[FIN] What's Behind Door #32? (Jeremiah & Kaleb)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah moved as Kaleb did, following him and his eyes looking things over. "It isn't so much as knowing what sort of magic it is as being able to know that it is magic? We give shape to the magic with what we do with it. Like the creation of the new sigil. I can recognize something as magic but I still have to have knowledge myself to know what it is."

He looked towards the shed and then back to young man, assuming that he was looking for another doorway. "I should also let you know that while doorways and things that serve as such seem to be more frequently be crossover points, they aren't the only ones. Though if you've tried several, I'm honestly surprised you haven't crossed back over yet ..."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"Maybe just unlucky, I guess," Kaleb said, pulling the rusted shed door open with a loud creak. All he could see inside was a decrepit lawn mower covered in dark strands of... something, that seemed to pulsate slightly where the light from the door landed.

He closed the door and left the stuff to it's shady hideout.

"Maybe I missed it, I've only been here once before, and I sorta had some help getting out. I might just not know what a portal home is supposed to look like." Kaleb sighed, glancing back down the street from where he had come. That would be a lot of doors to re-check.

"But there are other places, other than doors, that will let you back?" He asked curiously.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Not necessarily unlucky," he said with a reassuring smile, "but that sometimes this place has a mind of it's own and can keep you here regardless. I was stuck here for what was a week of our time but felt longer." With a tilt of his head and a gesture of his hand, Jeremiah gestured for them to head out to the main street.

"In my experience, they don't look like anything special to most? The ways back." An eyebrow was raised in curiousity. "Was it someone helping you back?" It could either be a person or a resident of other ashdown ...

"Once," his tone was deliberately light, "I found a way back in the shadow of a trashcan."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"A trashcan?" Kaleb blurted, his expression becoming somewhat dismal despite Jeremiah's light tone. He didn't want to be stuck in this place for any length of time, but if portals could be in places as vague as a garbage shadow, the search for a way home suddenly felt overwhelming and impossible.

The small blonde followed the gestured directions back to the main street with an almost shellshocked expression. But then he shook his head, as if to clear his mind of the discouraging thoughts.

"It was... someone else, yes," Kaleb admitted, although he wasn't sure if that someone would appreciate being named outright. He also wasn't very comfortable remembering that thing that had been called to open the portal. A small shudder ran up his spine just thinking about that corpse-like face.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Mm, it was just another place where the veil was thin. It doesn't necessarily equate to a proper way to cross back over for most." Jeremiah shook his head in remembrance, still remembering the feel of rain that had suddenly started falling on him. Of course what had later followed was a little worse but-

A tale for another time.

"Don't feel like you need to tell me," he told Kaleb. "I prefer to not do the same myself unless it's absolutely necessary." Even if he knew most of those that were involved or at least the handful that always seemed to be around when things hit the fan. "I was mostly asking to know if it was another like you and me or an otherbeing, of which there are a few that are around."

His gaze flicked back to the street, looking at the doors of the houses but also for anything else that was not quite right to his eyes. The sense of danger, that he had followed, was still muted but prevalent.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb nodded, appreciating Jeremiah's understanding. "I heard there was something that lived on this side that could be helpful, like a ferret or something? But the only time I found something that was black and had glowing eyes it was really unsettling."

He paused. Jeremiah had been looking around this whole time, maybe not at anything in particular, but definitely scanning the area for something.

"You said you were chasing something earlier," Kaleb said, his tone implying a question rather than a statement. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, but he was sure it had nothing to do with magic. It was that perfectly normal unsettled feeling one could get when the apartment made unusual creaking sounds, or when you thought you glimpsed a strange shadow that ended up being a weirdly shaped shrub or something.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Do you mean Gloom perhaps? He's made out of shadows but seems to favor looking like something caught between a marten and a fisher." As they walked it was clear that there was a low level of destruction around them. Nothing big but it was past the usual level of run down, fallen apart that was prevalent around some parts of other ashdown.

A mailbox was hanging off it's post and the post itself was broken in half, the wood splintered.

"Yes, I did," Jeremiah's odd reflective glowing eyes finally flicked back to Kaleb. "Though I've not found it yet. It's been ... right at the edge, it feels like." Also something he was not wanting to run into with Kaleb around, if his sense of danger was triggered.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"Yeah, I think that was it," Kaleb said, immediately remembering the name when it was mentioned. He sounded distracted though, like he was continuing the conversation only in an attempt to avoid spooking himself even more. "All black with glowing eyes, but not a small fox thing with... weird legs..."

The freckled teen was wary and alert as they continued to move down the street, but he couldn't have specified what it was that bothered him aside from the knowledge that Jeremiah was looking for something. Maybe subconsciously he had also picked up on the unnatural destruction, or just reacting to Jeremiah's continued vigilance.

"So... it's close?" Kaleb finally asked. "Is it... a dangerous thing you are looking for?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Gloom is friendly, so you've nothing to worry about in regards to him. He's friendly and often wants to help. My husband taught him to read not that long ago." Normalizing spooky things helped, in his opinion, to make things less scary to those who were not used to it.

Jeremiah's focused shifted away, looking down the street as they walked. "It isn't close," he replied, "as I cannot pinpoint it's exact location." His lips pressed to a thin line as he continued to try and see if there was anything out of place. "While no one has been injured, human or otherwise, it has been destroying things in other ashdown rampantly."

His feet came to stop, his head turning to study Kaleb. "Would you like me to try and teach you a bit of magic, Kaleb? Something to protect yourself."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb wholeheartedly approved of reading skills, and a friendly weasel thing that wanted to read books seemed so much less intimidating than a frightful shadow monster with unknown motives. Maybe now he wouldn't be so afraid of approaching Gloom, if he ever did meet it in person.

"Oh..." The youth made an unhappy noise, now realizing that there was indeed some fresh-looking ruin in the area. He noticed the mailbox. and decided he would rather not meet something that was angry enough to do such damage. Or simply didn't care that it was destroying things.

He froze immediately beside Jeremiah, fearing the worst. Yet when he heard the proposal he relaxed a little and nodded. "If you think that's possible, I... I would really like that."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Do you have a particular magic book series you are fond of? Something you truly enjoy reading? I promise the question is related to teaching you some magic." Jeremiah was still small reassuring smiles, wanting to help ease Kaleb into possibly doing something himself.

Especially since the young man was so reserved and shy.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb shook his head. He read for pleasure as often as for study, but fiction had never really held his interest the way investigation and learning had. His imagination had been exercised through hypotheses and problem solving, not tales and stories.

"I don't have any stories I like, just... information and science..." He said lamely, fully understanding what sort of nerd he must have sounded like. Still, he knew Jeremiah was trying to help, so he had to be honest.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"That's just as good," Jeremiah said in response, finding it oddly easier that Kaleb was not a fan of fiction.

"Though not everything here can be explained with science but ..." His fingers flicked, a cold green fire coming to life above them. "Magic was, at least in the world we came from, science we did not understand yet. You could apply your knowledge of science here and make a kind of magic from it, if you wanted." Not that that was what he was going to teach him but hopefully it would help him understand.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

This time Kaleb nodded, and it was clear his interest was roused. Most things he knew of as 'magical' had some speculative basis in science, like the uncovered bones of dinosaurs and elephants sparking myths about great serpents and cyclopean titans.

"So you could use magic to mimic the light emissions from elements that can be heated to produce green flame?" He asked, watching the green light flicker. Already he could think of several natural phenomena that could produce light in some form, was it possible to use magic to replicate those effects?

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Yes, you could. Though this flame is cold." Jeremiah flicked his other hand over the fire, not at all burned by it, but then held his hand out for Kaleb to touch. It would be cold to the touch, the kind of heat that came from extreme cold.

"... and don't do what I just did, obviously, as I am fire proof." Another wry chuckle. "Yet you could use your understanding of how things work, of science, to perform a type of magic that makes sense to you."

Grey Dragon