[ 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]

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.

[aeturnus]

[ It doesn't quite occur to him yet that the extra is all just for them. Making a lot of food in a household like his master's is commonplace. He's distracted by other things. ]

High up... Could we touch the stars?

[ Like the ones she made? ]

[greyjane]

[A bit of a laugh--]

Okay, not quite that high. There's no air up there. The atmosphere - what we breathe - is sort of like a giant ball around the planet.

[She makes constructs as she talks, to demonstrate her meaning. One solid bright blue ball surrounded by a more transparent layer. This is one area she probably could get into the straight science of, but she doesn't think describing things like stratosphere would do aught but confuse him.]

Once we pass this layer, we - people, humans - stop being able to breathe. And space is also quite cold.

[aeturnus]

[ Romulus sits back a bit, looks on in awe. Not being able to breathe sounds like a bummer and he doesn't want to go that far, but knowing this now is amazing. ]

Are clouds out of reach?

[greyjane]

[Her smile's a bit soft and wistful.]

No. We can touch clouds if you'd like.

[An easy request, in the grand scheme of things.]

[aeturnus]

I'd like to do that.

[ As close to the sky as possible. The sky's never been tied down before, and he wants to be up there with it. ]

[greyjane]

[She gestures to his plate.]

Then eat up. Anything you don't finish now we can save for later, and there's plenty more so don't you worry about eating me out of house and home. We can go when you're finished up and ready.

[A pause.]

And has anybody told you about showers yet?

[aeturnus]

[ There's an odd moment where he absorbs the information about dinner, then finishes his plate. He hesitates for a moment before getting up to serve himself more, watching Shai the whole time from the corner of his eyes.

Some of that tension breaks when she asks that, though. ]

Yes. Yeah. I know about showers.

[greyjane]

[She pointedly looks at other things, because that boy is not subtle about that observation. Goodness gracious, is that a clock on the wall? How fascinating.]

Oh good. So I don't have to extol their virtue at length. Make sure you take as many of those as you please, too.

[aeturnus]

[ It helps set him at ease, being invisible in a very obvious way, and he serves himself more before sitting back down at the table. He seems to be in a good mood about it, however. ]

They're amazing. Strange to get used to but... I like them.

[greyjane]

Nothing quite like a hot shower after a hard day.

[It's the only luxury in her life she'll go out of her way unnecessarily to enjoy. Everything else she can live without in a pinch but by god, take away her showers and she'll riot.

(Nothing so dramatic, of course, she can make do without them, but it's entirely the principle of the thing.)]

All right, you sit and enjoy that, I'm going to finish up the dishes. No guilt, all right? I mean it.