Nathaniel had been sort of floating since the staff broke. Everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. It was an odd feeling, but one he had grown accustom to. He wasn't really sure what he remembered exactly. Memories seemed to flow around him, some were his, and some were of people he had never met and places he had never been. Seeing them was like catching the briefest glimpse of a movie screen as you walked past, not enough to determine what's going on, but you may catch a glimpse of a face, or a building. Every once and a while he would see a face that he somehow had the name for, yet did not quite know how that name got there. So, again it was a strange feeling to say the least.
He found himself drifting peacefully around a busy city. One he knew he had seen before, as even the street signs and corner stores oozed familiarity. It was in that familiar city that he saw a face he recognized very clearly, his own. A statue, he came to realize. It seemed fitting that it should be there, but he couldn't for the life of him remember why. Then he caught sight of the boy standing in front of the imposing monument. A name drifted into his conciseness, along with a few hazy images. 'Bartimaeus'. Along with the name, came another few phrases. 'damn demon' was the one, he found, that came to his mind most easily. It seemed to echo all around him. Nathaniel could here the demon speaking to him, or at least to his statue. the creatures voice was broken in a way that surprised him, though the reason he was so dumbfounded was beyond him.
"There is so much I never got to tell you. I know I'll regret that for as long as I live." He heard the mournful voice say. Nathaniel found himself longing to offer comfort the creature, though he wasn't quite sure why, or how to go about it. Having not had a reason to talk since taking on this new form, he wasn't quite sure he was even still able to communicate at all, much less properly talk. Keeping in mind the echoey effect his thoughts had around his own being, Nathaniel gathered up his energy and projected that one thought outwards.
"Damn demon". The sound of his though echoed from his hazy conscience outward, until it reached the ears of the distressed boy. The boy quieted, and took a couple steps away from the monument before turning back around, as if hesitant to leave. "Go home you damn demon" Nathaniel demanded. A brief thrill shot through him as he relished in the feeling of being able to communicate. The feeling faded, however, when Nathaniel watched Bartimaeus reach up and wipe tears off his cheeks.
"I always loved you you idiot." He heard the djinn sob, "And it kills me that you'll never know." Nathaniel felt feelings of anguish, sympathy, and oddly enough, regret, seep into his conscience. The demon left with that, but Nathaniel drifted off after it. He wasn't quite sure why, but he wanted to be near the demon, and offer comfort in anyway he could. He remembered a distant feeling that he used to associate with the djinn. A giddy, longing, floaty feeling that he had felt when in the creatures presences during his life. He found that the feeling had not left, and he desired to be near his old servant in any way possible, even if it was as a haunting presence, a shadow.
He followed the djinn back to a run down apartment. Upon entering, Bartimaeus was embraced by a girl Nathaniel remembered rather clearly from his past. The fiery rebellion leader, kitty jones. The two argued for a while about... Well, him, before the topic was dropped and kitty left for bed. The demon transformed from his disguise of the young Egyptian boy he favored and into a small bird. Nathaniel could here Bartimaeus's thoughts swirling around him, thoughts off fleeing from the memory of him. that stung, but Nathaniel understood the feeling of loosing someone. how everything that even vaguely reminds you of the person is like a sharp stab to the chest.
"are you really that eager to be rid of me?" Nathaniel asked teasingly. He continued to follow Bartimaeus until the demon stopped on a park bench.
"I miss you Nat." The creature began, back in its favored form. Nathaniel's figurative hart clenched at the words. "Had you lived, you probably would have had a happy life with Kitty, that would hurt, but as long as you were happy I would be ok. You would have been elected prime minister, I bet. Youngest one in history, that woulda been something." The djinn rambled brokenly. Nathaniel longed to reach out and touch him, to hold the creature and tell him that everything would be ok; but he knew he couldn't, and that his attempts to communicate were probably only tearing at the djinn's already broken hart. 'I'm sorry, its going to be ok.' He longed to shout out, but he knew he was only hurting the creature he had come to care for deeply, and so he stayed silent.