[ SEMI-OPEN ]

[ct_7567]

WHO: Those who have been invited & anyone who would have a reason to visit Maurtia Falls #010! Wondering if you fit into that category? Just contact anyone with an involved character (Andy; Rex; Martin; Cassandra Igarashi; Dio; Archie) and ask!
WHERE: Maurtia Falls #010
WHEN: TONIGHT? TONIGHT.
WHAT: The soldierfam has decided that regular group dinners are good for Martin, and this time they've got a few party crashers!
WARNINGS: None anticipated; will change if necessary!



At a glance, one could easily mistake Maurtia Falls #010 for being entirely uninhabited. Dio rarely returns home and Rex and Marty only have a handful of belongings between the two of them and Rex is meticulously tidy, returning everything to exactly where it ought to be - if anything, it's Andy who makes the biggest mess around the place, and she doesn't even live here.

Despite every sign to the contrary, however, they do live here, and it winds up being a hub of activity whenever one of Martin's guardians - if that's truly what they can call themselves - decides that it's about time to get everyone together for dinner. In Anderson's absence, Rex has taken on the opinion that cooking can't be that hard, which is how they wind up with one window open, a casserole dish burned black soaking in the sink and an assortment of take-out on the table.

(As it turns out, it is that hard - and he found a combination pizza & Chinese food take-out place, whiich means that it can only be better.)

In all, there's not much to do or see here; there's food, Rex the goldfish in his tank, a soccer ball neatly tucked close to the house in the backyard, and a mysterious shelf called "Martin's Things" in the cupboard. Otherwise, you're stuck with nothing more than some potential awkward conversation. Have fun, kids!

Comments

[darkov]

"Oh..."

He blinks after a beat, realizing something. "So it's--it's one of those, uh. Powers? The ones people get here? From the machine, I mean. Sorry."

[yol8]

"I've been like this, actually, back in England too. Before I got here. Weird, I know. But basically, yeah, it's a power."

[darkov]

The idea of humans with extraordinary powers is simultaneously easy and hard to believe, because they've been talked up so much to him growing up...but in his world, they still didn't stand a chance against the monsters he's bred to slay.

"And it's...good, right?" His eyes wince a little, uncertain. "I mean--it's not like...having a power that hurts, or. Or you don't like."

[yol8]

Dio pauses for a second, leaning a little forward in his chair. "Yeah, it's... good." It's got it's own problems really. Losing track of time, losing track of when he last ate, or drank, or slept. Makes him tired, but in a way he can't sleep off. Hearing everyone, everyone in his head-

But it brings so many people happiness. It helps so many other people. How could he not?

He shifts his gaze over to Martin. "Do you... have a power that hurts?"

[darkov]

"Um, well..."

His eyes flicker down while he turns his hands over, palms up to expose the raised wounds that've closed up there.

"It's just part of being a Darkov. It can hurt a little or a lot, depending on what you do with it..." But it doesn't ever stop hurting to conjure, regardless of how many times one does. At least, that's what the older family members have said.

"It's fine."

[yol8]

The now-healed cuts on Martin's hands look like they were painful, and Dio gives a sympathetic 'ouch.'

"And this is just... part of your powers? From before you came here, too? You had to..." Cut your hands open?? "...Well, you know you don't have to do that here anymore. Whoever was making you do that, they aren't here."

[darkov]

Martin's fingers close over the wounds and turns his hands over in his lap.

"It's fine," he repeats. His shoulders creep up toward his ears, self-conscious. "I only conjure when I need to. To, to stay limber. Otherwise...bones get stiff and it's worse off.

"It's weird, I guess..." To people. "But that's just what Darkovs do."

[yol8]

It's weird, yeah, but he's not going to say that.

"But you know what I'm saying, right? You did it to ... defend yourself, right?"

[darkov]

"I, I guess," Martin admits. Even when I shouldn't have, he thinks unhappily. But it's hard to be completely miserable sitting next to Dio for some reason -- more like it's just a faded part of his general mood. "I should keep up training all the same, though. It's what I was supposed to do at home."

[yol8]

Dionysus smiles sympathetically, laces his fingers together as he leans back a little. "And I'm saying, you don't got to do that here if you don't want to. You have Rex, you have Cassandra. You have me, if you want. You don't have to do anything you don't want to anymore, even if it was what you were supposed to do. I was supposed to do a lot of things, back where I'm from. But... I realized those things, they're not really making me happy. Even if I felt like I had to, I really... didn't. And it... uh..."

His smile fades just slightly, and he runs a hand over the top of his head. How to explain his death to a definitely traumatized kid: Don't.

"I'm just gonna say, I wish I thought about taking care of myself sooner."

[darkov]

His trail-off doesn't get dismissed right away: Martin, frowning, tries to glean the meaning from Dio's expression. But he's always been a poor judge of a person's feelings through their faces, and his anxiety is left to fill in the blanks with nothing but the worst of assumptions.

"I don't understand," he says. His eyes wince. "How did you know what you want to do?"

[yol8]

"That's a pretty tough question, not gonna lie." He doesn't even know if he knows the right answer to it, but he's going to try. "It's when what you're doing feels right. Usually it's like a gut feeling. So... let's say we're doing it right now. What do you want to do right now?"

[darkov]

"Right now?" he echoes, doubtful. "You mean...aside from, from talking? And dinner? I--I don't know. I mean, I...I usually just want to stay out of the way, but...but this isn't...appropriate for that."

[yol8]

"Yeah, I mean right now. Look, Archie is talking to Andy. Cass is talking to Rex. Everyone's already got food. So if what you want to do right now is go outside and chill the fuck-" WAIT HE ISN'T SUPPOSED TO SWEAR IN FRONT OF KIDS?? "...Chill out, I'm not gonna stop you."

[darkov]

He's safe, being out of anyone's earshot who actually cares about propriety; and for Martin's part? The swears mean little to him. Either way, he's left to looking about, confirming it is as Dio says.

"It's strange..." He says it absently, more a thought than a statement. "Archie says that...that I did this. I mean-- I'm why...it's happening, I didn't actually do anything."

[yol8]

"Yeah, he's right." Dionysus shrugs. "We're here for you. You don't have to do anything for it, really. We just like all being around you, and I guess Rex figured we should all be friends too."

And then lower, more conspiratory tone: "I think Rex also wants to make friends, and he thinks that if you're friends with them, he'll like them too."

[darkov]

Martin's eyebrows raise.

"Really?" He searches around until he fixes back on Rex and Cassandra. His stomach does a small flip. He wouldn't presume he's a friend to Cass, especially with how talking to her seems to really get under her skin. "I...I thought it was just to make sure...no one else was going to try to, uh. Kill me."

His voice flattens with guilt, and he gulps.

[yol8]

If Martin's worried about saying the wrong thing, it's literally impossible to, and Dionysus' smile is just the same small relaxed one he's had for a majority of the conversation. Like a chill dude who just can't be unchilled.

"I mean, maybe that too. I don't really know how soldiers minds work. But I'm pretty sure even in the mind of a guy like Rex, inviting someone over for dinner is less a 'I think you're a threat' and more like a 'let's get to know you better.'"

[darkov]

"Oh." He scratches at his cheek, sheepish. "Sorry...I guess that was a stupid thing to think."

[yol8]

"Hey actually, can you do something for me? It'll be easy, I promise."

[darkov]

He sits up straighter, blinking. "Ye-yes?"

[yol8]

"Don't call yourself stupid, okay? You're not."

[darkov]

Martin flushes red, head dipping down.

"Sorry...um. Sorry."

[yol8]

"No, it's- it's okay, Martin. But the more someone calls you something, then you start saying it yourself- then the more you start to believe it. It's a slippery slope. Just give it a try, okay?"

[darkov]

He scratches at his elbow -- a nervous habit.

"Yes, sir," he utters. "I-I only mean...I, I just don't know any better. Sorry."

As far as the question of him wanting to do something? He'd love to slink away and be erased from recent memory.