Okay, what did you do? Who: Tayne and Krist Where: The house When: Early evening
It was nice to get home. It was a little less nice to get home and get a face-full of horse scent, because yeah, Krist apparently smelled like a horse, all right. As Tayne opened the front door, he was already fumbling in his pocket for the charm to protect his nose.
Not because horse smelled bad, of course, but more because he was afraid of what the scent might do to him. Though the first scent wasn't causing any problems yet, the key word there was definitely yet.
Closing the door behind him with a foot, he called from the foyer, "Anybody home?"
Krist had spent the rest of the afternoon after talking to Vanessa mostly just pacing the small house. He didn't know what else to do with himself for the most part, and aside from making a sloppy, horrible mess of a sandwich for himself, his activities were fairly limited. Eventually he grew bored enough that he sat down with the television and made an attempt to figure it out. Through mimicking Tayne's motions the night before, Krist got a movie going for himself and sat to watch that, legs crossed in front of him on the floor.
The door opening and closing didn't quite catch his attention, but the moment a voice rang out Krist startled awake, still seated exactly where he had been when the movie had started. The menu screen was recycling over and over on the television, and he blinked sleepily, confused, trying to get with it enough to answer. He hadn't been sleeping much at all the last several days, unable to get real rest, to settle for long enough to feel contented. The nap had been helpful, though unexpected.
Well, that hadn't resulted in an answer, so either Krist was asleep or not home-- in the latter case, he'd have to call him and see where he was, and maybe even go get him. He tossed his keys and wallet, and the notebook and pencil nub from the other pocket, onto the kitchen table, went to the fridge to grab a beer, and then wandered into the living room.
Which was where Krist was, blinking and looking dazed. "Hey, man. Did I startle you?"
"Uhh..." Krist looked up at Tayne as he entered the living room, quickly climbing up from the floor to his feet to talk to him at his level. "I was asleep, I think..." He glanced back downward at the carpet and ran a hand through his hair, smiling a little when he made eye contact again. "I... um, I was watching a movie." It had been confusing and he had wished Tayne had been there to explain it to him. "Do you... want your phone back?" Krist looked for it, patting his jeans and not finding it there. Eventually he noticed it sitting on the couch and grabbed for it to hand it off.
"Well, I don't really need it now," Tayne chuckled. "I'll go plug it in so it'll charge and be all ready for tomorrow. You hungry?" he asked over his shoulder, starting off to the kitchen, where the phone charger was plugged in. "I could make some dinner, if you like-- oh, looks like you already ate." Tayne would have to teach him how to rinse his dishes and the counter-top when he cooked. For now, he started in on that, himself.
Krist nodded, vaguely grasping what Tayne meant by making sure it was ready for tomorrow. Some sort of sleeping... thing... He followed after Tayne, nodding even before he'd had a chance to open his mouth. "I... I ate a while ago, but I'm hungry," he answered, hoping that was alright. "Are you hungry? I can wait... I'm not starving..." His sandwich-making venture had been somewhat successful, but not entirely sating.
"I'm pretty much always hungry," Tayne assured him, and once he had the dishes cleaned up, he poked his nose into the fridge. "How about an omelette? ... hell, you don't even know what an omelette is, do you? I'll just make one and hope you like it." He started getting out eggs and veggies and cheese. He'd put meat in his; Krist could get extra celery. "So how was your day, man? Did you go out at all?" From the way the place smelled... he was guessing not.
"Good," Krist said, glad to hear that Tayne was hungry as well. It made him feel a little less guilty about wanting food if others wanted it as well. Something about it made him feel increasingly awkward, as though he were relying too heavily on the people taking care of him for food. One one hand it was reminiscent of the past and comforting... but from a more human stand-point it created insecurities in him. He was reminded again how quickly he'd moved from Felicity's home to Tayne's, and the conversation he'd had with Vanessa popped up again. "No, I didn't go out at all... I just... watched movies, and... slept. I haven't really been getting a lot of sleep lately." He scratched underneath his hair, shifting his weight as he watching Tayne digging around for ingredients.
"I bet, being passed around a lot, not having the places to sleep you're used to...." Tayne closed the fridge and started breaking eggs into a bowl. "You figured out the tv okay? I should've told you how to work it, I'm sorry 'bout that-- I figured you'd be out an about, not penned up in here." He shot the guy an apologetic grin, still neatly and expertly cracking eggs.
"Yeah... that, and I'm not really used to... couches and beds and... well, the way humans sleep." Krist moved slowly to stand nearer to Tayne, leaning his weight against the counter to fold his arms over his chest. "Sleeping on my back is difficult..." He watched the way Tayne broke the eggs, recalling the chickens on the farm when he'd lived there, the eggs that they had produced. The memory turned sour quickly, and he chose to push it away. "I'll go out later, maybe... or tomorrow. I just... I don't know. I get worried that I'll get lost."
"That's what the phone's for," Tayne said with a warm smile. "You get lost and can't make it home, and I'll call you. You can tell me where you are, and I'll come getcha. Wanna do me a favor, get that celery and one of the onions laid out on the cutting board, there?" He pointed, breaking one last egg and gathering up the neatly-halved eggshells to dump into the trash.
Something about Tayne's smile made Krist feel more at ease, and he was glad for it every time it was given. He returned it, eyes rarely leaving the other man when they were together - aside from when they were watching a movie. He was intensely curious about him and had been since they'd met in the woods. There was something interesting about him on an instinctual level, and try as he might, Krist couldn't quite figure it out. Perhaps it was that this was the first person to really try to help him... "That sounds good... so I can... take the phone with me, then, and you don't mind?" He turned when he was asked to get the celery and onions, moving right away to try and help out. "I... so I... what if I need to call you?"
"I should probably show you how to do that, huh?" Tayne agreed, setting a skillet on the stove and turning on the heat. "Hell, I probably oughta get you your own phone... then you won't hafta deal with random people trying to call mine and you not knowing what to do about it." It didn't occur to him that Krist might call someone else on accident-- or on purpose. He pulled out a knife and started chopping up the onion first, trying to ignore the usual watering of the eyes at the smell. "We'll do that this weekend, when I'm off work," he promised.
"Are you sure?" Krist asked, blinking as he pushed the celery around on the counter a little, trying to be helpful but not sure what to do. "I mean, is that alright? I can have my own phone?" He felt a bit of elation at that. Every human he'd ever seen had a phone attached to them. This was a big deal in his eyes. "You should show me how to use it, so that I don't call people on accident." His tone was a little obvious; he was bad at lying and hiding the truth.
Tayne rescued him by pushing him gently aside so he could start chopping the celery next. The last thing he needed was Krist's fingers in the way. "So that you don't... wait." Tayne eyed Krist warily. Yeah. He was a bad liar. He could see through that a mile away. "Who did you call?"
Krist hovered, his hands out as though he had been in the middle of being helpful. They dropped abruptly, however, when Tayne asked him about the phone. His face paled and he stared at the smaller man, unsure of what to say. He swallowed anxiously and shifted, fearful of having done something wrong again. Turning away a little, Krist chewed at his lip and made a face, eyes squinted. "I... called a woman. Um..." What was her name...? He struggled to try and think of it, looking around for the phone. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... I just... I was playing with it and it started making noise and then she answered and she told me not to talk to her so I... I hung up. She said she was your sister."
"Vanessa," Tayne supplied. "Her name's Vanessa." There was pretty much nothing Krist could've said to Vanessa that would've been a problem, so instead of being upset or worried, he started laughing, half at the very situation itself, half at how earnestly apologetic Krist sounded. "Oh, god. Poor Nessa. She must've been so confused... I ain't told anyone yet about you, really. Haven't had the chance. Poor thing. Don't worry about it, man. Just... I'll show you how to work the phone, so you won't do that again."
Krist was stunned at the laughter, wide blue eyes watching Tayne as though he'd turned alien. So calling Vanessa hadn't been that big of a deal. "She told me... that I was wasting your minutes... and that I shouldn't use your phone without asking." He brushed back his hair again, tilting his head a little, feeling stupid. "I didn't mean to use your phone without asking. I'm sorry... I'll wait until I have my own to call anyone." Not that he had anyone to call, really. That thought hadn't really occurred to him just yet, though.
"It's okay," Tayne promised, finishing with the celery and reaching over to pat the big guy's shoulder, smiling. "I'm sure you didn't use up too many of my minutes. I have a lot, anyway. Don't stress. I'm not gonna beat you, or anything."
Then he winced when he remembered that Krist had been beaten. "Sorry. That was rude. I shouldn't've said that."
Krist had been feeling a little more relaxed at Tayne's response, his muscles loosening when the last bit about not beating him over it came out. His eyes widened a little and he looked away, bits of memory passing behind his eyes against his will. It was an odd sensation, the thrill of unease that traveled down his spine. The idea of Tayne doing something like that seemed ridiculous, but... humans had proven to be horrible over and over again throughout his life. He felt aware of himself, aware of the scars that lined his body beneath the clothing Tayne had provided him...
"It's alright," he answered quietly.
It wasn't all right, Tayne could tell by the guy's expression. "It was a shitty thing to say. Though you probably should know that it was still true-- I'm definitely not going to beat you. Or hit you. Or anything. That part of your life is over. Hell, it should never've happened to begin with." The knowledge that it had really happened made him want to find whoever it was who'd done it and correct their behavior the same damn way.
He tipped half the bowl of eggs into the skillet, where it hissed at the sudden application of heat.
Krist listened to him, nodding silently as he picked up on the tone and the sincerity in Tayne's voice. There was even perhaps some tint of anger there, and that made Krist feel a little more at ease. He licked his lips, trying to come up with something to say in response when the sound of the eggs broke the moment; it had been enough of a startle to send him into a brief panic, his horse's instincts taking over long enough for him to back away from the stove in a matter of a half second. When he realized his error, embarrassment filled his face and he groaned at himself. "Sorry," he muttered into his palm. "I can't stop it sometimes..." He hated that things like that startled him. Hopefully with time it would start to fade, but he doubted it. "I... I don't think you would ever do that to me," he said, bringing the conversation around again. "I'm glad I'm here... with somebody that wouldn't. It's... it was such... it was my life for a really long time." Thirty-three years.
"You're allowed to get startled, Krist," Tayne said with a little chuckle. "As long as you don't, like, run screaming and break down my door, I think we're good." He let the eggs sizzle a moment, pulling some ham from the fridge to dice up for his own omelette. "I know you've spent a long time living a life nobody should've had to live. We're gonna make sure it's a better one now. Okay?" He flashed Krist a hopeful, reassuring sort of smile.
Krist nodded, choosing to pull up a chair to sit down near Tayne. It seemed like a better idea than hovering anyway, and he settled in to watch the other were work on their dinner. "I won't run screaming through the door..." He laughed a little, but it was mostly embarrassment coming through. He thought to ask what type of were Tayne was, but kept it to himself for now. It was something that had been on his mind. "Thank you... I'm happy you're so willing to help me. It's... all of this is so different from what I was doing before... you know, living by myself in the woods."
"I'd like to think it's better than living by yourself in the woods, too." Even if it might not yet be safer. Back to the omelette, Tayne tipped the egg back and forth a little, catching the last juices, then gave the skillet a light jerk to flip the now-round, cooked egg over to finish solidifying the other side. He immediately started adding shredded cheese and the veggies. "So what movie did you watch, home by yourself all day? Or, er, what happened in it?" Since the guy couldn't read the titles. Damn, they'd have to work on that. Somehow. Tayne wasn't exactly the world's best student, how could he teach?
"It's definitely better than living by myself in the woods," Krist affirmed, nodding to Tayne. He was fascinated by the act of cooking, the idea of it still fairly foreign to him. It was intriguing. He wondered if he would someday be able to do all of this... One thing at a time, though, he supposed. "Uhh... there were these men, and they... they had... these shiny things that made a lot of noise. I'm not sure what they were. They were shaped like this." He curled his fingers into an 'o' shape and moved it through the air. He just assumed Tayne would pick up on what he was trying to explain. "There were other people too, and there was a lot of blood in it. Are... are movies real?" If so, he was further behind in understanding human life than he thought.
"Those are probably guns," Tayne guessed, sliding the finished omelette off the skillet and onto a plate, folding it over in one smooth motion. "And movies are... well, they're stories. They can be about real people, and real people can be telling them-- the people on the screen actually acted everything out so that they could make the movie. They're called actors. But nobody you saw in the movie actually died or bled. That was pretend." He offered the plate to Krist. "You eat it with a fork," he added helpfully. "Wait until it's stopped steaming, or you'll burn your mouth."
Krist listened intently, expression very serious as the information took time to sink in. "So mostly it's pretending," he said, taking the plate with the omelette to set it near him on the table. He pulled his chair toward it, pausing before realizing he didn't have a fork to use. Rather than simply asking for one he decided to get it himself, and since he'd been through all the drawers earlier, he knew right where to go. Krist stopped before closing the drawer, blinking at the single fork in his hand and pondered it briefly. Tayne would need one too, right? He glanced to the other were, and then pulled the drawer back out to get one for him as well. With both forks in hand, Krist returned to the table and set them down, getting comfortable again to wait for his food to cool. "Can we watch more movies tonight?"
"I was planning on it," Tayne nodded, relieved that Krist had seemed to understand that without much confusion. "Fair warning," he added, "I'm pouring more eggs on the skillet." Maybe a warning would keep the guy from jumping like that again. He followed through on the warning, adding the rest of the eggs with another hiss of heat, and twisted the skillet around until they had covered the bottom. "Probably something with less guns in it, though. I don't think I'm in a mood to see people pretending to die."
Krist nodded as the sound of more sizzling eggs filled the room. He nodded, a light smile tugging a bit at the corners of his mouth. It was nice of Tayne to be concerned, to bother to warn him. "Something with less... guns... would be nice, I think. What other types of movies do you have? Are there things that would teach me about... more... um..." He wasn't sure how to phrase the question, and struggled with it briefly. "...about human... things?"
Awesome, no jumping or bolting or anything this time. Tayne prodded the eggs a bit, then said, "I think we'll go with a romantic comedy this time. Those are all about relationships-- sex plus feelings, basically-- and humor. That oughta give you some interesting questions." Probably embarrassing ones, too, but Tayne was in a good mood. He could handle it.
Krist's eyebrows shot straight up at that, and he stared at Tayne a moment longer before deciding to try his omelette. He forked a piece of it into his mouth, hoping he was eating it right and took his time chewing it, tasting it... "I definitely want to watch a... romantic comedy with you. That sounds very interesting." Sex was always interesting. He swallowed what was in his mouth and went about cutting off another piece. "I like this," he told the other were loudly, a little more loudly than was really needed.
"Good," Tayne answered, shooting Krist a grin before flipping his own omelette over. "Just promise me you'll be patient with me when your questions embarrass me." Because they would, he was sure. He'd probably wind up blushing through most of the movie.
Maybe he'd you with "Someone Like You." You couldn't go wrong with Hugh Jackman.
"Why do my questions embarrass you?" Krist asked, honestly curious. He didn't get the bashfulness Tayne showed whenever the subject came up. It had never been a big deal for him... but then, he'd been raised in a barn. Maybe that was part of it. Krist stared at his fork for a moment, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Is it because... is it something I'm not getting? I mean... like you said about having sex... people only want to see other people naked if they're mating... is it related?"
"Well, er...." Tayne dumped the rest of the filling ingredients I onto the omelette and pushed them around a bit with a spatula. "Mating, sex, isn't something a lot of people do-- well, casually. It's not something they talk about much, and keep it only to people they really care about-- love. That's what the romantic comedy is really about: love, more than sex."
Krist nodded, though he wasn't sure he understood it completely. "I'm happy we're going to watch the movie, then... it sounds like this is something I really need to learn about. I don't want to make people uncomfortable. I'm gathering that things like that... humans don't normally just... talk about them to each other. It's okay that I talk to you about these things, isn't it?" He wanted to be sure. The last thing Krist wanted was for Tayne to hold anything against him.
"It's okay," Tayne promised, sliding his omelette onto a plate and turning off the heat. "That's what I'm here for, so you have someone to ask this stuff of, right?" Rather than being confused all the time-- or asking random people who might be offended. He came to sit at the table, too, and dug in.
"Okay, good." Krist smiled as Tayne sat down with him, nodding in response to his question. "You're here to make sure I learn all I can." He laughed a little, comfortable and having a good time now that his anxieties about the phone call had been lessened. "Thank you again, Tayne... for helping me out."
"You're welcome," Tayne said firmly, grinning over at him. "It's the least I can do for trying to put a rope on you, right?" That one came with a wink to show he was joking. "Now eat up. Can't watch a movie until you're done eating."
Krist laughed at the comment about the rope, nodding as he worked on finishing up his food. "I'm almost done," he told him, being sure not to waste anymore time -- not unless Tayne wanted to talk more before the movie. He was eager, as always, to learn as much as he could soak in. It was desperately important to him that he understand as much as Tayne was willing to give him.