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 Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 4:34 pm
Isaiah spent most of the ride in his own head, mapping out the texture and feel of his new dentures. He noticed immediately that they did not feel precisely the same as his own teeth - and the dentist warned him of this multiple times. Still, he pressed his tongue to the intrusion as hard as he could, half-expecting the resin to mold where he fought hardest. Nothing of the sort came. He wasn’t disappointed; he finally won back the means to speak normally and eat semisolid food, even if it came at the cost of familiarity.
The advent of new dentures cheered him up enough to make the impromptu request for food. Fries sounded delectable - and just soft enough to eat without cracking a tooth - so he urged Kavinsky to take them to the downtown locally-owned burger joint.
This left the pair sitting at one of the shoddy formica bistro tables, wiped down one too many times with a synthetically-scented cleaner that smelled of oranges and old grease. A plastic stand with a number sat at the edge of their table, where the employees insisted upon delivering to them rather than allowing for a pick-up line. While they waited, Isaiah kept reaching up to touch his lips. His face did not feel sunken as it was before, but he wondered about his profile. Were his lips bulging from his teeth sticking too far out? Did it look like he sported an underbite? Did his cheeks look stuffed, sallow, just right? Asking Kavinsky how he looked sprang to mind, but the man never expressed a strong opinion about aesthetics. Really, no one’s opinion on this mattered as much as his own - so Isaiah needed a mirror.
But food was coming, and the gift of dentures raised his spirits enough that he was starving.
„They feel weird,“ he said at last. The words came out similarly garbled as when he first learned to speak without teeth. The dentist mentioned an adjustment period, too. He kept pressing at his face. „They feel like they’re too big for my face.“ Fingers moved from his lips to his cheeks, where he searched for imaginary bulges. Really, his face felt the size of Texas - much like when numbed.
Finally the waitress arrived - a bleach blonde without much interest in sticking around, except to gawk at Isaiah’s lack of arm. The tray was set in front of K, the milkshake in front of Ice, and she left before they could ask for any extras. Isaiah blinked at her passing, nonplussed.
But the advent of fries meant potato deliciousness, so without asking, he stole a pair from Kavinsky’s plate.
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:36 pm
For the most part, Kavinsky remained silent. It wasn't anything unusual for him, because he appeared to be a man of few words in general but it might have been a little more obvious that he had some things on his mind. The food request was unexpected, but he complied easily, mildly curious about how Isaiah would adjust to his newly acquired teeth.
He also hadn't eaten yet and was hungry, so it worked out for both parties.
While Isaiah fretted over his appearance, K was glancing over the few texts he had and the calendar he'd had. He'd glanced up a few times, generally frowning at the other man as he touched his lips over and over again. "You're going to agitate them," he said dryly, seeming generally uninterested in the whole thing outside of the passing comment.
Kavinsky put his phone away when Isaiah started to talk to him directly, elbows resting on the table with his arms in front of him. "You look fine." He said honestly, because K didn't lie. "Give it three weeks or so." Maybe the dentures weren't perfect, but they would work.
His fries were stolen and he had to sigh in response. "You could have gotten your own."
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:08 pm
“Fine?“ Isaiah quirked a brow. „Just fine? I wanted better than fine…“ He huffed, but the admission itself granted some relief. Perhaps he regained some of his color with the shape of his face. Maybe if he could master makeup with his left hand alone, he might approach his previous vanity. He could never reclaim it, he knew - as surely as he could never reclaim his arm - but he wanted to try. Trying just happened to be exhausting most days.
Isaiah slipped the fries into his mouth before Kavinsky could reclaim them. He noted that the man put forth no effort to do so. He chewed slowly, carefully, feeling the foreign fit of the teeth against one another with each gnash of the jaw. One side caught his tongue and he flinched, paused again. When he was certain he tasted no blood, he resumed - and kept his hand up as a guard against any potential escaping debris. Eating felt terribly foreign again, and he disliked it for that. Three weeks was half the time until he received his heat-cured dentures, the ones he was supposed to use for ten years or so, and he detested the thought of needing to accustom himself to those, too.
At least these annoyances are outpaced by being able to eat at all. No more of that shitty white sauce that Quenton poured up my nose.
When he swallowed, he coughed. Covering his mouth, he nearly choked on errant pieces of french fry that were rejected by his unaccustomed muscles. Clearing his throat, he managed to speak again. „I just wanted to see if I could eat them. I’m not going to waste money on fries if I don’t know whether these dentures will work. Would you?“ Isaiah stared at Kavinsky pointedly, then made a pass for more of his fries. He couldn’t stop himself; solid food meant a milestone crossed in a pair of weeks since the incident. While it offered nothing to sate the rotting, festering hole that grew within him, it momentarily masked the stench of failure. That was enough for now.
„Now you get to small talk.“ Isaiah finished as the french fries disappeared behind foreign teeth.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 11:23 am
There was a slow blink gray eyes before Kavinsky sighed again, picking up his own fry between thumb and forefinger, shaking it slightly to remove the excess salt. "If I had said anything else, you would have been equally, if not more, offended." He said with a slight shake of his head, maroon beanie sliding down his head from the motion, and popped the fry into his mouth.
He chewed slowly, looking expectantly at Isaiah. "I don't compliment." That's how it'd always been and the man had zero desire to indulge Isaiah's ego, even if it needed boosting. It would mean less, if it was something that came emptily. Dusting his fingers on his jeans, he pushed his hat back up, adjusted it so the 'fluff' still remained neat and visible.
K pressed his tongue against his cheek as he watched Isaiah eat. His staring was likely uncomfortable, but he had been waiting for some sort of sassy remark that would inevitably follow after the man finished chewing. He didn't pointedly watch the shift of Isaiah's jaw or the way his cheeks puffed when he chewed, but it was obvious that he was paying some attention at least.
"No, I wouldn't," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders while he picked at his food lest Isaiah eat all of his fries before he'd even had a handful. Each bite was careful, like he was savoring it and it was a treat he didn't allow himself often. And it wasn't, unless Ellis brought food from the diner, and he was used to living and eating the bare minimum.
"If you want me to talk, you'll have to ask questions." Kavinsky was only as open as the questions that were slung his way. He didn't lie, not unless it was absolutely necessary, but he didn't go around giving information away willy nilly.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:26 am
Isaiah nodded matter-of-factly. Kavinsky understood him well enough to know that Isaiah took his claims to offense very seriously, and regardless of what Kavinsky answered, he was going to be offended. Sometimes Offended, but usually just offended.
Kavinsky didn't cease his watching even when Isaiah covered his mouth with his hand, so he swallowed and slapped the table, as if scaring Tastykake away from a spare morsel of food. "Hey, quit it. Didn't your parents teach you it's not polite to stare?" Isaiah kept his eyes on his conversation partner, even when he felt the gaze of others fall upon them. Their conversation wasn't a public affair, and he expected that Kavinsky would debut his bitchface to the crowd to discourage eavesdropping shortly. "But, since you insist you don't compliment, I'll just have to take your staring as a compliment." He couldn't change Kavinsky's actions, especially since he now felt so powerless, but he could pretend to change how he thought about them. It felt like a hollow effort now, but in time it should grow genuine.
After the fuss, he sat back against his chair. He took a thoughtful sip of his milkshake, and soon learned of its bizarre feeling against dentures. Isaiah rolled the thawing liquid around his mouth while he weighed different questions to ask. "Fine, we'll start with why you were staring. And when you're finished with that, you can tell me about your family." Isaiah tried to lean against an elbow on the table, but found no elbow to lean on and needed to catch himself lest he fall over.
Fragile confidence shattered as soon as he lent actual thought to his condition. He knew better than to show it, however, as that led to counterproductive questions when he knew he needed to simply push it from mind.
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:37 am
Were it anyone else, they might have jerked back at the hand slapping the table and the jarring noise that accompanied it, but this was Kavinsky who was quite convinced of his poker face and he remained impassive. The only change in his expression was the arching of a white eyebrow as if to say, are you done? Surprise was not a thing that came easily to the Russian and these actions just seemed undeniably Isaiah and therefore were not unusual for the older man.
"Baba always stared," he replied with a shrug. Popping a fry into his mouth, he folded his arms across his chest and settled back against his seat in a lazy, relaxed manner. Maybe his mother would have taught him otherwise, had she lived longer but his father was a peculiar man and thus raised a peculiar son.
"The staring makes you uncomfortable," he said in lieu of an answer, lips pressed together in thought before his expression shifted into something more neutral. "Refusing to look away helped when I was younger." The in juvie was left out. "Not much to talk about, parents are dead. Don't have family here," he shrugged, Ellis flickering across his thoughts as he said that. "No blood family." Ellis was certainly family, that was undeniable since the day the redhead decided Kavinsky was worth keeping around.
Gray eyes narrowed slightly at his companion's faltered movements but he kept his mouth shut and swallowed any questions he might've had. "Been in and out of the system since I was eleven."
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:22 am
"If you knew staring makes people uncomfortable, and you used it for that, then you're doing it now to make me uncomfortable." The laissez-faire way that Kavinsky expounded upon it soured Isaiah's appetite and left him no interest in staying. If he weaponized his staring habit when he was younger, then why do it now save to weaponize it further? Was this an instance where he felt comfortable doing something that he knew was unacceptable in American society? "You're not your Baba and neither am I, so don't stare while I'm eating." That carried some strange sexual connotations given their past experiences with each other.
He knew system kids, however. He knew a decent amount about how the system worked from the child's perspective. Hell, his first boyfriend was often on the cusp of becoming a foster kid each time CPS paid a visit to evaluate his father for welfare payments. Half the time, the young blonds visited and passed on an unfavorable audit solely because there weren't any females in the household, and the place looked 'too masculine' for a kid his age. Travis told him those antics went on for years, and Isaiah wondered if law enforcement used those CPS records to rack up the years on his prison sentence after Travis died.
Isaiah breathed a long sigh. Maybe he should exercise some patience, even if he felt like the world owed him immense backpay for his arm and teeth.
"Did you get anything out of it? Being shuffled around the system, I mean." Isaiah sat back against his chair and waited. Some of the kids he knew had a family they particularly liked before they were rotated to another place of residence, and spoke fondly of the people they knew there. Some of them even credited a parent or two with turning some of their life around - nothing big, but enough to make their foster years suck a little less. If nothing else, the system revelation explained some of Kavinsky's coarse exterior.
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:51 am
"It's not done to make you uncomfortable."
Kavinsky knew that he could have an intimidating air to him, or that he could be unsettling as he stared flatly and blankly at others, but with Isaiah it wasn't meant to be anything more than him paying attention. He threw some fingers up in a dismissive, it's fine I'll give manner. "I am, very much, my father's son."
To him, it didn't matter that his father had been dead for seven years, they were still terribly similar and that likely wouldn't have changed. The only true difference was his stand-offishness because while his father was eccentric.
Still, he cast his gaze down as he idly picked at his fries. "I hated it." Kavinsky didn't know anyone that enjoyed the system and he was one that lived with busted knuckles and split lips. "Most of it was spent between group homes and juvie until Ellis' parents could take me in and then I spent most of it at Hillworth." Military school hadn't been better or worse than juvie really.
"I was considered a 'problem' kid."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 5:22 pm
Isaiah tried to flash K a smile, though the foreign teeth felt large and cumbersome against his lips. Had teeth always felt that way? His body surprised him with how quickly it adapted to lack of teeth, and how suddenly strange it felt to reclaiim them. They weren't a perfect match to his natural teeth, however; those would come at a later date.
"Problem kid or not, you've seen all the shitty sides of people now." Isaiah often considered it a comfort himself. "I've always thought people who have gone through hell make for better friends. They know what it's like to deal with passive neglect, or avoidance or all the other shitty behaviors people stoop to at some point in their friendships. You've seen what happens. You know what to avoid." But, there came a stigma to foster care, and to growing up in the system - while the system turned them into problem children, that label was seen as a product of their natural personality more than shitty conditions. Isaiah knew similar stigmas well, and that exposure to the worst of humanity often rendered it far easier to pick out than kindnesses. Often times those kindnesses came fewer and further between as people discovered one's upbringing - or, in his case, dirty secrets.
"Problem kids are good at being kinky." Isaiah took another sip of the thick shake. He felt his dentures yearning to tear loose and decided against the straw. Isaiah drew a lopsided frown. "Guess I can't suck d**k with these." Not that he'd have a chance to - his repertoire of 'acquaintances' were of the vain sort, and cared much for physical appearances.
Folding his arms on the table, Isaiah set aside the chore of eating momentarily. He looked Kavinsky in the eyes, much as he had done moments ago with staring at Isaiah. "I need to move out of my apartment. I can hire movers to get me from point A to point B. But I won't have a roommate anymore, and I need someone to help me out for a couple months until I can geet used to… All of this," he finished, gesturing to his face and right side. "And I know you have a roommate, so do you know anyone who can deal with this temporary arrangement?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 7:56 am
"Sometime's they're the shittiest friends," Kavinsky countered dryly. He didn't think himself to be much of a good friend, even if he was reliable and honest. "Suppose it depends on the 'type' of problem child you are." He wasn't a problem child because of a poor upbringing, outside of being a child of the system, and he'd had parents who loved him. They'd loved him too much really, but circumstance took them away from him.
Though, he supposed that Isaiah had a point, because he liked to think he was a good judge of character. Sort of. He didn't have many friends, but those he did were important. He'd dare say important even, because they stuck around while everyone else was perpetually leaving and that had to count for something.
"I figured you'd know," K grinned, sharp and knife-like at the implication. "Just because you can't suck doesn't mean you can't do other things." Amusement showed in his usually stone-like features at the thought of testing these new limitations, but he didn't push because Isaiah had other things to offer.
"Depends on what you mean by help," he answered, grinning slipping away. Kavinsky settled back into his seat, fries abandoned as he crossed his arms over his chest and met Isaiah's gaze without wavering. Eye contact never unnerved him. "I'm not home much right now anyway, Ellis wouldn't miss me but if you're needing someone to split rent, couldn't do that." He pressed his tongue against his cheek in thought. "My list of helpful well knowns is limited, but I could ask around."
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:30 am
"Sometimes," Isaiah conceded, "but that's usually when they let their shitty circumstances overtake their strengths." Kavinksy missed that category, thankfully. Isaiah doubted he would associate with him otherwise; risking theft with a repairman proved much too stressful when living in another person's house. Now he lacked all the sentimental items worth stealing, and kept his possessions to a low value in case of another break-in courtesy of the Negaverse. All that he owned was lost but to memory.
Isaiah raised his brow at the teen with his last comment. Who says I can't suck? I just said I couldn't use my dentures with it. Besides, I've never heard of anyone who likes toothy head. Obviously I should've taken advantage of you more often.
"The help… No, it's not monetary. I still have a business, and insurance money is supposed to come in soon… If it doesn't get delayed again. No, what I need is someone who will live with me for a couple months and assist with physical things like opening jars, helping with unwieldy things that take two hands, pretty much anything that takes two hands until I can figure it out for myself or acquire some kind of tool that will do it for me. It's just… I was told my arm will be constantly sore for months even, especially since the weather is a b***h about now. I have to rely on this arm that I hardly ever use, and even if it was my dominant arm, I'd still be loading it more than I used to. If having someone around means I can still get s**t accomplished and maybe take the edge off the soreness, why not pay someone to do it? I've got the money for that, at least." He sat back against his chair.
But how would he price such help? "I think free room and board sounds fairly sufficient, plus maybe some money weekly. What do you think?" He hoped K would take him up on it instead of having to pass the thought around to unknowns. What may come of it if someone affiliated with the Negaverse heard about the offer? How soon would they come to micromanage his life? They'd tithe him, doubtless. "Just… If you spread it around, keep it to people you trust. I don't want the people who did this to me catching wind of it."
He had faith that Kavinsky could maintain that much secrecy.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:49 am
This time, K didn't respond verbally and made a grunting noise instead. It was an indication that he was more or less done with that conversation, because he didn't think there was much to add that wouldn't be talking in circles. Besides, he figured he'd shared enough insight into his past for one day. If Isaiah wanted more information, he'd have to start asking specific questions.
It was easy to settle into silence, it was one of his greatest weapons after all, and just let his companion talk. His attention was wholly focused on the man and it was possible to see that he was considering the proposal with interest. "Fine," he said after a long pause, having waited for Isaiah to be done speaking, "I'm in."
It seemed like a pretty easy and straight forward deal. Help Isaiah out around the house and with trivial things until he could learn to function and adjust. Kavinsky was used to housework and picking up the slack for other people. He knew how to cook somewhat decently too, having learned to do so because his father was always in the garage working and if Kavinsky didn't remember to make meals they'd both forget to eat.
Taking care of someone else was easy.
"Well, I'm in pending a few things. Is this round the clock care or am I free to more or less come and go unless you need me? I've still got jobs I gotta go to." Work was less than usually, but he needed to keep earning a living. He couldn't outright bail on Ellis and his share of the rent, plus all the other things he needed to take care of.
He waved a hand dismissively at Isaiah's concerns. "I'm not an idiot, don't worry."
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:21 am
"No, around-the-clock care was done by someone else. I'll call you back when I need to, but I'll be going back to work myself so you'll have most of the day free." Unless something else happens to me. "Most of the work will come mornings and evenings. If something else comes up, I have your phone number." If the Negaverse took his second arm, then Kavinsky would find his last job in the form of assisted suicide; Isaiah could not imagine a life so heavily stripped of independence.
"It'll be a couple weeks before I have the movers take my stuff to the new place. I've had my eye on this nice apartment whose tenant recently died, so they're looking for a quick turnover to fill the slot. Luckily it's a buyer's market here; I'll be able to whittle them down and get it done in short order." That was, he figured, the beauty of living in Destiny City. With the steadily increasing death count and missing persons count, much of the real estate owners saw their property values plummet. Most tried to sell off their stakes in DC knowing that the future looked steadily bleaker with no suspects and no indication of an end. "Good, then. I'm glad it's you."
He spooned as much of his milkshake as he could before his brainfreeze set in, and Isaiah froze with his mouth open. Setting aside the milkshake for now, he wiped his mouth and considered it take-home food.
"We should get going, then. I think I want to lay down for a while. Today was full of excitement." And more excitement awaited him in the weeks to come. He needed to nail down another condo in the attempted regentrification of the DC area, get Kavinsky in when he could, and then obtain heat-cured dentures around that time. And that only fixed one of two glaring problems…
Really, though, he wanted to spend the next three weeks in bed.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:52 am
If his assistance wasn't needed consistently and too frequently for him to do work, he figured it wouldn't be a bad deal. At the very least, it would give him the space he needed from Ellis in order to be able to discuss the prospect of getting his GED at some point or even secondary schooling. The issue was, at hand, too raw and fresh.
And Kavinsky hated being reminded of his failures.
Sometimes, his knuckles ached from the memory of too many fist fights as a result of them.
Blinking, gray eyes narrowed a little in thought. "Sounds doable, but I'm not signing any contracts. Can't have you like sneaking in some weird clause I didn't approve." He sounded serious, but it was mostly in jest. "Let me know when." It's not like he had much he would need to bring or anything, his belongings were rather scarce as was.
At the mention of leaving, he unfolded his arms and pushed his chair back so he could stand without knocking anything. At least half of his food remained uneaten and he scowled down at it. He wouldn't take it though, because it was wasted food either way. Something about food hadn't been all that appealing in the end anyway.
Kavinsky blamed stress.
"Am I the most exciting thing in your life right now? Because that's a little sad," he teased, corner of his mouth crooking up in a slight smirk.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:23 am
"I wouldn't be sneaking anything in," Isaiah shot back. "By signing a contract, you approve every clause." Briefly he entertained the thought of the myriad strange and enjoyable clauses he could slip in with competent legalese. Since Kavinsky mentioned nothing of college, he wondered if the man would know the word 'fellatio' when he saw it. Maybe not yet; K was still rough around the edges. Perhaps a few more days of smoothing him out was in order… If Isaiah could bring himself up to task.
Isaiah realized quickly that if he wanted to take his milkshake home with him, then he couldn't take his cane. The opposite was true, too. Isaiah sucked his teeth in a quick tsk and seized his cane from the back of the wooden chair. He looked back when Kavinsky followed suit, and caught sight of a rare sight - the man actually smiled. Crookedly, wryly, but he smiled.
Isaiah wished he had a camera on him. Maybe the photo would double as blackmail.
"Yes, K, yes you are. Since I can't take the milkshake home with me unless I want it spilling all over me, you are the most exciting thing in your life right now. So, if you want to be extra exciting, you'll take me home." A quick nod toward the exit door urged Kavinsky to follow. "Maybe if I'm feeling especially generous, I'll teach you what road head is like on the way home." Since they were leaving, why not scandalize any listening ears? A quick glance confirmed a few that understood what he meant, but not many.
The lack of reaction brought him some ease, however. Perhaps there was some credence to Salinger's words. People never notice anything. Good, maybe I won't have to live entirely in the shade.
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