[PRP] not quite familiars (nathaniel & jeremiah)

[kuropeco]

"Yes, well...yes," said Nathaniel, with a slightly apologetic look given to Jeremiah. He had never really thought of himself as anyone special before; that word felt consistently overused and cliche enough as it was, even more so when he thought about the magic.

Nathaniel made a face.

"That's...very confusin'," he said, laughing a little. "Too many universes n' all that. If there's more than one of me, I'm not even sure I'd want to know. But..."

He gave a small shrug of my shoulders. "I guess I just need to sort of...accept it, right? Since I've got magic n' all."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was around far too many people who did not see themselves as good as they should have. It was something he tried to bring attention to but in the quiet ways that he preferred.

"Mm, well. I don't know about existing at the same time but there have been other lives. Different times. It's a cycle, Nathaniel. We live, we play a part or we don't, and then it resets and there's - for most - no memory of it when the next one begins." Jeremiah huffed. "It gets confusing, I'm sure, and it is often best to not chase the people we might have been in some other life time."

A small nod was given before he was picking Hellbine off his shoulders and putting him onto Nathaniel's. "You do. It is, quite literally, all around you." Then he was tapping a finger to his own eyes to illustrate the point (because they were forever that odd reflective quality that labeled him as magical without him ever saying a word).

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Jeremiah was given a Look, because that too was confusing. Nathaniel lifted a hand, rubbing it over his face as Waffles tugged on the suddenly shortened leash with a whine of protest. "I think I have enough to deal with in this life," he said dryly. "So I think you're pretty much right, I'll just stick with the me that's here now."

Hellbine was a warm and welcome weight on his shoulders, Nathaniel's smile softening a little. He caught the gesture to Jeremiah's eyes and his own crinkled a little.

"I though' that was a new thing," he said with some amusement.

He absently scratched Hellbine's head, then said, "How did y'come across Hellbine, anyway? He's magical, isn't he?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah just chuckled and shrugged at the look. Mostly because of the fact that it was, quite frankly, complicated and potentially convoluted as well. "It's for the best, in my opinion, unless you want to delve into the deep end."

... and most, he thought, did not want to do so.

Hellbine nuzzled himself along Nathaniel's jaw before he settled himself down around his neck. Small as he was, he did well on shoulders.

"It's more that it's ... an all the time thing," he replied. "They weren't like that before but now that's different." It had been when he was in the presence of magic or in the dark and the light hit his eyes right. Now? Now it was almost a constant.

His gaze flicked to Hellbine and then to Nathaniel. "An othercat, yes, and my familiar - though not in the sense of a warg familiar. You might say he, of his litter, soaked up all the magic but it made him small as well. He was given to me by a friend who rescued a mother othercat."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He did not want to delve into the deep end. Nathaniel just wanted to figure out his own life...eventually.

Maybe when it stopped being confusing. He lifted his hand and patted the top of Hellbine's head, then allowed Habanero to drag him forward a few more steps, Waffles bounding eagerly alongside. They were well behaved dogs, after all, but they did enjoy walks a great deal.

"Well, for what it's worth," said Nathaniel, with a little shrug, "I think it makes y'look kinda badass."

He flashed a grin at Jeremiah, but it faded a little at the explanation of Hellbine, more so out of contemplation than anything else. "Never heard of an othercat," he mused, "I mean, I'm guessin' they come from the other side o'things? Oh - warg - "

He seemed to pick up on the last word belatedly. "I met someone who was a warg. He had a bird."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I've already had a Riddick reference made this month," Jeremiah said dryly in response to the badass comment. "And, yes, they are. Though in this case Hellbine is a cat that has been more or less touched by the magic of the other side. Similar to us, in a way."

Though far, far more obvious in other ways.

At the mention of a man with a bird who was a warg ...

"Was that-" A thoughtful expression. "Cam? Cam Rylan?"

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He contemplated this for a moment, Nathaniel twisting his head in an attempt to see Hellbine, but he gave up after a moment, content with the weight of the cat on his shoulders, purring in his ear.

"Hellbine is a great cat," said Nathaniel, which was entirely true. He was vaguely surprised at Jeremiah's quick knowledge - but then again, it was Jeremiah, and he shouldn't have been, a little smile tugging at Nathaniel's lips.

"It was Rylan, yeah," he said, with a nod of his head. "He was tellin' me a little bit about the warg stuff, it seemed really interestin'."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Hellbine is a facehugger and loves anyone who will lavish names upon him to add to his collection," replied Jeremiah with a huff of breath, a near laugh.

"It is interesting stuff. Do you know Nasir?" he inquired. "He's a warg now himself. Though he doesn't have a bird familiar, it's a flying squirrel." His lips twitched a bit in amusement. "Wargs are capable of a great deal and are, in fact, one half of a spirit-bond that was split in two."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

"I'd be real glad to add any names to his collection," said Nathaniel grandly, which was perfectly true.

His head bobbed up and down again as Habanero forced them all to a stop as he enthusiastically sniffed a fire hydrant. "I met Nasir before," said Nathaniel. "I didn' know he was a warg, though. And I didn' know they were - what you said, ah...'spirit bond'...?"

As he spoke, there was a soft, scuffling sound from behind them.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Don't encourage him." Though for what Jeremiah said meant that Hellbine was giving a mew that said absolutely encourage him and ignore his people dad on this one please.

His attention flicked to the dogs before something was spotted out of the corner of his eye. Nathaniel's question, of course, meant that he turned back to him. "He likely wasn't when you met him. It's more of a recent thing, I believe, since the change. Well, wargs share a bond with the animal they choose, though sometimes the animal chooses them. That's part of it, the other part, I believe, is the ability to shape shift into an animal form. The moonwalkers, those who change their shape, are the other half."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Too late. Nathaniel was a strong encourager of all animal life, including othercats. He patted Hellbine's head affectionately, tugging unintentionally at Waffles' leash, though the pair of dogs were still fascinated by the fire hydrant.

"Yeah, he did mention....bein' able to see out of his bird's eye n' things," said Nathaniel. "Not the shifting part, I didn' know that was a thing - er, I mean, is it, for wargs? I know someone that's got animal parts n' all that, she's a shifter."

There was another rustling noise from the empty sidewalk behind them, then the tiny, brief patter of feet.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Not for wargs, well- not for someone who is just starting out as a warg. Moonwalkers are the shifters and they're different than wargs, though apparently they can have form a bond with an animal similarly once they've become adept enough at what they are. As I said, it was once an ability that was considered one spirit bond and it was broken into halves: wargs and moonwalkers."

The noise again finally had Jeremiah tilted his head to look towards it. Wanting to know what it was that, potentially, was following them.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Lily, if he recalled, had called herself that - a Moonwalker. Nathaniel made a noise of comprehension that was something like an aha but also something exasperated, at himself, not at Jeremiah.

"That's what y'meant," he said, "One half bein' a warg, the other bein' a moonwalker."

He turned as well, if only to see what Jeremiah was looking at.

A bird - a small hawk, really - was sitting on the sidewalk, staring meaningfully up at the pair of them and the dogs. It seemed less interested in the dogs, however, and more interested in the two men.

Nathaniel gave a delicate cough.

"Uh. So, about the warg things y'were talkin' about..."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah just raised an eyebrow. "This is where you tell me that you're thinking about it for yourself and our friend here is your potential companion?"

He was very, very amused.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel gave another cough.

"Uh. Maybe."

The bird was still staring at them. Meaningfully.

azuredreams