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Characters: Kyle Rayner and Jack Frost.
Date: Today.
Location: Jack's house in Wood Sector.
Situation: Kyle has been giving this can/can't see Jack theory some thought.
Warning/Rating: None at the moment.

It was very bizarre when a mystery you weren't even pursuing started to piece itself together in your mind. It was even more bizarre when the person it happened to was Kyle, because he usually didn't give much thought to mysteries like this. Or mysteries at all.

Especially when the solution was magical in nature. Still, he owed it to the Jack to provide some kind of explanation, because it was just downright depressing to have to explain to people that Jack (and by extension, the supernatural) was real, but it must have hurt the spirit to know he wasn't believed in even when he was right there. He'd tried explaining the Sandman over the network, and that had ended just brilliantly.

He finds himself in front of Jack's door (strange how he knows all four people who lived in this complex, or just coincidence?) and knocks. 'Hey Jack! It's Kyle. Got a minute?'

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Jack didn't get many people knocking on his door (almost none, in fact) so it took him a moment to realize that it was actually his unit he could hear being knocked on, though when it was followed by Kyle's voice he breaks into a bright smile and bounds off the bed to the entrance to open the door.

"Hey Kyle! Sure, what's up?"

Edited 2013-02-10 02:32 (UTC)

'Hey.' He smiles brightly when he sees Jack. It's very hard not to. 'This might seem out of the blue, but did you meet any of the new arrivals? Could they see you?'

Kyle had met Costigan, who'd believed and then not believed, which was what had given him an idea of what might be happening.

Jack moves aside to let Kyle come in, shutting the door behind him with a thoughtful look at the inquiry.

"I've talked to some of them, yeah. And... no, not too many of them could see me, but almost all of them could hear me. That's actually been happening more often and it's weird since up until I arrived here? It was all or nothing. And by that I mean, mostly nothing."

He walks in, and looks for a place he might be able to sit down. 'So they could hear you, but when you told them who you were, did they see you or stop hearing you?'

Jack takes a deep breath and exhales, which curls through the air in a puff of white mist as he thinks.

"Mr Charles I only talked to in text, and I thought we knew the same Sandman but apparently not and he definitely didn't believe. Mr Henry could hear me only and I told him who I was, and he could still hear me but not see me -- the same with Ariadne, and I not only told her, I showed her some of my ice magic as well... didn't seem to make a difference though."

He perks up then. "But Peeta who's starting the bakery could hear me and he even started to see me a little! Which, he's kind of related to Katniss and she's scary and I don't think they have stories about Jack Frost where they're from, so that was pretty great. He said I looked 'not shiny' and kind of blurry but hey, I'm not picky."

"Bruce could see me right away but we didn't get much into the introductions part, so maybe that's why. Spencer could see me right away too but he didn't seem to believe or disbelieve, like it didn't matter what my name was. And Billy..." Jack pauses here for a moment, his expression tightening slightly. "He could hear me at first but when I told him, he stopped believing and then he couldn't hear me at all. Somehow I screwed that one up."

A short pause and then Jack offered another smile, slightly more forced.

"But hey, I started out as the invisible neighbour to Oliver next door, but he started being able to see me after he stabbed my arm. So, progress!"

Kyle listens and nods at every qualification until the very last. 'He stabbed your arm?'

"Only a little bit!" Jack defended. "It's not like it made a mess or anything."

Kyle's not convinced. 'You're a spirit, how did he hurt you?'

Jack looks wryly at Kyle, leans over and pokes him in the arm. "I'm a spirit, not a ghost. I'm only intangible to people when don't believe at all, and even then I can still affect things and be affected. Do you have any idea how many trees I banged into face-first when the Wind and I were learning how to fly together?"

Kyle stares at him curiously. 'It doesn't work like that on my world. If somebody like you got hurt with just a knife? It usually means your attacker was packing some serious stuff, probably magical.'

Never mind how Kyle knows this, he just forgets he's supposed to be a civilian. This is one of those times.

"How many 'someones like me' are there in your world?" Jack asked, genuinely curious. "And it was just a normal knife as far as I could tell."

He touches his upper arm where the bandages are still under the blue sweatshirt. "It's really okay though. It was just a misunderstanding, I surprised him."

'I've only really met one.' His voice automatically becomes hushed. Dream of Endless was not someone to be spoken of lightly. 'I told you about him - the Sandman. Actually--' he frowns slightly. 'I told Mr. Charles about him too, using one of his other titles. And I tried telling Costigan that you were real. I don't think he'll ever get that you're are the Jack Frost, but he might become convinced that you exist.'

He'll (very begrudgingly) let it go that Jack had been hurt. But Ollie was still getting a nasty talking-to at one point.

'Okay, I think belief in you might be tied to how easily we accept that there could be magic out there. I'm from a world where it exists, so this is normal for me, and I could see you straight away. I think the same goes for Peeta, he's open to the idea. The others aren't, so when you identify yourself, what little belief they have fades away. What do you think?'

Jack shakes his head. "Kyle, I appreciate you trying to tell Billy, but real belief isn't something you can just tell people about. It's the same reason that I can't just write messages in frost and tell people who I am. It's too much like scaring them into believing..." He winces, the analogy drawing an uncomfortable recollection of Antarctica. "And that's Pitch's domain anyway, not mine."

He listens as Kyle outlines how different people might be able to see him, and he nods. "Yeah... that was kind of how I was trying to explain it to Billy, but it was like he completely shut down. I had to switch to text to even finish the conversation."

Kyle sighs, but nods in understanding. Scaring people into things isn't something he does either. The way Jack says Pitch is the same way Kyle thinks of Parallax - they're more or less the same entity. He shudders involuntarily and tries to push the memory away.

'I think he's dealing with the shock of coming here. It hasn't been an easy transition for everyone. Maybe you should give it some time before you try to talk to new arrivals; give them time to accept that there might be things out there we can't explain.' He runs a hand through his hair, the green ring stands out against the black. 'Well, it's just a theory.'

Jack nodded, looking contrite. He hadn't really been thinking of things like that, that people's arrival here had a lot of different effects. Some people were angry, some people were scared, some people were in denial.

"You're right. I should apologize when I get the chance, and be more patient." Of course, people generally asked his name when he said he was part of the welcoming committee. "And maybe just use my first name for a while."

"I think it's the best theory I've heard so far," he agreed, when the green of the ring catches Jack's attention. "Is that like a class ring?"

'I don't think you need to apologise for trying to be honest,' Kyle says sympathetically. 'You aren't used to a world where various people can see or hear you either.' i.e. stop being so hard on yourself. 'First name basis sounds good.'

He gulps when Jack catches sight of his ring. Should really stop wearing it out in the open like that. 'No it's, uhm--' again, stuck as to how to explain a Green Lantern ring to people who hadn't heard of it. But he knew how to explain it to a spirit, how Dream had understood it. 'It's a wishing ring.' He made a small green construct of Jack, balancing on his staff, and then it vanished. 'It can do whatever I will it to. Er,' oh man, Batman was going to kill him. Then again, he hadn't overtly stated to anyone which world he was from, precisely, and his identity was his to give. Jack was more than trustworthy. 'I'm a superhero, where I'm from. That's how I met the Sandman.'

"A wishing ring?" Jack's eyes widen with the newfound knowledge before his expression becomes one of delight. "You're a superhero? Kyle, that's amazing!"

'Well, don't tell anyone,' he says sheepishly. Wow, being fanboyed is strange. He couldn't get used to it in the Corps, he can't get used to it coming from Jack. 'Secret identity and all.'

Jack nods, though secret identity was still a little strange to him. But after that discussion with Santo and Victor, he guessed he could see why some people would need or like one.

"All right, I won't say anything."

Then he thought he'd better get back to what Kyle had actually come for. "So I wonder if there's any way to prove the thing about people's belief... it's not really something that can be tested."

Then he flushed a bit, the tinge faintly purple on his cheeks. "Thanks for trying to help me out with this too. I mean, you didn't have to since it's not really an issue for anyone else..."

He shakes his head. 'Hey, it's no problem.' He personally thought it was a little awful being invisible like that, especially when people might have heard something and not seen anyone on the screen.

Kyle ponders how to prove it. 'I suppose you could make a network post asking, but you'd have to keep doing that all the time.' A pause. 'Are you on the welcome committee? Why not try that for a while and see if our theory holds water--' He cuts off before he smiles. 'Oh, I should be making ice puns instead.'

"Yeah, I'm on the welcoming committee," Jack answered. "And I don't know about the network post, I'm worried that'll actually turn off more people from believing than it would help."

Yeah, Costigan's reaction is still pretty fresh in his mind.

"Besides, I might not even be able even if I wanted to. There's kind of... rules, against that, for Spirits. The last time I tried to write my name on a wall where I thought a lot of people would see it, I woke a month later feeling like I'd been run over by a train."

Then he groaned playfully. "Ice puns, like I haven't heard every one of them before. Or made most of them before."

'Hm, maybe you should fill me in one the rules. I don't want to accidentally terrify people into believing in you.' Because that was all shades of not cool.

And then, 'Wow, frozen pundra already?'

Jack sighed. "The problem? I don't know all the rules. The Man in the Moon never told me anything except my name, and everything since then has been trial and error."

"Already? If you were moving any slower on this pun cold front, you'd be glacial."

'We're still just on the tip of the iceberg, little guy.' He grins. 'Anyway, what have you figured out so far from the trial and error?'

"Just as long as you don't get cold feet part way through," Jack countered.

He shrugged. "Most of it has to do with keeping the seasons in balance, which involved a lot of being screamed at by the other spirits. It's not so much of a problem here on the turtle because... well, not a whole lot of variance in seasons yet, at least since I've been here."

'I think you'll find I'm on fire.' He chuckles, and then leans forward to consider Jack's words. 'Okay, did you know any of the rules about telling people you existed? Who could see you, before?'

"Just that I can't do anything that's too... you know, blatant," Jack answered. "So no materializing moving fifty-foot snow sculptures, that kind of thing. The rest of it's kind of a grey area."

He balanced his staff lightly across his knees. "Right before I came here? Jamie and his friends could see me. They helped save all of us. But before Easter? No one could... only the other spirits like me."

'Nothing too blatant sounds about par,' Kyle replied, mostly to himself rather than to Jack. Dream of Endless usually didn't do blatant things either, just showed up and was creepy at everybody.

'Did something happen on Easter?'

"That's another really long story," Jack answered. "But basically? The world almost ended."

Low whistle. 'Good job saving it. Although... I'm not sure that has to do with what might be happening here. It seems like the magic on the turtle works differently from the world you're used to.'

"Everything I've seen points to that," Jack agreed. "I mean, even the fact that it's split between hearing and seeing is weird enough. But now you've got me wondering if the whole 'not too blatant' thing might be negotiable here too."

'I don't think you can do something like make a giant statue out of nowhere... could you?'

Jack grinned with every ounce of mischief and playfulness he was known for. "Is that a challenge?"

Kyle returned it with one of his own. There was a reason his and Guy's pranks were the stuff of legend in the Corps. 'Maybe it is.'

"Then I'll be sure to deliver big on it," Jack smirks right back.

Then his expression becomes more serious again. "But I meant what I said, I really appreciate this. I wish I had one of the other Guardians to talk to about it, I'm sure they know lots more than I do, I'm just too... new."

That sentiment hit Kyle a little too hard - he'd been a rookie himself once. And he'd had John.

'No problem. I'm sure you'll figure it out, you just need time.'

"Time and friends," Jack smiled in return. "And it looks like I'm going to be able to get both here."

'Plenty of both around.' He nearly ruffles Jack's hair but without ring power to use for a forcefield, he settles for a warm smile.

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