video, un: j.k. [post-butterfly effect]

[aeturnus]

[ On the screen is one Cain, also known as Romulus, commonly known in the city as Jacob Kane. He looks normal. Normal as he's ever looked, really, but the confidence that he lacked during the recent event is back in full force and he's very nonchalant about it all. He's at a flimsy-ish table with a laptop off to the side where the camera is obviously his propped up phone instead. ]

Hey! Long-time no talk, Riverview Quarantine. Just a few things. If you met me over the last week and a half or so, that was... technically me but not. You know that thing that was going on? Yeah, that. Don't worry about it. Forget about all that.

Quick catch-up for those who have (or haven't!) met me, I go by Jacob Kane nowadays. [ Not Romulus. Nope. This total 180 is completely normal considering he hardly looks any older or different at all. ] My job while I'm here is designing phone apps. I've been here for about two months now and I think this is my first actual post on the network. Anything interesting happen while I wasn't looking?

to Doom; Still good for lessons?

to Shai; Thank you. For everything you did.

to Natsume; Seen anything like our colorful friend lately?

Comments

[amelioraate]

I am smart, you're right. But you gotta admit, even in my life meeting the founder of Rome is something else. Sorry, mythical founder.

[ he has a few questions, but he doesn't really want to push them. he is just going to draw the conclusions he has and see if Romulus-- Jacob-- is okay.

there is a beat, before more softly:] You still miss him, don't you.

[ it is less a question and more a statment; he knows grief like that. ]

[aeturnus]

Myths are based on reality, or the populaces' perception of it.

[ Fine. He's going to deal with this, but the shift in his stance—carefree, but closed—hopefully sends the message across. His eyes narrow a fraction at the addition. Talking about Remus now isn't what he wants to do, the failures and where it led Abel and now the fight that they're having, the consequences of which haven't been fully felt out.

There's always a lot tied up in the memory of Remus, really. ]

Didn't I just say to forget about it?

[amelioraate]

[ seriously? that is-- honest to fuck, Jacob. Tony is now more than a little sure that what has happened in your past has never been dealt with, not the way it should have. he is someone who knows the look of self loathing (sees it in the mirror every morning) and he knows the importance of actually talking about shit.

something that he is 99% sure Jacob doesn't do. ever.]

Uh huh, and you have been saying that about your shit for how many millennia now? You are practiced at avoid the art of talking about shit, fuck that is what we bonded over, and while one of my PhD's isn't in Psychology, I know you are carrying a whole hell of a lot of weight there. I bet my fortune that it's name is Remus.

[aeturnus]

[ Cain closes his eyes briefly, head tipping to the side and clearly steeling himself. He doesn't want to talk about this but it's a first time occurrence for people back home to meet anyone with such unique issues (guilt that spans eras) so he's willing to give Tony a brief period. This is probably a mistake. ]

It's a weight well-earned. There's two things people undoubtedly know about us. One: Romulus founded Rome. Two: Romulus killed Remus. Cain killed Abel. I killed my brother. People like me don't get to feel better about that.

[ They shouldn't, and Cain won't. It's disrespectful to everything Abel's gone through because he was just too scared to say anything, too scared to do something about the time he knew was coming. Remus's death can only fall on his own head. ]

[amelioraate]

[ most definitely a mistake. Tony likes helping people, that is basically what he is always doing; if he isn't helping others then he really shouldn't be allowed to exist, that is the way his mind works okay. so when Jacob (Romulus, Cain, what?) gives him that inch, you bet Tony is taking a proverbial mile.

or ten.

there is a beat where he is quiet, something haunted barely there in his eyes as he watches Jacob. several emotions flicker through his gaze, but not one of them is judgement or disgust. ]

Cain and Abel too, huh? Aren't you a man of literal legend. I suppose the weight you bear you are sure you deserve too, huh.

[ Tony isn't so sure. the man he met and the man he sees before him are too-- good to have earned that guilt with an actual killing blow. he wonders how much of it is like his own guilt; memories of things he could have changed but didn't.]

[aeturnus]

Not actually Cain and Abel, but close enough.

[ That much he'll share. He's not that old, and it isn't vanity that leads him to correct Tony, but perhaps the idea that if he had another brother it's somehow less for doing it twice. Just the once, the most important, the thing that was really the fall of Rome before it even came to be. ]

Look, I'm sure you feel pretty insightful and ready to share but how about you deal with your own issues first. Like Rhodey.

[ It's a guess, a wild stab, but not an uneducated one. There's a target in the dark there somewhere. ]

[amelioraate]

Someone else holds that tale on their shoulders then?

[ correct him all you want, that makes him think more of you if only because he feels like there is far less intent to kill in one story over the other. inaction is a choice, yes, but considering so much, Tony isn't sure there was a choice to be made.

and Tony has a great deal to say, if only because he has decided in this short time that he likes Jacob, no matter what, but it stills when he throws Rhodey into the mix.

catching his tongue against his teeth, there is a hiss of breath before he rubs his face.]

Yeah, that is sore spot for me too, well done. But I at least went to fucking therapy for that shit, at least I started to before I apparently died, but whatever right? At least I was willing to talk about it and not let the ghost of him drown me.

[aeturnus]

Guess so. Legacy's about the same wherever you go.

[ There's a lot Cain could say to that, to argue or to even just turn the phone off and go do something else while he cools off and considers blacklisting Tony for a while. This isn't the conversation he wants to have. But... there's something to that, something he will say because it doesn't sit right. People shouldn't know when they will die, but it seems wrong not to let someone know that they're still alive.

His statement is neither brushing off nor in denial, because he's seen for a fact that there's still plenty of time for this annoying, pushy man. ] You didn't die, Tony.

[amelioraate]

[ there is a lot that he wants to talk about, ranging from telling Jacob to fuck off, to telling him he didn't kill Rhodey, that was in fact the title that went to the same person that killed him

apparently.

but there is way too much that seems to be tucked behind those words that are spoken. too much honest to god truth. it makes Tony pause, mouth open, to raise and eyebrow at Jacob.]

You seem terribly sure of that for someone who has no idea what I am talking about. But I have it on pretty good authority that I died, not that I often call Doom good authority, but I am dead which is why he has my Iron Man armour.

[leadintheyoung]

You're human, then?

[ With as many different sorts of people she's seen around, she thinks it's a legitimate question. She herself isn't human, after all, and she's only ever known two races before her arrival in the Quarantine. It isn't the question of race that earns the change in expression, however. ]

The pleasure is mine, Jacob, but... what exactly is this 'Candy Crush' you speak of? Does one make a game of crushing candy? I would think eating it a better choice were I to be honest.

[ Nevermind that she has yet to experience modern candy. ]

[aeturnus]

I've got a thing called Deathsight, lets me see how much time people have left in their lives. You're not about to die. Can't say more than that, but death isn't in the cards yet.

[ Tony knows Doom? Victor has Tony's armor back home? There's a lot he doesn't understand without more context but he'll keep that in mind for later. They've shifted subjects and he's going to take that and run with it. ]

[aeturnus]

That's right. Guess it's something that needs a disclaimer here.

[ Yeah, he doesn't mind. It's still weirder than he's used to but he knows how to adapt like a pro. ]

Candy Crush is just the name of the game. Not actually sure why it's candy except for aesthetic and alliteration. Might just be those two factors, honestly.

[leadintheyoung]

I would say so. I don't think I can count the number of different races I've seen since my arrival here.

[ And she can't quite help but stifle a laugh. ]

You do realize this makes me want to look into it all the more.

[aeturnus]

Not to mention the ones that look the same but aren't.

[ He's not going to say "ones that look human" because that's just asking for an argument. Maybe not with Lí, but someone down the line. ]

What, never heard of delayed gratification? It could be like a reward.

[greyjane]

[There's an inference there that makes her sort of... just give him a Look, but she's not going to ask questions. Regardless of age, it seems, he's someone who cares a lot about a lot of things. Having someone care for you, regardless of how shallow it is, has always been something she's seen as a sort of... responsibility. One of the few in life she prefers to shy away from, but then -- he'd gone and made his position on that already quite clear.

She huffs a bit of a laugh.]

Well, we can give it a try. See how it goes. No hard feeling if the teaching isn't to your fancy.

[To the rest, she nods. Time is a fickle thing. Her people live longer than humans, but not so much so as to be significant. Average life expectancy goes up when technology and living situations improve, when organs can be grown in vats and swapped out for whatever it is you've gone and worn out. She wonders how her perception of it differs from a 'normal' person, how long months in space flight stack up against people who travel by more... conventional means.

Too much to think about. She'll worry about it later.]

Imagine not. I'd've gone out of my mind with boredom by your age, I reckon. [A slight pause. Then,] Glad you haven't, for what it's worth.

[aeturnus]

[ That look Shai gives him is only met with raised brows and an easy smile. No matter what stories he has, nowadays he's rather proud to say he hasn't needed anyone to care for him in quite a long time. Being at his age, it would be embarrassing — and it's different from people caring for each other like friends, but having someone look out for you as a responsibility is different. He's never going to be that helpless again. ]

You have a preference? Anything you've heard of you'd like to try?

[ That merely gets a shake of his head. ]

Me too. Believe it or not, it's an acquired skill to keep busy.

[greyjane]

[She works her jaw off to one side in speculation.]

Know anything that doesn't get used much anymore?

[There are plenty of reasons she's drawn to the idea of dead languages. Only one of them is the fact that Janirak has thousands.

She laughs at that last statement, though.]

Kveth's tits, oh, I believe it.

[She's having to utilize that same skill here. Otherwise she'd be the one gone mad.]

[aeturnus]

Latin comes to mind. My native tongue, but it's dead by now.

[ And really, he's only recently had reason to revive his knowledge of it, bring himself back to fluency. Even Cain was about ready to let Latin go before he met back up with Abel. ]

Losing track of time... That makes it easier, but you miss out on a lot that way, too.

[greyjane]

That one, then.

[Just like that, her mind's decided. Hope you like teaching someone all about seven different types of noun.]

Mm. Happy to be mortal, me.

[She used to be afraid to die, but when you face something regularly enough it becomes mundane, and thus is all the fear stripped down to its basest element of nothingness.]

[aeturnus]

Sure.

[ Oh, he's so ready. Like how he just replied in Latin there. Maybe it won't end in them murdering each other, too! ]

Yeah. Probably the better end of the deal overall.

[ Cain just shrugs, because he didn't choose this and he doesn't have a choice in the end. Just waiting time out instead of his own time gets tiring. ]

[greyjane]

[Wow Shai only murders people she doesn't like!! Usually. Mostly. Except in cases of war, when it's a free-for-all.]

Do you tell people? Back home, I mean.

[Okay, so maybe that's verging into personal questions and she'd wanted to avoid them mostly, but she is curious. Does his world have other people with powers or abilities? Is it commonplace or completely esoteric? She's never had cause to hide who she is - what she does - and the thought that there are worlds out there where it's the default bewilders her immensely.]

[aeturnus]

Mostly just family. Close friends. Might have to reconsider it soon, but... [ Cain just shrugs. ] I'm the only one, so it's a new thing for people every time.

[ Maybe he's treading closer and closer to that anonymous conversation he had with Shai before. It doesn't matter in the end, because it wasn't a bad talk and she seemed to understand why he'd approach it without a name. Still, if it just doesn't connect, he's not going to bring it up outright himself. ]

[greyjane]

[She expects that he'd bring it up if he wanted her to know. But speaking of,]

There's another fellow running about with the same condition. Might not be a bad thing to hook up with him and swap war stories. If nothing else, I imagine you'd keep each other occupied a good long while.

[aeturnus]

I saw that. Seems like it's not as rare here as it is there, but... most others come with qualifiers.

[ He doesn't see the point, not really, since there's already a lot between them thanks to Romulus. Some other time, if ever. ]

Like, you know, vampires or different species so it's all relative. Not quite the same thing.

[greyjane]

Mm. Suppose not.

[She gives it a moment, and then nods brusquely.]

In any case. On to something else. Up for a game?