[ 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]

Best kind of family to have.

[A beat. She gets up to go stir the sauce a final time, and then she takes it off the heat.]

I'm sorry he isn't here.

[It's obvious he's not, the way Romulus talks about him, else they'd be together.]

[aeturnus]

[ They'd absolutely be inseparable. It's obviously something he thinks about a lot, and honestly he tries not to think about it just as much. Remus's absence is like a hole in his heart and soul and it hurts either way, but he has to stay strong in order to return to him again. ]

I mean, it's... not your fault.

[greyjane]

Of course not. But I know what it's like to miss folks from far away. Not a fate I'd wish on anyone.

[Dead. She means dead. And Liranya and Orpheo and Winterlace, but at least she has faith she'll see them again.]

[aeturnus]

[ His hands are empty now and he finds that absence of anything to hold after the last few hours with them busy to be pretty noticeable. All the dishes are dealt with, the phone in the other room, no more game to play. So he just keeps his head down. ]

Yeah. I'll see him again, though.

[ ... but for how long is the real question. Will he learn enough while he's here to do anything? Remus has so little time left... ]

[greyjane]

You're an optimist, Romulus? Never would have guessed.

[Enjoy that gentle teasing, done as she plates up for the both of them and then brings them over. She sets his down in front of him with a flourish.]

Here you go, love. Eat until your heart's content.

[aeturnus]

Am I?

[ It just seems like clinging to the facts for him. He looks up at her with a smile on his lips, grateful and trying to hide how overwhelmed he is. Being served food especially is, well, very strange for him. ]

Thank you, Shai.

[greyjane]

Aren't you?

[He's a gentle soul. They always suffer the most in the hard times, and he doesn't need to lay his traumas bare for her for her to know they're there. She wonders if Remus is like Vala - looking out for his brother at all costs.]

Don't thank me with words, you daft boy, thank me by enjoying a good meal. All right?

[She'd ruffle his hair if she didn't think he'd flinch away, so she settles instead for a very light touch of her fingers to his wrist, and then she sits down at her own plate.]

[aeturnus]

Well... no one's called me that before.

[ They don't really have many relationships where it would come up, either. Remus being by his side helps him see clearer, too.

Her touch doesn't get a flinch, but his hand does twitch and he startles. Just confused for a moment before he moves on while mulling over the sensation. Good, he thinks, and waits for her to begin eating first. The smile on his face is still there, small but present. ]

[greyjane]

First time for everything?

[She says that so cheerfully, mostly just to keep his spirits up.]

[aeturnus]

There's a lot of first times here.

[ Mostly because Romulus has never had everything before. Her tone helps him from going fully down that trail, though, and he nods instead of tucking his head down further. ]

[greyjane]

Mm. Quite a bit different than home for you? What level's your tech at?

[He's seen enough now he can probably give an approximation.]

[aeturnus]

[ His eyes narrow in thought, but it doesn't really take long at all to answer. ]

Nothing? There's... there's absolutely nothing like this.

[greyjane]

Still fetching water from rivers?

[Her tone is sympathetic rather than condescending.]

[aeturnus]

Or the wells, yes.

[ That water can just be wherever people want now is crazy. There's no real variation of levels; everything here is all under a single blanket of miraculous. ]

[greyjane]

Agriculture?

[Ah, Kveth, she's no Mithys. He'd be able to rattle off the approximate historical or anthropological progression of a sentient species easy enough. She never cared enough about history to bother with that manner of thing.]

[aeturnus]

Like farming?

[ That's the closest he's got. That he knows of, anyway. ]

[greyjane]

Aye.

[She doesn't really expect him to know a specific year or the method by which dates are recorded, since. You know. Deliberately fostered ignorance in slave populations is a tenet of humanity everywhere you go.]

[aeturnus]

Then yes. We have farming.

[ Yeah, he doesn't really know how much he doesn't know but the idea of bringing it down to such basics and that there might still be more out there like this and he just has no idea is... frightening, in a way. ]

[greyjane]

[Farming and the mastery of water-sources. Always the first step to building cities of any permanence. She wonders at the weapons they have in his time, his world, and whether or not there's anything like culgenics.

His hands are too smooth for farm-work anyway. And he's being recalcitrant enough about this subject that it's no hardship to her to change it.]

My people have been travelling the stars for-- mm, a few hundred years in my time. Crazy, isn't it? To think of the differences.

[aeturnus]

[ He breathes out softly, smiles a bit. ]

It's almost impossible to really grasp. My home is much smaller than this city, and you... go out into the sky. Like it's a story.

[greyjane]

[... well that gives her an idea. She gives him a speculative look, and then rests her chin in her palm as she absently sticks her fork into a chunk of tofu.]

Not afraid of heights, are you?

[aeturnus]

Afraid of heights? I don't think so.

[ They climbed trees a lot when they were younger, he's pretty sure. ]

[greyjane]

[Mmhmm. She pushes a straggling piece of some vegetable or another around on her plate. She wouldn't dream of wasting leftovers - funny thing you grow averse to when you've been starving - but she's certainly almost done.]

Then I think I might have something to show you when we're done.

[She can't take them into space, but the sky? Absolutely. And it's dark enough that the stars are out and the evening's lovely and warm. Perfect night for it, really.]

[aeturnus]

[ He's been eating too while she talks, slow to finish since he wants to make it last. His gaze is alight with curiosity at her statement. ]

Something more?

[greyjane]

[There's plenty more, you poor boy. She made extra.

She just smiles, though. If she knew him better, maybe she'd just say it was going to be a surprise, but since she genuinely has no context for how well he'd take to that--]

I can't use my constructs - the little blue whatsits I conjure up - to fly, but I can build one hell of a staircase. Straight up, high as you like. We can see the entire city.