[ prp ] tweet and twitter (nathaniel & rylan)

[kuropeco]

The man had a bird, and it was taking all of Nathaniel's inner strength not to go over and ask him about it.

For one thing, he had no idea who the man was. For another, it seemed a bit rude to simply go up to someone uninvited and ask them about their pet - if it was even a pet at all. And for another, he might be interrupting something and then the man would be annoyed at him.

But Nathaniel had been watching for the past few minutes, and his curiosity was starting to get the better of him. He'd never been good at keeping that at bay - hence his inability to actually stay in his own lane, and hence the reason why he'd even wound up at the murder ball in the first place.

What was the saying? Curiosity killed the cat?

Nathaniel wasn't a cat, but, well...

In the end he gave in.

"Pardon me, sir," he said, approximately thirty two and a half seconds later. Nathaniel stood beside the man, his bag slung over his shoulder and a slightly sheepish expression on his freckled face. "I don't mean to interrupt you, but I wanted to ask about your bird..?"

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

It wouldn't take much observation to see that the man in question had a special bond with this bird. The small black shrike had come to land on Rylan's shoulder not long after he'd taken a seat on the park bench and had proceeded to hop onto his head and try to preen his hair, chirping happily as it fluttered and fussed all around him. For his part, Rylan seemed perfectly content to let the bird mess around with his hair - seemed to expect it, even.

And when Nathaniel got close enough, it would be easy enough to see that the bird and the man had matching amber eyes, a rich deep shade of which seemed, in certain kinds of light, like a match for the golden rays of an early morning sun.

Those eyes turned toward Nathaniel as he approached and a bright, easy smile crossed Rylan's face. "Of course," he said without reservation, gesturing to the seat beside him on the bench. "What did you want to know? This is Imp, he's a shrike."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He wondered, as he came nearer, if this was another brand of magic or something. Nathaniel had taken to observing people and things a little more closely ever since that night at the murder ball; but sometimes he thought he was maybe over thinking it.

Maybe birds were just naturally drawn to this man.

Maybe he needed to stop thinking so much.

The smile was reassuring; it meant that Nathaniel hadn't interrupted anything terribly important; or maybe the man was just that sort of person. Either way, he slid onto the offered seat and gathered his bag to him, peering at the bird with renewed interest.

"Just..." Nathaniel gestured at the bird. "I've never seen a bird act like that before, I was wonderin' about it. Is he your pet - oh, I'm Nathaniel, by the way, I'm sorry for interruptin' you."

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

As Nathaniel sat down, Imp hopped onto the back of the bench and peered at him with beady amber eyes. He tilted his head, like a confused dog was apt to do, and blinked at the man curiously. The shrike seemed to have a way with people who had been to Other Ashdown, seemed to recognize them in a way that Rylan couldn't. But the bird's acknowledgement was enough for him.

"You want to say hi, bud?" Rylan said, to which the bird let out a noisy warble and then hopped down onto the seat between the two men. Imp fluffed out his feathers, settling down into his spot with his wings tucked tight, looking like a small black puff with bright amber eyes.

"Rylan," he said to Nathaniel, then added, "He's my familiar, I guess is the best way to describe it. A warg. I can see through his eyes. Like some Game of Thrones s**t, is the best way to put it."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel was instantly drawn into the bird's curious stare, half turning on the bench so that he could see the thing more clearly. It wasn't that big, but it was the type of bird that usually would fly away as soon as you drew near enough to it.

"Nice to meet you, Rylan," said Nathaniel, with a slight smile; though it shifted a moment later, confusion etched across his face as he looked at the other man.

"A warg? I've never seen Game of Thrones; is he kinda like a familiar then..?"

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

"Ah, yea, a familiar is technically what you'd call him, I guess," Rylan agreed. "Mostly it's... He's the one animal that I'm magically bonded to, and I can see through his eyes."

It sounded bizarre, but there was little about Ashdown that he'd learned this year that was anything but. There were weirder things out there than looking out through an animal's eyes,

"By association, I can fly, I can... see ultraviolet, anything he can see and experience, really."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel was fascinated. His eyes trailed over the bird, watching it carefully, then lifted his gaze to meet Rylan's again, his head tilted a little to the side as he contemplated what he was being told.

"You can...see through his eyes? That's pretty amazin'. Can you...like, talk to him or anythin'?"

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

Rylan nodded with a happy smile. "Yea, when he flies and stuff," he said. There was a special sense of freedom that came with flying, of riding the currents in the wind and seeing everything from above as if they were in miniature. If he'd been born a bird, he thought, he'd never stop to rest.

"I can talk to him now, a little," he continued, reaching over to scritch the shrike's little head while Imp chirred contentedly where he sat. "I couldn't at first, but more recently I've been able to communicate with him. He's not what you'd call great at conversation, but it does the job."

It beat having to real form of communication other than simple thoughts and feelings.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He felt a surge of mixed curiosity and longing to know what it felt like to fly - or to at least feel like you were flying. To spread wings and glide over the currents, to feel the wind gusting past you, to -

Nathaniel reigned it in.

"Are there others, then?" he asked. "That can talk to animals and such? And you said it just gets stronger over time? Can anyone do it?"

He was asking too many questions, he knew, but it bubbled out of him, fascination and eagerness alike.

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

Rylan nodded. "There are other wargs. I don't know if they can also talk to animals," he said. "I haven't seen the others much since Blackfriars." The trauma of the incident and the accompanying shock of developing warg powers had made Blackfriars quite a foreboding memory.

Instead, he turned his attention back to Nathaniel and Imp. The bird still crouched beside him looking quite content, listening to their conversation as best he could.

"It gets stronger as your bond with your familiar improves, and... well, I'm not sure if everyone can do it, but I'd imagine it doesn't hurt to try," he added with a smile, thinking of Tibbie and her boundless enthusiasm. "It'd probably feel like trial and error to begin with. Me, I got pulled into Imp by accident the first time."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Maybe the whole talking to animals thing wasn't such a far off thing after all, if there was more than one person that could do it. Nathaniel had no idea what Blackfriars was in reference to, but disregarded this almost as quickly as he noted it in his memory for later.

"But..." he said slowly, carefully. "Can...can anyone do it? Like, do you reckon just...anyone could, even if they're, uh...new to all of this?"

He waved a hand to indicate magicky things in a noncommittal sort of way.

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

"'This,' you mean the bottomless abyss that is magic here in Ashdown?" Rylan said with a knowing laugh. "I reckon yea. I didn't know anything about all of this when I started warging. If anything, I think everything else manifested around my ability to warg."

Which had made the trauma of getting accidentally sucked into a bird's eyes all the more terrifying. But that was in the past, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little grateful it had happened to him. Rylan would be happier about it if it didn't come with the baggage of trying to save the world from inevitable doom, but he couldn't every battle.

"Something you're interested in, maybe?"

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

"Yes, that," said Nathaniel, laughing a little. "I mean, there's a whole lotta everythin' goin' on in this town, it seems. It seems like all I have to do is turn around and there's somethin' goin' on, or some magic somewhere."

With the exception of himself, unless one counted the glowing thing, which Nathaniel only halfheartedly did. He flicked his gaze towards Cam again and gave a small shrug.

"Maybe," he said. "It's interestin'. I never thought there would be a way to sorta...connect with somethin' like that."

moonrazor

 

[MoonRazor]

Rylan responded with a knowing grin. "A whole lotta everything is right," he said, shaking his head. "It all snowballs too, you know? The minute you dip a toe in, you get sucked in. No such thing as just being a little involved."

Maybe that was a good thing, maybe not. He had yet to decide for himself how much he enjoyed being caught up in all this craziness. Some days, he loved it and some days he wished he'd never dreamed of those dead bugs and mice on his windowsill.

"Think about it, though," he continued. "You'd never think it's possible but I guess in this world, what's impossible? If you decide you want to pursue it, you can always find me at the fire station."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

It all snowballs too was not completely reassuring, but it also wasn't completely shocking, either. Nathaniel had already guessed that once he was in, he was in, even if he still didn't actually believe he'd gotten in for a reason other than to be...

Well, he had no idea, really. Something.

Nathaniel let out a small laugh and let his fingers drop away from the bird. "Thanks for talkin' to me," he said honestly. "I appreciate it. I'm sorry for interruptin' your afternoon, but I might just take you up on that offer for help later, if you don' mind."

moonrazor