[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]

...Don't... think, Cain. Just start talking, okay...? Whatever comes first, just... let it go.

[his brother has been suffocating it all, suffocating and burying it away... and maybe it's been his failure as his guardian for not noticing how deep a hole he'd dug himself. but he had to stop it... now, before it was too late.]

[kinship]

[Start talking... that was the hard bit, surely Abel of all people could relate to this. When it comes to their fears and insecurities, they prefer to bury them instead of being vulnerable.

He opens and closes his mouth a few times, nothing coming out but air. Eyes fixed on his brother's, still identical to his own no matter what else has changed, it's the hope and hurt in them that make him finally start talking.]

I'm really... really scared. I don't want to lose you, but things here are... what if you die again and I can't help you? You're such an... idiot! You're going to throw yourself into danger and I won't be able to help and I'll lose you. I can't lose you...

[bloodsugar]

[...Cain...

still... afraid of him... dying? of losing him...

Abel pulls his brother into a tighter hug, tucking him under his chin. his heart is tight, panging sharply at the echo of Cain's pain.]

...You won't lose me. You won't. I won't let that happen. [it's why he'd gone to the post office, why he'd taken the risks -- he knew it would be worth it to give him peace of mind, but... it seemed that it still wasn't enough. would it take seeing it firsthand for him to absorb it...? no, he prayed that wasn't the case. he never wants him to see -that,- nevermind for it to be necessary.]

I told you, didn't I? I'm right here with you. No matter what... I will be right here with you.

[kinship]

You said that before Thanksgiving, you said that before... last time, you keep saying it and you can't... make it true.

[It's not Abel's fault, he doesn't mean to blame him. But this town likes to make a mockery of his promises. How does he know Cain won't be taken away again in the night, or that Crusnik won't be nullified leaving him just as vulnerable to death as before?]

[bloodsugar]

...

[there is no counter, really -- there is no reassurances that he could make; all his promises end up lies and he knows it, yet he keeps making them anyway.]

But, we're... still here. [it's quiet.] After it all, we're... still here, together.

[kinship]

[He shakes his head jerkily, voice a little thicker and huskier. He trusts Abel, always will, but he can't trust this town one bit.]

You keep... we both keep getting hurt and... I can't sleep right, I'm so scared.

[All the time, head full of things that had happened to them both and worrying over things that might happen.]

[bloodsugar]

[he pulls Cain tighter still, ducking his head and tense with a protective, possessive rigidity. it kills him that he's right, and it kills him even more there isn't a single fucking thing he can do about it.]

...It's okay to be scared.

[kinship]

[Not this scared, not all the time. It's exhausting and harrowing, he doesn't want to feel like he's jumping at shadows.]

...I'm always scared when you're not here now.

[When they're not together, when he doesn't know if Abel is safe or not.]

[bloodsugar]

[he says it's different... that they're different, but doesn't this only serve to prove how much they are still the same?

Abel could say the very same in return with whole-heartedness...]

...You have to have faith in me.

[he can't say he won't be hurt or taken or... killed -- but he can say that he will always return.]

[kinship]

I do, it's...

[Them. He doesn't have faith in this town at all.]

Please... please don't leave me.

[bloodsugar]

Have more faith in my desire to come back to your side, no matter the cost to them or anyone else... than you do in them stopping me.

[he tilts Cain's chin up again, and his eyes are firm in this. if his little brother's arrogance stretched to his own intelligence, Abel's was his own endurance. a near millennium of being unable to die, of always 'coming back,' even... here, without Crusnik -- has blinded him to that inevitability.]

Nothing will ever keep me from coming back to you. Not... ever.

[kinship]

[That's exactly what he needed to hear. It doesn't diminish the fear at all, but it does ease his heart a bit. That sounds like his brother, and... how could he doubt that?

There's gratitude in his eyes as he throws his arms around Abel again, just holding him as tight and as best he can.]

[bloodsugar]

[it had been true at home, hadn't it? no matter how often he got the shit beat out of him, no matter if they stranded him out on the surface of Mars... no matter if they tried to grind his ego and sense of self into the dust -- he stubbornly refused to give up or in. he kept living, kept fighting. it would be the same here.]

...I'd fight for you. To come back to you, no matter what.

[don't ever doubt that. >:]

[kinship]

[He knows, and it's so infinitely reassuring to hear it from Abel's lips. It's these reminders he is still his brother that comfort him, make the pain easier to bear.

He's shaking, trembling like it was cold, but it's just the sheer strength of emotion still struggling to get out and the relief of letting some of it out.]

Thank you.

[bloodsugar]

[he doesn't have to say more; the way his arms are tight and possessive around him said everything words couldn't. he will be here and he doesn't care what they do -- no matter what, he'll always do whatever it takes to get you back or save you. and if they hunt him, then he'll make his way back. he always does and always will. you're his, the other half of him, even as you are -- even as HE is. he'll make it back.

he always makes it back.]

[kinship]

[The smell of Abel is comforting and familiar, and he buries his face fiercely into his brother's chest to inhale it deeply. He's still scared, so scared of a lot of things, but this is helping.]

...What if they... take me again?

[It had been so much worse than anything the scientists back home had done, they had never messed with his brain to make him a shrieking wreck of himself.]

[bloodsugar]

[he wants to say 'they won't.' it's on his lips, and he has to force himself to swallow it again.

...empty promises are not what will offer him consolation, now.]

...Then... I will get you back.

[and one day... he will make them -pay- for it.]

[kinship]

[He nods. It's... not enough, but he knows it's all anyone can do, he'll claw his way back to Abel.]

I'm really tired.

[Not sleepy, he's slept enough. Tired of this, of being scared, of having nightmares when he sleeps and--]

[bloodsugar]

I know.

[he never thought he would see the day he thought his brother was safe in the hands of the scientists.

...but he does...]

[kinship]

I keep... dreaming of being there.

[Awake but paralysed as she stood over him, lucky that it was just an injection and nothing more invasive. Of the recovery room and the other people, and his reality slowly warping.]

[bloodsugar]

You can talk to me... you... know that, don't you, Cain?

[when he has bad dreams, when he's scared... when an idle unhappy thought crosses his mind. he can tell him.]

[kinship]

[No, no, no. That's the whole point, he can't talk to anyone, not even Abel. If he lets the barriers down and things spill out, what if he can't put them back up in time when he needs to?]

...I know.

[bloodsugar]

Do you?

[he is looking down on his little brother with worry. then why don't you, Cain...?]

[kinship]

I know.

[He knows he COULD, he has no doubt Abel would listen, and it isn't a matter of trust. But he also knows he can't, because of his own cowardice.]

It's... I know you're here for me.

[bloodsugar]

It's what?