(Open - Finn's Pub)

[freefromsin]

Caleb hadn't known what to expect when he came to Siren Cove. At the very least, he just wanted to know that Gabe was still alive. He is, and he's doing well for himself. He has a support system and a job, and it makes Caleb's heart happy to know it. But those are two things more than Caleb can say for himself. He's running out of the measly amount of money he's been trying really hard not to touch and to save for an emergency, he hasn't had a proper shower in days, not to mention a meal or a real place to sleep. He finally got Leo's brother on the phone, and there's still a spot open for him in Portland. He needs to get going.

After washing up in a public restroom, Caleb makes his way Finn's Pub to hopefully catch Gabe at the end of his shift.


[ooc: even though Caleb is looking for Gabe, feel free to tag him if you want, lurking outside of Finn's Pub]

Comments

[overdrawing]

"I wouldn't have believed it either. Except for this town," Gabe says. He takes in a shaky, nervous breath, "It's called Siren Cove for a reason."

Stepping closer to the water, he lets himself give into its call and closes his eyes.

[freefromsin]

Caleb almost asks if Gabe is kidding, but...it's Gabe. He doesn't really joke, at least not something like this, and he also wouldn't trick anyone. A chill runs down Caleb's back and he balls the long ends of the sweatshirt's sleeves around his hands, hugging his arms loosely around himself. He watches the water, waiting for a sign of...something.

[overdrawing]

It takes a second before he breathes out and lets the siren come out. Truthfully, his transformation is not very impressive. He can't grow wings or come over in rainbow scales, but he can point his ears and his nose goes a bit flat while his teeth point. It's his hands that are most changed, clawed and webbed with sleek fur along his forearms.

"I'm...I'm one of them."

[freefromsin]

Caleb looks away from the ocean waves at Gabe's voice, and he almost falls over. He was standing completely still, yet he still manages to almost fall on his ass. His mouth drops open as he tries to process what he's seeing.

It's...Gabe. With...furry arms. And paws. And a black button nose and weird little ears, and he looks like he's part...rat dog? But...cute somehow.

"How?" is all Caleb manages to get out, still thinking in ellipses.

[overdrawing]

"Magic," he replies. Breathing in, he tries to transform back. Reigning this shape in is a little harder than letting it out, but he manages it and steps out of the water.

"I'm...magic."

[freefromsin]

Caleb actually watches it happen. He's looking at Gabe and suddenly seeing the fur just...retract. Disappear. The nose is gone and the paws are gone and Caleb's open-mouthed expression of disbelief breaks into a disbelieving grin.

"Holy shit! Holy--" He remembers, somewhere in his currently overloaded brain, that Gabe doesn't like him to swear. "Oh my god-- I mean, Jesu-- fuck." Caleb claps a hand over his mouth and bounces on his feet a little, letting it fall a moment later. "You're magic!"

[overdrawing]

Gabe hasn't ever seen Caleb smile like that, broad and enchanted. His heart skips and lightens in a way he can't define. In a strange and quiet way, it's a tender slice of acceptance.

"Don't swear," he says, but he can't help smiling, delighted by Caleb's own smile.

[freefromsin]

Caleb laughs and grabs Gabe's arm. "Shush, you. You turned into, like...a cat or something. What was that?" He keeps hold of Gabe's arm and tugs to go a bit further up the sand, then another tug to sit down with him.

"You have to tell me everything," he says, reaching into his backpack for a long-sleeved flannel shirt. He offers it over to Gabe because of the chilly weather. "Was that a spell?"

[overdrawing]

"A sea otter actually, but I guess with...the nose and everything, I do look a little like a cat." Gabe drops into the sand next to Caleb and toes off his shoes to bury his feet in the sand, even as he accepts the flannel. Wrapping it around him, his supernatural senses can smell Caleb's soap and shampoo.

"It's not a spell because I'm not a witch. I'm a siren."

[freefromsin]

"Oh." Caleb's a little embarrassed, he apparently doesn't really know what an otter looks like. Or a siren.

"What exactly does that mean? I just. I'm not sure what that is," he admits, blushing a little. Or maybe that's from the sight of Gabe wearing his favorite flannel. He sits close. Because of the wind.

[overdrawing]

"Honestly, I'm still figuring that out," Gabe says. "But a big part of is that my voice isn't a gift from God. It's magic. Sirens use music to lure their victims. Or they did."

Gabe shrugs, hugging Caleb's shirt tightly around him. "But I don't want to do that."

[freefromsin]

Caleb frowns, worry creasing his brow. "Do you have to? I mean...do you feel compelled to...lure people?"

He reaches over and lightly touches Gabe's back, then rubs, wanting to comfort him.

[overdrawing]

Gabe shakes his head immediately. "No! I don't want to do that at all!" Mostly, he just wants to learn how to control it so that he doesn't lure anyone by accident.

He tenses his shoulders for a second, gently shrugging against Caleb's touch, but not rejecting it. "There's witches here too. Real ones who can do real magic."

[freefromsin]

"I know you don't want to," Caleb says softly. That wasn't what he meant, but he decides to drop it so he doesn't make Gabe more upset.

"Seriously? Like in Harry Potter?" He's only read one Harry Potter book so far, because it was Dave's girlfriends' and the only one that had been around the house, but he liked it well enough.

[overdrawing]

"Who's that?" he asks. The name sounds familiar but not as someone that lives in town if Caleb knows him as a witch.

Then he flushes, embarrassed.

"It's a book, isn't it? A movie?"

[freefromsin]

Caleb glances away and smiles to himself, he can't help it. "Yeah, it's a book. But hey, don't be embarrassed. The minute I joined the real world, people would say shi-- things all the time, and I had no idea what they were talking about. They talk about actors like they're neighbors, and if you don't know all about current TV shows you're a weirdo."

He shrugs, stills his hand and just keeps his arm loosely around Gabe's waist. Because of the wind. "It's okay if you don't know about everything. It's not like I do. I didn't even know what a siren was," he adds with a teasing grin.

[overdrawing]

"Sirens aren't exactly a hot ticket pop cultural item," Gabe says, frowning when he realizes what a schoolboy he sounds like. "Mira, the girl whose family I'm staying with, has been trying to catch me up on music." When the most recent artist he's heard is Aaron Copland, it's been an exercise.

"More like I don't know anything about anything."

[freefromsin]

Caleb shakes his head a little. "Don't be so down on yourself. Isn't it exciting, in a way? It's like...you're Christopher Columbus, and you've just discovered America!" he says, putting a hand out, like he's pointing out the great ocean view, and not talking about pop culture. "Where there's awesome music like The Ramones, and movies like Star Wars, and a million more that you get to spend the whole rest of your life catching up on!"

[lol unfortunately Caleb still has that basic Christian textbook history background]

[overdrawing]

"By all accounts, Christopher Columbus was not a very nice man," Gabe says, deliberately teasing back a little, if only because it keeps him from thinking about how little he really does know about the world at large.

"That sounds like a lot of work."

[freefromsin]

"A nice Christopher Columbus, then." Caleb pokes Gabe in the side, trying to get a bigger smile out of him.

"You mean, sounds like a lot of fun," Caleb says, wishing for the first time he owned an ipod or a laptop or anything. "Hey, we should go to the library."

[overdrawing]

It actually does. For a second, Gabe sucks in a breath and smiles wide, trying to keep down how much it tickles and just how nice it is. Even with Mira and Dylan, he finds himself keeping careful distance. Casual touch is new still.

"Does that mean you're planning to stick around?"

[freefromsin]

"Oh." Caleb was distracted by Gabe's smile. He hadn't even realized that not leaving is pretty much exactly what he just implied. He hadn't been thinking at all, honestly, beyond introducing Gabe to new bands. "Right."

He absently chews at his lower lip. The promise of a steady job making good money is so hard to pass up, but is it really worth it? He'll have no one in Portland, and at least here, in Siren Cove, he has the one friend who he's felt a meaningful connection with in his whole life.

And maybe he's being presumptuous, but he feels like Gabe needs him. He needs someone to look out for him and have his back, someone who grew up in the same community who knows what it's like.

And maybe he needs Gabe, too.

"Do you want me to?" he asks softly, almost afraid of the answer. If he's reading things wrong.

[overdrawing]

Gabe thinks about it for a second. His immediate answer is yes but he knows it's also selfish. Drawing up his legs, Gabe looks at Caleb sideways, head on his knees. "I should tell you to go to Portland, since you have a job and all, you said." He doesn't need to say the but. It's clear he wants Caleb to stay here.

"It's a good town," he says, instead. "And if I'm..." He takes in a deep breath and starts over. "For twenty years, I believed I was one thing. And I know you call it brainwashed..." He's still struggling with that idea a lot, hurt by it. "But I have to figure out what I am. Who I am. All over again. This seems like the place for me to do it."

[freefromsin]

"And you think I can help?" Caleb smiles a little, and knocks Gabe's shoulder lightly with his. He can feel his heart thudding in his chest, but he doesn't want to get too serious. Place too much importance on staying.

[overdrawing]

He doesn't know exactly. Caleb understands and he's grateful for that, but Gabe knows how hard it is to undo all the things he's known. Sometimes, he doesn't even really want to undo them, but Caleb will understand.

"If you want to stay?"