ghost by my side, so perfectly clear. [ catch-all ]

[insertdadjoke]

Who	"Jacob Kane" (Cain) & You
When	Month of September, barring plot explosions
Where	All around Keeliai and various establishments
What	Just one of those catch-all things
Warn	Will update as necessary. Please consider filling this permissions post!

Things were tense around the city. The breezy weather had subsided, and with it went some of the feeling of just waiting for something to happen. Now the air was humid and people were scrambling to collect what they could, prepare not only in case the air dried again but for whatever was to come when the Justicar appeared. No one had any idea what to expect. Cain certainly didn't, but he was more or less okay with that; he didn't need to borrow trouble rather than make sure his own interests would be all right should push come to shove.

To those ends, Cain was being a little more directed in his wanderings of the city. Places where the natives seemed more steeled than frantic, still appreciated foreigners or at least was willing to let individuals prove themselves, anything where he could make himself appear more solid. His carefree attitude was great and genuine, but if things went to hell, Cain wanted to make sure people would look at him and not question if he had to take some kind of control. All hail Romulus, father of the Holy Roman Empire. Ha, yeah right. Not that it would even mean anything to most people here.

He went about his business. There were places to be, people to bother, and plenty of things to keep up on.

Comments

[gistful]

As Anton thought. "Would it be worth pointing out to you," he said, "that knowing when he would die is different to knowing how, and that deliberately leading him to a place with the intention that he would be killed is entirely different to knowing he would, in some manner, be so?"

Probably not. Cain was very old; so old that there was an element of indulgence in the way he interacted with most people. Too set in his ways to be simply accept changing, despite the changing nature of eras. He'd taken the name Cain, after all; the entirely of his identity was based around his brother's death.

It wasn't precisely healthy.

Then again, Anton hadn't done much differently, save that he had more than one brother. It still struck him as more like Skulduggery than not--clinging uselessly to guilt instead of growing through it.

[insertdadjoke]

Cain tilted his head, a quick bob of understanding to the difference that Anton was pointing out. There were pieces missing to this puzzle that he didn't have, things only Cain had the opportunity to do, plenty of extenuating circumstances in either direction. There was no simple way to work through the events that had transpired, not when they had been so close and Cain had been so scared.

"I mentioned he died when we were running from out master," Cain said slowly, talking through the events once more, thoughts drifting back. "It was a pack of dogs that he had sent after us. I'd known we would be trying to leave that night, known he would die in the attempt. If I'd called it off, considered how it might happen or thought of a different plan, he would have survived."

That part was spoken with surety. Of course, the Reapers would have tried to come for Abel. They always would have been following them, looking for ways to claim that lost soul. However, Abel had been the first Enforcer, the first one with the power to track down and personally kill anyone who escaped their time running out. It would have been a paradox, a break of the balance before anyone knew it could happen... but it had been possible, completely possible, and Cain hadn't even made motion to try.

"Bit late to be arguing semantics, though," he added with something of a wry smile. "I do know what you're saying. Believe me, I've thought about it myself. My head knows what you're saying but my heart says it's wrong and there's no one else who was ever there to tell me they saw different with their own eyes. All I have is what I know, you know?"

[gistful]

A pack of dogs. That little detail tagged Anton's mind. A pack of dogs tearing apart Cain's brother would undoubtedly be a source of trauma. He ought to make sure Valdis didn't use her hound form in public. She hadn't on the regular, of late, but still. Until he knew more.

"That's usually all one has," Anton murmured. At least Cain was aware of it, which meant he was unlikely to let it control him if it came to that--or so Anton hoped. Sometimes, what one knew was a lot broader than just what was in the heart. Sometimes it wasn't.

Anton looked back at Cain, his gaze even. "What are you going to do with the note?"

It wasn't precisely a call to action, that note ... but still. Cain had been rattled.

[insertdadjoke]

It was a good, focusing question. Cain took a deep breath as he cast his mind toward the note and what it meant all over again. For their conversation just now, his inability to let everything go, that short missive ran counter to all of it. Returning to his old name with his brother said more than anything else ever could, and the encouraging words only further twisted him up. Was he truly doing the right thing as he was? Following his heart had always been easy, but with Abel there was always room for doubt if that would be good enough.

"Wish I could say I would burn it," Cain said with no small trace of sardonic amusement, "but for now I'll probably keep it... as a reminder. If it really is true, then there's likely a lot I need to rethink."

[gistful]

"Possibly," said Anton, "but possibly not. Visions and evidences of the future are so difficult to pin down." He reached out to tap the edge of the page. "I wouldn't say to be rid of it. But don't make your choices based on the little this implies. You can't know the future until you're there. Trying to manipulate it is likely to only turn out wrong."