Caius D'Onofrio (poweroftheeye) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-02-23 09:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, adrian, adrian x caius, caius |
Who: Caius and Adrian
When: early afternoon, Wednesday July 11
Where: Caius’s office
Status: complete
Every year, it was a relief to be done with the July Fourth festivities, and this year was no different. In fact, it felt like even more of a relief, considering everything else that was going on in Caius’s life. He had a sister in town he hadn’t known about, a wife who was slowly making her way through the town draining other witches of their magic, and he was trying to be supportive of his mother and everything she was going through. Caius felt pretty useless in that department, but he was still making attempts to call her more often and stop by to see her. At the very least, he and Reagan -- mostly Reagan, admittedly -- had discovered that she could drain magic without killing the witch.
It meant he hadn’t needed to use the wendigo for the past couple of donors, which was both a relief and vaguely disappointing. Caius was sure he would come up with other uses for Adrian Moretti though. One never knew when one would have a body to dispose of quickly and cleanly, and the monster inside the man was a marvel. Beyond that, Caius had been trying to plan for this strange new future with his increasingly powerful wife, while having no real idea where things were going. It was like driving blind ... but he was strapped in along for the ride.
He was currently going through the most mundane part of his day, working in the D’Onofrio Management office, sitting at his desk with his laptop, working on some expense reports. When the receptionist buzzed him to let him know he had a visitor, Caius told her to see them in without much thought. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms up to crack his back with a soft groan, then rubbed his hands over his face.
Adrian had debated whether to go see Caius at his home or his workplace. It seemed too personal, almost invasive to go to his home but the office was so public and everything that had transpired between them felt like a big, ugly secret. That was okay though because he happened to have a sister who worked there and if anyone asked he was just delivering something for her or picking something up while she was on bed rest. Not that it was any of their business. He felt a little antsy being there for some reason but mostly he just felt good because he was paying his debt. Not owing Caius D'Onofrio was a good thing - and if something new came up it'd be easier to ask for help again.
He didn't feel quite as out of place in the office as he would have just a couple of months ago. He was a working man again, almost a normal citizen even, and the assistant was very polite and didn't look at him like he was a bum off the street. She didn't make him wait which felt like a surprise. Adrian had been expecting to sit there awkwardly for a while but apparently Caius was not in a meeting or pretending to be busy.
He thanked her, then headed inside, closing the door behind him. He doubted very much Caius's people here knew what he was up to outside the office and privacy was always a good thing.
Caius did not expect that particular face to walk through his door, and one thick eyebrow arched as he watched Adrian shut it behind him. For a brief moment he was afraid his magic had gone awry, that the barriers he’d put up in Adrian’s mind had crumbled and he remembered everything now ... but Caius quickly felt that wasn’t the case. He could still feel the presence of his own magic in the other man, even from across the room. So Caius carefully kept his expression as one of mild surprise as he sat back further in his chair. “Mr. Moretti,” he said, making an inviting gesture to one of the seats on the other side of his desk. “This is a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?”
Adrian wasn't intending on staying but he still took a seat out of some weird feeling of obligation. Maybe it was muscle memory telling him to do as he was told, one that wasn't even fully born from Caius's magic. He'd been listening to people for years telling him where to go and when to sit down while doctors poked at him for answers. "I'm actually here to pay up," he said with a faint smile as he pulled an envelope from his pocket and dropped it on Caius's desk, nudging it closer to him. "One thousand, right?" It'd be pretty typical if there was some secret interest on it but he could pay that too and that was amazing. He didn't think Caius would be a dick like that, but knowing he could handle it and didn't need to panic about it was a liberating feeling. "It's all there."
Another surprise. Caius glanced between the envelope with a promising bulge in it and Adrian’s face. He’d nearly forgotten he’d rattled off a price tag for the binding ritual. Caius didn’t need the money in the slightest, he was already getting his payment in the form of the wendigo’s services, but Adrian still didn’t seem to know that. That was good news. Caius didn’t need another headache to deal with. He reached out to lift open the envelope a bit more and tilted his head as he ran his thumb up the edge of the stack of money. Counting it right there would be rude. “Well, that was definitely faster than I thought it would be,” Caius commented mildly. He pulled open a desk drawer and slid the envelope into it. “Though I suppose you’ve had to learn to be resourceful. ... You’re not looking for additional employment, are you?” He smirked faintly. Caius had asked Mila how Adrian was doing once or twice, and she’d mentioned he was back to working as a nurse, which just sounded gross to Caius. So was eating bodies, but he could definitely pay better than Mercy could.
That money had been counted more times than it needed to be so it would hold up, but Adrian was unsurprised to see Caius didn't count it. It was nice in a way, but it was also a reminder that Caius needed that money far less than he did. But, fair was fair and he'd done him an invaluable service by taming that monster inside of him. Without Caius, Adrian would have been lost, he was sure. He let out a little huff of a laugh at the question and it was hard to imagine what Caius might need him for. Certainly not office work. "I'm back at Mercy," he replied. "Full time." For better or worse as he'd discovered the day before. "But I guess it would depend on what kind of work was on offer. I could always spare a few hours for a better income." If said hours were flexible, of course. It had crossed his mind many times to go hunting with Kane and he was still trying to work out how to control what he was. If he could summon up his more monstrous self, it would make a lot of things so much easier.
The possibility ran through Caius’s head that he could make this a legitimate partnership, that he could just call on Adrian Moretti anytime and the man would show up ready to do what was in his nature. For a fair price, of course. But he quickly dismissed it as impossible. Adrian was a nurse for fuck’s sake, he wasn’t going to be Caius’s one-man cleaning crew willingly. People with moral backbones could be so annoying sometimes. There were nurses who were crooked just like anyone else ... but it wasn’t worth the risk of showing his hand like that. Not at this point. “I’ll be sure to let you know if anything comes up,” he said for the moment. “Until then, congratulations, you are a debt free man. Everything still working as it should?”
"Yeah," Adrian replied with audible appreciation. "It's been great." He hesitated for a second before he went on. "I did have a bit of a... memory loss at first, but I think maybe that was just an adjustment thing? It's getting better." It wasn't an outright question but it felt worth mentioning, Caius might verify it or he might look into it but at this point it felt like a normal thing to Adrian. It really felt like these were two sides of him and it seemed only natural that they'd be at odds while he learned to control himself. He'd at least stopped worrying about what he'd done the night where he'd apparently driven for hours, there had been no awful murders that night, no insane animal attacks, no blood on his clothes or in the car. So whatever his wendigo self had decided to do hadn't included a killing spree. From his night with Kane out in the woods he was starting to believe that he didn't have to worry. He cared less, that was all, he still remembered what lines he didn't want to cross.
“Hm.” Caius’s brow flexed briefly, another thread of worry coiling in his stomach. Adrian didn’t sound overly worried, even said it was getting better, so maybe it wasn’t a cause for concern. Reagan wasn’t killing everyone she took magic from anymore, so his need to call the wendigo was quite possibly over. At least for a while. Caius didn’t know what the future held, he just tried to be as prepared to handle it as he could possibly be. That included having a contingency plan like Adrian. “It could be just an adjustment, yeah,” he said. “This is new magic, it’s bound to have some flaws. As long as it’s not bothersome ...?” Since Caius wouldn’t need to call him as often, hopefully Adrian would forget all about it and barely even notice a missing evening once in a blue moon.
Adrian nodded and he'd known about the risks going in, they just happened to outweigh the risks of staying the same. New magic had sounded terrifying, untested and wild, but so far it was helping him so much, he couldn't complain. "I still haven't really figured out how to turn it off and on," he admitted and while Caius wasn't really someone he wanted to confide in, it was kind of like talking about post surgery things with his surgeon. Caius had helped him, he might have to do that again so the information Adrian could give him might end up being pertinent. "But I've switched a couple of times and I have a lot more control when I do." He'd been surprised he hadn't switched in the elevator with Toby, another puzzle piece to figure out. Apparently fear alone was not a trigger. "And I literally forget to eat sometimes, so that's been really great actually." Not the not eating part, but the fact that he didn't have the constant hunger gnawing at him had changed his life.
Caius found it interesting that Adrian had spontaneously ‘switched,’ as he called it. He wasn’t supposed to remember the times Caius magically drew the wendigo side of him out, so it had to be happening at other times. His intention with the ritual hadn’t been to completely leash the monster, for his own purposes, so it sounded like that had worked to some degree, it just wasn’t completely under his control. Nor Adrian’s, apparently. The possibility that Adrian might learn that complete control, realize what Casius was using him for, and then come after him wasn’t a pretty thought, but Caius wasn’t afraid of it. It was just another thing to be ready for. “Good, I’m glad it’s working for you,” he said, nodding slightly. “I obviously don’t know how much control over the switch you might eventually have, but it seems worthwhile to keep trying. You, in that state, with even more control ... you could do a lot of good. Or harm. That depends on you, I suppose.”
It did depend on him and Adrian knew it. It was a terrifying thing to consider when he knew what he felt like in that other state of mind. He remembered holding back on a lot of bad things simply out of consideration for himself, much like a very drunk person who still had some wits about him. What if he crossed that line and stopped caring again? He wasn't about to try to tell Caius that he would only do good because he couldn't be sure and he doubted Caius truly gave a shit. He seemed more like the type to only care about his own people and things that were beneficial for him, but then maybe there was more to him and Adrian was being unnecessarily judgmental. He didn't think so though, sometimes people were exactly what they appeared to be. "Well, I just wanted to thank you," he said, rather than address his ethical dilemmas. "And pay you." He grinned faintly. "If something goes wrong, maybe we can do business again."
He appreciated being thanked, even if he knew most would say he didn’t actually deserve it. Caius had provided what Adrian had asked for -- and now paid for. He’d just taken some liberties as well. He was an opportunist like his father, and that was why he was going to own this entire town one day. “Keep me in mind, and I’ll do the same,” he said, giving a faint smile in return. Their business together wasn’t over yet, but Adrian didn’t have to know that, not in his normal mind. Surely it was less traumatic that way, right? Caius was practically doing him a favor. He stood up and offered Adrian his hand to shake. “Take care, Adrian. Oh and hey -- enjoy the wedding. Tell Mila she’s missed around here.” She was supposed to be on bedrest, Caius wasn’t sure how she was planning and participating in a wedding in that state, but he didn’t care enough to ask. His staff didn’t allow anything to slack, even when someone was out, so Mila could take all the time she wanted, as far as Caius was concerned. He’d been invited to the wedding, but had opted to just send a nice gift instead.
"I'll tell her," Adrian said after shaking Caius's hand. He fixed his jacket as he stepped away from the desk, unsure if Caius was invited to the wedding or not though he felt like he should know; he was in the middle of the wedding planning storm and had seen the list of guests more than a few times already. "I think she misses this place too," he said with some amusement because it might even be true. "She's kinda going stir crazy being stuck at home." He headed for the door, not about to tell Caius that despite her condition his sister had walked out to the damn tunnel, so maybe she was doing better physically. "Thanks again," he said casually as he opened the door, kind of glad the encounter was done with. He might feel more human these days but even before everything had gone wrong, he'd never felt at home in places like the D'Onofrio office.