evowhisperer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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raisetheearth2015-09-16 11:34 pm
evowhisperer) wrote in raisetheearth2015-09-16 11:34 pm
Entry tags:
[Projects 2 and 3] Open and Closed!
Who: Blaise, Cesar, and you!
Where: Marty's Gourmet Soda shop, Gateway City
When: Soda shop: Within a few days of the 16th, give or take.
What: Cesar and Blaise meet in person for the first time!
Warnings: Talk about Ryu (and all sex-discussion related warnings)
Status: Open! Blaise and Cesar's thread is closed.
Marty's Gourmet Soda shop is a warm, pleasantly crowded affair. The counters are heavy wood, the stools are the sort that attach to the floor and rotate back and forth. Cheerful big-band music plays over tinny corner-speakers, and a young cashier behind the counter taps away at a cash register that might be older than he is. 'Stu' reads his nametag. He's a handsome young man, and whenever Stu smiles a girl by the door sighs happily.
Stu isn't paying attention just now, since he's leaning forward over the counter to squint at the cellphone presented to him.
"A, uh... Oh! Sure, sir, one Exprezzy Espresso, coming right up!" He straightens and rattles off a price, scrawling letters on the side of a cup.
Cesar takes the phone back and fishes out change, passing it across the counter. Cha-ding! Coins are handed over. Cesar pockets the change and backs out of the way, already reimmersed in his phone.
He won't look up until his name is called.
"Fizzy coffee! Cesar S!"
-----------------------------------------------
Who: Tony, Cesar, and you!
Where: Cesar's apartment, Gateway City
When: A few days after their text conversation.
What: Cesar and Tony meet for a suspense-ridden intercourse of science.
Warnings: Needles, what is essentially a low-key version of unregulated human testing. Also, underaged drinking and drunk shennanigans.
Status: Closed
It's another door with another number on it. This time the hallway outside has rows of doors on both sides of the walkway, and potted plants stand as greetings by several welcome-mats along the way. Cesar's door has no plant, but it does have a welcome mat. It has no words--just a generic pattern.
It's quiet. A pair of children can be heard playing in the distance, and a tabby cat cleans itself by a door some apartments away. There's no smells or sounds from the apartment, this time.
It's quiet. A pair of children can be heard playing in the distance, and a tabby cat cleans itself by a door some apartments away. There's no smells or sounds from the apartment, this time.
no subject
Seemed to be the place. Briefly he leans an ear closer to the door, curious to see if Cesar's actually home or not, before lifting his hand to knock.
He's looking a little more worn these days. Tired. His health is fine physically, but the world turning up on its head doesn't always go over well without leaving a few scars behind.
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The knock on the door finally coaxes a sign of life from the apartment, mostly in the form of the sound of a chair bumping a wall. Cesar stands, walks over to the door, and unlatches it enough to pull back.
It's Tony. Cesar smiles happily, opening the door the rest of the way to wave a greeting.
If Tony looks more worn, Cesar looks about the same. The shadows under his eyes are permanent installments, but he looks less grey than he did during Tony's last visit, and there's a freshness to his movements that speaks well for how much he's been looking after himself. The corners of his eyes tighten as he takes in Tony's subtle fatigue, and he claps a hand to the young man's shoulder as he gestures him to come inside.
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He's leaning against the door frame watching down the hallway when the door creaks open, one eye ever vigilant. It doesn't take much to push him back into old wary instincts, and unfamiliar territory and a lack of sleep is plenty to do that.
"Hey," Comes the weary greeting. Cesar looks about as well as he feels, worn out and exhausted. But at least he takes care of himself somewhat when no one's around to keep an eye on him. At the invitation he slips inside, clicking the door shut behind himself. "Sorry it took so long. On foot, you know how it goes."
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The apartment isn't as cluttered with papers as the last time. Sure, printouts peek from between books and objects on shelves, but the apartment looks less like a man's mind that has been taken over by his intellectual escapes, and more like a comfortable home that's only half-lived-in. His old apartment had never had that trouble: he'd had favorite bowls for filling with chips and salsa. He'd had a couch that smelled of sleepy afternoons, and a TV-remote whose volume-up button always had to be pressed extra hard. This apartment, by contrast, has a bare coffee table, a new-ish couch, and a TV that's gathering some dust.
Cesar lifts his tablet and turns it to face him. 'Don't worry about it. You were still faster than I would have been.'
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Subtly he sniffs, as if taking stock of the room before sauntering over to make himself comfortable in one of the chairs at the table. The apartment is definitely different, less lived in, and those little details aren't lost on him. On the bright side, it made finding somewhere to sit easier.
"Heh, yeah. I'm hard to keep up with."
Sometimes he's a little faster than traffic. In the city anyway, since he can skip straight past stoplights.
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This is the kind of smalltalk he could carry on in his sleep: 'how's your fastest record?' 'How was the trip?' 'how's the family?' ... Maybe he'll avoid that last one. His eyes sweep the young man again while he talks, trying to take in more details than before. He doesn't know the specifics, but he knows that Tony is estranged. Cesar's not a part of that clan, but he has other debts to Tony, and he's close enough that this is where his childhood kicks in. 'Family is the most important thing, mijo. Do not forget this, even when you are angry.'
He's lost one brother to the cruelty of fate already. If he can help this distant not-quite-a-relative's situation, he wants to try.
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On closer inspection it'd be easy to see Tony's doing his best to keep up a convincing front, but there are cracks. Bags under his eyes, a bit of a tired tilt to his posture. He hasn't slept well in ages, and especially not since he's hit the road. Speaking of, his clothes are starting to look more worn and filthy as if he'd barely stopped being on the road for more than a few brief moments. He'd tried to clean up a little for the visit, but there's only so much one can do at a truck stop bathroom.
It's the stress he wears the heaviest. Ghosts of his memories haunting just behind his eyes. Where the jovial and confident grins just don't quite reach. Sure, he puts on a good display when he's animated. But when he's still, it becomes easier to see there's more going on there than he talks about.
"How's life treating you, looks like you've managed to keep work at least? I know the whole job situation is rough on a lot of people right now." The world's a mess, even a year after everything.
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He nods, typing easily. 'My company survived. Their Locke office was only one of their branches. The equipment and data lost was bad, but they had backups. I was back to work as soon as enough had been relocated.'
As simple as that. The text fills the screen, and he waits for Tony to finish reading before trying to continue.
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"Well that's good, lucky. Too bad about the loss but it sure could've been worse." And was, for a lot of people. But at least Cesar managed to pull through comfortably enough.
Even if his couch looks very sad and lonely. Tony is ready, do continue. Maybe he'll ask Cesar to start teaching him some sign language tonight. How hard can it be?
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'The work itself has been hard. Apparently trying to implement radical new technology that you only half know the basis of comes with its own set of issues.' A corner of his mouth kicks up, then drops. 'It's made it important for me to take breaks, like now.' Another smile, this one a real one.
The moment passes. A moment of shared appreciation is nice, but Cesar isn't one to dwell on it long enough to make it awkward. 'I've also started hiking. You walk everywhere. Do you walk outside of cities?
Marty's Gourmet Soda Shop
He places the order for Watermelon Punch soda, pays the man in exact change, drops a few extra dollars in the TIPS jar, and eagerly runs to the pickup counter to wait for his order.
He sits there, not really paying anyone any mind. It is kind of lonely to share a victory soda by yourself, though, isn't it? As he thinks, he sees a man come up to pick up his order of Fizzy Coffee. As he looks up at him, his mouth drops for a moment, unsure of what to say.
He'd seen this guy on his first day of checking out the Network. What do you say to a guy that you didn't listen to after he was giving a warning?
"U-uhm... Hi?" is all he manages to say. And he gives a kind of nervous smile with it.
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--The tousled yellow hair came forward from his attention's peripherals, and Cesar pauses, blinking owlishly. The moment turns to outright surprise when the image clicks in his head, and a conversation that'd haunted his thoughts slides into place.
It's him. This kid--young man--was Ryuzaki's latest victim, not including himself. Cesar's first reaction is unease combined with shame, because shit. This poor kid. Cesar was an asshole for going to see Ryuzaki, and Ryuzaki was a scumbag for starting this whole mess in the first place. Cesar should've tried harder to protect the kid, maybe he should've made more calls and insisted the young man listen.
He expresses none of this through any sorts of words, and simply raises a hand in greeting with an ill-at-ease grin. Hi. There's a slight pause, before Cesar points from his eyes to Blaise and back, keeping his own eyebrows lifted questioningly. They've seen each other before, hadn't they? Will Blaise understand?
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"Yea, we saw each other on the Network. When I was talking to Ryuzaki." He tries to give a smile, but he's not sure what Cesar's reaction to a kid who snubbed his advice is going to be. Cesar might even notice Blaise is a little tense and might be ready to shake at about any time. Blaise doesn't usually do alot of what he did on the Network. He's usually obedient to a fault and gets along great with most people. Ryuzaki was just a special case, and he's really hoping Cesar doesn't take it the wrong way.
While Blaise is trying to play it casual, he did notice the slight spill and reaches to get some napkins for Cesar real quick, holding them out to him. His smile seems a little more genuine this time.
"Here."
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In a rare moment of sympathy, Cesar wonders if this is what all haggard exes feel like. He finishes wiping the cup and squeezes the napkins into a ball, dropping them in the trash.
{Are you still seeing him?} he signs. Then he pauses, one hand at ready to try to shape thoughts in a miniature game of charades.
He gives up before even starting, taking a smartphone from a pocket and making a 'wait a second' gesture. The question is repeated in text, and he enlarges the text until it fills the screen, showing it to the boy. Text will get his question accross; it usually does.
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He reads the message on the phone and nods.
"I am." He remember Ryuzaki mentioning Cesar as a 'jealous ex.' He stays with minimal explanations as much as he knows how to not rub salt in any potential wounds. How effective he is at subtlety is yet to be seen. "He's really sweet. We go out regularly." He gives a smile. "I didn't think I could get so lucky."
Blaise gives a glance around the shop and spies a vacant table. He indicates said table to Cesar.
"Uhm... You want to sit down?"
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He nods, giving Blaise a small smile.
The table isn't very far, and when Cesar folds himself into a seat he sips his coffee, waiting for Blaise to finish settling also. When brown eyes finally move back to him he makes a vague beckoning gesture with his free hand, trying not to show the grim forboding that this conversation is already giving him. 'Go on'.
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"Ryuzaki is really nice to me. He says I make him feel special, and we promised to protect each other. To be honest, it almost seems like something out of a fairy tale. We have a really good connection, he said so himself. And he calls me cute, and doesn't mind my clumsiness when it happens. I kind of knocked my soda on him on our first date." He laughs a bit. "But, instead of getting mad, he... was really sweet and shared his soda with me. He said things like he's adventurous and loves a good time. I can't wait to take him to some of my favourite places. Oh! And, he is really respectable. He wants to wait until I'm eighteen to even kiss me. But he's still willing to date me. How many guys... people are like that? And he let's me hug him, and he makes me feel good about myself."
Before he knows it, his mood is lightening up and showing a bit of a daydreamy smile. His infatuation is beyond obvious at this point, and he's just getting started.
Closed - Drinking and making bad decisions, later that evening
Quite a bit, as it turns out! But he's not completely immune to the effects of alcohol, they just take a bit more time to catch up to him. Still it wasn't quite enough to be satisfied with. But Cesar's stores were depressingly low.]
Come on, let's go find somewhere. I hear bars are pretty neat. Let's try one out.
[If they let him work as a bouncer at a strip club surely they'll let him drink, right?]
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*... Except it wasn't much of a break if Tony went through it like water, ending up with not even a light buzz to show for it. Cesar obliged him with another, trying through some amount of pride to match his pace. Then they finished that, and Cesar started wondering...*
*By the time they were done they'd already worked through all the beer in the house, along with the bottle and a half of vodka on the shelf. Cesar's face is cracked in an eary-to-ear grin, and Tony's immunity is probably the coolest new thing he's seen all week.*
*He nods, rises from the couch, and then clumsily types.*
R u 21 btw? *He looks it, but Cesar narrows his eyes at him anyway, getting close enough to stare hard. Then he looks down again, not stepping away to type.*
Ur going 2 get thrown out if nno.
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For the first time in a year he's finally starting to feel a little good rather than his usual just dragging himself through one day to the next sensation. It'd be nice to hold that sensation for just a little bit longer.
Tony's standing, shaking himself out like a big shaggy sheep dog, then leans over to read the message. The question gets a bit of a wry smirk and he flings an arm over Cesar's shoulders.]
Don't worry about it, with this hair no one can tell either way. [He reaches up to tug a scruffy strand in emphasis. The stare doesn't seem to be cutting it.]
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Cesar reaches for a strand of Tony's hair, fiddling with it briefly. Then he makes the sign for 'white', which Tony might only see as a plucking motion that draws something invisible from just below his own collarbones. His expression is questioning, and when it doesn't get the response he's looking for he realizes the problem, mouthing the word silently as he repeats the gesture.
He steers the two of them to the door, not really having to look where they're going to move around his own apartment.