[PRP] Real Magic (Algernon/Kaleb)

[Grey Dragon]

At some point in his short college life, Kaleb had become the stereotypical image of a hard-working, exhausted student. He was sleeping poorly, perhaps neglecting his nutrition, and was wholeheartedly dedicated to learning. It wasn't the fault of his courses though, the reason behind his tiredness could be laid squarely on excessive practice of magic on the other side, and more of his reading had involved books about magic even if they were composed of mostly unsubstantiated rumours, if not outright trash and speculation.

Today he was giving his latest 'nonfiction' purchase the treatment it deserved. In one of the available quiet corners of the Bibliophile, he had settled down to read and wound up falling asleep before getting too far. A small puddle of drool had collected on the pages.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg was only stopping by the store momentarily, giving it a once through and going to his office when he found Kaleb passed out in one of the furthest corners of the store. He was tempted, watching the book get drool covered (and making the appropriate face), to save the publication but that would be rude.

The professor instead pulled up a chair at the end of the table, leaned, and gave the table top a gently coaxing 'tap tap' and then next a slightly louder, 'tap tap'. It would build in volume until Kaleb stirred.

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

It didn't take too long, Kaleb might have been exhausted but he had always been easy to wake. His head jerked up abruptly, his glasses askew on his nose, and very hastily gave them a nudge and scrubbed the corner of is mouth free of drool before turning to see what had woken him up.

Seeing the bookstore's owner there, sitting patiently and watching him, made Kaleb turn pink with embarrassment.

"Sorry, did I stay too long? What time is it-" he noticed the damp spot on the book and rubbed at it with dismay. At least the print was still perfectly legible, even if the page had developed that wrinkled, wet-paper look.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"No-" Alg chuckled, "We're still open. But you were, ah," he motioned, "moistening your new book."

One of the others he picked up, looked at the spine, and frowned.

"Why are you reading these?" His brows furrowed. The publications on magic were nominally garbage and speculation. He knew of Kaled through Nathaniel, as well as knowing he was involved in the rewriting of the world. There were much better resources on magic than these books.

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb was aware the book was terrible, and he was very nearly cowed into silence. Even an imagined sense of disapproval felt like a crushing weight for the freckled student.

"It... It can still be worth reading, when you remember it's all nonsense," Kaleb protested, in a squeaky, shaky voice. Although the book's purpose was to inform people about magic and the people who could use it, the information Kaleb pulled from it was more psychological in nature. It was a good example of how magic was misunderstood, and how public opinion had been shaped by these misunderstandings.

Unfortunately, it wasn't teaching him what he really wanted to know about, which was the magic itself.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"You're not wrong.." He shrugged slightly, softening a bit when it seemed he may have startled Kaleb slightly. He remembered now that the young man seemed shy or quiet, "I've read them all myself. Or at least until I realized most of them are re-hashes of others."

Alg looked at the books again, then Kaleb, "Is that why you're reading them though? To find out what the other side thinks?" His voice had dropped very low so as not to be overheard.

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb responded immediately to the softening tone, some of the tension slipping away from his shoulders. Knowing that Algernon had also read some of the 'literature' also helped set him at ease.

"Sort of, a bit," he admitted. His secret-sharing voice was not too different from his usual quiet tone, avoiding attention was always a concern and not just when talking about magic. "It helps, but... I also don't know much. Even if the tone is off and the writers have no idea what they are talking about, it is still information about possibilities."

He closed the book, suddenly feeling rather restless. It was frustrating the way his usual channels of acquiring knowledge were failing him, and approaching an actual person for help was still very far out of his comfort zone.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"It's hands on.." Alg sighed lightly, "That's why it doesn't help much."

He shifted a bit and adjusted his jacket, checked the time on his watch and continued the cautious glancing around.

"Magic is.. personal. And has to be used to be understood-" And understanding wasn't something any of them really had yet, "-at least understood for yourself."

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb nodded, unhappily resigned to this answer. "It's so slow though. And I am so... limited. Even if I had more time over there, I can only do so much before my head hurts and my mind goes blank." Not to mention he was often tired enough to skip meals in favour of extra sleep, and didn't exactly have the greatest physical stamina to begin with.

He sheepishly glanced at the book in front of him. "At least reading can be done in between other things, or when I'm tired, or... on this side."

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"If you think you are limited, then you are limiting yourself," Alg probably wasn't being very explanatory but it was true. "Over there, there are no limits.."

Violetta, his cat, seemed to appear. She leapt onto the table and decided that laying across Kaleb's books was the most helpful thing she could do. With a light purr two violets bloomed behind her ears.

"You are probably thinking too much about it.." Algie scooped his cat up, held her like a baby for belly scratches, and then draped her across his shoulders.

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Violetta happened to be correct. Kaleb was quickly sinking into a great pit of overthinking, how could he get rid of limits when an hour of practicing magic in other Ashdown was more tiring than a full day devoted to study? Yet it was hard to get too frustrated when suddenly distracted by a cat.

"Oh, hello," he said to the cat, barely sparing the unusual foliage a second glance. As far as magic went, flowers were pretty nice.

The interruption gave him a second to mentally step back from the problem. Maybe his limitations weren't the problem... Maybe it was the lack of limits that stumped him. He was completely lost, and had never been good at asking for guidance when he had no idea where he was headed in the first place.

After some very deliberate summoning of courage, he asked for help in a vague and nervous manner. "Do you have any suggestions?"

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Well we could.." Alg turned his face to Violetta on his shoulders and scratched her chin. She seemed to be sniffing the air, tail flicking as she stretched but inevitably settled back to lay like a very furry neck pillow, "..we could certainly go over than and work on some things."

Alg glanced back at Kaleb and his obvious exhaustion, "The truth is that on that side you shouldn't be getting as tired. It is magic. You don't need to pull it from yourself like you do here-" Not unless he was doing heavy duty stressful magic work.

"You may simply be mentally and emotionally exhausting yourself unnecessarily."

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"Right now?" Kaleb asked quickly, the speed of his reply betraying some of his eagerness for learning. "I wouldn't want you to have to go out of your way or anything, I don't want to cause any trouble."

His brows furrowed, and he nudged his glasses up on his nose. "I can't do anything magical on this side though. Could that be why it's difficult over there?"

If there was a way of making magic happen more easily, he might be able to do more, and progress faster. He desperately hoped it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience, the sooner he figured stuff out, the better.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Well you can, and I'm sure you do.." Alg again was glancing around before back to Kaleb, "you just don't realize it." Which meant it wasn't stressing his body to do so.

"It's probably something you don't even notice.. like not running out of toilet paper or ah-" He scratched his head, "-not waiting in lines. Something that maybe seems like extraordinarily good luck."

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"That could be anything though," Kaleb replied, still looking a bit perturbed. "How can you be sure it's just not luck? Or an accumulation of little things you do to prevent certain situations from occurring?"

He clearly had not noticed that even a quiet place like the far corner of the bookstore seemed more peaceful than usual when he settled in to read. Since he was at the center of the magic, he had never known it to be anything else.

The teen pushed up his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his freckled nose. "I really wish there was something about all this that was easy to figure out," he murmured, more to himself than anything.

iloveyouDIE