Chapter Text
There was once a boy who couldn’t keep himself away from cards.
His name was Jesper.
Jesper knew better than to give up a chance to prove his bravery that most likely didn’t exist. It was a dare (obviously) to jump from a place into a pool. A shitty dare, really, considering the fact that he had to jump from a balcony that was ten metres above the pool. Easy, he told himself, especially since it was good money. Seven hundred and fifty dollars. Seriously, is this what people thought was hard? He took off his socks, shirt, and pants, as he’d known this would arise and someone would talk about going into the pool, he’d worn swim trousers.
Preparing himself for the cold that would come with cool water in the middle of June, Jesper leaped into the air, then did two spins before plunging into ice-cold water. He didn’t regret it. He’d been way too hot ever since he’d arrived at the apartment.
Swimming to the surface, he let out a victorious yell and treaded the water. The others in the apartment stared. They didn’t know he could be reborn. That if he died, he would come back. There was a person bringing a towel for him, a blue-green towel. Jesper thanked the guy, dried himself off, and went back up the stairs to where the others had watched him perform his perilous feat.
“Dude, that was sick!” Yelled Elle. She was the person who’d dared him to do that, and she had the money. She handed it over, and Jesper counted it. She didn’t have sticky fingers.
“‘T was fun, too. Too hot in here. Maybe y’all need a jump in the pool, too…” Jesper wiggled his eyebrows.
“Perhaps not, but I agree. Way too hot in here. Convenience store ice cream?” Suggested Ethan. Everyone agreed, nodding.
———
Ottering Through The Pain. That was the name of the convenience store. Creative, Jesper thought, but unusual. The owner - Leia - was there. Jesper lived around here, so he knew that Leia had opened this store a few months back. Painkillers and stuffed animals lined the walls, and there was a huge freezer next to the cashier. She was wearing her usual clothes: a large hoodie that was intentionally oversized so that she could have sweater paws, black ripped jeans, and platformed sneakers.
“Hello, and welcome to Ottering Through The Pain! We have painkillers and ice cream. How may I help you?”
“Can I have a drumstick, caramel, please?” Said Ethan. The owner nodded, putting it into her computer.
“Elijah, what about you?”
“Um, Elle, and can I also have a caramel drumstick?”
The owner let out a little surprised “oh” but added it to the order all the same. “Elle, sorry.”
Jesper spoke up. “Can I have a Rolo drumstick?” Drumsticks were severely underrated. He didn’t care if like, millions of people bought millions of drumsticks per day. They were underrated.
The last member of their small group was ordering his choice while the others wandered around. Jesper was looking at the axolotl plushie when someone bumped into him. He whirled around to find a small redhead looking up at him and apologizing. To be honest, Jesper was tall and the redhead was average, so Jesper just assumed he was small.
“Oh, I - um, sorry, I just -”
“Bro you good?” Jesper raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, um, I was wondering if you could read the instructions here for me?”
Jesper nodded, taking the small container of Tylenol into his own hand. Reading it aloud, he said: “take one in the morning and if pain continues take one twelve hours after”. He didn’t mind. The redhead probably needed glasses or something.
As he returned the Tylenol container, his hand brushed against the other guy’s, and it was extremely warm. Warmer than Ethan’s apartment. It felt like a sweltering summer -
“Thank you. I’m Wylan. Have a good day, kind dude.” He said before proceeding to pay for his painkillers. His eyes were as blue as Jesper’s soulscape, blue like a cloudless sky in the middle of June.
Jesper nodded awkwardly, no one looking at him, and the ice cream still in the freezer. Ethan was paying, so Jesper walked over and took his Rolo drumstick. At twenty-one, he couldn’t go to his friend’s house without ice cream? Pathetic, he thought to himself.
———
A day later, at the shooting range, he died again. He didn’t think it was on purpose, and didn’t quite care. The process was short. He died, talked to the soulbird, and tried to explain. The orange bird mentally sighed. He knew the procedure.
Back again? Where?
“Uh, same place and age as last time?”
Of course, foolish -
A warp sound vibrated through the soulscape. The bird made an expression similar to that of a frown. Then, the redhead he’d met yesterday stumbled in. Looking up, Jesper saw another soulbird circling - it looked a bit green, to be honest, but maybe it was the lighting. On the side Wylan was on, dandelions grew from the grass. On Jesper’s side, however, bluebells bloomed.
“What’re you doing in my soulscape?” shouted Jesper. Wylan flinched.
“This is yours?” He frowned.
“Dude. I just died. Yes, it’s mine, are you stupid?”
“I just died too, idiot.”
Wylan’s soulbird landed right in front of them, and looked meaningfully at Jesper’s.
Wylan, where do you wish to go?
“Back to Toronto,” said Wylan, and then proceeded to disappear. Last thing he did was stick out his tongue. Jesper wondered how it felt to be that confident.