[ open ] #throwbackthursday

[aeturnus]

who: Cain (now Romulus), Anyone
what: During the effects of the Temporal Chalice, Cain gets to explore some of his much, much earlier years. He's in his early twenties, not immortal, shy and gentle, and goes by his birth name: Romulus. Oops.
when: 15th until the event ends.
where: Housing during the day (floor six + around), and out in the Quarantine at night mostly. Specific starters upon request.
warnings: Romulus at this point in his life is a slave. Mentioned of free vs not, expectations of having lesser value, and possible other related subjects are very likely. More will be edited in if necessary.

i. Housing. Floor six.
[ He's not sure what to do with himself here. One of the first things Romulus did when he came to was familiarize himself with the device he carries around with him, because he remembers that being important, and notices that the job he only vaguely recalls sent a message to not show up if you couldn't do the work citing distraction to the other workers who were still in their right minds. He supposes that means he should stay away from the place and he intends to. It just doesn't leave him a whole lot to do aside from putter around the floor he knows he belongs in, even if most of his belongings feel foreign and familiar at the same time. Sparse, too. Some technology to work, small knickknacks here and there, and nothing that really speaks to who he is. All except for a plain lantern hanging from the bedpost with scenery drawn on it that makes him feel more at home. It's familiar to him, only a breath away, if he were back home at all. That lantern is lit every night to help him sleep.

Either way, Romulus putters. Messes around in the kitchen to try and make food but plenty of the products are foreign and confusing and he sticks with what he knows, basic fruits and vegetables and puts together simpler things with simpler tools and methods. He's not going for anything fancy, just subsiding on what he can until he figures out what he's doing here anymore. What he doesn't do is actively bother anyone. Finds his own supplies and makes sure whatever he uses is communal and doesn't belong to anyone in particular, shops with the money he's found for himself to buy things he can't find.

It's probably easier to ignore the guy who's suddenly turned wallflower around floor six, or even in the rest of the building where he comes and goes quite often out to explore the city. Except... he didn't used to be like this, not at all, entire demeanor changed. Not that he's the only one but it's pretty radical and noticeable. Kinda sad, really. ]

ii. Quarantine.
[ Mostly, he goes out at night. Lots of people don't notice the nervous ones at night because crime still exists but Quarantine is better protected and managed than most cities in other universes, apparently, and a lot of the older residents expect the nervous ones to calm down eventually. Romulus isn't nervous because of crime, but instead because it feels like a lie. He shouldn't be out here without a cause or an order or a reason given to him to explain if anyone catches him out — but he's not doing anything wrong. There's no master here, no one holding him in their hands and certainly no one to say he can't explore or shop or live.

It's freedom, and it has his heart constantly in his throat. What do you do with freedom?

Either way, he stumbles into people because he's not paying attention, lost in thought. Flinches back and swerves to press nearer to the walls or almost walks into the street sometimes and has to get fished out of the way. It's all very nerve-wracking, but again, people expect it more in the darkness for whatever reason. Sometimes he does go out in the day, too, but this is easier for him. ]

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you—forgive me.

[ He doesn't meet many peoples' eyes in the dark of the night, either. ]

iii. Wild Card.
[ Romulus gets places he shouldn't. Curiosity is certainly his vice and that's never gotten him anyplace good. It's usually up to Remus to keep him from wandering and Remus isn't here. He doesn't go into dangerous-looking places, but stores or odd streets or stopping to watch something odd? There's no reason not to. ]

[ Make something up, and I'll work a response in! Contact at plurk or at biomagnet#1925 @ disco to discuss more if necessary. ]

Comments

[greyjane]

When has that ever stopped a soul?

[People are wasteful and petty and cruel. So stubborn it's toppled worlds. She shrugs, brings her other knee up and rests her teacup on one of them. She seems quite content half curled into a ball.]

Hope the bed's comfortable enough for you.

[She tends towards firmer mattresses. Too many years of sleeping on the ground.]

[aeturnus]

The bed is perfect.

[ Better than what they all got at the estate, although Romulus thinks that what's here could even be better than what the master and his family slept in. It's really nowhere near complain-worthy. ]

Really, everything here is almost... too much. All of it.

[greyjane]

[Her expression twists a bit, almost a grimace but with a rather sympathetic bent to it.]

Luxury's a hard thing to accustom yourself to after a life of the opposite. It's all right. Take as much time as you need.

[There's a bit of a laugh.]

I could always string you up a tent in the backyard if that'd help.

[That's humour, kiddo.]

[aeturnus]

[ His lips twitch upward. He gets that much. ]

No tents, please. [ Beat. ] You're very knowledgeable.

[greyjane]

[Mm. She takes a delicate sip of her tea.]

Seen a lot of the universe. If that can't cram knowledge in your head, not sure anything could.

[It's not quite her usual evasion, but it's a near thing. She's particular.]

[aeturnus]

Yes... those things you showed me.

[ It's incredibly intense, and he's not sure how much of it he'll remember later but for now he'll hold it as close as he can. ]

It's a good combination. Your kindness and knowledge.

[greyjane]

[lmao what is this. She snorts.]

And I have fantastic tits, while we're discussing my more positive attributes.

[aeturnus]

[ It's gratitude!! Meanwhile Romulus just kind of pauses, turns slowly very red and speaks carefully. ]

Yes, I... suppose you do?

[greyjane]

[Well that's downright adorable. She just grins at him a bit.]

Point I'm driving at, you don't have to lob compliments at me. I'm not helping you for any accolades.

[aeturnus]

[ His hand around the phone taps at the casing, more of a nervous and uncertain motion. ]

But you... deserve them anyway.

[greyjane]

[Clever fella, turning that around on her. She actually looks flummoxed for a second, opening her mouth and then closing it again a moment later. Oh, she could argue that. Deserving things is all relative, and Shai has never been kind.]

Well.

[She blows out a breath, half a laugh itself.]

Touché.

[aeturnus]

[ It takes a moment for him to realize the matter's been dropped. Or perhaps conceded? And he smiles while ducking his head, gripping the hone and settling it more on his lap instead of pulled to his chest. He stays quiet because silence tends to be companionable for him and, curious little bundle that he is, he doesn't want to turn her good will into ire by overstepping too much. ]

[greyjane]

[Her ire's never anything less than earned, these days. Maybe if she were younger (in which case she'd sooner have tried to kill him than help him out) but for the most part she's settled into the person she'll be (more or less) until they put her in the ground. That person has anger management on lockdown.

She polishes off her tea and stands in one fluid motion, heading to deposit the cup in the sink. (The others were cleaned, she can't abide much mess)

When she comes back, she nods to a little board set up on one of her side tables.]

Do they have board games where you're from?

[Kassurat is sort of like a hybrid of go and checkers, with dice for an added element of luck. This set is made from wireglass, so there's a dark glitter to its pieces that makes it look downright ethereal.]

[aeturnus]

[ He watches her move, stands up automatically when she does but waits until she comes back. At the question, he looks uncomfortable and a bit confused, shakes his head. ]

No. I'm not sure what that is.

[greyjane]

[She's thinking 'uncomfortable' is his default state, so no harm there.]

Would you like to learn?

[That's carefully said. An offer, rather than an expectation.]

[aeturnus]

[ When everything is upside down, inside out and backwards? Sure is. ]

I'd always like to learn, Shai.

[greyjane]

Then pull your chair on over here.

[She scoots hers closer as well, and sits down on her side of the board. She starts to explain it once he's settled - her explanation is clear and concise and she'll answer any questions he may have. It's the first time since coming here that she's told anyone how to play it. It's one of those things that's rather personal for her. Everything from Janirak is. Once she's finished her explanation she leans back in her chair.]

Make sense?

[aeturnus]

[ He's going over each bit of explanation to himself, one hand moving faintly over the board as if playing it out when it matters. Eventually he nods and looks up at her with a sparkle in his eyes, glad to learn and excited to try. ]

Yeah, I think so.

[greyjane]

[Not a lad that's had much of a chance to shine, she thinks. Pity - he's smarter than he's probably ever had an opportunity to show.

(There's that rage, again, but she quells it with a smile.)]

All right. We can do a few rounds as warm-up, and then see how you're feeling. By the time we're done, should be just about time to start dinner.

[aeturnus]

[ Just wait until he teaches himself math and reading in a few years, then he'll finally get going on using all that inquisitiveness he's been unable to indulge in for so long. ]

That sounds like a good plan. Will you start?

[ So he can watch, and learn more from that. ]

[greyjane]

Of course.

[She rolls her dice to open - which regulates the number of moves you can do - and then she starts her initial set-up with her pieces. They react to each individual biometric signature and flare electric blue when she touches them, the glow will linger until the game is done.]

See, the strategy I'm using is to take the sea port side of the city.

[aeturnus]

[ Romulus listens avidly, paying attention to the idea even if the whys of the strategy are currently meaningless to him. He has the idea of what one must do to succeed, now he simply... has to figure out how to get to that end.

He'll mostly be quiet while he plays, speaking up to ask about his own movements and how much more he can do in a turn, things like that. Those lights are definitely one of the best parts, again like magic even he gets to touch. He and the magic teacher he's found won't be there for quite a while (if ever), after all. ]

[greyjane]

[He's good at it in a way she never was. Shai is absolutely rubbish at strategy and tactics on paper, but as soon as you throw blood and certain death into the mix her skills tend to plateau on a much higher level. This? It's a game she enjoys, but it's not one at which she excels.

The insight into how his mind works is downright fascinating. He's not just smart, she'd warrant, but uncannily so. She spends more of the game engaged in determining his next move than her own, and loses track of time entirely. It isn't until well after six that the game actually concludes, and he's won the day.

She sits back from the board with a faint hm. Just studying it for a moment. One of her wireglass pieces gets rolled between her index finger and thumb in an idle contemplation.]

Well. Haven't had that much fun in ages.

[aeturnus]

[ Time passes mostly without him noticing, which is new, because he's concentrating so much on the game. It's the sort of challenge he's never gotten to try before and Romulus takes to it like a duck to water and follows the metaphorical pathways opening before him every time Shai makes a move. As his understanding of the game grows while they play longer and longer, he starts getting—not fancy, but more intricate in the hopes of remaining enough steps ahead.

It isn't so much about winning or losing to him, so much as succeeding at this challenge of learning something new. When the last piece is played and he comes to the realization there's no further move to make, that he is the one who made the final play, he sits back in a bit of stunned silence. It occurs to him, then, that he's defeated the one he was playing against and he looks up at her carefully. Not quite fearfully but... uncertain. Even the other slaves, when playing their games and getting involved, could get rather passionate about a loss. ]

Um... I... I liked it.

[greyjane]

[She laughs outright as she begins to clean up the pieces, putting them back in their proper places. The blue flare fades from hers, and whatever colour his had been will as well.]

Really? I had no idea.

[She says that so breezily. She doesn't take loss - at least of this kind - poorly at all.]

You played well. Quite the treat. Haven't had a decent partner for Kassurat in years.