John (theskintalks) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-03-01 16:29:00 |
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23rd Feb
Sam Ward ✦ Clara Archer ✦ Kanuna Oliver
Setting ground rules Low Complete |
Seeing as Sam had basically invited Kanuna to live on the couch - Clara's couch - he figured it would be worthwhile calling a meeting to discuss how the day to day was going to work. Clara to her credit had been amazing about going with the flow and agreeing to let Kanuna stay, something that Sam was very grateful for. "So I figured we should probably get together and talk about how everything is going to work around here given that Clara has very kindly allowed you to stay with us, Kanuna." If they were going to make this work then they needed to figure out chores, boundaries, all the stuff that made living with other people bearable. Not that Clara was hard to live with, she was actually very easy to live with. Except of course when she'd had too much sugar but that was a story for another time. Kanuna had showed up on time when asked to for the meeting Sam called. He sat on the edge of the couch cushion, elbows on knees and hands clasped between them. “Which I’m really grateful for, by the way,” he added on to Sam’s start when the meeting began, giving Clara a smile. “I’d just get my own place, but…” Kanuna shook his head and left his sentence unfinished. But he didn’t have a job, didn’t have steady income for rent, didn’t own or want to own any furniture, wouldn’t pass a background check or a credit check, but more than anything, he still wasn’t sure how long he’d be staying. "It's fine," Clara hurried, "you can stay as long as you need. Any family of Sam's is welcome." It was a little strange having two werewolves in her space, let alone two men, but she was getting used to it. "Though I did get you a key, finally, sorry it took a while." She fumbled with the keyring she had in her hand then threw it towards Kanuna, there was an apartment key on it attached to a wood-grain effect plectrum keyring. "But it'd be good to get an idea of when you'll be comin' an' goin'- I don't wanna go startlin' you or nothin'." Sam was relieved when Kanuna was gracious towards Clara because she was being very kind and generous to let him stay with them for as long as he needed. Even if Sam didn't know how long that would. Hopefully he wouldn't up and leave in the middle of the night because then Sam would really kill him. Straight up stalk and murder him. "I'm thinking we need to figure out the boring stuff like chores, cooking, who has the bathroom when, all the stuff that means we aren't going to murder each other." Kanuna had been impressed with how easily Clara had gone along with him being there, and it had earned her his friendship. Which, for some, meant very little to be friends with a drifter. But to others, Kanuna had gotten them out of a lot of trouble at his own cost. He liked to repay his debts. Raising a hand to catch the key, Kanuna fingered it and held the plectrum between thumb and forefinger. It was a nice observative touch on Clara’s part and made Kanuna smile warmly at her. “Thank you.” He decided he’d go first, since he was the guest here, and raised his hand to speak. “I, uh,” he began, softly clearing his throat, deciding how to phrase it with a glance to Clara, “I may not stay here every night? Or I might not make it back here at a decent hour. I don’t have a cell phone at the moment, but I’ll still try to call to let you know. And, you know, so you can get ahold of me to bring back bread or eggs or whatnot. Domestic shit.” He smirked. That sounded nice, actually. “And as for chores, I’ll take whatever you two don’t want to do the most. I really don’t mind.” He looked at Samuel and smirked, remembering their conversation about a maid. “It’s the least I can do.” Clara bit her lower lip, every instinct in her trying to say that he didn't need to help out because he was a guest, even if they didn't know how long he would be staying for. She shifted on the spot, lacing her fingers together and rocking up onto her toes. Her legs hurt, weirdly, but she wondered if it was because she'd been human for a really long time and needed to stretch her legs in a more... non-human sense. "Ain't no big deal if you stay out or whatever, just don't wake me when you're comin' in." She shrugged her shoulders again, glancing at Sam for help as she drew her lower lip between her teeth, asking for help with divvying out the chores, general southern hospitality getting in the way of her suggesting the ones that she hated as being ones that their guest - but he's a guest, she could hear her momma saying, honey, we don't let guests do chores - could take on. Sam's gaze drifted to Clara as she bit her lower lip and he had come to learn that meant she was resisting the urge to say something. He suspected she might be objecting to the fact Sam expected Kanuna to pull his weight as long as he was staying on the couch. "She's a light sleeper," Sam shared helpfully with a wink in Clara's direction. He also caught the pleading look from Clara before he took the lead on that one. "Personally I hate dusting and basically anything to do with cleaning windows. Clara I know doesn't really enjoy emptying the dishwasher or cleaning the bathroom." "I can be pretty quiet," Kanuna assured Clara. "But just in case, if it's too late, I'll just find another couch to borrow until morning. It's no problem." "Dusting, windows, dishes and bathroom. Alright, I can do that." Though he'd be experimenting with methods for a while until he learned how to do it well. Kanuna nodded. "Anything else?" Clara shook her head, "I mean- chippin' in on food an' stuff whenever you can would probably help too." With two werewolves in the house, their food intake would probably increase quite a lot. Clara, herself, didn't eat much and was relatively easy to feed, even if Sam was insistent on trying to make her eat other things than cereal. And he did a great job of making sure that whatever he made for himself had a vegetarian component. She rocked on her toes again and shot Sam a grateful glance for answering the question. "You sure you're gonn' be okay on the couch?" "I can cover whatever we need to on the food bill," Sam assured Clara. He knew Kanuna didn't have a lot and he would give what he could but at the same time he didn't want him to freak out or feel like he had to go out and do whatever he'd done to make money on the streets. He shot Kanuna a look to calm any ruffled fur that might have come about as a result of his offer, it wasn't because he doubted that Kanuna could bring money in but he didn't want him doing what he'd always done and feeling as though he needed to. Sam was happy to cover it until Kanuna was in a position to cover it himself. He cleared his throat. "We can alternate, one night I'll have the couch and one night Kanuna can have my bed." No big deal. "I--" Kanuna started, but Sam cut him off. He shot Sam a look as well, but could see in his friend's eyes that now was not a good time to argue it, if at all. Sighing and rolling his shoulders, he settled down. "The couch is fine, I swear," he would protest on the likelihood of allowing Sam to give up his own bed and help foot the grocery bill. "Believe me, it's a helluva lot better than what I've slept on before." He chuckled to make it a joke rather than something sad or pathetic about his past. "We can probably look at replacin' the couch with a fold out bed or somethin'? At least you'd have somethin' more comfortable to sleep on." That would save Sam having to try and adjust between sleeping in a bed and on the couch. Both being werewolves, she worried a little that there might end up being a territory issue but she didn't know enough to know if that was an actual thing outside of what she'd seen Sam exhibit rarely in the few weeks they'd lived together. Sam did have moments where he was territorial and snapped without really meaning to. More so at home than at work because work was work and he could apparently disassociate from the wolf in that space it would seem but not at home. God help him if either Clara or Kanuna brought some person back to the apartment and he wasn't expecting it because then there might be an issue. Still that was a bridge to cross when they got there. "Yeah, a fold out bed is probably a good compromise." "That's not a compromise at all, come on guys," Kanuna appealed. "The couch is fine. You shouldn't have to go changing your whole décor for me. I'm the freeloader here." He looked from one to the other. And what would happen if he decided it was better he didn't stay? Then they'd be stuck with a lame fold out couch. "Seriously. Do I have any say in this?" Clara's lips twitched up into a little grin. "Nope. 'Cause even if you don't wanna stay any longer, we've then got somewhere for any guests to sleep if they wanna, so it's kind of a win-win anyway." "The lady has spoken," Sam muttered with a smirk as he glanced over at Kanuna. "And take it from me she's pretty damn hard to argue with. Once she's made up her mind she's damned hard to dissuade." Kanuna let out a breath in defeat. "Okay. You win. What else? Like say, what's the etiquette for bringing a special someone over? We know Samuel won't have that problem, but." He smirked, managing not to look at Samuel and focus on Clara as he waited for her to respond. "Uh, since you're sleepin' on the couch I'd appreciate it if you didn't," Clara pointed out, though she did frown a little when he made a dig at Sam. "That ain't nice. Sam's a good guy, any girl'd be lucky to- wait, girl? Guy?" she tipped her head at Sam. "Ain't ever wanted to pry." Sam was glad that Clara had fielded that particular question especially after the slight jab at him by Kanuna and he just gave him a 'dude seriously?' look before he shot Clara an appreciative look. "Thank you, Clara. It's nice to know that somebody appreciates me." For Sam it was about the connection and in the past it had been with women so he just assumed that was where he was at though Kanuna wasn't wrong he hadn't had action in a fair few years. Mostly because he'd been worried about what he might do during the act itself. Kanuna snickered and rolled his eyes. It was already so hard to get Samuel to take a joke. Now Clara was blunt to humor as well? Suppressing a sigh, because he wasn't quite ready to be asked to leave yet, he answered Clara's question that Samuel had ignored. "It's girls for him. Well, women. Guys for me. And alright. I won't bring any back here. Never was good at hosting anyway, so that works out." Clara tucked her hair behind her ear and hopped up onto the counter. "Fair enough, I ain't got no problem with whatever y'all wanna do just not in the shared areas." She shrugged, figuring that was probably at the very least an acceptable request. Outside of work she didn't do much so spent a fair amount of time at home. "Fair enough," Sam agreed readily. It definitely wasn't too much to ask for and if either him or Kanuna were going to get some then they could always go to somebody else's place or figure it out at the time. Sam had his room after all but somehow it didn't seem fair for him to be able to bring somebody home and for Kanuna not to be able to do the same. He also suspected that it might muddle the scents in the apartment and that might make things complicated though it shouldn't, right? “Fair enough,” Kanuna smirked as he said it, though the phrase wasn’t normally a part of his vocabulary. When in Rome? “Anything else we should talk about?” He crosses his arms and leaned into the counter. Clara shrugged her shoulders. “You just gotta give us a few days to find a sofa bed,” she offered with a small smile. “At least you got a key. Sam and I have a movie night once a week, too. You’re welcome to join whenever.” Sam rubbed a hand through his hair absentmindedly. “Yeah, what Clara said.” It was nice, the movie night that was. Just them hanging out and not having to worry about anything. Of course he didn’t know if that was something Kanuna did these days because there had been a lot of years between them and neither of them were the same as they had been when they were younger. Kanuna's eyes brightened and he looked at Samuel. A movie night? That was pretty damn adorable. It was clear he'd forged a comfortable connection with Clara and it was good to see his old friend was still willing to be open with another person after ostracizing himself from his family and the tribe. "Sure, I'd love to if I can make it." Sam's eyes flicked up to regard his friend with something approaching surprise, relief and genuine pleasure that he seemed to want to join them especially as relearning Kanuna as an adult was not the easiest thing in the world but it was small things like this that made the world of difference. "It would be good to have you there." And he meant that. |