Carlos was a nice man. A very nice man. Charming, charming, charming. Beautiful and his soul appeared to be as sweet as honey. Virote had a hard time trusting him, though. But, on the flip side, he was one of Phi’s friends. Phi was… Well, he trusted her judgment. He didn’t trust her judgment in her own dating life ( for fuck’s sake, she’s dating a 7ft tall, murderous demon of a woman. ) However, he knew Phi wouldn’t fuck him over and set him up with a weirdo that had malicious intentions. She would never.
What a strange situation. He nodded his head to whatever Carlos had to say, trying to keep himself tethered to the conversation. Showing any signs of anxiety would’ve proven to be a god damn disaster. Chill out, chill out, chill out, chilloutchilloutchilloutchill—THEN, his phone buzzed.
He stared at Carlos. His expression dropped. Doom hitting him right over the fucking head with a comically large mallet. Retrieving the pink flip phone from his bag, Virote opened it underneath the table. And, for a second there, Carlos could see his disposition crumble even more.
( txt. | carlos. ) i know what ur talking about, carlos.
( txt. | carlos. ) but hmmm, i feel like we’re connected in very different ways. u are a human aren’t u? phi didnt say anything about u being not human and u don’t ping me as an otherworldly creature or some shit so what gives? whats ur deal
( txt. | carlos. ) im not gonna lie im kinda terrified lmao youre not gonna like kill me or some shit right???? if so ill just take another martini to go and call an uber
( txt. | carlos. ) wtf are you? and do you intend on hurting me? :/
Odd. You know, under any other circumstance, he wouldn’t have been so frightened. Couldn’t figure out what made this situation so different. It didn’t help that the waiter finally arrived, asking for their order. Virote, unable to say anything, only looked to his dining partner, prompting him to speak. The wall came down for one second. One second, just so he could tell Carlos…
’ … Shanghai noodles and another sake martini, please?’
Carlos couldn’t help but grin as he read the text messages.
He was right, of course. He had a peculiar destiny, a unique precognition, to always make the correct course of action. Aside from the results of a single coin toss, he’d been correct a full one hundred percent of the time. And now that he knew about the morphogenetic field, he could wordlessly, instinctively tell when someone had access to it.
There were details that piqued his interest, however. ‘Different ways.’ This focus on humanity, of being human. As Vi put it, ‘an otherworldly creature or some shit.’ Some shit, indeed.
Maybe he should cut out on the grinning. Especially because he seemed to be frightening the poor fellow. But he couldn’t help it, could he? His natural disposition was to smile, no matter the circumstances. Let a smile be your umbrella, on a rainy, rainy day.
So, when the message came through, he scarcely blinked. He knew, somehow. The power of a ‘receiver’. Actually, it had never once happened to him before - both Akane and Clover told him how it worked for them, and Phi had her own weird variation of it - but it was a textbook case of ‘receiving’ a message. He heard it loud and clear.
“We’re ready. I’m having the Yellow Coconut Curry Tofu, and he’ll have the Shanghai Noodles. And one... no, make that two more sake martinis. Thanks!”
As the waiter left, Carlos rested his elbows on the table.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said. The texts had worked, he didn’t need to use that finagling anymore. “I’m not trying to frighten you, and the only ways I’d hurt you are in extremely safe and consensual positions. But...”
He took a dramatic sip of his water.
“From all I know about being an esper. If I’m going to receive a message through the field, then it has to be from someone that’s important to me. Someone I care about. And you willingly established that connection without any conscious will on my behalf. Cool, isn’t it?”
turnnoffyourmind
dededos
kianamaiart
tangentwithtanner
