[ 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]

[ Cain just holds him for a while, arms up over his shoulders like he's bigger, like he's someone able to protect him, like family. A father, perhaps. And just lets him stay like that, encouraging Dodger to cling as tightly and lean as far as he needs. One of his hands finds the nape of Dodger's neck and he rubs small circles with his thumb, just little comfort that comes naturally. ]

[smokedout]

[Yeah, that... that really gets to him. Now he's sure the last time he got a hug like this, it came from his mother. And that really hits home that Cain really is.. kind of like a father. Keeping him fed, giving him advice, just.. being there for him. The sort of shit Benny McQueen had never bothered with, too busy raising Dodger to be an emotionless machine for following his orders.

He's wiping his eyes as he pulls away from the hug, doing his best to seem unaffected but at least comfortable that Cain won't tease him for it. God, he feels like a sap.]

Let's... uh. Let's get those burgers done, yeah? You need any help with 'em?

[aeturnus]

[ That motion gets a fond smile from Cain and he leads them into the kitchen to unpack and start readying the area for what he wants to do. ]

Yeah, sure. I'll get the stuff out and you can start forming the patties. How's that sound?

[smokedout]

Yeah... yeah, I can do that.

[Be cool, Dodger. He takes a moment to shake off his moment of weakness before moving to help out. More than anything he just needs something to keep his hands busy.]

Tonight's... kind of a mess, huh. The surprises, and... me being a moody asshole.

[aeturnus]

This is a mood-safe zone.

[ It's encouraged to feel things, Dodger. He nods and gets to pulling out the frying pan and the seasonings he'll want, motions to the package of ground meat and the sheet he's laid out to put them on. ]

Better it all gets out than it comes up later down the line at actually important moments.

[smokedout]

I guess so.

[Damn it, stop being so nice to him. He has no idea how to act - and his face is pink while he's working on forming those patties. At least he's doing a good job, if only because he fiddles with each one for much longer than he needs to to make sure they're perfect.]

The guy that raised me would've kicked my ass by now for bringing down the mood.

[And there's a bitter little laugh after this... he really wishes his mind wasn't stuck so hard in bad memories, but he guesses it is nice to be able to talk things through.]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain nods, focuses on what he's doing but watches Dodger over his shoulder whenever he passes by. The lack of comment on his construction is a good thing. ]

Right, I was a quiet kid and sometimes people took it as me being unhappy so I'd get shoved into tasks where people didn't have to look at me. [ He frowns, thoughtful. ] Which wasn't the greatest position to be in when my biggest value was being looked at.

So, yeah, don't worry about it. Helps to figure it out instead of shove it all aside.

[smokedout]

[He nods quietly, and there's a trace of a genuine smile back on his face again. Genuine, but a little bemused... it's still so weird to be treated like a normal person.]

When my mom died I wouldn't stop crying for a couple days... I barely even ate or slept. Everyone went easy on me the first week or so, but after a while I just got hit any time I started up. I think I was... nine or ten, when I finally stopped thinking about her.

[aeturnus]

[ Now is the time for feelings over making hamburgers apparently, and Cain can deal with that. It feels better than to ignore it, and the fact that Dodger's already opening up about it does wonders for his own confidence that emotionally taking the kid in is a good move. ]

They were wrong to do that. Doesn't change what happened, but missing her is a good thing.

[smokedout]

No shit...

[Still gratifying to hear someone tell it back to him, though.]

It's alright, though. I killed that man, left my old gang in shambles. So we're even.

[aeturnus]

[ That gets a little laugh. ]

It helped?

[smokedout]

Didn't hurt. [He shrugs.] Got my scars during the fight, but... that's what I get for sticking up for myself, I guess.

[He had looked like bloody ragdoll by the end of that fight, one mutant teenager with malfunctioning powers against one drunken grown adult with a broken bottle. But he'd made sure that Benny looked worse off by the end of it, and... he's honestly pretty proud of that. There isn't a trace of regret on his face.]

[aeturnus]

Not a bad way to get scars like that.

[ Cain gets it. Vengeance isn't really his gig but anger — he's felt that before and knows all about taking it out on those who gave it to him or deserve it. There's a certain justice to it over simply lashing out with no other option. ]

[smokedout]

[That gets a bigger smile out of him because hell yeah, finally someone who gets it. Honestly, that psychotic break of his was a long time coming and... well deserved by Benny.

Now if only Dodger would learn not to see people like Benny as a comfort zone, he might get somewhere.]

Alright, these are done.. hold on, I wanna try something.

[He grabs the last bit of meat, enough to make its own patty, and his hands heat up until they're glowing hot while he holds it. He's doing cooking science... and also getting hot grease everywhere, whoops.]

[aeturnus]

[ Mental breaks are something he totally gets, even if his own went in a different direction. The human mind is just too fragile under certain circumstances. ]

Whoa, hey. I haven't even seasoned them yet!

[ He's definitely entertained, though, and trying to watch without getting splashed by any of the grease. Not that it would matter much if he did... ]

You're cleaning this up, you know?

[smokedout]

[Dodger lets out a sheepish laugh, and... as it turns out he has no idea at what temperature meat should be cooked, so when he puts it down it's charred on the outside and likely still raw on the inside. There is a lot of spilt grease, though, mostly on his hands.]

Sorry... yeah, I'll clean it up.

[And he's gonna wash his hands before anything else.]

[aeturnus]

[ Curiosity overcomes Cain, so he grabs a knife and cuts the charred slab in half to inspect it. Huh. That's some intense heat he's got going there to sear the outside so badly without touching the inside, and he gives an impressed little whistle. ]

You could probably get away with that with some practice. Won't taste as good until I'm done with them first, though.

[ That said, he washes his own hands and gets to seasoning the meat and making sure it'll come out proper and even before starting up the frying pan and hovering his hand over it to test the heat there. ]

[smokedout]

[His face is red as he looks at the charred cross-section... yeah, that was definitely a goof. His attention turns to the frying pan instead, running his fingers over the surface to get a sense of how hot it should be.]

Was worth a shot.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain doesn't stop him, although he does eventually lift his own and tap the back of Dodger's to get him to move it. Then he gathers a few of the patties and sets them in to start cooking, grinning to himself at the way they start to sizzle almost immediately. ]

Everything's worth trying at least once.

[smokedout]

Sure.

[And he's... throwing away that charred hunk of meat and cleaning up the counter a bit while the patties cook, all the while keeping his attention on how long they take to cook.]

Since we're, uh... y'know, bleeding our hearts out - you wanna tell me what's up with you and dogs?

[aeturnus]

Pack of dogs ate my brother alive while I watched.

[ There. He said it. Easy, right? Just words. He can definitely divorce the words from the meaning because he's busy here and focusing on cooking without making a mess, and like hell he's going to mess up dinner because of his emotions. ]

[smokedout]

[Oh.]

Oh... shit.

[That's, um. Yep. That's something he shouldn't have asked about. And he's just... quietly trying to make himself busy fussing with the wraps on his arms, which he just realized are wet. Not... that he feels like he can just ask that and leave to replace them, so he'll deal with the discomfort.]

Alright, then... yeah, I'll make sure Brink stays outta your way.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain doesn't look away from what he's doing, but he does notice Dodger fidgeting next to him and makes sure his own breathing is steady. This is fine, everything is fine, he's had a long time to come to terms with it even if the fear will never fade. ]

I appreciate it, but it isn't so bad anymore. Just when I'm not expecting it or tired or something.

[ When he does look up to grab something, he notices the movements and the look. Tilts his head. ]

Remember that I offered to tell you in the first place earlier? Don't worry about it.

[smokedout]

[He opens his mouth to object, but... he just nods quietly and keeps fussing with the wraps.]

And I said I wouldn't push you, so.. yeah. Topic's over. Sorry.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain offers a half-smile, moving now that he sees what Dodger is doing and gently taking the wrap-covered wrists in his own hands. ]

They bugging you?