aterat | Logs for October

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Logs for October

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

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Considering Nida’s words carefully, he felt something more than a little soft and warm in his chest at the very firm words before he nods with a grin. “We are that, and we certainly do.” He doesn’t specify which they are, because friends where he came from? They were family, better than in a way... And you didn’t leave family high and dry.

“So don’t forget that it goes both ways.” He added with a lighter smile, some of that joking tone bleeding back in as he continued. “I’m very good at being a petty pain in the neck when I want to be.” And he got very petty when those he cared about her slighted or troubled in some way.

Goes both ways? How lovely. Nida smiles and nods.

“You’ve always been a pain for me. I don’t mind it. You remind me a bit of my brother. Well, sorta brother. But yeah, it’s going to be good.”

He smiles and moves to offer the man a hug.

The tease gets a quick laugh out of him, absolutely delighted by it. “I’m always proud to be a pain! I’ve been told it comes naturally to me. So, it bodes well that you don’t mind.” Nida’s ‘sorta brother’ sounded like an interesting fellow then, and admittedly... Nida wasn’t entirely dissimilar to another member of his group. Between the joking flirting and the very firm insistence that he’d help if something came up? Yeah...

The hug offer is accepted with an easy embrace, something that honestly comes naturally to him after so many years in a group as close as the one he’d built. It is good, very good... Because it would be a lie to say he hadn’t been feeling a tad adrift without them, and it was nice to know that maybe there were people like that here as well.

“Yeah, you’re just like him in some ways,” Nida agrees. Can’t generate the name or the faces, but he likes it. Likes that this man cares for him. And that he’s allowed to care.

The hug is a good one, and he just holds the man as close as he can. IT’s nice.

“I’ve got your back,” he promises. “What more can there be than that?”

“Yeah? All the best ways, I’d hope.” He chuckled a little, “I admit, I wish I could introduce you to my own little group. I think they’d like you.” And the hug is very nice, Nida should get used to it. Being ‘family’ meant Caelan was very prone to random hugs and nudges and the like.

Caelan was often accused of caring too much, it made him make decisions that weren’t necessarily smart... Took the riskier jobs or raised more hell than necessary when a friend was in a bind. “We’ll have each other’s backs, you mean. But yeah, there’s nothing more to be said than that.” He grinned a little, Caelan was loyal to a fault once given reason to be, you could be sure he’d be serious about keeping the promise himself.

Oh. Being liked was something Nida really did wish he could experience more often. It felt... nice. Hyne did he ever miss belonging to people.

“If I could, I’d introduce you to mine. But they could show up and I might well walk past them without realizing. So I guess I’ll have to depend on you and yours”

Caelan couldn’t help the small frown at that fact. It had to be disheartening and lonely to simply have to accept such a thing. Not knowing faces or names of those you cared about, he couldn’t imagine forgetting any of his crew...

The selkie nodded though, “Well if I have the chance, you can be sure I will.” Strange things happened after all, it was weird enough he was here... Why not the others at some point? He smiled though, “But for now, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me!”

"I don't think that's being stuck," Nida muses with a smile. Don't mind him, Caelan, he just thinks you're good.

Finished with the cleaning he returns to the table to put things down.

"I know it might be asking a lot, but thank you. For caring about my wellbeing."

Good? Nida, don’t slander him like that. He’s got a reputation as a miscreant, a rogue, a thief, and a pain-in-the-ass to maintain here.

Caelan blinked a bit, a smile playing at his lips at the very idea that he needed thanks for caring about Nida’s wellbeing. “No thanks necessary. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t care about the wellbeing of those who’re important? You’re as good as one of my group now, Nida. Family, you said, right?” Uh... Yeah that did kind of mess with his image, but that was beside the point.

Clapping his hands lightly with a grin as he settled on the sofa. “Now why don’t you just make yourself comfortable, I’m in the mood for something a little more lively and we both know you’re going to hear me whether or stay here or go back to your apartment.”

Make himself comfortable? Nida laughs and finds the couch to flop onto. It's fine. He doesn't mind listening. Please let him listen.

"You're going to entertain me? How kind of you. What a good brother."

“Well, you provided dinner, so I believe it’s up to me to provide the show.” He responded with a laugh, plucking up his violin again and checking the strings. With a few more adjustments, he began to play something rather lively.

He would always be happy to have an audience, happier still that it was Nida. It was just very nice to be able to let go a little more. Even if Caelan showed very little restraint in his life, there was something a little more freeing about not needing to keep up appearances. What with there being so few people who knew him properly, because he was trying to be careful, he was always hiding in a way. Focusing on glamour, wearing gloves, watching over his shoulder and feeding the curious sorts half truths. This? This was a nice treat.

“I wanted to ask you before,” He started a moment later, the piece still bouncing along “Are there nothing like the fae in your world? I mean, there’s Siren obviously, but I was wondering about it since our last conversation.”

"There are monsters. There is magic. There are GFs, and there are Sorceresses. Other than that, no. Not that anyone knows of. Unless you want to talk about the Moomba and Shumi."

Which aren't exactly the same, even if they might be similar.

He knew of the monsters and such, thinking back to their conversation the other night. It was still a bit strange to think about a world that had its nature so changed and twisted by the moon. He tilted his head a little, “Moomba... and Shumi. Now those are definitely two words that I don’t know?”

He grinned a little, the tune dipping and rising as he thought back on the fact that Nida hadn’t known the word selkie. Such different worlds... It was strange. It was his turn to ask the questions, at least until Nida came up with something else.

"They're... interconnected races. In a very strange way," Nida admits, letting his eyes dip shut. "One looks like a human but with waxy yellow skin, long limbs, and even longer fingers. The other... Bipedal fluffy read creatures with big red manes, a limited vocabulary, and an almost racial memory stored through taste."

Caelan listened with interest, did they live alongside humans then? Or were they more secluded... They didn’t sound unlike some kinds of fae, but definitely not like anything he’d heard of. “Memory through taste?” He asked, continuing the melody and with a smile as he noticed Nida was relaxing.

"Memory of their past lives as Shumi. NO, I don't know how the transition works. Just that it does."

They were a mystery.

"But they remembered one man from the taste of the blood of his son."

Don’t mind Caelan as he looks vaguely confused, although more because of how one came to come by the memory. “I’m not a stranger to the concept of past lives and the like, but that’s definitely not something I’ve heard for memory recall before. At least not as of yet.” The world was full of strange things, after all. He lived with several that would be counted as such.

"Not past lives. Just evolution and transformation within one's life," Nida counters. But it's very odd.

And he didn't know how to explain all of this.

"It's just something we've learned to accept."

“Oh!” He responded with a little nod, “That is different then.”

He thinks on it a little more, “And they don’t remember from before they changed without the reminder through taste?”

He got up from the couch, moving a little as he shifted the song’s tone slightly. “It’s not the same, but one of the fae in my group changes a lot. They’re not like other shape changing fae, she has no human form, but she can change at will into various objects and small animals. Thing is, no one knows what their original form was, they don’t even remember after shifting so many times.”

"They barely seem sentient sometimes. But they... I don't know. I've never really worked with a Moomba before. Still, what you're talking about is unlike anything I've ever heard of."

But it's also sort of scary. What if you accidentally sit on them?

As if Adelaide would let anyone sit on her without shifting into one of the least comfortable inanimate objects a human could sit on first. Caelan, and everyone in his group, could confirm that of the creature. She was too quick and clever to be crushed.

“I get the feeling that between our two worlds, there are many things that neither of us have heard the like.” He grinned a little, tune jumping a little in a slightly comical fashion, perhaps on purpose, perhaps not. “It shouldn’t surprise, but it does.”

"Well, I don't think you have something like Siren, right?"

The spirit gives a shivery laugh of pleasure. It felt so good.

"I will always be surprised."

He grinned a little, thinking back to their earlier conversation. “In name alone, temperament around humans and intentions are entirely different.”

Of course, as far as sirens and mermaids in general went, they were what they were. He was partial to a few in his own world, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Siren wouldn’t approve. “I would hope, I’d hate to fail to keep things interesting. You might get bored with my company otherwise.”

"I would hate to be bored," Nida agreed, closing his eyes again.

"Mind if I crash on your couch tonight?"

“Be my guest, it’s not like I’m using it.” He responded, wandering away from the sofa. He at least halts his playing long enough to toss a blanket at Nida and a pillow.

What? He’d gotten a few spares since the nightmares started going around. Caelan had a lot of company lately.

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good to close?

Yep!