Insistent humans
Caterpillar stared at the man, fighting the urge to squirm out of his hold. Moore’s grip felt very uncomfortable on his arm. Especially as he was staring and judging him intensely.
“Answer the question.” Moore urged with a stern tone of voice as he slightly tightened his grip around the white haired child’s arm. “Don’t think I missed your empty eyes and pale skin paired with your black arms.”
Caterpillar stayed silent, unsure of what to say. He lightly tried to tug his arm away from the man, but he didn’t budge. Instead, he squeezed Caterpillar’s arm tighter. The white haired boy took in a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down.
“You’ve mingled in the Dark Arts, haven’t you? How could you do that when you’re just a kid!” Moore snarled slightly with furrowed eyebrows. His tone of voice was drastically changing from his previously kind tone to his now- harsh and uncaring one.
‘Dark Arts’? Caterpillar’s eyebrows raised as his curiosity piqued. Maybe it was some sort of phobidden form of magic in this world. Caterpillar was learning quickly despite not even trying that hard. He frankly only wanted to return back to his world. Perhaps he could do so by learning about the magic system of this world, he figured.
“Listen to me, ‘Cater’. You are like ten years old, how could you possibly have access to the Dark Arts?!” Moore demanded answers as he lightly shook Caterpillar by his arm.
The white haired boy snapped out of his thoughts when he was shook around lightly. he quickly regained his composure and looked at Moore, who had his eyebrows pinched
“...I was born this way.” Caterpillar muttered out an answer. His face did not show his discomfort nor his light annoyance at being referred to as a child repeatedly.
Moore blinked, confusion flashing across his face. “That’s not possible…” he mumbled as he looked over at the young boy’s arms once more. “Were you hit by something when you were a baby? Agh, nevermind, you wouldn’t remember something like that, would you?”
Caterpillar did remember his ‘birth’ pretty vividly…A monster fused with remains, being given sentience and…
that lab…
Caterpillar shook his head and forced himself out of his thoughts.
“Hmh- so…” Moore started, loosening his grip on Caterpillar’s arm slightly. “Maybe you were struck by some dark wizard…” he was starting to come to his own assumptions and conclusions without letting Caterpillar say a word.
Maybe it was better that way.
“Tell me, little boy, do you know any spells? Any. It could be some beginner spell too…” Moore asked, finally letting go of the white haired boy’s arm.
Caterpillar instinctively pulled his now-released arm closer to his chest, backing off and creating space between the Ministry member and himself.
‘Spells’, Caterpillar repeated in his mind. Well, he did possess the element of Anemo, but does that count?
Caterpillar was halfway to opening his mouth when Moore suddenly cut him off:
“Ah, you’re a kid; of course you don’t know any spells!” the man chuckled to himself, patting the white haired boy’s head a little too enthusiastically.
‘Still, not a kid.’ Caterpillar sighed as he thought to himself, gently swatting Moore’s hand away from his head. The man’s hands were a lot more sizable than his own thanks to his small human form.
“Ahah, loosen up a bit, would you, kid? I know that you’re in dire need of some kind of adult figure in your life, eh?” Moore laughed. This man changed moods fast.
“That isn’t really true at all. Your assumptions are hardly ever correct…” Caterpillar shook his head, not intending to lead the man on by fully agreeing with his multitude of false assumptions.
“Don’t worry, Cater, I will help your little orphan predicament! It’s the least I can do with my influence.” Moore gave the boy a reassuring look.
“But I don’t-”
“Now, now, the easiest way to help you for now is by…” Moore sank into his own thoughts as he looked to the side and away from Caterpillar.
The white haired boy stared up at the man with a defeated look. Of course. Were all humans this way here? Caterpillar could not fight against this; Moore was not going to listen to him, and that’s just it. All he could do was watch the loquacious man rant about something incomprehensible for a good few minutes.
“Right, so, I believe that the best option is to send you somewhere where you can learn and adapt to life and grow up to be an amazing wizard.” Moore said, still looking away from Caterpillar.
‘Send you somewhere’...that never meant anything good, and the white haired boy knew as much. He didn’t let any emotion show through his expression as he awaited for the man to elaborate.
“So, what do you say, Cater? I could send you to Hogwarts since you’re roughly the age to attend.” Moore smirked, placing his hands on his hips. “You’ve heard of Hogwarts, haven’t you? It’s a really famous magic school in the wizarding world across the globe. Even if you are from France, you should've heard of it at least once, yeah?”
Caterpillar shook his head.
“You haven’t heard of it? Well, it’ll grow to be familiar soon enough.” the man shrugged, patting Caterpillar’s shoulder again.
Great.
“I’m not going to attend a school, I’m not a child-”
“Welp, semester starts in about a couple of weeks. Let’s get you a letter from Hogwarts, hm?” Moore grinned, cutting Caterpillar off.
The white haired boy grimaced slightly.
What was it going to take to get this man to understand that he wasn’t a child? How long was he going to keep ignoring Caterpillar’s attempts at enlightening him…
This world wasn’t entirely different from Teyvat, Caterpillar noted.
He was sitting at a table in a quiet tavern, drinking some tea, which reminded him of the tea in Fontaine. Caterpillar looked at the empty seat on the other side of the table. Moore had left him at a mostly empty tavern while he himself ‘went to do some business’.
Apparently he was at a place called ‘Hogsmeade’.
Not like the name of the place gave him any type of orientation.
Caterpillar let his eyes travel the tavern. He was sitting at one of the more inconspicuous tables in the corner. There were a few cloaked adults farther away sitting together and chatting about some things. Caterpillar had tried to eavesdrop, but the topics of discussion were unfamiliar to him and he couldn’t keep up with the new vocabulary.
So he just turned back to look at the empty seat in front of him.
He was alone. Even though there were some other people in the tavern. It felt like he was at Meropides again; surrounded by people yet always lonely.
Caterpillar shifted the tea in his hand slightly, looking at his reflection in the liquid. Pale skin, inhuman…and empty eyes resembling the empty seat in front of him.
The white haired boy sighed and took a sip of the tea. It was sweet. A bit too sweet for his liking.
He contemplated just leaving the place before Moore could come back.
Caterpillar was neither human nor child, so he didn’t find it necessary to attend some school. Especially since he had to find a way back to his own world.
The white haired boy got up from his seat, leaving the cup of tea on the table. His abrupt stand made the chair creak. It rang through the mostly-empty tavern, but no one present seemed to care at all.
Caterpillar straightened his vest before starting his walk out of the tavern.
He passed by the counter of the bar quickly, his eyes set on the exit.
“Hey, where’re you off to, little critter?” a male voice called out.
Caterpillar stopped in his tracks and looked towards the source of the noise. It came from the female bartender, who was slightly leaning over the counter, looking down at the boy. Caterpillar was quite short, so the bartender likely only saw a flash of his white hair when she spotted him passing by.
“Mr. Moore told me to keep my eye on you.” the bartender spoke. Despite her feminine looks, she had a rather masculine voice, which slightly confused Caterpillar.
The bartender seemed to notice Caterpillar’s confusion. She smiled and rested her chin on her palm while leaning on the counter. “Never seen a wizard turn witch, have ya?”
Caterpillar shook his head. It wasn’t any of his business anyway.
“I’m Sirona Ryan, bartender at Hogsmeade.” the bartender said, briefly eyeing Caterpillar up and down; something literally everyone did when meeting the strange-looking boy for the first time.
Caterpillar nodded, acknowledging the introduction. Though he was still itching towards the exit door of the tavern, he didn’t make it too obvious.
“My name is Caterpillar.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow at the claim. “‘Caterpillar’?” she repeated, sounding doubtful.
The white haired boy blinked. Right, people found that name strange.
“Cater. My name is Cater.” he corrected himself.
“Alright, well, Cater, you can go sit back down at your table. Mr. Moore will likely be back in a couple of moments, just stay put till then.” Ryan said, pushing herself off the counter and crossing her arms.
A wave of disappointment flushed across Caterpillar’s mind. Of course she was not going to forget that. Well, it wasn't that surprising.
“Yes. Sitting and waiting in a tavern all day is not a waste of time.” Caterpillar said with a completely straight face as he stared at Ryan.
The bartender blinked. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to analyze Caterpillar’s expression; she couldn’t find anything.
“Was that…sarcasm?” Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Awkward silence fell between them. The only sound in the tavern was the few guests chatting and minding their own business.
Caterpillar glared up at Ryan. “Yes. I was just joking.” he then said after a pause.
“A strange kid, aren’t you?” Ryan chuckled lightly, letting her hands fall to her hips. “Well, off you go, kid. I can brew you a non-alcoholic beverage if you so wish. It’s on the house.” she gestured towards the table Caterpillar had previously left.
Caterpillar followed her gesture with his blank eyes before looking back at the bartender with a deadpan expression.
“I’ll inform you when Mr. Moore arrives.” Ryan hummed as she pulled out an empty glass and started brewing some sort of drink for Caterpillar.
The white haired boy’s eyes drift to the exit door once more, contemplating how he should proceed. Everyone thought he was a child, so they believed to have authority over him.
He was likely hundreds of years older than anyone here…
Caterpillar sighed.
It wasn’t like he knew the exact mapping of this place. When he’d seen Morre’s map, he’d memorized it. But…the part where ‘Hogsmeade’ was located was a bit hard to read. It was a strange map.
So, despite his actual goals, Caterpillar decided to not start a fight for now, and walk to the table he’d left behind. He sat down on the chair with his usual straight posture, once again staring at the empty seat on the other side. The cup of tea was still on the table, but he didn’t pay attention to it.
At some point, Ryan had placed a beverage in front of him. Caterpillar took a couple of sips of the new drink. It was good, but nothing notable.
Caterpillar’s mind drifted back to all the events leading up to this one. How he had suddenly gotten pulled into this unfamiliar situation and world, how Seymour and the others were…somewhere. Had Seymour gotten teleported somewhere as well?
Caterpillar hoped against it.
Hopefully Seymour was somewhere safer. Maybe he’d somehow gotten out of the sinking tower, despite shutting down, and was now getting repaired?
Caterpillar knew that was just wishful thinking; completely useless and a waste of time.
Suddenly, a letter slid across the table right under the white haired boy’s nose. He looked up at the culprit to see the fancy-looking man with brown slit back hair, Myles Moore.
“There you go. Now you can go to Hogwarts, little Cater.” Moore smirked before ruffling Caterpillar’s white hair without consent.
Caterpillar swatted the man’s hand away before picking up the letter from the table. It was a neat letter with a red seal and the Hogwarts’ logo on it.
‘Hogwarts’.
Oh boy…