(Open - At the edge of town)

[freefromsin]

Caleb scrambles out of the car before it even comes to a complete stop. With his backpack clutched in one hand, he slams the door shut with the other. "Fuck you!" The car takes off, tires squealing, and Caleb gives its bumper a kick as it flies past him, shouting after it, "Fucking perv!"

He rubs one gently trembling hand with the other and stares after the car, making sure it's well and truly gone. Heart hammering in his chest, Caleb lets out a breath and glanced around. It's not cold, but he hugs his jacket closer to his body all the same, wishing he was wearing more than just a tank top underneath. There's probably good money to be made in prostitution, but he hadn't gotten quite that desperate yet. He guesses his good hitch-hiking luck had to run out at some point, and of course it had to happen now. But that's okay, because at least he's gotten to his destination, and he hopefully won't need to do any more hitching right away.

It's dusk, the start of a nice, clear night, but too late to look for his old friend. Street lights bathe him in pale yellow, as he heads father into town. Better find a place to spend the night.



[ooc: Hi! I'm new and so is Caleb. Feel free to tag him when he forcefully ejected himself from the car, or when he's somewhere in town. He's mostly just gonna wander until he finds a public bench he can crash on for the night. Also I guess if you could read his Permissions page before tagging that'd be cool. Unfortunately I'm gonna be gone ALL DAY tomorrow, but I'm impatient and wanted to post this now. So any loose threads I'll get back to on Sunday. ...And this OOC section is about to be longer than my post so I'll stop now.]

Comments

[freefromsin]

Caleb's eyebrows go up, and he smiles without even meaning to. "A pub? Really?"

Gabriel Fletcher working in a pub. Caleb can hardly imagine it.

[wastelandflower]

Rian nods, not mentioning that he's hardly ever seen Gabe there. He's at the pub a few nights of the week and he still can't say which employee is Gabe. If he's there when Rian is, he's quiet and likes not to be found.

"I think he washes dishes and that kind of thing."

[freefromsin]

"Oh, I was imagining bartending," an affectionate smile still on his face. "That makes much more sense. He's...quiet. Plus, I don't think he's much of a drinker."

Unless he's changed, too.

[wastelandflower]

"Funny place for someone who doesn't drink to end up," he says with a thin smile. Rian pauses and leans back so that their food can be set down on the table. Before taking even a bite, he quickly puts a heaping spoonful of pasta into the little side dish and cuts it into tiny pieces for Sophie's enjoyment.

[freefromsin]

"Maybe it's better that way, don't want a drunk employee on the job," Caleb says. But he's distracted now, because he hasn't eaten in forever and suddenly there's food. The grilled cheese comes with a little cup of tomato soup, and he starts eating his sandwich, dipping it in the soup.

[wastelandflower]

Rian snorts. "I'll have you know that I've done some of my best work while drunk. Which makes it especially hilarious that I don't drink or smoke anymore." To say nothing of the various illegal substances he used to casually enjoy.

"I used to be a pack-a-day kind of guy, until my daughter."

[freefromsin]

Caleb raises an eyebrow. "What kind of work?" he asks, mouth half-full.

"That's nice that you quit for her." He bets Rian is a good dad, never mean to his daughter or unfairly cruel. He's really glad for her.

[wastelandflower]

"I was in a band for ten years. You may've heard of us, you may not. We were one of those acts," Rian says without any arrogance to it. The band's collapse had taken much of his ego with it and sometimes it used to be that he took pride in being known to only a select few.

Watching out of the corner of his eye, Rian is unsurprised when Sophie spends more time smashing her fist into the pasta than really eating it. Hopefully, he can convince her of the broccoli at least. "I'd fuc–messed up so much else in my life. I'd better get it right with her."

[freefromsin]

"Oh? What was the name of your band? Caleb asks, interest piqued. He loves music, and he hopes he's heard of them, because that would be pretty fucking awesome if he's sitting here having dinner with one of his favorite musicians.

"I'm sure you will. You seem like a cool dad."

[wastelandflower]

"Enfants Sauvages," he says, still with some pride. "I did vocals but mostly I played the violin." Truthfully, with Lexi in town, it seems that the three of them are inevitably going to fall back into making music. They're planets revolving around one another and their paths are going to align eventually.

"Yes, well, I'm sure she'll disagree when she's a teenager."

[freefromsin]

Caleb winces. "I haven't heard you, sorry. But-- don't be offended, I've only actually been able to listen to non-church sh-- stuff for like...the past three of four months, so I have a lot of catching up to do," he says with an apologetic smile.

[wastelandflower]

Rian laughs, shaking his head. "Don't worry, at our best, we were famous when you were probably a kid." More of a kid than he is now, at least.

"Strict household?"

[freefromsin]

Whoa. Caleb doesn't think Rian looks that old...

He snorts in derision. "Strict is putting it lightly. I was homeschooled and I was hardly let out of the house." He carefully wraps the second half of his sandwich in a napkin and slips it into his backpack for later when he notices Rian distracted by Sophie. "We didn't even own a TV."

[wastelandflower]

He was barely eighteen when they started Enfants, all of them running on fake IDs and overblowm confidence. It had worked well enough, all three of them charismatic and persuasive.

Pretending not to notice the disappearing sandwich, Rian nods, putting the ideas together. A strict Christian household suddenly turning out a punk runaway. He knows that story well.

"So you're looking for freedom?"

[freefromsin]

"I found it whether I was looking for it or not," Caleb says wryly, picking up the small bowl of remaining tomato soup and drinking it. He works on finishing the chocolate milkshake next, feeling better than he has in awhile. He's been living off gas station junk for a couple days now.

"My dad flipped out about something, and I knew I couldn't stay there anymore, so..." He shrugs, saying everything matter-of-factly, like it happened to someone else. "Here I am. Well, actually, it's been a couple months. But, yeah."

[wastelandflower]

"I never met my biological father, or if I did, I don't remember him." It was a sore point, one he didn't care to investigate further. His dad had fathered four children with their mother and Rian was the only one who'd survived.

"Well, if you need a place, let me give you my phone number. As long as you don't mind cats, I've got a couch and no questions asked."

[freefromsin]

"Oh. I'm sorry." And he means it. Whatever feelings he has toward his dad, and honestly, sometimes fathers in general, he can hear the echo of pain in that one comment alone.

"That's really kind of you, man, but you have a baby," Caleb points out, shifting in his seat uncomfortably with a nod toward Sophie. He isn't gonna be a burden on a new family.

[wastelandflower]

"And I'll have her tomorrow, too, even," he says with a smile. "My guest room is tiny, but it's better than a bus station or...wherever. "

Rian shrugs. "At least Penn Station isn't out here. I've slept in that one, in the nineties. It's quite something."

[freefromsin]

"Well, thank you," Caleb says with a sheepish, shy smile. "That's a generous offer."

He'll take Rian's number, since he's being such a cool guy, but he doubts he'll be able to get himself to use it. Even if a bed does sound nice.

"Where's that one at?"

[wastelandflower]

"Manhattan. It smells like piss and the rats are the size of my cat," Rian says. He takes out his phone to show Caleb a photo of Alex, sleeping next to Sophie.

"And I have a very fat cat."

[freefromsin]

Caleb smiles at the photo. "Cute cat. Rats are cute, too, you know," he says, sitting back. "I had a friend who had a pet rat. It was not that big, though."

[wastelandflower]

"Some are, but subway rats are something else." He grins crookedly and shrugs. "And anyway, like I said. If it's subway rats and hobos or my couch, I'd gladly offer my couch."

[freefromsin]

"Thanks, Rian. You're probably the nicest guy I've ever met." He digs his cell phone out of his backpack. It's a cheap piece of shit, but he uses it sparingly so there's still room on his calling card. He offers it to Rian so he can put his number in. "I'll call you up if I'm having rat problems," he says with a matching grin.

[wastelandflower]

Rian laughs, because he doesn't think of himself as nice. Mostly he thinks of himself as a recovering dick, but far be it from him to turn down such complimentary words.

"Do," he says, typing in his number. "I'll make you pay me back with baby-sitting."

[freefromsin]

"Oh, hey, that's something I can actually do. I have two younger siblings, a sister and brother, who I helped take care of," Caleb says, trying not to actually think about them, because thinking about them means missing them.