[008]

[bloodsugar]

A): phone - mid-morning.

[OPEN;]

[one hazard of spending a good deal of your time lurking on the phone lines is that one might become prone to forgetting that people can HEAR you while you listen. so, it's entirely innocent, of course, when the half-absent and somewhat petulant mumble comes across the phone lines sometime this morning.]

...all this talk of Valentines Day... honestly! As if they're rubbing it in some of us are destined to be forever alone. 'Vow of celibacy'? More like vow of perpetual and ongoing boredom.

[...a pause.]

It's not like I wanted to find out what a romantic holiday with another human being is like, regardless... eh? I'm sure edible underwear isn't all it's cracked up to be, anywa--

[...]

Eh? [wait for it.]

AH--

[...there's a rather flustered squawk, and a hasty CLICK of the phone into the cradle.]

[filter to Charles Fei-Ong]

Alright, so maybe I'm a little late in checking in. You'll forgive me, right? After all, I'm sure you've been busy collecting recipes and taste testing! [no really are you okay... :| last time he saw you, after all, was... uh, colorful, to say the least.]

...I don't suppose you'd be up for a cup of tea, Charles? [he has a feeling you'll just bs him even if you weren't alright over the phone, anyway. CLEARLY HE MUST BE NOSY IN PERSON.]

[filter to Esther Blanchett]

Esther-- do you have a minute? There's... ah, something I wanted to ask you. [AND IT DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH EDIBLE UNDERWEAR HE SWEARS DEAR GOD.]

[filter to Django]

How are you holding up, partner? I hope the radio silence is because you've been gloriously enjoying the sunshine, hm? Making up for lost time and all that...! [are you okay partner? :(]

B): action; 1648 Albright Lane - lunchtime.

[there's the smell of something burning, late in the morning approaching lunchtime -- and if Rachel or Cain follows their nose, they might find the source in the form of one (1) Abel Nightroad with his drone wife's FRILLY PINK APRON several sizes too small draped around his neck and haphazardly tied back in the process of butchering... grilled cheese. yes, he is a total failure.

...somehow, he's gotten butter all over the counter and is trying to catch an overturned bottle of orange juice that is apparently spilling its contents over and onto the floor. the pan is burning and he's jostling cups and plates, trying not to drop EVERYTHING EVER as he fumbles to cease the spill of juice fruitlessly.

NO ONE SAID YOUR DAD WAS GOOD AT BEING DOMESTIC. this is why.]

C): action; around town - afternoon.

[the tall, lanky, and often times clumsy priest is among your streets today, Mayfield! anyone similarly prone to hitting up the bakery quite often might recognize his face, or simply wish to gape at the way he's leaving cheerily with a bag under his arm and so engrossed in the effort of inhaling the vanilla frosted doughnut in his hand he is clearly not paying attention to anything else. ...like the sidewalk. which, he may or may not inevitably trip over at an uneven crack and WOEFULLY lose his doubtlessly precious bounty as the bag tumbles to spill the fruits of his labor everywhere...

...and maybe his doughnut might happen to ah. misplace... itself from his hand and end up on your face. WHAT DO?]

D): action; church - evening.

[Abel's day eventually brings him to someplace to seek solace, to rest a weary soul... or something of that effect. one who enters might be hard pressed to FIND said priest who should be more or less easy to spot on the regular, right? how many 6'4 lanky bastards in cassock ARE there in here?

...but if one is apt enough, they might notice that the Father's side of the confessional is occupied. do you care to confess? ...or notice that said Father might just be lightly snoring if you listen hard enough...]

Comments

[bloodsugar]

[...oops well the conversation was a little more intense than he thought it would be... ;( he took some time to get his head together and piece out how he could possibly approach Cain after it, and...

he looks a little surprised to see him there by the window.]

Cain?

[kinship]

[You don't look happy, bro... He smiles, as if he wasn't just worried, nope not him.]

Welcome home! Miss Astha made stew.

[bloodsugar]

Ah... did she? I'm sorry; I got caught up a little later than expected.

[offering an apologetic smile! and shrugging out of his cloak. all the herps.]

[kinship]

Where did you go?

[It's not like Abel to go out and not tell him where he's going, especially after recent events.]

[bloodsugar]

...I took a walk with Esther.

[wiggling out of his wet boots, next -- the drone had chewed him out for that one last time -- he awkwardly rubs at the back of his head, before gesturing to the couch to sit.]

Can we... talk a second?

[kinship]

[It doesn't take a genius to figure out why he had gone to Esther after what they had talked about, and he feels a flash of betrayal... Abel had gone without him, when Cain he specifically asked to be there too?!

He just nods, coming to sit on the couch where he'd gestured. He shouldn't jump to conclusions, Abel would only be looking out for him... he must have gone to make sure he was definitely still alive so he could reassure Cain. Right? RIGHT?]

Of course.

[bloodsugar]

[it was true he'd gone behind his back to look out for him, if in a different way than his brother imagined. what he had gotten was not what he had wanted to hear at all.

however... perhaps it was what Cain wanted in the end, regardless, in his ignorance of the entire situation, of his fate. but... Abel wanted it that way. he had a chance at being happy and having hope this way, right...? even if it was blind hope, blind faith, he'd be clinging to. it was better than the desolation of nothingness.

Abel sits beside him, looking less than enthusiastic to be partaking in this conversation -- but he knows from his brother's expression he knows what subject he's about to broach between them.]

...I know you wanted to be there, but...

[he gives him an apologetic shake of his head.]

I had to ask myself, or I don't know that... I could've asked at all.

[kinship]

[Abel isn't looking overjoyed; in fact, he's looking like distinctly unhappy... it had to have been hopeful news though, it just had to have been.

He doesn't understand why he couldn't have been there, they were twins and there should be no secrets or holds barred.]

What... what did she say?

[bloodsugar]

...

[there is a long pause as he tries to pull together all the ways he had gone over and over this moment in his head as he'd walked Mayfield's streets tonight in preparation. every single word of what he told himself he'd say had fled him when it came down to the crucial moment, naturally; he's left floundering and crossed between the guilt of what feels deceitful and the necessity of protecting his precious baby brother.

...

he ends up rubbing at his face, irritated at himself -- the words caught in his throat as he swallows down an effort to start that ends in stopping before he can get anything out.]

You-- were... right, Cain. You're still--

[...still alive. somehow, he had failed to destroy the monster -- and it was now playing games with Esther's life, and heading the Orden.]

[kinship]

[The initial flare of hope is tinged with trepidation at Abel's expression, his brother doesn't look as happy as he should. So what if the Crusnik had survived too? It at least gave him a shot at life again one day, at freedom.]

--but?

[There has to be a but, Abel wouldn't be looking as though he were facing the headsman otherwise.]

[bloodsugar]

[he ducks his head a bit, rubbing fingers through his hair in search of what to say next. there was no concealing that he is not half as pleased as Cain at this revelation, and there is no way he can explain the sincere reasons why. the only alternative is to create a lie as close to the truth as possible without giving away too much.]

...But it's... a difficult situation. It turns out that a lot has been going on that I wasn't aware of up until now... not just about-- [...not you.] ...this, but... dangerous people, too.

[kinship]

Abel...

[It feels like words are sticking in his throat, chest tight as he tilts his face properly towards his brother. He's begging him, albeit silently, not to lie... don't omit, don't protect him, he has to know or it'll drive him crazy.]

[bloodsugar]

[Abel can't look at his face. it isn't an outright lie; it isn't... finding out that his brother had headed the Orden-- that Isaak, that everything that's been going on for all these years was... HIS doing, was...]

...Terrorists that go by the 'Rosenkreutz Orden' have been pushing to reignite war between the Methuselah and the humans for a decade. Now, they're deeply involved with Esther... and I had no idea.

[kinship]

[Terrorists? He knows what the situation is, sort of, from talks with Abel and Esther before - but he hasn't heard anything about them before.]

What does that have to do with me?

[Why had it come up when Abel was discussing his future with Esther?]

[bloodsugar]

...You weren't the only one to have saved her from an unfortunate situation. A man named Kampfer did the same.

[kinship]

And he's part of this organisation?

[bloodsugar]

One of their highest ranked members, yes. He's done terrible things. Been responsible for the greatest losses we've suffered, ever since they surfaced.

[kinship]

...And we both saved her?

[He's putting two and two together slowly, he's not quite there yet.]

[bloodsugar]

...yes, at... different times.

[he isn't exactly making it hard to connect the dots.]

I don't know why...

[kinship]

[Yeah, he's got there... and he's stuck staring for a moment.]

I'm a member of a terrorist organisation?

[bloodsugar]

[he sits a little straighter, and-- shakes his head, quickly.]

--That's not--

[well, it IS, isn't it?]

...It's... there's no way to draw a definitely link between the Orden and-- 01, Cain. [not you. 01. it -isn't- you.] I didn't even... realize that it was still--

[...alive.]

[kinship]

[Abel's evasive wording really isn't helping, but he's not... as disturbed by this as he should be. At least he's still alive, at least he's free (of a sort) even if it's just his body and not his mind.]

...

[bloodsugar]

[...

he finds his heart is beating harder in this silence. had he said the wrong thing...? he thought that this would only go over at some... acceptable level if he'd conceded a part of the truth with it, but... maybe it had been a mistake.]

[kinship]

[He's quiet for a long moment, trying to sort this through in his head before replying. He doesn't want there to be this barrier between them of Abel trying so carefully to pick his words, as though he were made of spun glass.]

...I need to know everything you do. No more word games or hiding, you can't... hide my future from me, it's not fair.

[bloodsugar]

...Not... fair?

[he hates that he's this transparent. to Esther, to Cain... the both of them, the people in Mayfield he wants to protect most -- neither one of them accepts what he is offering. he can be grateful that Esther won't press, but... Cain is like a dog with a bone. he sniffs it out and won't let it go.]

You don't think it's fair...? No one should know their own future, Cain. I've told you too much already.