kinship | 010 Omens of Crusnik

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010 Omens of Crusnik

[A: Elementary School (OPEN)]

[What is that sound floating out over the playground at lunch? It's piano music, just basic tunes being repeated over and over again from the open window of the music room. Cain has retired there to study the books that Charles gave him, tireless in his pursuit of being the very best at whatever task was set to him.

Every time he makes a mistake, he repeats that part of the piece over and over again until it's flawless. Anyone at all is free to hear his attempts or tell him to shut up.]

[B: Around Town (OPEN)]

[Tis the season, and all that... It's Cain's first Christmas where he'll actually get to celebrate, instead of watching all the colonists exchange presents while never being part of it himself. He's been saving all the pocket money that his drone not!mother had been giving him (until she got replaced yesterday), as well as the money he got for doing odd-jobs for his friends. So now he's out and about shopping for gifts.

Do you work in any of the stores? Then this blond haired boy might just be peering over the counter with a bright smile. Are you wandering down the street aimlessly? Feel free to bump into Cain as he carries a stack of boxes too high to see over... because clearly that's just asking for trouble.]

[C: Phone (OPEN)]

[Did you order a rousing pep talk by a ten year old today, Mayfield? No... shame, because it's coming anyway.]

Christmas is coming soon... Maybe you celebrate something else in your world, or maybe you don't celebrate anything at all, but here... I think they'll have Christmas. I don't know if anything will happen, but...

Even if it does, and even if it hurts us, we can't let it break us. We have to keep our eyes forward, and we have to stick together. As long as we look out for each other, then we can change the future to whatever we want.

[D: Home (Locked to Housemates)]

[It seemed like he was the first one home, which was a little odd after the drone!Esther housewife who had always been there to welcome him in and tell him to do his homework before dinner. Which, consequently, led to the thought that there was no dinner... Astha didn't seem the type to make a meal for the family based on what he had seen, Rachel had already shown she believed cooking beneath her, and he didn't want to die so Abel was out.

Therefore, whenever anyone else gets home, they might find the youngest non-drone member of the household stood on a chair by the stove. He's pouring over one of the recipes Esther had left behind, not being allowed to go and find any more of his own, and is carefully adding things to a big bubbling pot.]

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You're useful enough without cooking dinner, too, you know... [still petulantly poking his stew. why are you better at everything, Cain, you're ten and he's an adult AN ADULT]

[That's why he's the original and Abel's spare parts, man.]

It's still a better idea than you doing it, unless you think Miss Astha or Miss Rachel will step up to the mark.

We'd starve if we expected either of them to take up the task. [and sadly that is no exaggeration :|]

Which leaves us with you or me.

[And thus the winner is...]

...Maybe I could help?

You can do the dishes.

....

[man. he's even useless to his brother HE IS MADE OF SO MUCH FAIL...]

I guess it's better than nothing...!

Don't look at me like that, you don't do nothing... Abel, you're the protector of the house.

It's because of you that I can do silly things like learn to bake pies or have snowball fights, because I know you'll always be there to make sure I have those opportunities.

[ah, Cain. he hopes so much that's how you really feel... but that niggling voice of self-doubt tells him the truth about the way things are.]

Of course... I'll always be there for you. [until one day, you return home, and... he fails you spectacularly. but that doesn't count, right...]

[No, of course not, that doesn't count at all. Just because he's destined to go back to an Abel that will never really notice him until it's too late and he's an evil vampire-eating-vampire... NO NEED FOR GUILT HERE.

He just scoots a bit closer and stretches to press a kiss to Abel's forehead as though he were still the elder brother.]

Eat your stew, protectors have to keep up their strength.

[he notices you... :| he just... fails at seeing all of you. always had, and always would... ;(

mm. he finds himself relaxing a little bit at the touch of lips to his forehead; he really does feel like he's the child and Cain the adult at times like this. sob. he'll shamelessly enjoy being coddled anyway.]

I think you killed my appetite talking about my horrible cooking...

[His lips curve into a smile where they're still pressed to Abel's forehead, not wanting to step back. He was so worried, he's still so scared underneath it all and he doesn't know how to stop it.]

It's okay, you didn't cook this, it'll be fine.

[mmph big-little brother, you're the best. he chuckles a little, before settling his head on Cain's shoulder. shut up he can do this and get away with it right now because he said so.]

Now you're just rubbing it in, smart alek.

[He doesn't mind Abel's head at his shoulder at all, raising his hand to gently start petting fingers through his hair. Cain just chuckles at the mild teasing, falling silent for a little bit to let Abel eat without distractions.]

Mm, Abel?

[oh this is nice. hair pets AND cuddles AND food? he will be a good boy and eat in that case.]

...Mm?

[It's true that Abel is a dog, he just needs petting and food.]

Will you tell me about Miss Astha?

[herp... his drowsy eyelids open a little more, at that... and he's quiet, thinking... before responding.]

Mm. Is there something you wanted to know...?

Just... everything.

[He knows that's a bit vague, but he doesn't really know much about the world Abel lives in now or the people he knows.]

[that's a sad thought, but... the reality of the situation. after a pause of reluctance, he finally pulls his head up to look on his brother properly.]

I guess I haven't told you much about home, since... [...]

[Since he died. Since the war and Crusnik. He isn't even sure he wants to know more than is necessary, he doesn't want to make that future a reality in his mind.]

...no.

[herps all the derps. he looks down at what's left of the bowl, returning to poking at it absently just for something to do that isn't looking into his brother's eyes.]

...I met Miss Astharoshe through the Vatican. She's a Methuselah-- it's what they call the descendants of the colonists from Mars, now... those who inherited the bacillus in their bloodstream. Because of the Earth's closer proximity to the sun, the effects of the nanomachines... they give their host side-effects, ones that resemble vampirism.

[he looks up a bit, before giving his brother a wan smile.]

Allergy to silver and inability to tolerate UV rays... the need to consume hemoglobin to fuel themselves... They are 'vampires' who don't even understand what they really are.

The rift from the war still exists, today. They've been living segregated from the 'terrans' for centuries... and it's only in the past hundred years there's been relative peace between us, but it's strained at best. Miss Astha was sent on a mission to capture a fugitive from the Empire, and I was assigned as an agent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist her while she was in Rome.

[The more he hears about this future, the more questions it raises and the more insane it sounds. He remembers Abel telling him about the bacillus, though he hadn't realised it had been assimilated with the colonists to produce... something akin to vampires of legend.

If he hadn't met both Esther and Astha, who confirmed this story, he would have thought Abel was either crazy or lying to him. And Abel... an agent with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Vatican, that was the most unbelievable of all.]

So she is your friend?

[When she regains her bacillus, she's not about to eat him or Rachel, is she?]

She is...! Astha is... well. She's dependable and has a kind heart, even if she's got a rough exterior. She's very noble and trustworthy... I've had to rely on her a few times in the past, and she always comes through.

[he's fond of her, it's true. he can appreciate the weight of the word 'tovaras' when it comes from someone like her.]

The Methuselah see themselves as... superior beings. Evolved... better. They have no idea where they came from, or what they really are, so... you might have to tolerate some, ah. Interesting commentary on the subject.

[That was... almost darkly amusing. Superior beings? That's what the Red Mars clones were supposed to be... well, superior in most ways, but inferior where it counted the most regarding rights and freedom.

He sits back, scrubbing a hand over his face slightly and trying to order his thoughts.]

Do you... want me to keep quiet about the Red Mars Project again?

[He knows Abel had given him the go-ahead to speak about it, but that was before someone else from his time had shown up.]

[believe him, he understands the irony. Abel shifts, slightly, as if in search of a more comfortable position -- even if his unease was not physical.]

...

[his knee-jerk reaction is to selfishly and cowardly say yes. yes, yes yes. yes...

but he had seen how much it had eased a burden on his brother to be... free of those secrets. he never wanted to hear him speak of feeling like Abel was ashamed of him again...

...yet, thinking of Astha... if she were to know, then...]

I can't... ask you to do that for me. [not anymore, even if he's terrified.]

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