RHY MARESH + TEDDY LUPIN (AND HIS CAT)
RHY COMES BY THE LIBRARY
G | COMPLETE
At eleven, Teddy Lupin had thought himself clever. He’d named his cat Oberon, after a moon of Uranus, and quietly smirked his way to wizarding school. It took awhile for him to realise that made him the arsehole getting orbited in this equation.
Oberon wasn’t circling him now, but he was sitting ramrod straight, right on top of the open book in front of Teddy. There was a cart of books to reshelve that he definitely needed to get to, but he’d gotten distracted for a moment and now he was being punished just as the chapter picked up speed.
“Oi,” he said, ducking his head to meet his cat’s mismatched eyes straight on. Teddy’s hair matched the steely sky blue of the left one today. “This isn’t your spot.” He pointed at the plush bed set up at the end of the counter. “Mrs. O’Brien brought that in special for you. Don’t be rude.”
Oberon gave a grumpy chirp, lifted one of his legs, and licked a toe - never once breaking eye contact.
“...Why are you like this?” Teddy whispered, more laugh than real complaint.
“Because he’s a cat,” came the answer behind him as Rhy Maresh turned the corner of the bookshelf, running his fingers over the multi-colored bindings. He wasn’t in the habit of sneaking, nor was he good at it, being the kind of person who wore all red stitched with golden threads on a casual day. He’d left the circlet that designated his status back at his new apartment; there was no reason to wander around acting like an arse, and he’d never worn it full-time at home. Still, there was no mistaking the regal way he held himself, even as he leaned against the bookshelf with the same sort of careless ‘what are you going to do about it” present in Oberon’s manner.
“They’re all like that, every world over,” he added, thinking of the Night Spire’s ship cat and her disdainful eyes. He’d come to the library hoping that familiarizing himself with Atlantis would stop his thoughts of home, of the creeping guilt of being here while his country was over there. He focused, smiled: “Is he yours?”
It was a good thing Teddy didn’t get embarrassed by much, certainly not talking to his cat. He did freeze up for a second in surprise, but then he straightened and gave Rhy a small smile.
“He is, yeah. Well, we’re each other’s?” Teddy squinted one eye at Oberon, who stopped staring at Rhy long enough to stretch and rub his head aggressively up under Teddy’s chin. Snorting a little laugh, he scratched his nails lightly down the cat’s arching back. Oberon promptly abandoned him to wander around the counter closer to Rhy, though, so Teddy took the opportunity to brush white hair off the open book on the counter.
“Welcome to the library. What do you think so far?”
Rhy let Oberon sniff around him, knowing that you never behaved too eagerly around a new cat. Cats were a lot like foreign diplomats in that regard. “It’s massive, and I’m already lost. I had to sleep in the autobiography section last night while I tried to find the exit.” None of that was a complaint, however, and his appreciation for the place could be seen on his smile.
“So much better than the library back at the palace. It’s mostly for displaying historic tomes you can’t touch without using special spells. There are some good books but…” A shrug, and a question as the cat began sniffing his pants leg in earnest. “Does this compare to your library back home at your school?”
“People usually sleep in autobiographies for a different reason.” Teddy joked. “We should put a sofa back there.” Tucking a bookmark between the pages, he closed the book and set it aside. He had one eye on his cat, but in a half-hearted way. His curiosity was properly snagged by Rhy with his nice clothes and royal bearing.
Apparently enough so that he realised a few seconds had ticked by in silence, him with his head tilted and thoughtful gaze taking Rhy in.
“Oh, um.” Teddy cleared his throat. “No. It’s large and magic, but nothing like this. Three quarters of the books in here would probably be in the restricted section.” Pulling out his wand, he cast a quick organization spell on the cart full of books nearby. They started switching places with each other to group by genre, easier for re-shelving.
Rhy’s gaze flicked to the books effortlessly sorting themselves, then moved to the wand in the other man’s hand. Whatever he was about to say - something about the restricted section, likely - slid from his mind as he realised: “You do magic with a stick?”
His tone wasn’t condescending so much as wondering; he’d never heard of this. Magic in his world was a very internal force, just like the will to wield it powerfully. The thought that it might be different elsewhere had never occurred to him. Losing his lolling posture, he stepped closer and reached out to touch the wand but then stopped, remembering politeness. “Sorry, might I take a look at it? I’ll be gentle.” A wink.
Even though Teddy wasn’t a paranoid person, he wasn’t especially forthcoming either. Which was why he didn’t immediately counter that wands weren’t a requirement, particularly for his most unique talent. He hesitated to hand his wand over to a stranger, anyway, even in this place. After a pause, and Oberon coiling around his feet, Teddy flipped the wand to hold it out tail end first.
“Rowan wood doesn’t like dark magic, so don’t try to curse me or we’ll both be in for it.” He cocked one eyebrow, smirk barely there. In all fairness, his wand was excellent for dueling, but better suited for defensive magic. Hopefully, neither would be needed in the next few minutes. “How does the magic in your world work?”
“It’s elemental,” Rhy answered, turning over the wand this way and that, feeling its weight in his hand. Somehow he imagined spellwork was filled with more flourishes if it involved a prop. Satisfied with the fact that yes, it was just a smoothed piece of wood and no, he couldn’t do a thing with it, he handed it back to Teddy. He hadn’t missed Teddy’s initial hesitation, but he was hardly going to admit that the most he could offensively do to the other man was kick him in the shins, and that magic itself was mostly out of his abilities.
“A typical citizen of Arnes can wield or manipulate one element. Very good magic-users might be dual-wielders or even triads. Only a few can fight with all five elements. Such as my smug brother,” he added, but there was no irritation in his voice - just fondness. Kell’s abilities might have frustrated him when he was younger in their seeming limitlessness, but most of that jealousy had abated with time.
“Elemental. That’s new.” Not to this place maybe, but to Teddy. He took his wand back and tucked it away in his jeans. “The lot that call themselves Magicians do a bunch of things with their hands.” Teddy held his hands out and twisted them around, pointing his fingers in goofy ways. He was fairly certain there was geometry involved and a fair amount of language-based magic too, but it was more amusing to fake the hand movements.
His hands dropped back to his side and he nodded his chin at Rhy. “What’s your element?”
Teddy’s over-the-top contortions made him laugh, even if he made a note to learn more about ‘The Magicians’. How official. To Teddy’s question he answered: “Fire.”
It wasn’t a lie; Rhy had watched a flame flicker under his concentrations during his studies, and the head priest had declared it his element in some attempt to salvage the scandal of the Crown Prince being powerless. But he had never been able to do anything more than flicker an existing flame, no matter his tutors, no matter how hard he had tried. “I’d offer to demonstrate,” he said, and assumed his previous pose against the bookcase, “but fire and books are seldom friends.” That was closer to a lie, even if it wasn’t blatant. A politician’s answer, at least. “How are all these different magical types getting along? Is there some sort of accord not to practise dark or dangerous magics in Atlantis? Because I assume that you have nasty spellwork that’s outlawed just as I do.”
Since Teddy had no reason to suspect Rhy was lying, he didn’t. But he was good at reading people, so he did note the return to a more staged pose. The words defensive retreat came to mind.
“I haven’t been here long but it seems like everybody’s just…playing nice. They put power-dampening bracelets on anybody with a villainous past as soon as they show up.” Oberon leapt up onto the counter next to them and butted his head against Teddy’s arm. Teddy scratched under the cat’s chin and gave Rhy a sideways glance. “Why? Are you going to stage a coup, your majesty?”
“I suppose that’s one benefit of your story becoming consumed as written or viewable entertainment: villains are always immediately identifiable.” If only it could be so easy in real life. Rhy didn’t bother to hide his bitterness. He doubted anyone liked their lives being so available for anyone to see. “If Atlantis wants a chance of staying safe, it should take advantage of the available information.”
But Teddy’s next question had him chuckle, all light one again. Leaning forward, he held out his fingers so Oberon could sniff them and see if they were to his liking, his voice conspiratorial: “Why? Do you have someone you’d recommend to overthrow?” The thought was too silly for him to hold a straight face about it; Rhy detested dark magic of any kind.
Teddy was glad he knew enough about Rhy’s recent tragedy not to dig into that bitter tone just now. He didn’t have foot-in-mouth disease often and he wanted to keep it that way. There was an empathetic twitch of his mouth, though. And a hard-to-read stare.
His cat gave Rhy’s fingers a suspicious sniff, a squint, then aggressively pressed his face against the side of Rhy’s hand.
“Me? I’m no help in a takeover,” he smirked, with a mischievous widening of his eyes. “I’m just a humble librarian with a dumb cat.” Later, he would wonder what motivated him to show off. It wasn’t in his nature. But in the moment, he just scratched at his nose and morphed into a “humble librarian” - a greying woman with dark eyes and a pinched mouth who looked like she needed a pair of winged glasses to complete the act.
Rhy was scratching under Oberon’s chin, being silently smug that he’d managed to befriend the beast, when Teddy’s thoughtful face suddenly - shifted. Illusion spells weren’t unknown in Arnes, but they were difficult to do, and much more reliable on one’s clothing. Changing one’s face and body in a half-second was reserved for the very powerful.
Surprise and wonder crossed his face - Rhy could school his emotions when the court required it, but he rarely bothered, and there was no point to it now. Oberon didn’t look in the least surprised, he noted to himself. “If I could do something like that in the morning to get ready, maybe I’d actually make it to meetings on time,” he mused, delighted, before demanding: “turn around. How did you— what a simple librarian indeed. Can you just do that… anytime? Oh, is that your real form? Because I adore octogenarians best of all…”
Teddy huffed a laugh and spun just enough that Rhy could see the long braid he’d given himself. He couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d morphed in front of someone who didn’t know him. It was a nice little thrill. He shook, like a dog discarding water from his coat, and his natural appearance cascaded back into place. Well, his natural appearance with artfully disheveled steely blue hair, anyway.
“This is the real me. Sorry to disappoint,” he deadpanned, before a smirk danced at the corners of his mouth. “But yeah, I can do it anytime. No stick required.” It made his nerves jangle a little, being under a stranger’s scrutiny for too long, so he reached around Rhy to grab a stack of three books and carried them over to the cart.
Rhy, who had never felt a moment of uncertainty in his life when being watched, continued his appraisal. He liked the blue hair, he decided. It was a nice contrast to the magician’s laidback, quiet personality. Kell would like him he thought, and then sighed - thoughts of home intruding again.
“I like your hair like that,” he said breezily, because he didn’t believe in keeping compliments un-given. “Back home if you want a new face, you’re in for a bad time. I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody being able to just do that. Is there a name for it?”
Teddy stopped sorting books in the cart long enough to rough his fingers through his hair and glance back at Rhy. “Oh. Thanks.” He gave a gentle smile. “It’s called being a metamorphmagus. We’re just born this way though, so don’t get too impressed.” He swung the cart around to come back towards Rhy with it. If he were a little less responsible, he would ask more questions about Rhy’s magic and waste away his shift.
“I should get back to work.” His eyebrows shot up suddenly and he reached for a pen and a slip of paper on the counter nearby. “Oh, but I promised you some recommendations.” He scribbled out a handful of his most recent favourites, both wizard written and muggle, and then added a book of poems that had surprised him, holding the list out once it was done.
“Perfect. Thank you.” Flattered that Teddy had remembered, Rhy took the piece of paper, read it over (no one jumped out as anything he recognized) and pocketed it for later. “I’ll leave you to your responsibilities. Thanks for the entertainment.”
He turned, and headed toward the first section the paper had suggested - but before he went he straightened a book that was slightly askew on the shelf, looked behind him and landed a wink. Rhy prided himself on his winks. He had at least twenty, they were all distinct, and they were all flirtatious. “See you around.”
Oberon leapt up onto the cart as Rhy walked away, but Teddy’s focus was on the book being adjusted and the wink sent back his way. His face contorted into an amused frown and he snorted quietly. He gave a little wave as he pushed the cart away.