[PRP] scales and arpeggios (jeremiah & kaleb)

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb watched the exchange between the older man and his cat, feeling rather uncomfortable with the exchange taking place at his ankles, yet unable to back away with the small animal sitting so close behind him. It seemed like one thing all cats had in common, flowers or no flowers, was their reluctance to do anything they didn't have in their mind to do already.

"Kaleb Sullivan," he replied once Jeremiah had stood up, giving his own full name in polite introduction. Certain niceties should be observed before leaping headlong into more questions about the curious animal. Even then it was difficult for the shy kid, so he started slowly and awkwardly.

"Hellbine... was his name?" Kaleb asked lamely, skirting around more important things he desperately wanted to know about.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It's nice to meet you, Kaleb," he replied. Once it was clear that Jeremiah was no longer really interested, of course Hellbine came out to sit in front of Kaleb's legs.

On his shoes, of all things.

"Yes, it is." There was a slight twitch of his lips. "It's another name for dodder or cuscuta ... which is what you see there on his head."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb glanced down at the slight weight on his feet, but didn't make any moves that might have disrupted the cat. He was a good cat perch.

"So they are real, living flowers?" He asked, still full of doubt. The teen's expression was almost a bit lost, as though he were not doubting Jeremiah's words, but the entire world around him. It still made no sense to him, cuscuta parasitized other plants, not animals. And how could he explain the fast growth by the bench that had retreated as the cat pawed at it?

"Is it... a part of him, or does it grow on him?" Kaleb finally asked, sounding a little bit more like the bright student that he was rather than a dumbstruck idiot.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You can touch them if you want. They're very much real." Jeremiah gestured for him to do so with a hand if he wanted. It certainly wasn't like Hellbine did not like the attention, quite the opposite, and he was long since used to having to talk about the flowers on his head.

At least in this case there was not necessarily a component of him making things up. Not with Kaleb having seen the other cat summon and then send away flowers.

"They are actually part of him, growing as he does. If you try to trim them or remove them, you will hurt him. He's also quite intelligent." Blue-green eyes cut down to the small cat who's ear flicked because he was listening to himself being talked about. "... and understand what we're saying."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"It's really okay if I touch them?" Kaleb asked, this time directed to the cat with that same confused amazement. Compared to the crossing of such vast phylogenetic boundaries visible on that plant-cat, it's intelligence was now taken in stride. He had been talking to the cat before anyway, the only difference now was how he interpreted the response.

"How is this possible?" The teen looked back up at Jeremiah with those wide, blue eyes, now filled with questions. Too many to ask, and probably too many to answer. It was the same endless curiosity that drove his studies in a myriad of sciences, the more he learned the more questions he wanted to ask.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Hellbine tilted his head upwards towards Kaleb as he was acknowledged and spoke to. The small cat let out a small mew of agreement, hopping off of his feet and going back to the bench he was on. It put him up higher so that the young man didn't have to lean as much.

... though Hellbine would have preferred being picked up.

Jeremiah shook his head, the corner of his mouth fighting against twitching upwards. "The honest answer? Magic." In this case there really was no way around it that he could think of and, after all, Kaleb had seen Hellbine do things.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb sat down heavily on the bench next to the cat. It was almost a relief, some weighty stuff had been dropped on him just now, and sitting down was far better for thinking. Perhaps now he knew how Alice felt following the rabbit into Wonderland, except in his case it was a white cat.

Even though the kid was too polite to just pick up an animal on their first meeting, his lap was at least available for sitting on.

"I guess magic is the only thing that could make sense at this point... How do you even begin to learn about magic in the world?" Kaleb muttered, hesitantly reaching towards the cat and it's magical flowers. His touch was light and gentle, reassuring him that those delicate petals and vines did indeed exist, and weren't some sort of illusion. Even that could have been more easily explained, simply an altering of light striking the retina, fooling the brain into believing something was there when it was not. Like a mirage over hot pavement, or even the reflection of a mirror.

The gears inside his mind were ticking away, magic itself wasn't enough of an explanation. Kaleb wanted to know more. He wanted to know how the magic worked, what did it do at the cellular level, at the molecular level, to allow this amazing thing to exist. He wanted to know what this magic was.

"I don't suppose they teach course about this at the college?" Kaleb asked in a slightly strangled voice.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Oh that lap definitely was occupied the moment it was available. Hellbine settled into it, only circling twice before he curled up and was content to be petted as well as have the flowers on his head examined. As long as the touch was soft and delicate Hellbine did not even flick an ear backwards.

The were soft to the touch but as he purred this time more flowers did not appear on the ground. Hellbine was being mindful of it this time.

Jeremiah approached, claiming a seat on the opposite end of the bench. Blue-green eyes watched the small cat and shook his head. "You learn about magic because it finds you." There was a small shake of his head, his eyes rolling upwards. It was a show of amusement, wry at that.

"There's no courses offered at the college and the books that talk about magic don't exactly cover the reality of it." Jeremiah ran a hand through his hair. "Beyond that? This world isn't meant for it."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

As the cat curled up in his lap, Kaleb seemed to acknowledge it only by patting the animal, as he would any cat, rather than touching the flowers. He had enough distractions, although the purring was nice.

"But if Hellbine is wandering around town, don't other people ask questions? Or does everyone in this town already know about it all and I don't because I've only been here a couple weeks-" He paused.

"Wait, there are books?" Kaleb asked, suddenly very focused, and looking quite intent on acquiring said books even if they were only vaguely related fairytales. It might have been determination, or simply grasping at whatever familiar safety line he could find. Books had always been his safety net.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"People are remarkable in that they see only what they want to see." Jeremiah stretched his legs out in front of him before settling once more. "So, no, not everyone knows about it."

He watched the cat a moment before his gaze flicked back up towards Kaleb. That moment when he seemed to become laser focused? That pulled a slight twitch upwards of his lips. It reminded him too much of Zac, among other people. "There are always books but these books are just about your usual fair ... Wicca and the like. They aren't quite the magic that exists. Unless you believe in that."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"But reality is more than just wants," Kaleb said, and there was a surprising amount of insistence hiding behind those words. Even as a young adult, barely out of high school, he knew about the tenuous relationship between perception and interpretation. Even this experience would be reflected upon later, the flowers that felt real and the word of the older man would be weighed against other possibilities while not caught up in the moment.

Jeremiah was a bit less intimidating while also seated, even though there was still some degree of having to look up at the older man. Kaleb looked back down at the cat anyway. Hellbine's fur was soft under his hand, and the animal's presence on his lap was reassuring. He had never had a pet growing up, but he could imagine why they were so well liked.

"Is there anywhere I can learn about it, the magic that does exist?" He finally asked. If the flower cat was not an isolated occurrence in this town, Kaleb wanted to at least recognize the next time this magic happened to cross his path.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Yes, it is, but I have learned from my line of work that it is surprising the lengths people will go to protect their sheltered reality. Including ignoring things to the point of their detriment." It was the truth and Jeremiah had learned from an age not much older than Kaleb (or at least from what he looked like in any case).

Hellbine was quite content under the attention he was receiving, though he was clearly being mindful of not spreading a potentially dangerous parasitic vine around.

"There is but ..." Jeremiah shifted, turning a bit to look at Kaleb. "Not everyone can, not in the beginning, not the first time they run into things like this. There's certain things that have to happen first but there's magic in the town and with some of the people if you really start looking."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"So I just have to keep my eyes open," Kaleb concluded, unable to entirely hide his disappointed. Just observing when situations appeared to him could be a slow process. Even this interaction was baffling and more than a little cryptic, and it would be hard for him to draw patterns if all the evidence was hidden under layers of intrigue like this.

In the meantime he would just have to be more skeptical of everything.

He focused his gaze on the cat on his lap. It would be a lot harder to believe it wasn't all just some big joke or misunderstanding without that reminder. It certainly didn't feel like a dream either...

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You can read up on the town history if you want a direction. After all, magic has a history in Massachusetts, it is just all that much more involved here." Jeremiah knew how it felt to not be able to grasp at things like this but he truly had no other way to help guide him without him actually being part of it.

"If you want to see more of what Hellbine can do, you can ask him." He gave Kaleb another small smile, the barest twitch upwards. It softened his face just a little more; made him less severe and more approachable seeming.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

That answer seemed to pacify Kaleb somewhat. He would have a place to start.

"I'll do that, the library will probably have something on the local history. Or old news articles and stuff," he replied. The teen was clearly unafraid of putting in extra study hours above and beyond what was required for his classes. Although a keen eye might have guessed as much judging by the heavy book Kaleb had carried with him, not to mention the spines of a couple more poking through the top of his messenger bag.

"Wait, you can do more things?" Kaleb asked, glancing down at the already impressive creature on his lap. As if the flowers and growing vines were not special enough!

azuredreams