losthunter | Repairing the Broken ((group thread))

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Repairing the Broken ((group thread))

Hunter was still in the common ward at St. Mungos, despite the fact that he no longer felt like he needed to be there. Madame Pomfey had wanted to watch his first few days of re-growing the bone.

So while he was still in the hospital, a group of his friends had decided to descend upon his apartment, to repair the damage caused by Bellatrix. There were signs that a little cleaning had already been completed by Jim in the last few days. But there were signs of the magical battle all around the place.

His kitchen table was gone, the broken pieces already cleaned away. There was an empty space along the wall, where an entertainment center once belonged. The doors and the windows to the balcony still did not have any glass, but at least the broken glass was gone. The burned artwork was also removed. But there is now a large empty spot along the wall, where a large portrait once was displayed.

There was a lot of work ahead of them. But they had a good crowd of people to get it done.

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Jim is more than happy to let Steve take charge of the meat part of sandwich assembly, not terribly surprised that the other guy is being so efficient about the whole setup. Could be a habit left over from his military service, maybe.

There's only the very faintest of pauses before he answers, "I'll just have cheese, thanks." Better not to give the impression that he's a vegetarian or something when that's bound to lead to awkward misunderstandings later, but even though he's made progress there too, now's not the time to be pushing it, not in front of other people.

Adia's question draws his attention away from the matter anyway, and he nods towards one of the cabinets. "Yeah, left of the fridge, bottom shelf. Plates and bowls are in the one next to the sink." Hunter's cabinets mostly contain the usual things one would expect in a kitchen. Pots, pans, serving dishes, baking sheets. Though one cabinet also holds a shiny metal crate full of ration bars, but never mind about that.

"I'm good with anything," she tells Steve as she goes searching through Hunter's cabinets to find what she needs. Not just a colander, but a cutting board and knife, and a serving bowl while she's at it. If Jim's preference for a cheese sandwich registers at all, it's only to remind herself that Caspar isn't here to say what he'd prefer. "Caspar will just want fruit, you don't need to make him a sandwich." Huh, that's a lot of ration bars. Oh, there's a big enough serving bowl, great.

She takes up a spot at the sink, rinsing the berries and giving them a gentle shake. She smiles softly to herself when she hears that Caspar is handling the technological side of things. "I'm glad the warding worked. I'll check on him again in a little bit." She wouldn't be surprised if he found a good excuse to hole up in the spare room for the rest of their visit, but he could do with a little fresh fruit. They don't have this sort of variety yet back home.

"Just cheese for Jim..."

Steve doesn't seem to make any fuss about it. He'll set aside a couple of sandwiches and slap on a couple extra pieces of cheese to each of them and make them plain cheese sandwiches for the captain no trouble at all. Sandwiches are pretty great for that kind of improvisation. The rest of the food gets assembled in short order and every one cut diagonally in half. Jim's the first to be served though so Steve doesn't get any meat on the knife before hand. The rest of the sandwiches are set out on one of the cutting boards.

And, after making sure Jim and Hermione said it was okay, Crookchanks is getting two little rolls of meat. A stack of three cold cuts rolled up together and cut in half for him to nibble on. Need to make sure he's fed too, after all.

Steve's quick to help hand out plates and bowls, but he waits for everyone else to grab food before he does. Makes sure only to take as much as they do in both sandwiches and fruit before taking a seat. There's still plenty of food left on the counter. Maybe he'll be able to sneak a bit more later.

He sighs slightly before taking a bite out of his food. If nothing else, Steve can eat more when he gets home later.

Crookshanks chirps in thanks at the two little rolls of meat that were prepared for him. He appreciated the effort.

Hermione takes about five sandwiches herself to the table, plus a lot of fruit. And then returns to grab the tea kettle. "Who would like some tea?"

After living with Hunter for some time, she knows where he keeps his mugs.

Jim makes himself useful taking care of some of the detail work. Forks for the fruit, napkins all around, various condiments for the sandwiches, water glasses for anyone who isn't interested in tea.

He can't help notice that slightly pensive, regretful look on Steve's face, though he doesn't call attention to it. Everyone has something to eat, even if Caspar doesn't seem inclined to have more than the small portion of fruit that Adia has set aside for him, but Jim isn't going to ask about that either. Once he's sure that everyone is set, only then does he turn his attention towards his own meal. "There's enough for seconds, if anyone wants some."

The treat for Crookshanks makes her giggle, her only distraction as she prepares the fruit salad. She admires how pretty and fresh it looks before taking it to the counter and letting people serve themselves. It'll will be an awkward moment while she and Steve compete over who serves themselves last, but eventually she'll go ahead and grab a sandwich and some fruit and that additional small portion for Caspar. "I'd love some tea, Hermione. Thank you."

A few minutes after everyone has settled at the table, Caspar walks in, wiping his hands clean with the towel from the sink in the art studio. "I've got something set up, but I need several more sensors for it to be functional. This place needs cameras, too, one at each entry point."

He stops talking, taking a good look around and tensing unconsciously. "Oh. You're still eating." The towel gets folded neatly in his hands. "I'll come back later."

"Caspar." Adia smiles at him and pats the chair next to her. "I saved you a seat. Look, I made a fruit salad."

He does indeed look, his expression changing incrementally from uncomfortable to resigned. He walks over to the seat and slides into it. "It looks great," he says to Adia before spearing a bite of watermelon with his fork.

Caspar's comment makes Steve tense just a little bit, but he relaxes a second later. Everyone else is still eating too. He's not doing anything wrong here. He drops his gaze to his plate while Caspar talks security, nodding along when the Cylon is finished. It's sound planning, so far as he can tell.

"Adia really did a great job with the salad." Steve murmurs in between bites, though now that it's been said he will try to hurry and finish his food. Years of every meal being scarfed down in between battles and missions means it won't take him long. Especially because he could probably eat another four or five of those sandwich halves before he'd really be full. It's no matter.

"I'll go check on the walls." Caspar might be stuck with the group but Steve's making himself scarce and away from the food that's left.

Crookshanks soon joins the group at the table, deciding to sit in Caspar's lap to make the man feel a little more comfortable around the other people.

Hermione eats three of her sandwiches, and places the two extras in her little beaded bag. It is a habit of hers, from during the war, to always keep a little food on her at all times.

"Everyone did a great job with the meal. It was fantastic." She smiles.

Jim tenses a little too, for entirely different reasons, when it seems that Caspar isn't planning to join them long enough to eat anything. But the moment passes, and he's left uneasily finishing his own food and trying not to stare too obviously at the Cylon to make sure he gets something to eat.

"I can probably get my hands on some sensors for you, if you don't have the parts here," he says, trying to stay on track, for his own sake as much as everyone else. "Get me the specs of what you need and I can hop back to San Francisco real quick."

Adia quietly works her way through her sandwich, the ripple of tension from the men in the room affecting her, too. Caspar's uneasiness she understands completely, but why does Steve feel the need to hurry out of the room? And why does Jim keep sneaking glances at Caspar's plate?

It's something even Caspar notices, although he's momentarily distracted by Crookshanks hopping into his lap. "Hey, buddy," he says, scratching the cat behind the ears. He catches Jim looking at his plate again and holds back a grimace. "I'm a Cylon," he explains. "I don't need to eat as much as a human." If figures this Jim doesn't know anything about him. "I'll get you a list after lunch. Thanks."

He makes it a point to finish every last bit of his fruit salad. Adia made it, so of course he's going to eat it all.

Steve doesn't let out the breath he was holding until he's safely by himself in Hunter's studio. It's not usually such a big deal but Steve remembers sharing a lot of meals with Adia when he was in his normal body and now...he shakes his head.

It's over with and he's managed not to make a big deal out of it. Time to move past it and get back to work.

He gives a thoughtful frown while he traces the wall gently with the barest tips of his fingers. There's still spots that are tacky with wet paint. He'll have to ask Hermione for help drying the walls. In the meantime, Steve gets to work adding the smallest bits of blue, yellow, and red to different little pots of white paint to make the various colors for the stars. The action relaxes him quite a bit. A soft smile curves it's way back across Steve's face now that he's back to doing something he loves.

When Hermione's finished Steve will call her into the studio.

"Would you please help me with the walls a moment? I'd like for us to be able to get right back into it...."

Hermione had not sat down for a meal among friends in a long time. Since her sixth year at Hogwarts, before the Wizarding War had resulted in her having the leave the school. She misses it a little. And wonders why everyone is so tense.

That is why she appreciates Crookshanks and his efforts to be a calming influence.

When she heads back to the studio, Hermione takes a look around and nods. "A combination of a hot-arm charm and a drought charm will do it nicely. It will become a little warmer in here. And please make sure everyone stays hydrated as they continue to work."

She doesn't appear to need her warm to cast the charms, just a wave of her hand and the room is slightly warmer. And the paint is now dry.

He'd known he wasn't being particularly subtle, but it's still kind of embarrassing to get caught. "Sorry," Jim mumbles, taking a bite out of his own sandwich so he doesn't have to try to explain what the fuck his problem is. There's no easy way to say 'it's not you, it's me' when it comes to this shit, and normally he'd have a better handle on it than he has lately. Thankfully, Caspar seems inclined to clear his plate, otherwise awkward questions - and even more awkward answers - would probably be unavoidable.

Besides, Caspar isn't the only one on his mind. Steve sure seemed like he was in a hurry to wolf down his food and get the hell out, and maybe that's some military holdover too, but that doesn't feel right to Jim. Nor does wanting to get back to the painting so quickly, not when he's the one who suggested a break. But Jim is the last person to go bringing attention to anyone's weird eating habits, so he finishes off his meal and gets up to clear away the leftovers. "Anyone want seconds before it all goes in the fridge?"

"No, thank you," Adia replies, finishing up her sandwich. Almost always the last to clear her plate, she likes to savor whatever she's eating. Her memories of not knowing where her next meal is coming from are too fresh.

Caspar doesn't say anything regarding the leftovers. "Gotta get back to work," he tells Crookshanks, giving the feline one last scratch behind the ears. He'll wait for his lap to be free before standing up and absently dusting off his red jumpsuit. "I'll be back with that list," he tells Jim. He kisses the top of Adia's head before leaving the kitchen. Guilt is too strong a word for it, but he certainly didn't intend to set of a chain reaction of awkwardness. The sooner he can leave the scene of the crime, the better.

There's a moment of Adia simply staring at the open door before she sighs and looks back at Jim. "Sorry, I probably should have said something sooner."

"Thanks Hermione."

Steve offers the witch a genuinely grateful smile before he turns back to his small jars of paint and continued to mix them. He can make a makeshift palette for the pair of them with all the different colors, as well as some plain white too. Though he probably should hold off on that until Jim and Adia are back and ready to work.

Steve doesn't have a problem moving to sketch out the skyline in the meantime. He's fine working by himself while the others relax as much as they need to. This is more relaxing for him than their meal had been, frankly.

"You are more than welcome. If there is anything else I can do, just ask." Hermione had finished with anchoring the most important magical ritual for Hunter's apartment.

The other part of protecting Hunter will come from Caspar's expertise in technology.

"When you guys are done, I can seal the mural, so it lasts a long time."

With only Adia left in the room, it's a little easier to give an answer that'll make sense, without opening himself up to too many questions from others. Questions that would pry deeper than he's willing to talk about. "It's fine," he says, rubbing at the back of his neck, not wanting her to blame herself for not knowing about his particular neuroses either. "I just have a... thing. About people having enough." And yeah, there's a bit of guilt that he might've played some part in Caspar making himself scarce the moment he was done again.

He busies himself with sealing up the leftovers and stashing them back in the fridge again, ready for the next meal. Or for people to grab some on their way out, once they're done here.

She treats his confession delicately, giving him a soft smile but not asking for more details or prying into his reasons. That's not her business, although she's glad that he shared the little that he did. "I know what it's like to go without," she says quietly. "And Caspar is... well. He doesn't need much."

Being reminded that eating is frequently a social activity probably didn't help, either.

Finally done, she clears up her dirty plate and anything else left on the table. Jim seems to have a handle on the leftovers, so Adia gets to work on washing the dishes. Whether there's a dishwasher or not, she'll just go ahead and do them by hand. There aren't many. "I knew him before the War," she tells Jim. "He didn't know he was a Cylon back then. We were reunited recently and I've been trying to get him used to the Nexus. I can't imagine being there without him."

Caspar, meanwhile, is heading back to the spare room to take stock of what electronics he needs to complete his alarm system. He does pause a moment to catch Hermione's eye. "I'm going to start installing what I can around the balcony. Are you done with your wards?"

Graphite drags along the walls and Steve gets lost in the lines, the shapes, the forms. The San Francisco skyline (edited for Jim's time) takes shape and Steve moves on to the form of the Golden Gate bridge, growing thicker and thicker with rose bushes until t's a bloom in the middle before it moves back over to the Brooklyn bridge. A form Steve can draw from memory alone. How many times did he draw it while he was stranded in the Nexus?

When he thought he'd never be able to go home again?

He's working on the New York side of the skyline outlines when Adia and Jim come back in. Whatever had bothered him before seems to be vanished now with how focused and relaxed Steve is while he works. It takes him a moment to realize they've come back in at all.

"Oh! Sorry about that. You guys feeling recharged and ready to keep going?" Art waits for no one, after all.

Crookshanks watches as everyone leaves the table. He settles into an empty chair. And just continues to watch the others from a safe distance.

"Yes I am, thank you for doing Caspar." Hermione hums for a second. "Install to the east and west of true north. To make a triad."

As absolutely dismayed as Jim is to hear that Adia hasn't been spared that kind of experience... it does help, a little, that she gets it. He doesn't ask either, instead listening as they finish cleaning up. So Caspar's new to the Nexus... might explain some of the awkwardness. "Is there anything else I should know about his people? I don't wanna tread on any toes." He's already put his foot in it once already, and that's a terrible first impression to make. Besides, he's about to go on a five-year mission and meet new civilizations, better to get back in the habit of not offending strangers if he can help it.

As they move back into the art room, it's good to see that whatever weird-ass tension drove Steve out of the kitchen has gone out the window in favor of penciling in the detailwork they're gonna have to paint. It reminds him of Hunter, a little, the way he's seemingly lost himself in the act of creation, sketching out shapes with an accuracy that Jim will probably never have. "Yeah, pretty much. I might have to slip out for a minute to get those parts for Caspar, but then I'll be good to go."

"You got it," Caspar replies to Hermione before retreating to the spare room. At least someone around here is acting normal...

It's kind of Jim to ask for more information in an effort to be diplomatic. She gives him a smile as she rinses the dishes clean. "They're biological robots," she explains. "They're stronger and have a higher endurance than humans. They don't need to eat or sleep as much as we do, and they can interface directly with some electronics." That might explain a few things about Caspar's skill set so far.

Placing the last dish in the dish rack, she wipes her hands dry. "It's been... awkward for him. Adjusting to his new life among humans. Please don't be offended if he comes across with an attitude. Some people haven't treated him very nicely." She sets aside the dish towel and pats Jim's arm. "Thank you for trying."

Mood significantly lighter, she heads into the art room and smiles brightly. "Steve, it looks so nice! I'm ready to help again, just show me what I need to do."

"I've mixed up these offwhite shades here to let you two do the stars now that the sky is dry." Thanks to Hermione's help, of course. He points to the small jars of paint he's mixed. Offers Adia and Jim a warm smile.

"I can get some paper plates for you two to use as palettes, and I've got some smaller brushes." He shoots a glance toward Jim and nods. "I'll leave how best to fill the sky up to your decision, Jim."

Hermione moves out of the living room, to give those who are painting a little more room. She is not the artistic type, and doesn't feel that would be the best place for her skill-set.

She does remember seeing a bookcase in Hunter's bedroom. A bookcase that would have to be moved. So she decides that she should go into his room, to start deicately packing up his books. So that the bookcase will be empty when it is time to move it.

After she is done with that, she will start to unpack his dressers. And folding his clothes.

Doing things the Muggle way. Because it is Hunter's personal belongings.

To Jim, it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense to be thanked for treating a person like a person. If other people are assholes to Caspar just because he's not human, then fuck 'em. It's not like it makes him any less worthy of basic respect. Whatever the case, it doesn't sound like he has much to worry about, so he nods and mentally files away that information for later as they return to the art room.

"I can handle that," Jim says with a grin, already looking at the wall and trying to picture where each constellation would sit. He's certainly spent enough time gazing up at the stars that he knows more or less how it should look without a reference, and with the help of one of Steve's pencils, he starts marking where the major stars of Earth's northern hemisphere's night sky need to be. "You ever do any stargazing?" he asks while he works, an open-ended question for either of them to answer.

Repairing the Broken ((group thread))

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Let me know if i need to edit this, figured now was good as time as any to wrap up

a great place to wrap up

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