was immediate. "Put yer fucking yarbles away, ya cunt." he crowed as he took off. He'd stayed up late last night to watch A Clockwork Orange, and for some reason the vernacular sprung to mind.

No time for subtlety now. The man would be running towards him. He therefore would not get a good look at him. Alex was right behind Jasper at the fence, he jumped up, grabbing onto the fence halfway up, scrabbling quickly over it, panting with a mixture of lack of breath and exhiliration at their escape.

As he landed next to Jasper, he fixed him with a look of glee. It was the simple adventure of it that he loved. In his head, he was Peter Pan, he was Buck Rogers, he was Gambit. Barely breaking step, he grabbed Jasper's arm. "This way, come on!" he said, breathlessly.

He tore away from the construction yard, disappearing around a left turn, then a right and a final left. Finally he came to a stop. Panting, he bent over, starting to cough hard. The coughing fit passed quickly and he chuckled. "Man. I've got to lay off the fags." he laughed, looking up at Jasper. "I'm sorry dude." he said, still smiling.
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#12

Post by Hollyquin† »

[[OOC: Writer's block to the max. My apologies.]]

Jasper-Declan couldn't help but be surprised that Alex could keep up with him. Jasper-Declan was fast. The fastest, even. But this Alex was fast too. He'd be great on the track team. Though Alex didn't strike Jasper-Declan as the team sport type. He shook that thought away, as now he was running again, having resisted the urge to get on his skateboard and go. Running along with Alex. This was effortless. This was freedom. He smiled again. This was what he wanted.

And then, suddenly, Alex stopped, and Jasper-Declan had to force himself to stop along with him. The poor boy launched into a coughing fit. He didn't know what to do, so he simply waited. "Man. I've got to lay off the fags," the other boy said, laughing. "I'm sorry dude." Jasper-Declan cocked his head, his expression mildly quizzical. "I don't quite understand why you're apologizing. That was...the most fun I've had in a long time, to be entirely honest."

Partially aware that that had been an odd thing to say, Jasper-Declan scratched his head. "Now, shall we move on?"
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