Logs for October

[stickyflippers]

Who; Caelan and you!
What; Phone troubles, pillow forts, discussions on the weird goings on, and a seal in the tub
Where; Red building, and the docks.
When; End of September / Early October
Warnings; Mentions of nudity (Not descriptive, shape changing just doesn’t work with clothes), references to alcohol abuse (marked in thread with Nida), references to suicide (marked in thread with Nida)



What Do You Mean It’s Not Water Proof?

Caelan was experiencing some very obvious levels of confusion and frustration as he wandered up from the docks post swim that evening. His hair was still dripping and damp as he walked, eyes glued to the tell-phone that was looking rather... Less functional than it was meant to be. He hadn’t even bothered to button his shirt all the way, after the damn thing slipped out of his pockets and into the water when he was getting himself dressed and presentable by human standards.

At first, he’d only been annoyed because he’d had to stop what he was doing to fish it out of the water. Now he was doubly annoyed because the screen wasn’t lighting up. It was like the damn thing didn’t have any life in it...

Weird and very inconvenient if he had anything to say on the matter.

Which he was... At length, muttering under his breath and his accent growing a touch stronger than usual as he forgot himself. “The bleedin’ hell kind of joke is this? Really? Give the man who spends copious amounts of time near the water something that up and dies just because it gets a little wet. Can’t handle your drink at all, can yah? You finicky little box of nonsense.”

Speaking of a drink, he had a feeling he was going to need one very soon. Between that weird energy pulse a while back, the nightmares and now this? He was willing to admit he might need several.


A Fortress Fit for a Princess

Caelan wasn’t asleep when a mist slipped under his doorway, he’d come to expect at least one interruption a night since a few prior when something exploded somewhere and released a shockwave of mysterious energy. It had upset a whole lot of people (him included, for all he said he wasn’t bothered). Holly had become the most frequent guest, especially when the nightmares had begun.

Tonight he was ready though, and hoping to get the kid to talk a little more rather than the sullen insistence that she was completely fine and whatever other absurd excuses she came up with for her visit that night. Because honestly, she wasn’t the only one having nightmares, and he was starting to worry more about what they actually might have meant.

Hard to tell though if there were any connections or similarities if you weren’t talking.

Thus, tonight he was more than prepared for the visit. The living room space in his apartment had been entirely disrupted, cushions and pillows moved to the floor along with some of the chairs from the dining area, the sheets from his room and the pillows for good measure. All because he’d gotten it in his head that he was going to try one of those ‘Pillow Fort’ things that Holly had mentioned once or twice in one of her super-fact-filled-rambles.

When Holly materialized into a solid form again, she would be greeted by the sight of a very large, very chaotic looking fortress of pillows and blankets. If she ate food, there would have been all manner of sweets and snacks. Unfortunately, as happy as he was to make sure she could feed safely, he wasn’t confident in grabbing a random person off the street for her to snack on.

Someone would be bound to ask questions if they saw him lugging an unconscious body up and down the stairs... right?

So... No snacks, only a structure that was only slightly stable, but magnificent to behold (in his personal opinion).


Splish-splash

If there were any human creation that Caelan favoured over any other (aside from motor cars, they were fun) it was most decidedly the bathtub. A place to soak and relax at the end of a long day? A place where you could safely just splash around or doze off for a little nap without worrying about a predator?

It was brilliant. A private bath was practically a requirement when he was staying somewhere on a job. It wasn’t a replacement for the ocean by any means though, it did little to quiet the call in the back of his mind. It was, however, the nicest substitute on days when the call wasn’t loud, and he couldn’t be fussed with sneaking down to the shore.

Even the Lighthouse he’d purchased had a nice one installed, despite the fact that the ocean was just down the cliff side.

So after he’d finished a day busking in the market he hadn’t taken long to run a nice hot bath, grabbed his pelt, and slipped into the water like the delighted seal he was. It wasn’t as though he didn’t have the time, he wasn’t expecting any company for a while yet. Usually his visitors tended to show up slightly later.

Wildcard!
Have something you want the seal boy for in particular? Throw it at me! Also, if anyone wants something specific in a starter they should let me know. I can totally write one. <3

Comments

[mobprincess]

That at least got a small smile out of her; the tragic circumstances of the last one she attended notwithstanding, generally speaking she loved parties too. "I dunno if I've got that much on me, and even then I don't wanna part with all of it. I've got a feelin' it ain't easy to come by here, if you can even buy it at all."

That, and she didn't really have any money to buy it even if she could get her hands on it. There was the money she'd been given when she first arrived, but with no way of supplementing it, she was loathe to part with it unless she really needed to.

That'd been a whole other shock in of itself; if there was one thing Holly was not used to being without, it was money.

"A lantern'd be nice...I miss my comics though, what's a fort good for if y'can't read comics in it?" Leaning back against the couch cushion standing in as a wall, she sighed. "Maybe I could draw somethin' comic-y, if I could get some paper or somethin'. I dunno, we'll get to that later."

Adding it to her own mental checklist, she glanced over at Caelan again when he mentioned nightmares 'going around', her little frown deepening.

"...So it ain't just me? Other people're havin' 'em too?" With a pause, she added; "...Have you had 'em?"

Sorry no ‘TRAISH’ cans here, only a regular ol’ trash can. So no throwing u.u...

[stickyflippers]

“A sensible decision, you wouldn’t want to be going and spending your gum all in one place. A valuable thing like that shouldn’t be wasted.” He grinned a little, though truth be told if Holly needed something he would gladly purchase it for her. After all, he was getting a paycheck from the Gullwings and he wasn’t spending it on anything much. He fished for his own supper most of the time, and aside from blank sheet music, whisky or the odd treat? What use did he have for the currency?

He certainly wasn’t working for the money, so much as the fact that he’d get bored in this world otherwise. The selkie was just like that... Even back home, most of his instruments had been stolen from idiot marks that offended him. The lighthouse had been his one honest purchase, and that had been largely because he needed a place to store things and meet people.

He’d see about picking up a lantern at the market tomorrow though, making a mental note to see if he could find one. Comics... He wasn’t sure he could do much about. “Comics?” He parroted back at the kid with some curiosity. The bit about drawing suggested they were something like a picture book? Hmm... Maybe after the market, he could stop at the historium... have another chat with the directory and see if it could give him any of these ‘comic’ things.

For now he reached over around the side of the pillow fort and pulled a pile of blank sheet music to him with a pen, turning the page over to the blank sides and smiling lightly. “Don’t have any paints or colours, but you’re welcome to doodle on these?” He sat them down before he picked up his violin to start messing with tuning it.

At the question, he shook his head. “No, it seems like everyone’s having them.” A problem, in his opinion. A big problem, especially if they all shared similarities. “I have... I don’t have nightmares much these days, so it’s rather unsettling. There’s something very weird about them too.” Because why on earth would he be dreaming about bears? They certainly had never been a part of his bad dreams before.

“Usually I dream about the bad stuff that’s happened over the years when I do...” He says, hoping to help Holly open up a little about hers if he admits to having them. “My mother, humans being rotten, bad run-ins with nastier fae... But these nightmares never included things that weren’t there. Keep seeing random pictures or figures of bears in the background where there weren’t before.”

[mobprincess]

"Yeah, comics - like...like stories in books, but it's all drawn out in these panels and stuff. S'mostly superheroes, those're the ones I like, or the crime ones too." She explained, leaning around in curiosity as Caelan reached for something she couldn't see yet - not until he bought a pile of paper into view. She was moments away from pointing out that it was for music, not drawing, until she realised that it wasn't double sided.

At the prospect of having else to do (now and in general, because holy Jesus without the energy to skate she'd been bored senseless), she crawled forward a bit and took the paper pile and pen in her hands, shedding a couple of sheets as she retreated back into the safety of the fort. "Can I? Don't you need it for y'music and everythin'?"

Of course, she wasn't about to wait until he'd reassured her before she'd flopped onto her belly and started drawing - just little stars off in one corner while she thought of what should be the main picture. Something totally separate to what they were talking about, something fun.

Only, it was hard to think of something like that when she kept remembering what had her up at night.

The pen stilled, however, when he mentioned his mother first and foremost. The bear too, that caught her attention...but her headspace meant she fixated on the former.

"...Did somethin' bad happen to your mom?-" In a rare moment of self-awareness, Holly was quick to add; "You don't hafta tell me or anythin', it's just- you mentioned her first."

She didn't know if she'd be able to talk about her own, but she was curious.

[stickyflippers]

“I’ve never seen comics before, but they sound interesting?” Yes, he absolutely had to stop by the historium next time he was out... See if he could stock the pillow fort well with these things for her. Something to pass the time when she wasn’t sleeping, because Caelan had a bad feeling that this was going to become more of a thing as time progressed considering the strange increase in his own. No, that damned energy pulse had been a bad sign, and this was probably an after effect...

He shook his head at the question, “Of course you can, wouldn’t have given you the option if you couldn’t. I have plenty, and I know where to get more.” Again, what else was he going to spend his money on, Holly? “So use as much as you like, maybe we can decorate a little, yeah?”

He’d hang stuff up around the fort, and the walls in this apartment were terribly boring. He was used to so much more colour and life in a place he lived. As nice as it was that they’d been provided with living spaces... they all seemed so impersonal to start.

Now... As Holly posed her question, he folded his arms thoughtfully. As a rule, Caelan never spoke of his mother. It was not a happy topic, and one tied to a lot of distress and emotions that he didn’t like to bring back to the surface. Even after as many years as had passed, it still bothered him.

That said, he brought it up for very specific reasons. Holly was clearly dealing with her own loss and having a hard time with it. If talking about his mother helped her realize it was okay to talk about it if she needed to? Caelan would break his rule... “Yeah, something bad... Happened a long time ago, but I still dream about it sometimes.”

He pulled another paper in front of him, scribbling notes in on the bars absentmindedly. “When I was young, still just a pup. Couldn’t even change fully ‘humanish’ at the time. She was taken from the shores I lived on by a bad human. He was a wannabe sorcerer.” Swallowing a little, he tapped the pen against paper. “Never saw her again, never found out what happened till I was grown up.”

It was still a sore spot, for a whole lot of reasons. “Used to have bad dreams where a multitude of things happened, then when I found out...? The dreams got far more specific. Still happen, but not as often as they have been over the last few weeks.” He glanced at her with a small, sad smile. “So a little company will be nice. If we’re both having bad dreams, we might as well stick together.”

[mobprincess]

That was a good idea, decorating...that was definitely something she could do, especially if Caelan needed some pictures too. Maybe she could try drawing him a seal the next time he was in the water? She could surprise him!

"Yeah...yeah, I like that idea..."

Of course, the levity that that suggestion brought with it didn't last long. Caelan started telling her about his mother, and a tug of guilt started to pull at her as she started drawing. Just a face, not really anyone in particular, and it wasn't even that good either. But it was better than having to look at Caelan now, having to see him with that sad look in his eyes, even if he was smiling too. That expression was practically palpable, even if Holly didn't really know what that word meant yet.

It was the face grown-ups got when they were still trying to be brave about something.

"...That's a good idea too." Yeah, having something else to focus on? Fucking fantastic right now, Jesus. "...I ain't used to sleepin' someplace by myself. Back home, there's the house keeper, and my body guards an' stuff, so...company would be good..."

And, because she felt like it needed to be said, "...M'sorry about your mom."

Down on the page, a necklace with little jewels was slowly taking shape. "Somethin'...somethin' bad happened to mine, too. So...I don't know..I get it."

[stickyflippers]

Caelan would absolutely hang the pictures proudly, because regardless of skill level or talent, art was art. So art drawn by his little gremlin friend would be cherished indeed... Don’t call him soft, he’s not soft...! You’re soft! Although, admittedly, Caelan had been finding his soft side tugged at more often of late. There was just so much going around right now, and he had a bad habit of caring too deeply about people who were on his good side...

He smiled a little when she agreed, “Good, I know for a fact that all of my ideas are rather top tier on the scale of good ideas.”

Of course, the lighthearted joking tones were going to need to be traded out now. Caelan was prone to using them about his own serious issues, excluding his mother, but he’d never make light of someone else’s... Plus? It wasn’t like he couldn’t understand being used to having people around while you slept. “That so...? I don’t know about body guards, but I know I’m used to having my whole group around most evenings...? Especially after a successful heist. We’d all get together, talk and laugh and just kind of... fall asleep eventually.” And it was nicer to wake up with his makeshift family, instead of alone... So given Holly’s age and what she was dealing with? He could only imagine how hard it was to show up here and be expected to live in an apartment alone.

If he had it his way, and this went well, he hoped to have Holly around more regularly. It wasn’t like she’d be in the way of anything, and she had become something of a fixture in his life.

The small apology does bring out that slightly sad smile, “Thanks, Holly. I’m sorry about yours too... Loss is a heavy weight, but it helps that you listened.” Just to reaffirm that it was okay to feel it, and to let it out. “Makes it a little lighter sometimes, getting to talk about it. Otherwise, I find it all gets jumbled up in your head and tries to get out, anyway.”

His eyes darted to what she was drawing, watching the necklace slowly take shape.

[mobprincess]

"...That sounds nice."

Because it did; the idea of living with your friends? That sounded amazing, and she was sad he'd been taken away from that. She was sad and angry that this stupid place had taken any of them away from home.

Still, don't think she didn't know what Caelan was doing, because this conversation was beginning to sound a lot like a round of 'find the lesson in this week's episode'.

That didn't mean she didn't appreciate it though; and it didn't mean that she didn't want to try and talk about it, because she did. Some part of her wanted to talk about it so badly - she wanted to talk about how protective and wonderful her brothers had been, about how smart her sister was, and she wanted to try and put into words how incredible her parents had been.

She wanted to talk about how fucking unfair it was. Things like that didn't happen to her family, they just didn't.

"Does it..? 'Cause I know if I tried it'd just hurt more..."

Closer to a sad grumble, Holly pushed her sleeve across her eyes in a stubborn - if futile - attempt to keep her shit together while she carried on with her drawing, trying to pretend her stupid vision wasn't getting blurry and starting to sting.

"...I just wanna stop hurtin' over them...- and this fucking place and it's stupid fucking nightmares ain't fuckin' helpin'...I already miss them so much..fuckin' city..."

[stickyflippers]

It was nice, and he missed them dearly... Not much to be done about it now though, and Caelan was slowly finding people that he might trust that much...

Besides that, his attention was more on the sad little grumble he was getting from Holly over the nightmares. It was that stubborn, hurt sounding tone that suggested that she was struggling between not wanting to talk and needing to. He could understand it... Caelan, after all, generally didn’t bring up his mother. He’d talk about a lot of things, often making light of them, but not her.

So what had happened to Holly’s mother? Her family? The selkie could understand in his own way. “Yeah, yeah, it can. It’s a bloody messed up system, feelings.” He smiled wryly, before shifting a little to get a little more situated in the pillow fort next to her. He had a feeling this was going to be a Long Night™...

“I didn’t want to talk about mine for a really long time, but it all eventually came out, anyway. In little, frustrating ways?” He added, thinking back on his youth... Not that he was that old by selkie-standards yet. “You go to say something and it comes out natural, then it gets stuck and you remember why. Eventually, I just had to get it all out.”

Fuck this city, indeed. It was bad enough dragging them all here, without throwing nasty nightmares at them when some people were already dealing with a lot. The amount of hurt and pain that some people had dealt with prior to arriving was bad enough, without that on top of it. “You don’t have to talk about it before you’re ready, Holly. But if you wanted to, that’s fine too?”

He grinned a little, “Either way, you’ve got a fort and I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to keep each other with these rather rude nightmares.”

[mobprincess]

She didn't say anything when he came into the fort to join her, 'cause she didn't need to. She just moved up a little to give him a bit more room. It felt better, like it was their hiding spot, and like anything that was or would be said would be safer somehow.

Not that she thought that Caelan would tell anybody stuff that she told him - she knew he wouldn't she had a good sense for people - but it was reassuring to know that there could be a place specifically for emotions and other rude and terrible and unnecessary things.

"I know..." Despite her usual bravado wanting desperately to come out and cut through this weird, vulnerable feeling, she can't get her voice above a soft murmur. "I wanna, 'cause...but..."

Whether it's the subject matter or the fact that her drawing isn't quite going the way she wants it to, with the next wrong line the whole sheet gets scrunched up as the tears start. Perhaps more out of frustration, but she doesn't have the energy to do much more than just ball up the picture and throw it into the corner.

Yeah, definitely not looking at Caelan now. It doesn't count if you hide your face against your knees, right?

[stickyflippers]

That was the thing about forts or, as he liked to think of it, secret hideouts. Didn’t have to worry about interruptions or danger, they were a safe space to talk. To hatch plans or catch your breath... Or in this case, to feel safe enough to open up about what was wrong.

It was half the reason Caelan had decided to take the challenge on when he learned of them, because it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if he could get Holly to talk after the last few days. It didn’t seem like she was quite there yet... But then again, sometimes a good cry was as good as talking. 

Watching the sheet get crumble and tossed aside, he watched her close herself off more. A sad, worried expression crossing the selkie’s face at that. It was a delicate balance, one that he hadn’t had to handle in a little while, to not push too hard but still offer enough support so Holly wouldn’t feel more embarrassed by showing the emotions she was trying very hard to not feel. 

“But it’s hard, I know it is.” The selkie responded softly, tucking a spare sheet around her shoulders. They made excellent sneak tissues, after all. “Especially when everything just keeps happening, yeah?” Caelan frowned a little. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since Holly suffered her loss, but he had a feeling it wasn’t long. Then when you threw being chucked into another world, having to sneak around for food and the sudden nightmares on top of that?

It wasn’t a good mix.

[mobprincess]

That was one way of putting it; things did keep happening, and to be honest she was getting pretty sick of it. Her hands unclenched just long enough to tug the sheet around herself, hoping it'd swallow her up.

That failing though, she supposed it'd be okay to shift over closer to Caelan and tentatively lean against him without a word. He didn't have to hug her or anything, because she wasn't crying and she wasn't upset.

The sheet was helping though. Just a bit. Gave her another layer to hide behind.

[stickyflippers]

For all Caelan liked to go on about not wanting to deal with messy things like feelings, that was more about his own. He was quite happy to deal with those of others and go soft to be supportive, especially if the last few weeks in this place were anything to go by... Or maybe he just needed the support of people around him himself, missing the group he was so used to having around.

He hummed a little, a low and soothing sound. Just a couple bars of an old song as he kept an eye on her to get a feel for where this was gong. The sheet had been a good idea; he thought... It seemed to be giving her just enough of a buffer that she wasn’t going to bolt on him.

If it was enough for her to let her feelings out (not that she was crying, of course not) then all the better. He looked down a moment or two later as he felt a small weight against his side. Now there was a sign if he ever saw one, and he gently reached around to give her a comforting side hug. It wasn’t tight, just in case the kid didn’t want it, but it was there just the same if she did want it.