[FIN] World and Mind Through Darkness

[Blood_Goddess]

The reaction from the boy was somewhat startling, Looking like he was going to pass out until he pulled out some strange... plant that he smelled.
Whhaaat the hell was that plant?
Whatever it was it seemed to do the trick, as the kid gathered himself as best he could.

Jerome remained quiet until Zacharie spoke again, much more timidly, but with a smile on his face. Jerome just shrugged, not looking away from the younger boy. "S'somethin' people should be sayin' ain't that hard." He grunted.

He couldn't help but feel a little better that whatever he had done seemed to have made the boy feel something good, but it didn't help much considering the fact that Jerome wasn't really one that was good with words, if the s**t Jerome could spew was making this boy that happy, then just how bad was this kid in need of some ******** attention!
No one... ever bothered, to tell this kid that what his parents were doing was not okay. this PISSED him off, at hit really close to home.

After a moment though Jerome's face grew gradually tired looking, a few more years being added to the lines as he watched Zacharie.
What kind of life was he doomed to live from this point on, already starting down a destructive path. Jerome doubted there was much of an option for the youngster to turn back now, and doubted that he even wanted too.
This was the life he was going to be in it seemed.

Whatever thoughts that were going through Jerome's head were suddenly interrupted with the abrupt and loud appearance of Bro. the Ghost type suddenly appearing in front of Jerome's face, his green eyes wide, with his smirk even wider as he just stared at Jerome.

"... Aw ********." Jerome growled at Bro, who chuckled.
Jerome knew that look.

Jerome heard some yelling from down the street in the direction the Ghosts had originally gone.
"'aight, S'probably time t'go." Jerome announced his eyes jerking down the street then back to Twitchy "C'mon we'll make sure ya get outta here alright."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie had never been so confused about what he was feeling in his entire life. He didn't really have time to sort through it all though, as his Shuppet appeared out of nowhere and draped himself over his face. "Ah, Jabari!" He squawked, flailing his arms in an attempt to dislodge the ghost puppet. "Shuppet, Shup-Shuppet!" The ghost pokemon said, sounding concerned despite his angry actions. He soon disengaged himself and floated over towards Jerome and the Gengar.

"...What's going on? What did you do Jabari?" The teen asked, securing his bag on his shoulder and rushing over to Jerome as well. He hadn't gotten into trouble on the street since he first started venturing out by himself. "Shuppet!" He highly doubted that and it showed, "I doubt it wasn't your fault." He muttered.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Bro agreed, snickering as the Shuppet and Zacharie came over.

Jerome however, was taking a few steps backwards, instead of looking around the ally for a way out, his eyes were turned up to the walls of the buildings on either side.
Kicking a can out of the way Jerome took one last step back before he suddenly burst forward, taking two long strides forward before he jumped up, and grabbed hold of a ledge on the side of the building, with just barely his fingertips.
In one fluid movement Jerome lifted his weight effortlessly, reaching out for the pipes that ran up along the building and used them to help get him over to a fire escape.
"C'mon up this." He spoke down to Twitchy as one of Jerome's shoes kicked down the latter for the kid to use.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Was it even possible for someone of that stature to do something like that? It seemed highly unlikely and quite dangerous to be honest. He hadn't been underestimating Jerome in the slightest but seeing that made him think that he'd been greatly underestimating the others abilities.

"SHUPPET!"

Shaking himself out of his awed thoughts, Zacharie scurried over to the fire escape. "Yes...right, sorry." He muttered, scrambling up the ladder awkwardly to stand next to his...friend. He wasn't entirely sure if he should consider Jerome a friend...did he think he was just some weird kid that he was obligated to talk to? The slightly taller male didn't seem like that type of person though and he couldn't help but smile, as shy and awkward as the smile was, whenever he simply thought of the possibility of having a friend. "Shup-pet!" Jabari all but screeched, head butting him and nearly knocking him back over the edge of the building to catch his wandering attention.

Right...maybe now wasn't the time for self inflection.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Once Zacharie was up, Jerome reached up and with one good heft, lifted the ladder back up away from the street. turning just in time to see the boy stumble and almost loose his ********!" Both Jerome and Bro's reflexes kicked in quickly, Jerome's hand shooting out to grab onto the boy's arm, while Bro had appeared up behind him with his hands out.

Jerome pulled the kid away from the edge of the roof. "Y'gatta watch yer step up here. step wrong an yer a** s'goin' over."
The gangster let out a sigh, letting go on Zacharie. and making his way toward the other side of the roof, where it met another, and another. "Ain't takin' the streets" He said "'Least not n'till we move outta th's aria."  

[insidiousEnigma]

"You...can't be expecting me to jump those..." Zacharie said incredulously, peering anxiously over the side of the building. "If I gave the impression that I was capable of doing such feats I apologize for misleading you but...you are absolutely insane if you think I could make that." He could barely run in a straight line without tripping over his own feet let alone hop across rooftops, even if at first glance the spaces in between didn't seem so large. "The statistical likelihood that I would successfully be able to cross is very low." Jabari nudged him to follow along after the darker man and reluctantly he trailed after Jerome.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome paused to take a few steps back toward Zacharie "ain't even that big of a jump." Jerome said, gesturing toward the gap.
heck, to Jerome himself it was more like a step then anything. "S'that er the streets, N'the streets ain't safe."

Jerome hopped over toward the other roof farely easily, then turned to hold his arm out in an offer to help get the kid across.
"C'mon."

Somehow he wouldn't be surprised if a kid like this fell on such a small jump, Jerome was going to have to pick the easy rout, and take is slow.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"This absolutely insane." Zacharie muttered to himself as he inched towards the ledge. "Don't...don't let me fall." The teen snapped, sending the other a hard look as he reached out to clutch at the offered arm. "I swear..." Taking a shaky breath and squeezing his eyes closed, he hopped across the gap with a shrill, but relatively quietly, shriek of terror. Once safely landed, he clung to Jerome's arm. "Oh my goodness...oh good lord." He whispered to himself as he shook like a leaf. "I...That was actually...sort of cool." He laughed shakily, as he took a step back from the other male and gingerly released him. Suddenly, he cleared his throat and straightened out his appearance. "Anyway..should we continue onward?" He awkwardly meandered away, hoping to cover up how much he'd been freaking out just moments before.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome arched at eyebrow at the boy, still holding his arm out "Ya ain't ganna fall, s'just a big step." the dark man tried to reassure with some common sense.
it was very clear that this boy had never done anything like this before.
Man people who didn't know Parkour are so squeemish.

It didn't seem like Zacharie was at all okay with this, so instead of arguing further Jerome just shifted his weight, holding his arm out a little more "I ain't ganna drop ya, C'mon, jus' a jump."

And just like that it was over, with a bit of an overreaction on Twitchy's part, But Jerome just let him deal with it in his own way, even if it did include clinging to Jerome's arm with the freshly touched up and sore tattoos.
Zacharie might find some black ink on his hands.

"Yeah ain't so bad, y'get used to it quick, S'thisway." Jerome jerked his head onward, but couldn't help a grin and a soft chuckle at the sudden change in the kids reaction.
"Yer a funny kid."  

[insidiousEnigma]

"The adrenaline rush is most likely a large contributing factor to the addictive quality of these stunts." Zacharie said with a wide grin, as he started over towards where Jerome had motioned. His good mood was slightly dampened though by the others comment. "...Is...Is that a good thing?" He asked, voice meek with self consciousness. Normally when one is called 'funny' it means humorous but...honestly he'd been called 'funny' by many people and it normally equated to strange, creepy, or a freak. Though he'd just met the older man not too long ago, he couldn't handle a scathing remark from him.

"Shuppet."

Jabari nudged him lightly, trying to keep him on task, but now he was pretty deep in thought. He couldn't allow himself to become so attached, as much as wanted a friend it really couldn't be a good idea. In all of his time roaming the streets he'd never seen Jerome, or even his Gengar, before. It was highly unlikely that he'd ever see him again after this encounter. The thought...saddened him greatly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome grinned at that, "Oh yeah." He agreed whole heatedly. "Ain't anythin' like runnin'"
There really wasn't, he could honestly say there was very little... in fact nothing else that brought him more joy then Parkour. Being able to do it again after being practically crippled for practically a year.

He made the lead around the building's roof, his eyes peering over the edges casually to find the best rout onward.
"yeah" He answered in his mellow drawl, his eyes not moving away from the rooftops. "don't like bein' funny?"

Jerome stopped walked after a moment, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a soft breath, seeming to have worked out the final rout to take.
Jerome turned back to Zacharie.
"'airhgt, ya just do what I tell ya and ya ain't ganna fall, N'don't panic either."  

[insidiousEnigma]

"I suppose it depends on the contexts." Zacharie said as he followed the darker male. "Do you mean to say that I am humorous or are you implying that I am...a freak?" He asked softly, eyeing Jerome cautiously. He prayed that he meant it as a compliment. If not, he would continue to take the offered help but would ultimately take off on his own as soon as the chance presented itself.

Oh goodness, he was being expected to hop across to another building again.

"Yes, alright. I will endeavor to stay calm." He promised, holding up his hands as if surrendering. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to stay calm though, one jump had been exciting and easy enough. He was definitely pushing his luck with all of this hopping around business. Behind him, Jabari snickered and easily drifted across the gap to the other rooftop.

He knew when he was being taunted.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome frowned a little at the younger male's question, finding it a little odd to ask, but it seemed like something the kid might be more self conscious about.
"Kid, ya take one look at me? I ain't one t'be goin' round thinkin' anyone's a freak. Don't matter anyway."

Jerome lifted a hand in a gesture "Ya said somethin' that was funny, S'all I meant." He explained, stepping up onto the ledge to jump across to the other building. "S'cool."

Once again the mans arm was offered out to help Twitchy across to the next building. Knowing he was going to have to assist pretty much every step of the way, despite how sore his scars were still, it wasn't enough to complain about.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Letting out a relieved sigh, Zacharie gripped the offered arm in a much gentler grip. "Oh yes well, that's alright then." He muttered before leaping across in a much more graceful manner than the first time. "...And you aren't a freak." He said softly, not meeting Jerome's eyes. Well...not that Jerome would know if he was looking at him directly or not anyway. "I mean, you're pretty cool I guess." With that, he released the older man's arm and made his way across the rooftop.


"Shup-pet?"

The teen let out a slight huff and swatted at his teasing pokemon. "No, I'm not going to cry." He grumbled though that only served to make Jabari laugh.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome cast a sidelong glance over at the boy, not saying anything for a couple of seconds as the contrasting tones of his eyes searched the kid and his Shuppet.

Bro wasn't far behind, wearing the usual toothy Gengar grin as he eyes the group, glancing over at Jerome as the two made eye contact.
Jerome let out a long breath from his nose, reaching out to pat the kid on the shoulders.
"Eh, ya know in our own way we're all jus' freaks"

It wasn't very often that Jerome was told that he wasn't a freak, not that he ever minded, he would not have done such extreme body mods had he been worried about that kind of thing. But he had to admit, sometimes it was nice to meet someone and be around someone who wasn't scared of you, and though you were 'cool'

His entire life he just wanted to be feared by everyone, he couldn't say he much wanted that anymore though. He kinda liked this much better.

"Hn, End f'the line looks like."
rough hands pressed to the edge of the last building as he leaned forward to look down at the street, eyeing along the buildings for a few seconds before he seemed satisfied by the silence.
"Ladder over there." He pointed to the side of the building. After pointing this out though he pushed himself up, and over the edge of the building, falling clear down to land on the fire escape so he could kick down the other part of the ladder for Zacharie.