Mamet's sitting against a tree, going over chords and practicing the song Joe gave him, when he hears someone coming. He pauses and looks up along the path, head cocked.
"Hey," he says politely to the guy when he doesn't recognize him.
Cain stopped, fingers tensing and going for his gun and the calluses on his fingertips brush against the cool and familiar metal. Zero, was the first thing he could think to say and not get out and under the brim of his hat, Cain's eyes went slightly icier.
"Where in the Realm did I end up?" Cain asked warily, because even a cursory study of the man showed that something was definitely awry. Sure, Zero might pry those boots off some poor sap in Central, but the guitar?
Funny, he never pegged Zero for a Music Man.
Besides, if he did get caught up in a Travel Storm, he'd be on the otherside. Gods, did Zero come through with him? Did he get released?
"Realm?" Mamet repeats blankly. A long moment passes before he realizes the situation for what it is, too distracted by the way the man's touching his gun. He doesn't know if he should be worried or not.
"Oh, oh, did you just get here?" he asks when that realization comes, and gets to his feet, holding the guitar by it's neck.
Cain just arched a brow beneath his hat, almost imperceptibly. He wasn't about to give off any sudden moves and he was keeping an eye left and right for any Longcoats that might be lurking, waiting to take hold of them.
Now I know why they call you Zero. Still can't fight your own battles.
Cain's feet were in a ready stance, just in case. Always just in case. "Just came from the O.Z., yeah," he answered carefully. "Why, you know what this place is?"
"Yeah, this is Tabula Rasa. An island people show up on from all over the place," Mamet starts to explain, trying to keep his cool. The guy looks tense, and he's got a gun, and that isn't the best combination. "I've never heard of the O.Z. I'm from Earth."
People say this is Earth, but Mamet doesn't really buy it, matching constellations or not.
"Earth?" Cain echoed, shaking his head as he turned his gaze to the sun. Wait.
Sun? Wherever he'd landed, it definitely wasn't home, seeing as there should have been two of those in the sky. He exhaled deeply and he knew that something was up. For one, this man wasn't Zero. He couldn't possibly be Zero, but he looked like him in every respect. "What's your name?"
Cain exhaled slowly, feeling a heavy block of his heart give way, like an ice flow slowly drifting away. It was, he reckoned, tension. This Mamet didn't know it, but that face had tormented him for eight annuals, eight long annuals. If it wasn't for Adora...
"Wyatt Cain," he answered evenly, tipping his hat with tense fingers. It took a moment to come up with the next phrase, to get into a more relaxed frame of mind. "You look just like someone I used to know."
And even if the man's name was Mamet, Cain couldn't help the small voice in the back of his brain that labelled him 'One'.
Mamet gives an uncomfortable smile, not because it bothers him that he looks like other people, but because it seems to bother this guy. Wyatt. His smile gets a playful edge. "Wyatt?" With that hat? Amazing.
"Sorry, there's a lot of guys that look like me here. No one really knows why."
"Most call me Cain, but I've never been averse to my first name," he agreed warily. "My mother thought it good enough, after all." There was even a bit of humor in that sentence, but it was the kind that if you looked at it from the wrong angle, you'd blink and miss it.
"Um...I'm not sure," he says slowly, trying to count them out in his head. "Maybe...five? Duck, Leoben, Asher...Ray...Newbie...um, Rollie. And then a guy who looks kind of like us and says he's James Bond, but I don't think he's really James Bond, even if that guy's been played by a ton of other guys. But I think that's it, are any of them the one you know?"
"No guy named Zero?" Cain checked, his tone gruff and low. He couldn't relax completely because if he did, that was when they got you. Cain couldn't relax, not ever. "He's the one I know. He was...dealt with," Cain settled for saying, a tactful euphemism for what he had done.
Mamet shakes his head. "What'd he do?" he asks, an uneasy expression on his face. Knowing there's a guy out there that looks like him doing stuff that needs to be dealt with makes him anxious. Mamet should have been dealt with, maybe.
Cain's jaw tersed and all the emotion drained away from his face, dripping out like the raindrops from his hat. "He killed my wife, locked up my son, and stole eight annuals of my life," Cain said patiently, as if every single bone in his body wasn't screaming for vengeance, even now.
As if looking at that face didn't make him want to shoot something, even knowing they weren't the same man.
"Not to mention, he tried to kill me again after all that. Him and me, we don't get along so well," he said dryly.
Mamet kind of wonders if maybe he should leave after a list like that. He doesn't think he'd want to be around a guy who looked like a guy who'd done that to him.
"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry," he says lamely, frowning, his forehead wrinkled in concern. "I swear I won't, I mean, I wouldn't...I'm not a killer."
Cain was. And he wasn't. It was a complicated shade of grey that he didn't mean to get into and he planned on avoiding that perilous discussion. Anyone could be driven to killing, Cain knew, it just took the right elements.
"I took care of him," Cain said, and that was the final word on the subject, as far as he was concerned.
"Hey," he says politely to the guy when he doesn't recognize him.
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"Where in the Realm did I end up?" Cain asked warily, because even a cursory study of the man showed that something was definitely awry. Sure, Zero might pry those boots off some poor sap in Central, but the guitar?
Funny, he never pegged Zero for a Music Man.
Besides, if he did get caught up in a Travel Storm, he'd be on the otherside. Gods, did Zero come through with him? Did he get released?
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"Oh, oh, did you just get here?" he asks when that realization comes, and gets to his feet, holding the guitar by it's neck.
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Now I know why they call you Zero. Still can't fight your own battles.
Cain's feet were in a ready stance, just in case. Always just in case. "Just came from the O.Z., yeah," he answered carefully. "Why, you know what this place is?"
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People say this is Earth, but Mamet doesn't really buy it, matching constellations or not.
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Sun? Wherever he'd landed, it definitely wasn't home, seeing as there should have been two of those in the sky. He exhaled deeply and he knew that something was up. For one, this man wasn't Zero. He couldn't possibly be Zero, but he looked like him in every respect. "What's your name?"
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"Wyatt Cain," he answered evenly, tipping his hat with tense fingers. It took a moment to come up with the next phrase, to get into a more relaxed frame of mind. "You look just like someone I used to know."
And even if the man's name was Mamet, Cain couldn't help the small voice in the back of his brain that labelled him 'One'.
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"Sorry, there's a lot of guys that look like me here. No one really knows why."
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"How many guys like you?" he asked carefully.
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"Um...I'm not sure," he says slowly, trying to count them out in his head. "Maybe...five? Duck, Leoben, Asher...Ray...Newbie...um, Rollie. And then a guy who looks kind of like us and says he's James Bond, but I don't think he's really James Bond, even if that guy's been played by a ton of other guys. But I think that's it, are any of them the one you know?"
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As if looking at that face didn't make him want to shoot something, even knowing they weren't the same man.
"Not to mention, he tried to kill me again after all that. Him and me, we don't get along so well," he said dryly.
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"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry," he says lamely, frowning, his forehead wrinkled in concern. "I swear I won't, I mean, I wouldn't...I'm not a killer."
Anymore.
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"I took care of him," Cain said, and that was the final word on the subject, as far as he was concerned.
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