[PRP] Old New Friends (Kaleb & Horace)

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb was surprised when his phone made an unfamiliar sound, drawing him out of his reading. A text from Horace? Asking why he hadn't been at the study room recently? This was all incredibly baffling, because he could only remember meeting Horace that one time on Halloween. They talked about one room in the library that was usually empty, but Kaleb was pretty sure they hadn't exchanged contact information.

In the past few weeks weirder things had happened, so Kaleb agreed to meet the other student at the study room for... probably studying. Horace had given him the impression of a friendly person at their first meeting, and it sounded like they must have been on good terms if the text was any indication. So what could go wrong?

When he arrived in the library, it seemed Horace had only narrowly beat him to the study room.

The Semblance of Unity

Will this do for a start? <3

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Kaleb hadn't been showing up to study for a while now and it worried Horace. Mainly in that he wondered if he'd done something to scare off the timid man. He only really studied with Kaleb or Jordan; making more close friends was still proving to be a challenge. But Kaleb had responded and so, he waited.

And he actually showed up! There hadn't even been a long wait. "Hey Kaleb - thought you'd dropped off the face of the earth or something." Horace grinned. "How've you been? I-" As he talked, he unlocked the study room and stepped inside. And disappeared.

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

The ball of nerves that had squirmed around in his stomach barely eased up when Horace turned and caught sight of him. It became clear that in this situation, as in many lately, Kaleb was missing pieces of his life fairly crucial to interacting properly with other people. They had history, but it was history shared with some other self who had existed even when-

The careening train of thought came to an abrupt derailment as Horace disappeared. Just... gone. Passing through the door looked like he was passing into another dimension, cutting off even the words he had been speaking the moment he stepped over the threshold.

Kaleb immediately had a new set of worries to deal with as he ran the last couple feet to the study room door and practically threw himself through it. The effect was landing dramatically on his face on the other side, without even having a moment to observe where he had ended up.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, ********," Horace said with feeling. He's visited the place on occasion, never deliberately. And before, it hadn't pulled him out of actively doing anything other than wandering around. Then a noise startled him and he whirled around only to see Kaleb here, too.

He blinked. "Kaleb? You're... that's you, right?"

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb quickly scrambled to his feet, brushing dirt from his shirt and the knees of his jeans. He was already pink from embarrassment.

"Yeah, you disappeared all of a sudden, and... I kinda panicked," he replied with a frown. "Shoot, I dropped my book back there." He looked behind himself, and confirmed that the portal had been a one-way trip. Then he shifted his glance to examine where they had ended up.

Thankfully the portal had deposited them in a weedy patch of grass rather than the cracked asphalt of the road, or even the crumbling sidewalk barely a foot away from where Kaleb had taken his tumble. There were ruins of buildings lining the deserted street, and for once he thought he knew where they had ended up.

"That's the theatre across the road, right?" He asked, hoping for confirmation.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace breathed out a sigh of relief. "The book should be there when we get back." He blinked at their surroundings. It wasn't hard for him to realize where they'd ended up and why, it was just the they that gave him pause.

"And yeah, that's a version of the theater - I haven't been..." He trailed off. "Look, have you been here before? I mean, in this, uh, alternate version?"

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"Not here exactly, but in this other Ashdown... yeah," Kaleb replied. "A couple times, not just dreaming."

He left the obvious conclusions unsaid. Horace must have been here before too, since his confusion was more directed at Kaleb's accompaniment than winding up on some old, deserted street. Although there was no rain, the atmosphere still gave Kaleb the creeps.

"I don't suppose you know of a good way to get back?" He asked, giving a searching look up and down the street.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Sweet, you're magic, too" he said, nodding. "I've been here before; I exploded a flower." Horace thought it was kind of cool, to be honest. He joined Kaleb in giving the street a good, hard look.

"Well, I've heard we are supposed to find a door?" He rubbed the shaved side of his head. "But I don't think it works every time. Still, we could try..."

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

It appeared Kaleb couldn't argue that point, even if his own particular brand of magic was as of yet undiscovered...

"Wait, exploded... a flower?" He asked, showing more confused interest in Horace's statement than fear. Kaleb probably would have even agreed about the cool part, although for different reasons. It must be pretty neat to actually do magic, even if it were something as volatile as exploding hapless plant life.

Finding a door was something he definitely agreed with though. "We should probably try, but I've heard it's not just doorways the portals seem to appear in. It might be an awfully long search."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, I imagine that, at any given time, there must be multiple portals. There can't be just one." He frowned, thinking. "I wonder if anyone had tried to hit the city limits here." Horace began walking, gesturing for Kaleb to come along.

"And yeah, exploded. You have to figure out what you can do, magic-wise, I guess. Met a guy who was plants." He pointed his finger at the grass and thought, but only a thin spark of electricity came out. "I'm not high enough level to be a good wizard, though. Can you do anything?"

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb jumped to follow, rather relieved Horace was taking charge of the situation. He was no leader after all, his skills ran more towards thinking, and possibly advising if he had the confidence for it.

"I suppose so, but we might be in trouble if all the portals are something ridiculous. Like the shadows of trash cans," he put forward the suggestion with a frown, seriously hoping a portal would appear in a more predicable location. "I tried a lot of doors once, but it didn't work out..."

Kaleb immediately thought of Shiloh when Horace spoke of a guy who 'was plants'. It would make sense, all three of them were probably around the same age or so. Maybe Shiloh had also been trying to teach Horace magic too.

He shook his head. "No, nothing. Apparently I'm supposed to have magic though, since I've been in this place a few times."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He shot Kaleb a strange look. "I was told it's usually doors, though I'm all for jumping in puddles to test that out, too." Horace stepped through an archway. Nope.

"Everybody apparently has their own thing and it's not easy to find. I don't really get it, but you're supposed to be able to do almost anything here, if you think hard enough." He pointed his finger, trying to zap. It didn't really work, but he also wasn't really thinking about it. "Have you tried anything, yet?"

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"I thought it was doors too at first, and then I got... corrected." Kaleb muttered, sidestepping into a narrow alley between two of the stores to give it a quick look. A wheezing rattle echoed from the deeper shadows and he backed out in a hurry.

"I suppose it makes sense though, the first time I ended up here I was crossing into a park. Perhaps it's just boundaries or intersections, rather than doors in particular." He watched as Horace pointed his finger again, and was almost a little surprised nothing happened. The taller man seemed pretty confident about all of this magic and other Ashdown stuff, and clearly had more practice at making things happen.

Kaleb shook his head. "I don't really know what to try," he admitted, sheepishly avoiding eye contact. "Once I noticed something weird while I was here, but it was probably just nothing. Or this place messing with me."

The blonde pushed his glasses up on his nose, his cheeks heating with embarrassment. It probably had been nothing at all, and he was surprised he had even bothered to mention it.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Boundaries and intersections, huh? I guess that makes sense. No puddle-jumping, then. Damn." Horace really didn't understand most of this magic stuff; he just wanted to do cool things. He wondered, if he'd had magic back in Florida.... no, he wouldn't think about that.

He turned his attention back to Oliver. "Nah, it's usually not just nothing here. What'd you see?"

grey dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"That's just my best guess," Kaleb added sheepishly, not wanting to give Horace the impression he was an expert on such matters, after all. "It wasn't really anything I saw, but... more like something I felt? I was trying doors to find a portal, and reaching for one door felt like... I don't know, running your finger over a rusty edge of metal. But there was nothing there."

As they walked the street in front of them opened up into a deserted intersection, and when Kaleb passed the corner he jumped back and gasped in surprise. There, leaning out through a dusty, broken window was two grinning mannequins, posed in such a way to make it look like they had been waiting for some newcomer to arrive.

The Semblance of Unity