Chapter Text
It's funny how your perception of the world can change in a day, isn't it?
Of course, Jeremy had a lot of experience with change. Or at least, he did now. It's a lot to go from living in the middle of nowhere- quite literally- to being whisked through the seas in a yellow submarine. Jeremy wasn't going to complain though, yellow was a nice change from unmoving, blank, white walls. Speaking of color, Pepperland (where he now lived after the Beatles left) was full of it! Blues, reds, greens, there were so many! In the beginning, he had to use flashcards to memorize all of their names. By now, he was starting to get the hang of it, except for teal, he's still not sure if teal is a shade of blue or green. In any case, it was a good thing he was getting used to it since color seemed to be a big thing about Pepperland.
It made sense, because of the psychedelic skies that would have been unimaginable to Jeremy just a few months ago. Something that surprised Jeremy was that people apparently felt things about colors. One day as he was listening to one of the many concerts Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band liked to put on (sounds! there were a whole lot of those too) from his seat under a tree, a small child came up to him and asked him about colors. It was a funny thing, children tended to think of him as some sort of overgrown cat, to the point where they'd yell "kitty!" and run over to him. They'd get disappointed when he'd tell them he didn't like to be pet, but they were always so curious about him, mostly they wanted to know "why he talked so funny" or what Ph.D. meant. Jeremy didn't mind a whole lot, he liked talking to people, especially after so long... well... not talking. Anyways, this one loudly proclaimed that his favorite color was red and asked Jeremy what his favorite color was with a big, gap-toothed grin. It was interesting, Jeremy thought of all sorts of things from botany to dentistry, but he'd never once thought about favorite colors. He didn't even know that you could have a favorite color.
He doesn't quite remember what he said to the child, probably a long answer about how all colors are lovely, but he wasn't focused on the child anymore. Instead, his brain had latched on to the term "favorite color" for whatever reason and wouldn't let go. This wasn't unusual, Jeremy's mind latched on to things all the time. Normally he'd read whatever books he could find on the subject, but looking for books on favorite colors seemed... silly. However, Jeremy was a very thorough nowhere man, one who had a lot of time on his hands.
"Cacao, cacti, camembert... ah! Color! A comprehensive study by Mack Wilburt!" Jeremy rhymed to himself. He'd been looking through the c's in the Pepperland Library for quite some time. He'd adamantly refused to go to the children's section and now found himself looking through the real world section. The secretary was more than happy to tell him where he might find what he was looking for, but she couldn't walk him to the section seeing as she was a giant bookworm and wouldn't be able to go through the shelves without knocking something over. It'd taken Jeremy ages to find the book he was holding in the maze of bookshelves adorning the walls, and he hoped it would be what he was looking for. He took a paw and skillfully flipped through the pages.
"Color use, color design, color theory, but none of this answers my query!" he sighed and closed the book.
"Can I help you?" a gentle voice asked. Jeremy spun around quickly to find what looked to be an owl. She might've towered over Jeremy, but she looked motherly and kind. Like she would bake cookies for storytime for kids, kind of like a hug if given human- or in this case large, anthropomorphic owl- form. A nametag on her chest read "Martha" with colorful stickers put around the edges.
Jeremy realized she was still waiting for his answer. He hastily closed the book and stuttered,
"U-uh yes! I'm looking for a book on color, you see this one has made me quite dolor, so I would like another..." He trailed off, he was never very good at conversation, he'd never had much practice with it. Fortunately, the owl smiled at him.
"Alright I think I can do that," she chuckled softly, "As a librarian, I enjoy hearing someone rhyme like that," She gestured with her wing to follow her. Jeremy followed very closely, feeling rather like a child following his mother around at a supermarket. She chatted aimlessly about Pepperland and how most of the people she helps are students looking for the same books over and over again for summer reading. Jeremy didn't really understand what summer reading was, but it sounded intriguing to him. Eventually, they got to a brightly colored area that Jeremy recognized as the children's section. He was about to protest that he had a doctorate in English when she opened her beak to say,
"You know, it's alright to get books from the children's section from time to time. They're meant to explain things in a simple, straightforward way, and sometimes you just need a simple answer," she plucked a few books about colors off of the shelf.
She handed them to Jeremy and asked, "Is there anything else I can help with?"
Jeremy shook his head. She laughed gently again,
"No need to be so nervous! I'm not going to bite your head off or anything. Well, unless you tear out the pages in my books, then I might,"
She smiled softly when she saw Jeremy's mortified expression at hearing he could be ripped tooth from claw by a giant owl. (Which was NOT high on his list of priorities for the day).
"Only joking," She said with a wink and walked off. Jeremy sat down on one of the comfy-looking beanbag chairs and began to read. Some of the books were about naming what colors were, and he found himself wishing he had those books when he had to memorize what the colors were. Others were educational stories about the basics of color theory, and Jeremy ended up finding those rather helpful, especially the bit about complementary colors. But one book at the very bottom of the pile was a story about how most people have a favorite color, and that was exactly what Jeremy was looking for. Apparently, people have favorite colors for lots of reasons, from just liking the way it looks to having an emotional connection with it. That last bit stuck out to Jeremy, but he didn't realize why until he got to the last page. There wasn't a whole lot to it, just a bunch of color splotches on the page and some text asking the reader what their favorite color is, but one of the colors stuck out to him.
A bright yellow spot. The same color as the submarine.
It brought him back to the Beatles, who'd given him the closest thing he's ever had to a fa-
No that's just wishful thinking. He stopped his train of thought with that interjection. He'd spent more nights than he'd like to admit crying over how he'd never see them again. Somehow, even though he wasn't in nowhere land anymore, he felt even more lonely without them than he ever did when he was a nowhere man. He put the books back, for better or worse he knew what his favorite color was now.
That specific shade of yellow, the color of friendship.
It was weeks before he thought of colors again, and that's when his view of the world changed.
He was napping under a tree one day when he heard excited screaming coming from the bandshell. Assuming it was just another concert he tried to fall back asleep. But finally, he sighed and started walking over to the noise when the screams seemed to only be getting louder. In the distance though, he spotted it.
His favorite color.
He went as fast as he could towards it until he spotted something... strange. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him about complementary colors as he looked at what his friends were wearing.
The colors were wrong.