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 Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 7:56 pm
He just smirked when she admitted her jealousy. He was used to that statement from other people as well as their admiration of him. It was just a fact of life. He seriously doubted many other people were enough like him to just drop everything and go on a road trip that took multiple years. Sure, they talked about it, but Kam knew that a lot of people were all talk and no action.
When she disappeared into the back, he began to meander through the shelves at the front of the store. The man at the counter look a little uncomfortable with the large, buff man walking around without his shirt off but Kam didn't even have to look up to know he wasn't going to say anything. Kam got away with a lot of things just because he had a daring aura about him.
Just as she was walking out of the back, he had picked up a tiny travel-size burn cream and was looking through the small selection of bandages. He saw her coming, but didn't expect the question. When she asked, he was actually shocked, and ended up knocking down nearly a whole row of little bandage boxes.
He just sighed and stooped to pick them up, putting them back on the shelf before he stood with one box in his hand, along with the burn cream he'd already picked up. He intended to buy them himself but he'd been stopped in his tracks by her question. He just watched her for a few awkward seconds, not even noticing that she'd really done anything to clean her appearance up. He was just stuck on the question.
"Uh," he finally started, pretending like he was reading the back of the burn cream label out of curiosity, "my brother is missing." He shrugged and turned away from her to head toward the cash register. Did he play that off? He thought so.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 8:16 pm
Vanessa was no Einstein. She often got into trouble at school, and didn't always think before she spoke, but she didn't have to be a genius to recognize that her question had struck a nerve. It startled her, a little, to find Kam suddenly flustered.
Maybe she shouldn't have asked. Obviously, it was personal. It wasn't fair of her to expect him to answer.
"Oh, that's okay," she blushed, and stooped to help him pick up the little boxes, "you don't need to te-
But he was already sharing. And the bandages were already returned to their proper places on the shelf. For a long moment, it was all Vanessa could do to stare.
His brother was missing.
His brother was missing, and he'd shrugged it off as though it were nothing.
Vanessa didn't know a lot, but if there was one thing she was sure of, it was what she'd do to get John Jr back if he was ever taken from her. She imagined it would mean the end of Destiny City. Because no one would have been allowed to rest.
She gaped at Kam's back, hesitated for only a moment, and then joined him at the register.
"I'll… help you find him."
What else could she say? There really was only one option here. As a senshi, she could do things that this man could not. Even if he'd backpacked through South America. Vanessa's confidence in Vulcan was absolute. She could not be deterred.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 8:31 pm
Kam reached the cash register and pulled out his wallet, paying for both the bandages and the cream. The man at the register spoke as little as possible, even though Kam was fairly certain he was Indian. It was sad, sometimes, that he made even his own people uncomfortable.
He was just taking the little plastic bag the man was offering when Vanessa spoke up again. He gave her a quick glance over, look at the man at the register, then simply headed for the exit with a little nod of his head. Once they were outside, he found a seat on a bench beneath a lamp post where he could keep talking to her - and help her with her hands.
"I don't know how much you can help." He glanced up at her expectantly, waiting for her to sit down, then began to take the things from the bag. As he was opening the boxes, he began to explain things to her - being busy with his hands made it easier to speak.
"He's been missing almost as long as I've been gone. The only lead I have is a friend of his that last saw him.. months ago."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 8:53 pm
Another person might have said 'no.' Somebody else might have told her it was too dangerous, and that she couldn't possibly help. But Kam didn't do that. Kam simply led her outside, and to a park bench, where a nervous bubble started forming in the hollow of her belly.
Because Kam was going to take care of her hands. And because Kam was acting like he believed she might be able to do the things that she'd said. He was letting her in. If only a little.
Vanessa cherished his apparent faith in her. Cooperative, earnest in her desire to see Kam's brother returned to him, she held out her hands and was, for once, quiet while somebody else spoke.
When it seemed like he was going to stop, she pressed him gently for more information.
"What is your brother's name?"
Present tense was important here.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 9:13 pm
He still wasn't sure how she expected to help him, but when she sat down and held out her hands, he opened the tube of burn cream and began to spread it gingerly over all of the raw spots on her hands. It probably didn't feel too swell, but he was being as nice about it as he possibly could. It was a lot for Kam.
"Khetal," he answered her question, then frowned and let out an annoyed sigh. "His friend says he's been going by Khaldun, though, for whatever reason." It was easy to tell by the expression on his face that Kam thought that was an entirely ridiculous idea, even if he suspected it was all an attempt to hide from their aunt and uncle.
His own get away had been much more dramatic, he supposed.
He unwound the gauze he had bought and began to wrap each of her hands as carefully as he could, even if they ended up looking a little like he had done it with his eyes closed. He knew what to do, the execution wasn't quite as beautiful as someone else's could be though.
Once he was finally done, he sat back and looked over at her. She was a little comical, he thought, at that moment. Singed hair, ruffled shirt, two bandaged hands and the awful orange glow of a street lamp overhead? It was like a scene out of a bad comedy. She was sweet though, and genuinely interested in helping a kid she'd never even met before, so he couldn't be too harsh.
"I don't know what you can do to help, Van. I barely know what I'm doing, apart from not giving up like everyone else has."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 9:39 pm
It didn't feel too swell. Her hands stung, and an unpleasant scent wafted off of the cream, but Vanessa didn't mind. Because Kam was being careful of her, and he had super cool tattoos. They were the best part.
Vanessa winced only a little, and did her best to show Kam how tough she was. She couldn't possibly know what sort of girls he was into, but hoped that they were the athletic sort. Vanessa fit that bill.
"I don't know anyone by either of those names," she couldn't tell him anything other than the truth, "but there are so many people in Destiny City. If he's still here and hasn't… wandered off to Canada or something, then I'm sure we'll find him."
She had no idea how ridiculous she looked on that bench; singed hair and bandaged hands illuminated by the light of the lamppost, and would have been properly offended if Kam dared point it out. Vanessa had never been the softest of girls. She liked arm wrestling and the way the dust flew up when she slid into third base. She could spit across the road, and had more holes in her clothes than she owned different shades of eye shadow.
But she was still very much a young woman, proud of it, and liked to believe her father when he told her she was beautiful.
"It is important that you haven't given up," Vanessa was very serious, and offered Kam an encouraging smile, "It means you're already halfway there. If you quit looking, you might never find him."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:08 pm
"Well, they're both pretty unique games, I guess. Unless you live in New Delhi, of course." He started to stuff everything back into their boxes and then back into the bag. He sat it between them on the bench and leaned back, stretching his arms out along the back of the rest, one behind Vanessa carelessly.
He leaned his head back a little so he could stare up a the sky overhead, only a little obscured by the glow from the nearby lamp post. He heard what she was saying, but didn't respond, mostly because the conversation was both hard and tiring. He didn't want to think his little brother had run away to another country, even if he himself had done just that. Khetal would have known, he wouldn't have just left no way for Kam to find him.
"I won't give up. Our aunt and uncle have, the police have, our whole family has." He shook his head and sat up again, propping his arms on his knees for a moment before he finally stood up. "I'll find him, somehow."
He held up his shirt and inspected it with a sigh. Finally, he pulled it over his head, trying his hardest not to look down at the holes dotting the front of it and letting his skin shine through. He'd just have to remember to throw it away when he got back to the apartment.
"You should probably change those tomorrow and.. read the directions on the package for that burn cream."
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:31 pm
Vanessa was oh-so aware of his arm where it rested behind her on the bench, and had to resist the urge to lean into his warmth. It would have been so easy, to just shift closer. But he was little more than a stranger, even though he'd helped her put out out a fire and taken care of her wounds, and she wasn't quite that bold.
Not yet.
She was disappointed when he stood up, away from her, but took advantage of this opportunity to appraise his physique once more. Her cheeks flushed with colour, and it was a moment before she remembered how to speak.
"Yeah, I'll do that," Vanessa tugged her backpack into her lap, and smiled up at Kam. "Thank you, by the way. For helping me."
He'd even paid for the gauze and the burn cream. Vanessa felt liked she owed him something. Fearing that he might leave now and walk out of her life forever, she said;
"Wait a second!"
And then she fished a pen from her backpack, grabbed the back of his hand, and scrawled her phone number across his skin. She went over the ink twice, to make sure that it would not wipe off right away.
"You can reach me at that number, if you… find out more about your brother, and need somebody to talk to."
Or, you know, in case he wanted to ask her out.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:48 pm
"Yeah, no problem, it's just what a gentleman does right?" But then he laughed, suggesting that he probably didn't really think of himself as a gentleman. Whatever compelled him to want to help people he would swear was the fault of Gehenna.
Looking down at her then, her cheeks looked a little rosy, and he frowned. He leaned forward a little to examine her, just to make sure that it wasn't some trick of the light, but no. He was almost positive that her cheeks were shining red beneath her dark skin.
"Hey, you should probably head home and take it easy, it looks like you might have a fever or something." Could infections happen that fast? He didn't know, he wasn't a damn doctor. Just playing caretaker was already exhausting him.
He was just about to turn away with a wave, head off into the sunset and all that even if the sun was already down, when she yelled out to him suddenly. Startled, he turned to look back at her just in time to have her grab his hand. He was surprised, to say the least, but when she finished writing the number on his dark skin, he just smiled.
"Right, I'll text you my number later. See you 'round, Van." He gave her a small wave with the same hand she'd scribbled her number on, then turned to begin a slow walk down the sidewalk back to the apartment he shared with Bo.
Just as oblivious as ever.
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