A Sight to See

Catching sight of Nathaniel giving a light wave, Draylen headed over with their drinks. He set them down on the table, and pulled the other man's change out of his pocket, setting it in front of him as he sat down. "Hey" he greeted, taking the lid off of his coffee, letting the steam escape. He didn't like his coffee very hot, since it tended to burn his tongue. He was silent for a moment, not exactly knowing how to start a conversation now that they were there.

"Thanks," Nathaniel told the American with the odd name of origins. He took a sip of his, sighing from the sweet and bitter of it, the combination something nostalgic to him. Then again, nostalgia hit him in accordance to his senses. Smell was usually how it was triggered, but taste was a good one to follow up to. "Might I ask why you say to avoid the corner seat?" he asked, looking at the male waiting for his drink to cool. Coffee made from these places was twice as hot as coffee they made on their own. It had to be the machine, microwaves didn't make them that steamy unless you over heated it purposely.

Draylen nodded at the thanks, smiling slightly. He rarely didn't have a smile on his face. Sure, at work, it was more forced than anything for most of it, but the rest of the time he just couldn't stop. He looked up at the question before his eyes instinctively darted to the corner. "Well, most of the time there's a ghost hanging around back there. I don't think he likes me. He has a bit of a malicious feel. He's not there right now though" he had known that part the minute he walked in, not feeling the creepy looking man's presence.

"That's very interesting, what does he look like?" Nathaniel asked, curious and interested very much in the other's abilities. "Have you ever tried talking to them? Asking him why he might be mad at you?" He couldn't see them, he could feel something sometimes. "I can hear things sometimes. Words, but I never know if it's just me hearing things." Maybe he could hear them, he didn't know. Maybe he was crazy, but then, he was a reader. Readers were odd of sorts.

Draylen laughed slightly at all the questions. This was the first person in a while who seemed at all interested in what he could see and hear. "Well, he looks like a grouchy old man, a bit bent over, bald spot on the top but a crown of hair around the back and sides, but he doesn't have eyes, and he's always scowling" he explained, describing the man as best he could. "I havn't tried talking to any ghosts. . . I'm scared as to what they might say" he sighed, shaking his head at his own cowardice. Ghosts just terrified him to no end most of the time. "You probably aren't hearing things. I hear things alot, which is why I like to listen to my music" he had his iPod on him at all times for that reason alone.

"Good reason, I think," he said. "People, as I hear, hold misconceptions of ghosts, though. He is here for something." He wasn't sure, maybe if he could see them and talk to them, maybe he'd help them. He'd have to have time to not get scared around them. "How long have you been able to do this?" he asked. He hadn't met someone with this power, everyone scoffed when he asked if they believed in this sort of thing. Most of the time religion was a key fault for them saying it was codswallop.

Draylen nodded, agreeing with what the Brit was saying. "Yeah. People get their opinions based off of movies. Not the best idea" he sighed, picking up his coffee and risking a sip. It wasn't too hot, which was a good thing. "Well. . . I can't ever remember not being able to. So maybe my whole life, maybe since I was really young" he responded, running a hand through his messy brown hair. He had heard stories from his mother about him asking strange questions when he was young, so he knew it had been at least that long.

"It must have been something of a brill childhood, am I wrong?" Growing up seeing ghosts, knowing of the supernatural. He didn't learn anything of it until he had gotten his hands on a deck of tarot cards. All 78 cards, the minor and major arcana. He enjoyed collecting sets of them, even the oracle cards. Some of the art was spectacular. He had checked the bookstores here in America, and it was under religion. Tarot was its own religion, he could say. Believing in psychics and abilities and all, trusting cards with fate and fortune.

Draylen had no idea what 'brill' meant, but he assumed what he meant from the rest of the sentence. "Well, when I was little, depending on the spirit, I used to be just curious, then the scary ones came along, and I used to cry and run for my mom. Once I was old enough to know what ghosts were, I looked them up as best as possible. As I got older even just the fact that they were there, innocent or not, it started to freak me out" he explained, grimacing slightly. He tended to freak out when one got too close, because he knew they knew what he was, and that he could see and hear them, and that singled him out.

"I'm guessing your parents thought you were just not a brave child?" he asked, wondering if his parents believed in ghosts, or could see them too. His parents hadn't necessarily encouraged his cards, they thought he was biting off his arm over them. Besides that, the rest of his family hadn't entirely encouraged him towards it. Some of his uncles had scared him with their over religiousness and it made him hesitate to want to show them. "I suppose it could have gone worse. As long as your dad didn't box your ears for spouting nonsense, then, anything could be worse."

"Yeah. My dad told me once that when I was younger they thought I had a mental problem or something, or was just messed up in the head, until I started school and did well and acted mostly normal" Draylen explained, shrugging. It was a bit harsh of his dad to say, but he was just glad they didn't think of him like that anymore. "Yeah. I got pretty lucky with that. No Salem Witch Trials for me" he smiled, pretty happy with how his life had turned out, despite his Sight. "So what about you? You're a reader, right?" he asked, switching the spotlight from himself, and confirming that he knew what he was talking about.

"Yes, I'm a reader. I read tarot, or regular cards. Rather, I believe anyone could memorize their meanings, but I feel where they are. I can sense where they may be. The only problem is, I try not to confuse myself with what catches my eye first, and to what is really calling me." The other problem with that was if it was meant to catch his eye or not. He battled against mental logic and what he felt. "Reading, well, you usually get told you're making things up. Most people think the cards are chosen at random. I need to start cutting the deck myself and not letting them grab cards at random. They make up their own stories sometimes." He sighed, they were all morons, sometimes.

Draylen listened in silence, sipping his coffee. "Yeah. That's really cool. I've heard of people being able to do that before, but I've never met anyone who could. A friend from highschool read, but she didn't actually feel them or anything" he knew she had only gotten them because she found the whole thing fascinating. "People need to be more open minded. It's like nobody believes things that are even slightly out of the ordinary anymore" he sighed, rolling his green eyes. "Tarot cards are so pretty. . . do you have any on you?" he asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. He liked to see how different sets could be.

"A lot of people just knock them if they don't understand them," Nathaniel said, "they can't just toss something because they don't understand." He shook his head. Simple people, those who couldn't accept it. Those who thought he was just arsing about. "Ah, yes I do," he said, reaching into his back pocket, pulling out his cards wrapped up snugly in a handkerchief. He unfolded them, shuffling them a few times before flipping them over and showing Draylen a few of the cards. He tried not to let others touch them, he didn't like the interference it put on his connection to them. Draylen understood the connection, perhaps, so maybe it wouldn't mess it up much.

"There are a lot of things like that. People can be such sticklers for religion and what they've been brought up on and such" Draylen had pretty much disregarded most of the things he learned as a child, other than how to be a good person, and manners and things. He watched as Nathaniel pulled out his tarot cards, shuffling them and showing him a few. He knew better than to touch them too much, not wanting to mess with it, so he kept his hands on his drink, simply admiring. "They're so cool. I wish I could read like you do. That's pretty sweet" he grinned, looking from the cards up to the reader.

"Reading doesn't offer as much as Sight," Nathaniel commented, "but I guess it's not as eerie a feeling to be able to read cards than to see spirits." The Sight might be a nice ability for a time, and definitely if one got used to it, maybe even helped out some of them, but in Draylen's case, being afraid of it, well, it appeared to be almost a kind of curse. "I've got favorites, I like drawing them when I read for myself. Do you have any, ah, 'favorite' ghosts you like to see?" Did he see the same ones when he went to places?

"Yeah. I'd much rather have a more limited ability" Draylen made a face, glancing to the back corner again, even if he couldn't feel the ghost there. It was an instinctive thing for him, looking to where he normally saw ghosts, even if he knew they weren't there. "Well, I don't exactly like seeing any of them, because they freak me out, but at my old house there was one I didn't mind. She was a teenager who looked about sixteen, and she was nice, but it always creeped me out to think of how young she died. The worst is the children. They're terrifying" he suppressed a shudder, trying his best not to picture the little girl that lived in his basement.

"Children ghosts are frightful? Why might that be?" Nathaniel asked, not sure why a child would be scary in the first place. A child ghost, of all things, couldn't be that vengeful. "Do you see animal spirits, if they have them?" Animals deserved spirit chances, he thought. He liked animals, they were, technically, poor, stupid beasts. He didn't mean it offensively, but if they were getting beat, they honestly didn't know why, or sometimes didn't fight back.

"They can be pretty terrifying. I guess some of them are angry they were robbed of their childhood, but other than that, they just. . . stand there. Looking up to see a little girl standing in your doorway perfectly still is just. . . bleh" Draylen sighed, not sure how to explain how scary they could be. Little kids were just supposed to be so innocent, and as ghosts, were almost an oxymoron sometimes, which was the scary part. Innocent children messed up like that. "Yeah, I see them occasionally. I feel them more often though. They're not as scary. Unless it's a rabid ghost" he frowned, having run into those a few times. It wasn't exactly the ghost having rabies, since he was sure that wasn't possible, but the animal dying because of rabies. Rabid acting even in death.

Confused at the descriptions, but for the most part, oddly understanding them, Nathaniel just nodded. "They linger because they seek help. Help from you would perhaps, appease some." Though he could see a few downsides on that idea. There wouldn't be any helping them and a 'Bob's your uncle' deal going on. It'd wind up being them all flocking to him for more help, which, would in terms, make Draylen restless, nervous, anxious, or terrified. All of the above, as they say.

Draylen gave a bit of a forced smile, the corner of his mouth twisting up. "Yeah. As much as I think I should help sometimes, I don't know how, and I don't have the guts to stay around them long enough to help even if I could" he wished he could help some ghosts just to make them go away, and leave him alone, as rude as that may sound to some. He took a sip of his coffee, just as he felt the prescence of the old man ghost in the back corner, and he stiffened, coughing on his coffee once before he swallowed, and he glanced back to the corner, where the old man was standing and staring at him from under bushy eyebrows.

Nathaniel raised a thin eyebrow, looking at the odd reaction that seemed to have no cause. He looked in the direction Draylen seemed to nervous about. He saw nothing, nor did he feel anything. Knowing there was a ghost there from another source didn't help his sensing though. It messed with his mind entirely, he had to know after he felt it to be sure he wasn't making feelings up. "You are...all right?" he asked, very interested in the boy who could see what he couldn't. Such an interesting person to met in America, rather, anywhere.

Draylen looked back to Nathaniel, eyes a bit wider than normal, smiling slightly at the question, but the smile was more to cover the urge to run. "Yeah, I'm fine. But the old man ghost is back, and he's staring at us" he explained, in case he hadn't realized that already. He put one elbow up on the table, propping his chin up on it and trying to act casual, but he was fidgeting now, on edge moreso than he was at work. He supposed it was because the ghost in the A&F changerooms was neutral, and this one had an angry aura.

The vibes around them had definitely changed, Nathaniel was almost to the point of getting worried for Draylen. Did everyone react this way to seeing ghosts? No, Nathaniel was sure some kids liked talking to what they deemed as imaginary friends. "Hey, we can leave if you want," he suggested, noting how edgy the other male had become. He really looked ready to bolt. He looked like it was painful just to sit here and know the ghost was looking at the two of them.

Draylen took a few gulps of his coffee, trying his best to ignore the spirit, but the hair on the back of his neck were raised, and he felt like he could almost feel the gaze of the man. He looked up to Nathaniel, shaking his head but smiling slightly at the offer. "No, it's okay. I've stayed here by myself when he's around, and being with somebody else makes it better" he explained, shrugging and fiddling with his coffee cup. "Thanks though" he was glad that Nathaniel seemed to understand how much he didn't like ghosts, and didn't scoff at him like most people would.