Cael first attempted to do magic. Like, you can’t just live in a magic world and not try to do magic. That would be absurd. He also thought that the possibility of him doing magic at all was absurd, but that wasn’t the point. When in Rome, and all that.
The only problem with this was that he couldn’t quite seem to get it right. He knew the feeling he was meant to be searching for and was able to briefly connect with it again, but every time he managed to seize upon that familiar sensation, something would happen that forcefully dragged his thoughts back into the present.
At first, it was just muted yelling from another prisoner, then something had flown past his unintentional window. Did they even have birds down here? Bats maybe? Some grotesque fantastical combination of the two? Sorry, he was getting off-topic.
The third time he had sat down on his lightly charred bed and did his best to shut out the world, he had almost succeeded in reaching the end of the process and forming a connection, when a metal food tray had soared like a frisbee into his cell and smacked him in the head, the heavy door slamming shut immediately after.
As he munched idly on a decently-sized loaf of sweetbread, he considered the issue. Each time he drew near to connecting with the probably magical energy, something would forcibly stop him.
That was just his luck. Or [Luck], rather.
He could already tell this was going to be an irritating hurdle to get past. What were even the limits on this? If Cael got really good at shutting out distractions, was someone just going to trounce into his cell and beat him up? Surely it wouldn’t stop him every time. That would be…
Cael groaned loudly. That would be unlucky. For now, it seemed the universe didn't want him to do that.
“Fine, whatever. It's not like I wanted to do magic anyway!” A flash of pain from the ever-present collar let him know that he wasn’t fooling anyone. He grumbled and massaged his aching neck.
He was pretty sure that the collar was directly messing with his nervous system. It did after all have the perfect placement to do so, positioned as it was near his spine. It would also explain the minute numbness in his limbs that followed every activation. It did not, however, explain the collar’s miraculous ability to not exist in physical form. He couldn’t even try to take it off.
Cael spent a bit more time watching the surprisingly busy streets far below but quickly grew bored due to his inability to properly see anything that was going on. He had watched a magic show exhibiting something like water magic. The performer had commandeered a large fountain and emptied its contents into the forms of grand shapes that easily overshadowed the nearby buildings in size, creating liquid giants that cavorted around the vast square and over the heads of a small crowd.
He wanted to watch more, if for no other reason than to stave off boredom, but the performer had packed up as soon as the show was done.
Cael had tried to see where they went but lost sight of them as soon as they made a turn and disappeared behind a building. From this high up, everyone was just a speck. He was sure there were different species down there, but he couldn’t see enough to differentiate them, so boredom quickly returned.
He sighed and returned to the bed. Despite only having been alive for a couple of hours, Cael was exhausted.
He really hoped changelings weren’t the nocturnal type. That would be— Cael groaned and tossed the blanket over his head— unlucky.
The changeling grumbled unhappily to himself and promptly passed out.
:(:):(:):(:):
Waking up was disorienting. Going to sleep was a pretty natural feeling, but Cael hadn’t done the whole ‘sleeping’ thing for as long as he could remember. He’d dreamt of singing lizards. He bet Enken had a good singing voice.
Sitting up, he spit out some hair that had managed to get in his mouth. White hair. Cel didn’t have white hair.
Stolen story; please report.
He flipped the blanket open, and a cloud of fluff exploded into the air.
A few sneezes were ripped out of him before the fur settled. Was the last person in this cell a dog or something? He sighed. That really was a possibility. He frowned at the white fur blanketing the floor. He really hoped this wasn’t the same person who had blasted a hole in the wall. White fur didn’t seem practical for pyromaniacs.
More importantly, he was really thirsty. The food that had been lobbed at him had not come with any water.
Looking down at where he had left the food tray he noticed it had been taken while he slept. A new tray of food sat in the corner by the door. Still no water.
Where yesterday’s meal had been more akin to a pastry dessert, this tray carried a thick and hearty stew. Luckily— though he narrowed his eyes to think that word— a lid had prevented any fur from getting into the food.
He called for a broom to clean up because Enken had suggested he could request things. While he waited, Cael picked at his food. Objectively it was good, and Cael didn’t think he was a picky eater, but he just wasn’t satisfied with it. Maybe he just wasn’t hungry because he had woken up only a few minutes prior.
There was far too much for him to finish anyway. The bowl was nearly the size of his head and the stew was rich. It felt wasteful to not eat it, so he just placed the lid back over it and resolved to try again later.
Cael put the food in an out-of-the-way corner and got to work. He started by folding up the blanket but thought better of it. If he was going to clean this place up, then he should probably try getting the fur out of the bedding first.
There was only one problem with that. The bed was clearly made with the idea that any species should be able to fit fully onto it in a sort of ‘one size fits all’ mindset, but that meant the blanket was similarly oversized in comparison to Cael who most definitely was not a giant like the god, the slaver, the guard, or the receptionist.
He was still a bit unhappy about being smaller than a hundred percent of the people he’d met so far. He wasn’t that small, was he? Macera had definitely recognized his form as being that of a human, so he should be at least average in height.
Cael was also certain that he had been an adult by the time the universe had ended. He was half-sure he’d even finished college! Even if he couldn’t seem to remember what he'd majored in.
Whatever. there was no use in worrying about what he couldn’t remember. He stood on the bed and awkwardly flicked the heavy blanket, dislodging as much of the fur as he could without dragging it through the soot. After a few minutes of awkwardly folding the bedding, he managed to do the same with the rest of the bedsheets.
He did his best with the pillows, but he didn’t think he was that successful. As soon as he was satisfied with the sheets, or more accurately, gave up on them, he grabbed the broom that had appeared at some point when he wasn’t paying attention and began to collect the fur into a neat pile in the corner. He was more surprised that a broom had actually appeared as he had requested.
He checked the light level through the hole. It was brighter than it had been when he had woken up. Crazy. He must have slept for most of the day without even realizing it. The surface day, at least. It was still relatively early in the underground city. Many of the shops were open, but the streets were much less crowded than they had been yesterday when he had fallen asleep.
Cael gave his clothes the same treatment as the bedsheets because he had forgotten to do it initially, then swept up the new fur into the increasingly large fur pile.
When at last he grew sick of sweeping, he scooped up the massive hairball and chucked it through the hole in the wall, watching as it floated down to the-
“What did you just throw out there?” An alarmingly stealthy Enken asked from behind him.
Rather than responding intelligently, Cael shrieked and jumped, nearly following after the hairball.
“Uh, nothing-” He added to his denial before the collar could call him a liar. “Important! Nothing important. Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to know what you threw? Which you still haven’t answered.” The lizard crossed his arms but didn’t choose to give Cael any commands, which Cael appreciated.
“Ah, just some fur,” Cael explained quickly.
“But you don’t have fur.”
“Thank you. It took a lot of work.”
Enken stared at him for long enough that Cael was able to realize he’d said something stupid. In all fairness, he was still a bit flustered, and his heart was still racing from the near fall.
“Anyway, I’m here to take you to your sentencing.”
Cael didn’t like that word. A sentence implied he had done something wrong, but even in a world with different laws, Cael didn’t think he could have broken any. He had spent a while fretting over his actions as he swept the floors, and nothing really came to mind.
“What if I’m innocent?”
“We can talk about that if it happens.” The lizard turned around and walked out of the cell.
Cael rushed to follow, a bit annoyed that he had cleaned the room if he wasn’t going to be staying, but at the same time, he was hopeful that he wouldn't have to come back.
After all, he had no idea how to get rid of all the soot.