[ 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

[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?

[smokedout]

[He flinches just a bit as his arms are taken, but... he doesn't pull away. He just relaxes his hands with some effort.]

They got wet from the sink water... gotta replace 'em again, that's all.

[aeturnus]

[ Seeing that flinch, Cain flattens out his hands to be more resting spots for Dodger's arms and totally free to move away if he needs. ]

Why don't you go ahead and do that, and these should be done by then? Or closer to, anyway.

[smokedout]

[His expression turns grateful, that he doesn't have to explain what they're for, or.. why he wouldn't want to just take them off for now.]

Alright. I'll be back in a minute or two.

[And with that, he lightly removes his hands and bursts into sparks that trail up toward the ceiling.]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain watches the sparks go, then turns back to the stovetop and finishes up what he's doing. Rotates the patties and makes sure they won't be too grossly greasy and turns his attention away to get the buns and condiments ready for whatever Dodger might want on them. He's pretty simple, himself.

What's that? Thinking about all of his issues in the silence? Absolutely not! He knows way better than that. Stay focused. Deal with it later. It's not a big deal. ]

[smokedout]

[Dodger does submit to a moment of panic for a moment - the sort of stress that always comes from attention to his wrists. But he quickly redresses his wrists, and teleports back down in time to help plate the burgers.]

God damn.. these smell good.

[He's starting to get used to homemade food.. but there's still a childish sort of glee on his face as he sits down to eat.]

[aeturnus]

[ Cain's getting one of the tables set up since it's also pretty important to make it more of a sit-down thing for someone, he suspects, who never had that. Just give them more time to talk if they want, or to just enjoy the meal. ]

Yep. Even burgers can be done well if you know what you're doing.

[smokedout]

[Dodger's table manners are far from up to scratch... even when he was living with Benny, the rules weren't too strict about how he ate. And god knows none of his bosses afterward cared as long as he kept following orders. But at the very least he doesn't make much of a mess, and... well. The burger's gone within a minute anyway.]

Seriously... you would wanna leave me alone here after introducing me to your fuckin' cooking. You're a cruel man, Jake.

[aeturnus]

I don't want to leave you.

[ He laughs and shakes his head, motioning to the others for Dodger to help himself to if he wants. Cain's going to work on this first one and then get another if he feels like it. ]

I could always teach you some things if you wanted. Oh, and don't forget to leave room for dessert.

[smokedout]

I've always got room for more.

[He had eaten more than half of that lasagna... and most of the meals Cain has cooked since. And... despite himself, the grin on his face gets warmer at the reassurance that Cain wouldn't leave by choice. He doesn't believe him, not in the least, but... it's nice.]

I.. think I might like that, actually. Can't object to eating like this more often.