[ open ]

[aeturnus]

who: Cain (Jacob Kane) [aeturnus] / You!
what: Catch-all for the rest of the month
where: Floor Six, out in the city, Gramarye
when: July 15th-31st
warnings: n/a, will edit as necessary. pls tell me what he'd see on your character, though!

Floor Six.
[ Cain's not one much to outright bug people in their home turf. Unfortunately for the people that live on the sixth floor of communal housing, it's also his home turf and so he's definitely made himself comfortable in the meanwhile. For quite some time now, he's had a table set up in the corner of the central room with various bits and bobs and inventions — more recently, they've begun to take more concentrated shapes such as a briefcase or something circular of the same size. There's a notebook laying on the disc and, for those who know technical jargon, it appears to be working out methodology for allowing the objects to go down and up in size without harming the structural integrity. It notes his own laptop as the first example which is probably why this isn't all typed down in the first place.

There's a small bear that accompanies Cain around the floor half the time, has been around since mid-June when he recovered from the Chalice's power, strange but perhaps not too strange for where they all are right now. It speaks in simple utterances but appears to enjoy all the floormates, especially if they feel like giving it food. Where is it the other half of the time??? Good question.

Aside from that, most days he cooks for himself and others if asked. His cooking skills are fantastic, definitely above bar even when he's just making something quick, and he never really minds sharing. Once a week, however, he seems to plan something more specific and even starts setting up the making of a cheesecake; when he puts that one in the freezer to set, he puts a note on saying it's off-limits. Weird!

Other than that he's probably got a lot of books around his bed and always seems to be doing... something even if it's quiet. Finding him truly at rest and unbusy is near to impossible. At least he still sleeps sometime, at the very reasonable hours of 4-9AM. ]

Out & About.
[ There's a lot of time spent out in the city. When he isn't working on his job, projects, magic lessons, physical training, or language lessons for friends, he's wandering. It's about 40/60 since not everything is done all at once or on the same days and he knows how to structure himself. There's still too much to see in the city and more often than not he wanders just to cement the buildings and businesses in his mind, keeping an eye out for anything new or places that may have shut down or changed due to people being relocated or going home.

There's some of that, but not as much as he'd hope or expect.

Still, he forges on and keeps an eye out. Things happen all the time and he'd rather not miss it. Or at least he'd rather be there in person because inevitably everything ends up on the internet. Sometimes he'll even have purpose, such as shopping for groceries or checking out various tech shops as if he can discern their secrets just from window-shopping. ]

Gramarye.
[ Cain's here once or twice a week for multiple reasons. Much as his world is about as magical as a brick (ghosts and Reapers aside), he's found an aptitude for it within himself and takes lessons from Victor von Doom and Lucretia. So, of course, he stops by and peruses their books where he can.

Most notably he's been helping Lucretia with her project to collate information on various worlds' magical influences and how casting works there, so sorry not sorry if you get stopped to answer a few questions or maybe they just need some clarification on a statement you already made? Or maybe he's just hogging the copier because Lucretia takes Many, Many Notes and he needs versions of them for himself too.

He's probably hogging the copier the most, tbh. ]

For Loki (616).
[ Although Cain's notably been avoiding showing up to Tony's lab directly, after sending that game-like testing application to Tony (okay, maybe it really is just a game pretending to be something useful), he stops by to see if it's helped on the progress of the actual things. Unannounced because it's more of a work location than a home location and he figures if Tony's general attitude and work ethic are to base anything off of, he's probably there, right? Right.

So he shows up, laptop-phone-ridiculous-thing in his pocket and a few things he's been working on in his bag. That it doesn't seem occupied at first glance is surprising, but he'll go ahead and enter anyway. Not like a security system is really going to do much more than alert people he's here. That's the whole point. ]

Hey... Tony?

Wildcard!
[ Think of a scenario I didn't? Hit me up here. If you aren't sure whether it's cool or not, find me at biomagnet, biomagnet#1925 @ disco, or PM me! ]

Comments

[aeturnus]

[ Okay. Okay, cool. Whitelisted. No chance of breaking security protocol and it looks like Dodger won't sic his dog on him anytime soon. He can... relax. Kind of. Okay. He takes a deep breath and pushes away from the counter. ]

So. That was unexpected, but uh... I'll deal. I'm a big boy. Ready to go?

[ He moves as if about to leave, then stops. Dammit. He hates panic because it just overrides everything you've learned to deal with in other circumstances. ]

Let me get my bag. I can meet you outside if you want.

[smokedout]

[Brink tips his head, before looking up at Dodger.] If I'm a problem, I can go back to guarding your room.

Uhh.. that might be a good idea. Jake, do you uh- need me to put him back? Just had him with me in case Adam called me, since my phone's dead - he's like a computer, sorta.

[aeturnus]

[ That slows him down and he nods. ]

Yeah, for now. Look, I can explain later or... not. Whatever. It just surprised me.

[smokedout]

...Not gonna push you. I'll meet you down there, I gotta walk him back so I can open the door for him.

[Brink doesn't need to be told twice, and turns to leave before Dodger follows behind him.]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain takes the brief moment to put a hand on the counter and lean, just breathes. All of his emotions and memories and things relating to that time have become more raw than usual after the Chalice. It hasn't even been a month yet and it'll take him longer than that to bury it down back to its muted self. A dog's never good for his mentality, however, and he'll have to steel himself to seeing Brink around if it's Dodger's dogbot.

What a way to lose it in front of someone who doesn't need that though, huh? He laughs quietly, pulls away to retrieve his things, then heads out to meet Dodger up front. ]

[smokedout]

[Dodger teleports down once Brink is situated and has reactivated his security protocol, so he's waiting for Cain when he comes out. He doesn't look up as Cain walks past him, just lighting a new cigarette and falling into step with him.]

Sorry I didn't warn you ahead of time. About the dog.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain's not surprised Dodger got here first, not with the way he can teleport and all that, but the apology does get shift in expression. There's a lot he could say to that if he's being honest but most of all... ]

Yeah, because dog phobias are so common. It's all right, Dodger. You couldn't have known.

[ Even better is when people realize who Cain really is and then expect him to love dogs and wolves thanks to that myth. It sucks and is the literal opposite of the truth, but sometimes that's how myth forms from reality anyway. ]

[smokedout]

Some people just don't like 'em. But... whatever, it's an easy fix.

[He's never had much of an opinion one way or the other... Brink is his first pet, ever, and he's never even really made friends with strays or anything like that. Lucky for him that his first pet doesn't need to eat or be cleaned up after.]

So uh... what've you been up to? I don't... keep tabs on you much.

[As opposed to the 40 other people in this city that he's constantly tracking information for... gee, Dodger, you really know how to talk like a normal human.]

[aeturnus]

I am sorry about that. He seemed... nice?

[ His tone is reluctant, but genuine at the least. He just can't abide by dogs, not even after twenty-eight hundred years. It's very hard when they continue to feature in your nightmares even to this day. ]

Sticking my nose everywhere. The usual. Magic lessons are probably the most exciting thing for me.

[smokedout]

He's a dog. Not much else to him - all he cares about is following orders and learning things, just like me.

[It actually grounds him a little, thinking about how much he and Brink have in common.]

You're learning magic? What does that even mean?

[aeturnus]

Like I said. He seemed nice.

[ Just because the goals are simple doesn't mean the attitude doesn't matter. At that question, however, he laughs lightly. ]

I'm learning the theory and being taught the practice. Apparently there's some systems where it doesn't have to be an innate power to channel it.

[ Like so. He tosses his hand up in front of himself and casts prestidigitation, which is literally the only thing he can do from Lucretia's type of magic so far. With it, there's a small shower of green sparks in the air in front of them that fades before it even drifts far enough to touch anything. ]

[smokedout]

[Dodger actually jumps back at the sudden sparks - it isn't a sign of actual panic, but a definite twitch of unease at the sight.]

Who uh... who's teaching you that?

[Because that looks a whole lot like the sort of handsigns Taako uses... and he's ended up jumpy from that whole affair.]

[aeturnus]

Okay, I think we need to put an embargo on wordless surprises today.

[ It's said ruefully because yeah, he realizes that was his bad now. Apparently it's just in the air today. That said, he does give a curious and someone concerned look for the reaction to some harmless tiny sparks. ]

Someone named Lucretia. She works at Gramarye.

[smokedout]

[He takes a deep breath, and... yeah, he doesn't know who that is. So he just nods, bashing himself silently for making a fuss.]

Yeah, I just uh... ran into some trouble with magic recently. [He's fussing with the wraps on his wrists, but at least not scratching at them.] Those sparks all you can do?

[aeturnus]

From that practice, yeah. Working on the rest. There's another one I'm figuring out too, but even actualizing it is harder.

[ Cain... why are you learning two different types of magic at once? (Answer: because his curiosity and capacity for learning is insane.) That said, he just wiggles his fingers without doing anything specific. ]

What kind of trouble?

[smokedout]

[His face is a bit pink, which shows up pretty clearly on his ashen skin, but he trusts Cain and only Cain with the truth about that encounter.]

I got my ass kicked by a crossdressing elf wizard.

[And somehow he gets the feeling Cain will know who he's talking about.]

[aeturnus]

[ He does, which is why Cain gives a sympathetic wince. From what he knows about Taako, that guy's experience is no joke. That said, he also realizes that he is indeed learning a similar type of magic to the one Dodger is iffy about. ]

Ouch.

I'll be honest with you, though, it's the same kind of magic that I'm learning. Don't intend to do anything particularly violent with it; that's just one of the many uses and there's plenty of other ways to get that done if I need it.

[smokedout]

[He offers a small grunt of acknowledgement... trying not to be nervous about that. If Cain can trust him not to sic Brink on him, he can trust Cain not to use his magic on him. It would be... a fucking mess for both of them, if they got in a fight with those.]

Just keep it away from me, and I'll be fine.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain laughs, because that one is easy. ]

You got it. I'll make sure to keep the practice away from you, no problem.

[ They're about to the market by now, so Cain takes a bit more of a lead here. Knows what he needs and where to get it by now, so it should be a short trip all around. ]

[smokedout]

[Dodger offers a small laugh in return - a tentative noise, but hey, it's always genuine around Cain. And while they're shopping, he mostly follows silently while glancing around at different things.

A few times, when he thinks Cain isn't looking, he'll teleport away and return with his hands in his pockets, or hastily placing something in there. Nothing big or valuable - a candy bar here, a few coins he might have found on the ground there. A wallet, once, albeit a light one with little in it.]

So.. why are you learning magic, anyway? Aren't you sorta set already, not dying?

[aeturnus]

[ Cain notices the movement sometimes but doesn't comment, because it's not his place. Their deal was just not to pull anything over on Cain and so he keeps his side by not demanding anything more. Whatever Dodger wants to do to keep his attention is predicated on that deal, not general behavior, or else he'd just be expecting something completely unfair.

So. He leaves that be for now.

At the question, he doesn't look up from the item he's checking on but he does tip his head with an enh sound. ]

Functionally, yes, but I like to learn and this is something entirely new from anything I've seen before. It could be useful, and it would help in understanding the portal and its malfunction that's bringing people who don't want to be here. I've got science down, not so much the magic.

[smokedout]

So you're learning it for the sake of it? Or... helping people, I guess.

[Both seem like pretty pointless endeavors... but he just shrugs.]

The quarantine's pretty shitty... but I never feel like going home. I wonder what sorta crazy paradises people come from that makes going back worth it.

[aeturnus]

More like self-improvement. I want to get back home eventually and understanding this technology is probably a once in a lifetime chance. Or... once in a regular lifetime.

[ There's the possibility that his own reality will come to similar technology naturally and of course he'll probably be around to see it, but something like that — Cain only imagines it so far in the future that he probably won't even remember this anymore. So it kind of counts, right? ]

For me, I have something I need to finish, no way around it. Even if this place is pretty nice.

[ Yeah, Dodger just called it shitty but Cain doesn't see it that way, not for what it is. ]

[smokedout]

[In all honesty, when he says 'shitty' he means 'boring', anyway. The quarantine is an absolute paradise compared to the gang wars and super-powered crime running rampant in his reality. It's just that growing up constantly fearing for your life and then suddenly not needing to really gets to some people.

Which is of course why he has to keep tradition going here.]

Why bother with it? You're here now. No way for the consequences to hit you if you stay. Might as well just forget about it, make a new life.. like the locals want you to.

[aeturnus]

There's people back there I can't abandon. World balance kind of stuff, if you believe it.

[ He shrugs a shoulder, glances over to him. ]

Might have figured it out by now but I'm going to outlive all the locals here anyway, and I don't want to get caught up in some situation that's not even my problem because I decided to stick around and sight-see for a while.

Doesn't mean I won't take the break when it's offered, though.