aterat | Logs for October

Entry tags:

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

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Usually his visitors DID tend to show up later, but Nida? Nida had found seafood curry at a specialty stall in the market. He'd been so excited he'd bought two portions, containers to put them in, and rushed off. He'd talked about the dish with Caelan before and had sworn to himself that if he ever ran into it, he'd share. Which was why he was there, slipping through Caelan's open window.

Such a nice friend, leaving that open for Nida. Still, the other man wasn't in, so Nida sighed and went toward the kitchen because he could at least put it in the cold box and reheat it later.

Or he frowned until he heard water shifting in the bathroom. Well, nothing to be done but to peak his head in.

"By-The-Way I found seafood curry! I brought you a b-"

Um... He can't see Caelan by the tub. Weird?

Caelan honestly should have anticipated something like this happening, even if Nida’s window visits tended to be a little later. He probably could have even locked his window as he had his door for the short times he spent in the tub in his seal form. Then again, Caelan also tended to take silly risks sometimes, and it had been a long time since he had. So... He was probably due for one.

Plus, he might have been a tad concerned Nida might take a locked window to mean the man had changed his mind about him being welcome in the apartment.

So, careless or not, the window stayed unlocked.

He hadn’t even noticed someone walking across the apartment (though he’d be willing to admit that Nida was excellent at being sneaky), too wrapped up in enjoying the warm water and splashing a little as he got comfortable in the tub for a little nap.

Then he heard a very familiar voice and the selkie rather forgot himself. A seals head popping up out of the water curiously, neck stretching over the side as if he were going to greet his friend.

Then it hit him... Wait a minute. Can’t talk. I’m a seal. Shit.

Large, expressive eyes stared at Nida for a long moment before he pulled his neck back rather dramatically with a sound.

There's... a seal. In the tub. Nida just stands there, frozen for a moment. A seal.

That felt like magic. That felt like the same magic as Caelan.

"Oh Hyne damn you, you punk," Nida laughs, shaking his head. "This is your damn secret, the second magic. Oh you little ass. THAT is why you have water magic. Holy fuck. What ARE you? Other than cool?"

At least Nida wasn’t shouting for all the world to hear as Holly had (not that he had a leg to stand on there, he’d yelled just as much), it was still mildly alarming though. So he continued to wait, blinking at Nida while he waited for the guy to process that there was a seal in the bathtub belonging to one ‘Caelan By-the-Way.’

Then the guy was laughing, which admittedly was nice to see considering it had become something of a personal goal to make the guy smile or laugh a little more after their initial meeting. Shifting and sliding a little in the tub he leaned forward, throwing his flippers over the side and hanging his head over the edge. Being called a little ass only getting him a very sarcastic sounding response as he stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.

He is the pinnacle of maturity here, Nida.

Of course, if he was going to actually answer his friends questions... He was going to need to not be a seal, or at least less of a seal. So that meant shifting, which would either be fine or another whole layer of weird for Nida.

A moment later, there was no longer a seal but a half seal half Caelan figure hanging his arms over the side of the tub, one drawing up to rest his chin in his palm. Alright, it wasn’t precisely Caelan as Nida was used to seeing him, but he’d be damned if he was going to fuss about with putting on his gloves or applying all that glamour he usually had to hide his less human features. “You know, most people knock before they enter a lad’s bathroom.”

He was teasing, because the door had been partly open anyway. Gesturing at himself lightly, he let out a little dramatic sigh, “And I suppose with the cat outta the bag, I can tell you I’m a selkie, a sort of water fae.” Slapping the water with his hind flippers he grinned cheekily, “And yes, I suppose I am very ‘cool’ as you put it.”

"So mature," Nida snarks at the raspberry. Why was he friends with this fool? Right. Caelan cared.

Honestly he's a bit more intrigued by the partially seal form, moving closer to look the man over. Strange. But not bad looking. But he's definitely intrigued by the appearance.

"Caelan, I come into your home through a window, don't be surprised when I come to find you," Nida rolls his eyes. "And come on, after all you've learned about me, maybe I just want to get an eyeful of likely men."

Selkie. What an interesting word. "Water fae. Word I don't know."

“Yes, you come through windows. I most foolishly presumed that doors just weren’t your thing! Clearly you’ve misrepresented yourself to me.” He responded drawing a hand to his chest in a display of fake shock as he continued. “I feel as though I’ve been fooled!”

Yes, if anyone was being fooled here, it had clearly been him. Not the man who’d spent the last two months trying to figure out what the dramatic brat’s secret was.

Raising his arms and gesturing lightly with a shrug, he grinned playfully with a light in his large dark eyes. The usual freckles in his complexion more like spots, and webbed fingers drawing back his hair out of his face a little. “Can’t say I blame you for wanting a peek, I am quite a catch if you pardon the pun. A fine specimen of selkie-folk. Not everyone gets a glimpse the real me, so I hope you like what you see.”

He did have a rather nasty looking u shaped scar between his neck and shoulder on the left size, looked like it might’ve been a nasty bite mark. A throw back to his more innocent days and a brush with a less pleasant fae.

Still, he pulls back the playfulness a touch when he moved back to explain the words a little better. “Yes, Water fae. One of the fair folk you so boldly said sounded sinister the other night.” Alright, maybe he was still going to be a little playful. But it was easier to joke and laugh than let himself slip into a more serious mindset. Because then he might have to admit he was panicking a little inside.

Nida was clearly a good guy, but that didn’t do much for natural instincts. So it his friend would just have to have a little patience with it. “If I were to explain it in simple terms, selkie are shapeshifters that can change between seals and humans.”

"Wow, I use doors sometimes. They are just too expected. And as beautiful as you are, but I'm definitely more about legs that can be wrapped around me."

Oh yes, he's absolutely said that. But he's very feelign bad about the whole comment about the sinister thing.

"I'm going to want more lore. I'm a former spy, I sort of really like information. Now, are you joining me for seafood curry?"

“A man who knows what he likes, I can certainly appreciate that.” He responded with a little grin, because Nida was soon to get a whole eyeful of sea fae with legs.

Especially at the reminder that there was seafood curry waiting to be sampled. He’d been curious about the dish since NIda first mentioned it. Caelan had even tried to find someone who knew how to cook to make it, but had failed thus far. So without notice, he shifted the rest of the way and tucked his pelt under his arm to hop over the side of the tub. “Of course, you should have reminded me sooner! Let’s try this famous, mysterious dish of yours, yeah?”

Annnd he’s walking by, adding as an afterthought. “I can certainly give you more lore, I might even give you the good stuff instead of the silly stories the humans share.”

Lesson one, Nida. Skin changing fae are entirely immodest about nudity by comparison to humans and even some other fae. Also, he left his clothes on the bed in the next room.

Listen, sometimes he likes wrapping his legs around people too, but this was something else. Of course there is then an eyeful and Nida... definitely is left evaluating. Nice.

"Hardly mysterious. You're not wearing pants, By-The-Way," because he really thinks Caelan should know this. Wow. He follows Caelan out with the food.

"I'm completely captivated."

“Am I not...?” He responded with a tone that very much suggested that he knew that already. Caelan cast a playful smile over his shoulder as he continued, “And I should hope so, I can’t imagine it’s every day you see someone like me.” Does he mean a fae or himself in general? Who knew? The selkie was known for thriving when he had attention. Always a perform at heart.

“Unfortunately for human sensibilities, skinchanging fae can’t shift with clothes on. Otherwise, my life’d be far less complicated when I need to take a dip in the ocean.” Moving forward he snagged his trousers up, finally pulling them on with a little huff. “Why don’t you go get settled with the food, I’ll be there in a minute.”

Sorry, Nida. Show’s over. He needs to hide his pelt, and as much as grand as he thinks you are? There are some things a selkie didn’t get careless about.

"Honestly, it turns out it is rather often these days that I see someone just like you," Nida counters. But he definitely doesn't see them like this. He hasn't... Well, he hasn't seen a naked man in a VERY long time. Ignore him while he finds a seat to take and just control his reaction in.

"Hey, I'm not going to judge you for being you. Just didn't know if you, well, knew. You're flighty, if you don't mind that I'm being honest."

And soon he's setting the food out, eager to eat rather than think about naked people.

“You don’t say? Huh, maybe those who brought us here have a type.” He joked a little, though he’d hardly ignore Nida. He could take his seat, but the selkie was very aware of where the man was out of habit. Occupational habits and all that. Plus, this was a rare and interesting interaction. Yes, it had been a mistake. A blunder on his own part, but it was nice to just be himself for once.

Spoiler alert, Nida. If he didn’t often have a twelve-year-old misting her way into his apartment under his door, he might not have even bothered to get presentable given the man’s comment about not judging him.

Yeah, people entering his apartment in unconventional ways was definitely becoming a thing.

He did laugh though, a loud and musical thing at the comment about his sometimes ‘flighty’ nature. “Oh, I can hardly mind a little honesty. It’s not like I haven’t been told that before, though I do remind people that I’m not capable of flight, that’d be a couple other members of my crew.”

Once Nida is busy setting the food out, Caelan moves away to the closet. He doesn’t rush, just moved in a random little path around the bedroom area at a casual pace. Stopping t the dresser here, grabbing some hair pins from the nightstand to put up his hair there, eventually tossing his Inverness coat in the closet.

But by the time he took a seat at the table, the pelt was no where in sight. He eye’d the seafood curry curiously, “Now let’s see what this is like, and you can ask your questions or I can just ramble on a bit depending on your preference.”

Nida didn't care about the pelt. He had literally no idea of the significance. Barely even noticed it in the face of Caelan's nudity.

"Alright then, Doe-Eyes. Welcome back. What in the world is a selkie, and which form is your natural one?"

Yes, he's starting with the basics.

He looked up from the food, still very much ‘doe-eyed’ considering he certainly hadn’t bothered with his glamour. Clothes were enough effort for now, “Seems my collection of names is growing again.” Is he complaining? No, on the contrary he was grinning with delight. The selkie was going to have fun with it. Had even started to see the appeal of some fae who collected names, even if this was more becoming a game between friends.

“Alright, as I mentioned before. Selkies are skinchanging fae. Selkie is the term for the sort who turn into seals. For example, there’s also swan skinchangers, they’re called nereids. They come from a different part of the world than myself though, but there’s one on my crew. Snagged her shawl back from a bastard trying to control her, can’t shake her now.” He said this fondly, the woman was an invaluable member of the group.

He was a little off track, but it wasn’t often he got to chat about his world properly. “Now to answer your second question, that’s the tricky thing. It’s hard to really separate one form from the other in my head? I’m both the seal and not, though we do start off in seal form when we’re born. Then depending on the person, you learn to half shift about a year or so later.”

He stops talking, letting Nida ponder over that a bit while he tucked into his meal. Hmm... A minute or two later, he adds. “Oh this is good.”

Hey, don't get Nida wrong. He thinks the selkie looks GREAT without the glamour. And with legs. And really, only one of them was gaining a lot of names. Nida was always just Nida.

"Of course it's good. I only like the very best in everything," Nida teases. Which isn't true, but he's enjoying himself. HIs favorite food, a font of new knowledge, and one who respects that Nida's former profession makes him nosy as hell.

"I love the cardamom. Really sells it, right?"

He's enjoying his own bowl, thoughtful and quiet.

Yuki had been out on the docks that evening not sure what the hell was going on here. Between nightmares and teddy bears he was done with this place already. Despite that, he'd gone and applied for a job both where Jacob worked and at the tavern. He had no real life experience with either thing, but he figured he could try his hand at something. He needed money to be able to eat while he was in this weird place.

Sighing up at the sky, he tried to figure out which job would call him on his tell-phone but it had only been a day or so. Surely there were a lot of regular people there who would've applied before him so it was a shot in the dark. But the next thing Yuki knew, he heard someone ranting about..was it a phone? The accent the man had was something he'd never heard before and it made him look over though he didn't stare because it wasn't polite.

However, he knew a thing or two about phones so he politely coughed to get the man's attention and when he did, he shook his head. "If you put it in uncooked rice, it should soak up the excess water in a day or two so that it'll work correctly."

Well now that nearly everything was out in the open, Nida would probably get that view on occasion. What point was there in keeping to normal expectations around someone who knew you weren’t? There wasn’t.

“Clearly. You keep coming to my window, so I can’t find fault with your taste.” He responded back with a light tone, keeping up with the conversation easily. It’s a mood he thrived on, teasing and openness. Did it make him miss the other few people he enjoyed it with back home? Yes, but it didn’t take from the moment. Just made him a wee bit nostalgic.

“It pairs with the fish very well, I wasn’t sure what to think when you described it.” Clearly, this was absolutely nothing like a chowder as he’d imagined for a time before being corrected. “I’m definitely going to be wanting more of this in the future.” How do you keep a seal happy? Feed ‘em plenty of fish.

It's... not a bad view. There's that much. But he laughs at the bit of Caelan fishing for compliments. What a pest. He loves it. Yes, he thinks he can handle this new movement in their friendship.

"Curry is a very wonderful thing, and can be made with lots of spice blends. But this one? It makes me think of home. But tell me, as a selkie is there things about your diet I should know?"

Caelan was still pushing buttons, staring at the device sternly while he spoke to himself. As if a look might smarten the blasted thing up a bit, a hilarious idea considering Adelaide never took such an expression seriously. Even when in the form of an easily broken whisky glass, both her and the phone clearly knew him well enough to know he’d never go through with breaking them on purpose.

Then there was a cough from near by, what the heck? Head turning and tilting (not unlike a curious dog ~~seal~~) he stopped and stared for a moment at the young man. At least the pause gave Yuki enough time to offer his very good, sensible advice over his little issue. “You got a cold, lad?” We’re his first words, because it had been what stopped his wandering rant.

No! Hold on! Wait a minute! He’d also said something about uncooked rice and making something work correctly? The phone? Glancing down at the phone and then back at Yuki he spoke up again. “So... Let me see if I got that right, you’re saying I shove this in some rice and it’ll stop being a useless little paperweight?”

“I might just have to try the other varieties then, but I get the feeling I might be partial to this one in particular for obvious reasons.” He responded, taking another bite and listening to the next question. “Such a sensible question, most folks who find out about me don’t ask that one.”

Caelan took a moment to think on it, before he shrugged lightly. “Nothing specific comes to mind though, obviously I eat a lot of seafood. I suppose some get a little put off to realize I eat it as is when I’m a seal?” As if he could be bothered to shift and learn how to cook, what nonsense. “I can eat just about anything, there are times when something might upset my stomach but there aren’t any lasting effects. Most people are like that, at least in my experience.”

Why would they not be smart enough to ask about things that could hurt or help people they hang out with? It's stupid.

"Maybe I think about it because I'm allergic to strawberries."

But he doesn't see a problem with raw fish. Nida likes sushi. Whatever. It's all the same. Prep time being cut out further is smart.

"Most people are. But I'm glad to know I should bribe you with good fish.'

There was a small shy sort of smile at the question because it didn't sound insincere at all. But he just shook his head with a small "No." for a reply. But then it seemed the man was listening to what was being said and that was definitely a good thing.

A quick laugh was the man's reply to the 'shove this in some rice' question but but he nodded. "At least it's something that worked back home. But it doesn't seem like the rules for it would be any different here than what worked back there." This part was true because Yuki heard of other kids having to deal with things like this and their conversations were overheard in the hallway.

Somehow he got the mental impression of the man in front of him literally shoving the phone into uncooked rice, but he didn't say anything regarding his thoughts. At least being in such an odd place, the silver haired man had been of some assistance.

Edited 2020-10-03 04:28 (UTC)

‘Allergic,’ he knew that word! Holly had explained it to him, well... in a very Holly way... Caelan was still confident that he knew what Nida meant by the question. It was... actually kind of nice of the guy. Most people didn’t ask in his world because they got too hung up on the other random bits of lore and wanting to know what was true. “Allergic! Right, I get what you mean now.”

If it was allergies the guy was curious about, Caelan could definitely fill him in on that one. “The nearest thing I can say that I’m allergic to is irons. That’d be why I give the metal workers a wide berth unless I need to go down to the smithies. Makes my skin burn and blister, nasty sight. Probably would be worse if I ate the damned stuff.” He leaned back in his chair thoughtfully, “I’ll be sure to remember that about strawberries. Don’t eat them often myself, but I know they’re used in a lot of desserts.”

He chuckled a little at the idea of being bribed. “True, but I’m swayed by many things, Nida. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be figuring out how to bribe you, you did join the guard didn’t yah?”

Listen, Yuki. That was exactly what he’d do. Well... After he went to the market and bought some rice, because he doesn’t have any. His cupboards are mostly bare considering, again, he doesn’t cook. There’s whisky, some snacks, and some freshly caught fish in his fridge for when he got hungry.

Caelan couldn’t say one way or another if this all worked the same as it would back in other worlds or not, “It’s possible, but I couldn’t say. Haven’t got anything like this where I’m from. I also get the distinct feeling the Aspects really know the inner workings of these things themselves. It all seemed like a slapdash decision on their part to give us all these tell-phone things.”

He might be griping a little, because the crystals were so much more convenient to him. Also more familiar, future tech is weird. Caelan shrugged a little though, offering a quick smile of thanks as he gets back on topic with the fix for his issue. “Well I’m willing to give it a try, it’d be mighty inconvenient if these things were so easily ruined.”

Tucking the waterlogged phone in his pocket, he offered a hand. “Don’t think I’ve seen you about before, what can I call yah?”

For the most part Shalimar preferred being outside. Maybe it tied into her being a Feral or maybe it had more to do with her dislike of the shared housing. Bit of both more than likely. Most of her life had been spent with a very small and select group of people. Ferals were territorial by nature and she'd never been an exception to that. Made it difficult to feel comfortable in shared housing with a bunch of people she barely knew. Of course she could try to get to know them, but she was picky. Yeah, picky was definitely what she'd call it. Not afraid of getting hurt by new people. Definitely not that.

That was the thought process that lead her to spending most of her time exploring this place. Today had been the docks and the surrounding area. She hadn't expected to run into anyone, least of all someone she was somewhat familiar with. Then again she didn't have much in the way of expectations here. Most of her exploration amounted to getting familiar with scents and then ending up in dead ends. It all amounted to a frustrated Shalimar running into a frustrated looking Caelan who was muttering to himself.

"Your giving this place a lot of credit if you thought their shit would be water proof," she said with a tone that hinted that she might just be a bit amused at his mutterings.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 15

Logs for October

You Taking A Bath?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Not Water Proof?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

What Do You Mean It’s Not Water Proof?