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Text: HELLO! Do you remember me? ⚽
yeah? whats up
Text: Are you busy? 👀
nope
not until later
wat r u thinking?
Text: We should do something
Text: I am bored!
we could get food and i could show u boner 4ever
climbing inside not outside
Text: I will bring the food!! What do you want? 🌮? 🍕? 🍔?
wear dark clothes nothing with that reflective shit
🍔🍔🍔🍟?
Text: Oh!! 🥷🥷🥷
Text: 👌
Text: 🏃♂️
see u soon
Calamity's nowhere to see been, when Anton arrives at the skyscraper. At least for a bit - and then they come sidling around the corner, hoodie on, hands in their pockets, shivering a little at the chill of the evening.
"Hey," they mutter, and give him an upnod.
Anton has maybe taken the :ninja: thing a bit too seriously, as he's dressed all and black, and wearing a black ski mask that covers most of his face, and gloves. All tactical gear that he might have swiped from his mothers' stores. Because his Mama is a legit ninja. Almost no skin is showing, which is perhaps a little weird--but hey, it is pretty cold outside...
But he's holding a bag filled with fastfood! The smell of greasy burgers and fries. "Hallo!" he says cheerful, bouncing on his heels with all the energy of an excited labrador.
Their shimmery green eyes narrow slightly at his tactical gear, and then look down at their ratty jeans and sweatshirt, neither of which are black, before looking back to him.
"Ski mask's maybe a little overkill..." they mutter - but they pull green bandanna around their neck up over their nose, and between that and their hood it's got basically the same effect.
"Ready? Fuck - that smells good," they gesture to the food, and trot toward the the side of the building, around the corner from the main street, turning to make sure he's following them.
"What? You said wear dark!" he pouts--well, the mask hides it, but it sounds like he's pouting. But then he's tailing after him excitedly. "Yes, it does! I got lots, so you can eat as much as you want, and take some home too if there is leftovers."
"Fuckin sweet." They turn to him and the corners of their eyes crinkle like they're smiling, before they continue on.
"Huh - they put a new padlock on here...old one was a piece of shit...this one kinda is too." They inspect it with gloved hands, and then pull out...an altoids tin? from their pocket. Metal glitters inside it, and they pick out a bent piece of what looks like a soda can.
"Hey, keep watch?" They turn to him once more before getting to work on the lock, muttering a few quiet swears as they do. After a few moments, it opens with a click and they unlatch the deadbolt.
"You first..." the door opens with the groan of rusting hinges, and Calamity winces and takes another look around, their eyes glittering in the dim light of the streetlights on the main road.
The inside is, of course, pretty pitch black, though there's a little bit of light coming through the windows.
Anton leans forward to peer at him, silver eyes glimmering and almost glowing in the dark alley. "Oh! You are very good at this!" he says, impressed--he... probably hadn't been keeping watch, because he's too distracted by watching the master at work.
He bobs his head, then slips past to get inside, moving towards the stairs--though he pulls out his phone to use as a flash light. "Do you do this thing often?"
Calamity squints when he turns the phone light on, and gets to work closing the door. Which groans again, and they grimace. "Gotta bring some WD-40 next time, jesus fuck..." they mutter. "I...yeah. Do this shit sometimes." It's definitely an understatement.
There's the remains of someone's camp in here, probably what caused the change in padlock - a blanket and a few stray fast food wrappers in the corner. It's otherwise pretty empty, the hallway at least, and leads directly to the stairs.
"'S a whole fuckton more to explore when you're not worrying about whether you can get into someplace or not, you know? There's a hell of a lot of abandoned buildings around." They shrug and keep pace with him as they make their way up the stairs.
Up and up and up and up and jesus, this is a tall building.
"Makes sense. I used to do these things with my Mutter, back home. We have not had much time, since we moved." He puffs out a breath, cheeks puffing out briefly.
He goes at the stairs like a champ, just jogging up them like someone who's used to doing steps for a workout--though by the time they get to the top, even he's panting and looking worn out. "So big..."
Calamity starts to flag about halway up, slowing to a walk and panting as they make their way up the rest of the stairs.
"'S...a fucking beast," they agree, wheezing a little as they shoulder open the door marked 'ROOF ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY'. It, as well, opens with the squealing of rusty hinges, and lets in a gust of frigid air.
This part of the rooftop is fairly flat and open, with ductwork and vents breaking up the view. But they're not on the top top, there's a set of metal stairs closer to the front of the building, which Calamity starts to make their way toward, coughing every couple of breaths.
"Ah!" He yelps and squints as they come through the door. "It is very cold up here..." But despite that, despite the height and his panting, Anton goes scurrying over to the edge of the roof to stare out at the view, silver eyes wide. He mutters something in German that has the same feel as Holy shit... But then notices that Cal is moving on, so they move to follow. "Are you okie?" he asks after the third or so cough.
"Yeah - just outta breath. And prob'ly cause smoking, too..." They shrug and continue up to the higher part of the roof, at the front of the building.
"Better view up here," they say with another shrug, and pull their bandanna down. And then back up again with a grimace. "'S fucking cold holy fuck...didn't plan for that."
"Smoking is bad for you," he says, as if Cal didn't know that. "Why do you smoke? Is it to be looking cool? You are already cool, so I do not think you need this." He climbs up after them, frowning up at them. "You can have my mask and gloves."
"You ever tried to quit?" Calamity arches an eyebrow at him. "'S...comforting, at this point, I guess. I dunno. Don't really remember how I started..." Yeah, they do remember, it's easy to hear in their voice. And it was probably to look cool.
"I'll be fine with some burger in me -" they make grabby hands for the fast food bag, and flop down a few feet away from the edge of the roof, curling their legs under them as they do.
"You lie a lot," he observes, though in a cheerful voice. He flops down beside Calamity, holding the bag over. Letting them pick out their food first.
"So?" It's a little defensive, and they eye him with mild suspicion as they grab a burger and some fries. They don't really look at what they're choosing, not even before they take a bite.
"It is just something I have noticed." He shrugs. "But is okay."
"Mmph." There's not much more they can say with their mouth full of food, and so they turn to look out over the city.
"You said...you and your mom used to do this kinda shit?" They ask after a few moments.
He reaches to pull out a cheeseburger to munch down on happily, looking out over the view. "Ja. She does things like this, and sometimes I come with her."
"That's cool as shit. Don't think I know anyone who's like...an adult adult, who does this kinda stuff. Think it's too dangerous, or...I dunno." They shrug and take a few fries.
"She is not like normal Mutters! Maybe I should introduce you," he muses. "We had planned to climb this place together, sometime. I told her about it after you told me."
"Oh yeah? D'you...tell her about me?" They sound a little nervous about that, as they monch on their fries.
"Umm..." He stares blankly forward, trying to think back. "I don't think I did..."
"'S no big deal," Calamity shrugs. "Mostly just...wanna know what she knows, before I meet her. She sounds pretty cool, though."
"If I told her, it was just in passing that I had met someone nice. But I don't think I told her anything about you." He chomps on another bite of burger. "She is very cool! Mama is cool too. Though, they might try to adopt you! They are doing this often."
"I don't need to be adopted." Calamity wrinkles their nose in mild distaste. And takes another bite of burger because there's really no way to follow that with anything else.
"You have a favorite part of the city yet?" Gotta love a good subject change.
"I did not say you did. Just that they would try! It is what they do. Back home, we would have young people come and go a lot."
He considers that a moment. "Mmmm... I don't know." He looks out over the city as he munches another bite. "It is nice. But I miss home."
"How's it different?" They cock their head at him, and then look out over the city again. "Ain't been a lotta places besides here and Pittsburgh, really."
He laughs. "There are lots of different--umm... culture things? And I miss the food. And people speaking the language I know. My English is no so good, and sometimes people talk too fast. I feel lost." He chomps another bite, chewing slowly as he looks out over the city again. "It was just... home. Comfortable. Safe. I had many friends. Not so much here."
They nod slowly. "Will you go back after college, d'you think? Even if your moms live here still?"
That makes him frown. He thinks about it a moment. "I don't know. I don't think I could leave them."
"Maybe by the time you're done Pilly'll feel like home, anyway." Calamity shrugs. "'S as close to home as I'm ever gonna get, prob'ly, but I've been here for like six years now. An' I didn't have friends and all the other shit you have back home. So I guess 's different."
"Maybe," he says, shrugging. "We will see." He pauses, looking over at them for a moment. "Why did you decide to come to Philidelphia? From Pittsburgh?"
"Parents kicked me out, an' I had a friend here," they say with a shrug. "Friend didn't work out, but. 'S not like I could just go back home..."
"Hmm... I suppose Pittsburgh might have bad memories, then." He gives him a sympathetic look. "That is no good. I'm sorry."
"Eh." Another shrug, like it's no big deal, as they stare out over the city and conveniently don't make eye contact. "'S whatever, it happened. I've got my people here now, you know? Didn't really have any friends there, everyone thought I was too fuckin' weird."
His head tilts. "Why did they think this?"
"'Cause I was a weird-ass kid." Calamity turns to flash a grin at them. "Plus I'm queer, which prob'ly didn't help, but...I...liked fire, a lot?" Something in their pocket clinks gently - their lighter, probably. "An' kids are just...mean. I dunno." More shrugging. "What're your friends like, at home?"
"I do not think you are so weird," Anton muses, looking thoughtful a beat. "Maybe I am weird...?" he also muses, as if he hadn't considered it very much. He looks to the lighter. "Why do you like fire?"
He pauses again, then shrugs. "I guess they weren't very normal either."
"Fire's...powerful." Their weird, catlike pupils shimmer as they look at him, like they're waiting for him to call them a freak. "And it's...I dunno, fun to fuck around with, and it doesn't like to burn me." They're kinda talking about it like it has a personality.
"I mean weird's not so bad when you've got other people to be weird with?"
"This is true!" He smiles. "I was in good company." He pauses a beat, looking at Calamity curiously. "It doesn't?"
"Nah, it never really has. Not that I've like...set myself completely on fire to test it, or anything, but like..." they pull their lighter from their pocket and flick it on, their pupils narrowing slightly as they do - yep, definitely catlike. Rather than pass a finger quickly over the flame, they just...hold it there, as the fire dances around it. They don't even look uncomfortable.
"Oooohh..." He blinks, staring at the flame and Calamity's finger--then back to meet Calamity's eyes. "So cool! Are you magic?" he asks... sounding completely serious.
"...Are you?" It's a little accusatory, and they flick their lighter closed again. "'S a weird thing to just...ask someone."
"Ah!" His eyes widen, shimmering silver with interest and delight. "You are!" He claps his hands together. "It's okay, you do not need to tell me. This is very good!"
Their eyes narrow. "...You didn't answer my question. Fuck do you know about magic?" Their tone is guarded, rather than aggressive.
"A lot," he says easily, shrugging. He takes another chomp-chomp of burger. This apparently is totally normal for him. "I wondered, with your eyes being like cat."
They blink. "Most people don't notice that. But it makes it easier to see at night. D'you...have powers...?" He's said enough to make them curious, and they grab a handful of fries to much on while they wait for an answer.
Another bob of his head. "Yes. Many different things. Is fire your super power?"
"Basically, yeah." Calamity nods. "I...don't do it a lot, 'cause fire's flashy, you know? I can like...blend into stuff, too though. Useful as fuck, sometimes."
"Oooh. Like Avatar! This is very cool!" He grins broadly. "I am Clairboyant." That is not how it's pronounced, Anton..... "And have special eyes." He taps just under an eye.
"So you can see the future and shit? 'S pretty sweet - or I dunno, 's it the shitty kind of 'you can see shit but you can't change anything'? Do your eyes help with it or do they do something else?"
"Wha? Oh--no! It is not future seeing. It is... Umm... Like you stretch out your spirit. Leaving your body. And can see far away places, and no one can see you."
"Oh." They nod excitedly as they take a bite of their burger. "Oh that's cool as shit. Can it be places you haven't gone? Like can you see wherever you wanna?"
"It is a lot harder if I have never been there," he says. "But is possible."
"So you're just like...a ghost, there? Or like...is it like looking through a window...?" They lean toward him a little, clearly very interested in this New Thing. "Can you take other people?"
"Take? Like take with me? Or possess?" He finishes off the burger, then wipes his hands on his pants like a heathen.
"...Uh. Like take other people - can you possess people like that?" They look a mixture of horrified and fascinated, and don't even seem to register him wiping his hands on his pants.
"I cannot do either of these things, actually, so it is no."
"But--it is not like with window. It is like I am there. Hmm... Sort of like ghost... But I do not become ghost."
"Oh." Their face falls a little, and they finish off the rest of their burger. And also wipe their hands on their pants, because they're also a heathen.
"That's...wild. Where's your favorite place that you've gone like that?"
"I used to look at pictures of places all the time, and try to look--I liked looking at old temples in India and China, places like this. But now, my favorite place to look at is my home, in Vienna."
"Must be kinda hard to do that but not be able to like...interact with anyone, yeah?"
He hesitates, then nods quietly.
"That...sucks." Calamity speaks quietly, and scratches the back of their head like they're not sure what else to say. So they eat another fry.
"Hopefully your moms...will at least let you visit, even if you can't go back there forever, yeah?"
"Oh." He pauses a beat. "I'm sure they would let me. They are not forcing me to stay here. I just do not want to be away from them for that long. I do not know what I would do with myself." He smiles at Calamity. "You should meet them."
"I mean all'a yinz could take a vacation together, yeah?" They cock their head. "If you can't handle...being away from them for long? How...I mean like...what makes 'em so great that you don't wanna go anywhere without 'em?"
"They are my family," he says simply, then is quiet a moment, looking down at the city below. "They protect me. I feel safe, with them. I do not remember much from before they adopted me, but I remember that it was... not safe. I do not want to feel that again."
"Gotta learn to protect your damn self." It's an almost friendly observation, and Calamity picks the last of the fries from the container.
He bobs his head. "I fight. But there will always be things stronger than you."
"Well yeah, but...I dunno. I don't like to...rely on anyone else to get me out of anyplace. 'Cause people usually bail, anyway."
They're sure pessimistic, aren't they?
"D'you care 'f I smoke?" They pull a battered pack of cigarettes out of their pocket as they ask.
He eyes Calamity a moment. "Maybe you are doing the self sabotage. Choosing people who will leave, so you do not have to be upset about the thought of someone you really care about leaving you."
He smiles then. "Yes! I do! It is bad. But I will not stop you."
"'S not what I do." Boy, they sure are defensive about that! They light up with the ease of long practice, and are careful to blow the smoke away from him.
"I got people here, like I said. None of 'em have left yet, but doesn't mean I'm gonna trust 'em when shit goes down. Just how it is."
"Do you think they would be upset to hear you saying this?" he asks curiously.
"...Prob'ly." Calamity burrows down into their sweatshirt a little. "Doesn't mean it's not true, though. Just like...I mean I wouldn't trust me, 'f I was them, so it's even." That's so very much not how that works, and they seem to know it, but they just puff slowly on their cigarette.
"D'you have people, besides your moms?"
"Are you saying that I should not trust you?" he asks, head tilting.
"I have my Unkle. Everyone else is back home."
"You can trust me or not, I don't care." They're trying so hard to be disaffected and cool, in the way they shrug and exhale cigarette smoke. "Have I given you any reason to trust me?"
"Yes. But if you are not wishing me to be thinking this, then I will not. Or at least I will say I do not trust you," he says cheerfully.
"Like I said I...it doesn't matter t'me. 'S long as you don't care that I don't really trust you. Nothin' personal." They offer him a small smile. "But I'd keep hanging out like this, you're...pretty okay." Their smile widens a touch.
He laughs at that. "You do not trust me? Then you will sit on the tippy-top edge of a skyscraper, with nothing to stop you from being shoved over the side, with just anyone? Can you also do flying?"
"I don't think everyone I meet's gonna kill me," Calamity counters, wrinkling their nose. "But...nah I wouldn't do it with just anyone.' A beat pause. "Don't get all cocky just 'cause of that." They pull their cigarette out of their mouth so they can stick their tongue out at him.
He lifts his hands defensively, but is smiling still. "Me? Cocky?"
They huff in amusement. "Yeah, you. But yeah, you...I mean I figure you're prob'ly not gonna push me off the edge. S'pecially now 'cause you've said it so you can't surprise me anymore." Their tone is teasing, at this point, and they stretch their legs out until their feet are just over the edge of the roof.
"No, I would not. But I am considering throwing myself off," he teases.
"Can you fly?" They give him a quick, assessing once-over. "Or 's this really that bad of a night?"
He laughs again. "No, I cannot! And it is not bad. I am just thinking of proving that you would try to save me, since you insist I should not rely on you."
"Okay there's a difference between not trying to save someone who's jumping off a roof and like...relying on someone for shit. It's...I dunno how to explain it."
"Hmmm..." He considers that a moment. "I suppose you are right..." He siiiighs. "Fine, I will not do this."
"Also - just 'cause I tried to save you, doesn't mean I'd be able to...I prob'ly couldn't pull you back up, I'm not that strong..." they huff in mock irritation and keep smoking.
"Maybe you would be stronger if you stopped smoking," he says, mock soberly.
"Fuck you..." there's no heat to the words, and they huff out a quiet laugh. "You start smoking, then try to quit. Wasn't thinkin' about the future, when I started, or whether I wanted t'be strong and shit..."
"I'm sure it is hard," he says, more seriously now. "If you ever did want to quit, I would help you."
"...Why?" They cock their head.
He looks confused. "Why what?"
"Why'd you wanna help me?" They sound genuinely confused. "Like...what's it matter to you, whether I smoke or not?"
"Because not smoking would make you healthier...?" he blinks. "Unless you are immune to smoke like you are fire?"
"No but...why do you care?"
He stares back, continuing to look confused. "Because you are my friend...?"
"...Oh. You...decide someone's your friend fast." They curl into themself a little bit, sounding embarrassed.
He blinks, then looks down over the edge, trying to hide the fact he looks a little crestfallen. "It is okay, if you do not think I am a friend yet."
"We've hung out like twice, I...it...I don't..." they trail off and finish their cigarette, and flick it off the roof, watching it as the wind catches it on the way down.
"We could...I mean I wouldn't mind hanging out more." Their voice is very small, and a little apologetic.
"I'd like that," he says with a bob of his head and a smile, though not quite as bright as his usual ones. "I will bring pizza next time, maybe?"
Calamity gives him a small smile. "Sure. I like pizza. Maybe...somewhere not as cold, next time."
He laughs. "That would be good! Ah... would it be weird to invite you to my house?"
They shrug. "I guess not? 'S long as you promise not to kill me." The corners of their eyes crinkle a little more as their smile widens.
He smiles brightly at that. "I do promise that! I would never kill you, Calamity. And if I did accidentally hurt you, you have my permission to burn me." He bobs his head, then rolls up onto his feet, stretching. "I should go before I get fussed at. I will text you soon."
"Good enough for me." They get to their feet and rub their hands together. "See you 'round - I'll come down with you too, 's too fucking cold to be out here anymore."
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