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Gerard always got a little nervous when Cal and Niko went out for that kind of work. He knew logically that they could handle themselves, but he was the sort that worried. Especially when it was dangerous enough to not want Gerry to risk getting underfoot.

They had just left, and told him to hold his concern unless they were not back by morning. There was no way he'd be sleeping. Getting out his art supplies and tying his blonde hair back he thought to do some detail work on his bedroom walls when he got that strange feeling he always did when Cal opened a portal.

"... Back already?" He wondered aloud - the Auphe didn't come inside, they held to that deal. So it was mostly with curiosity and concern Gerard went to the stairs to see why Cal had seemingly come back. He didn't bother with shoes.

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It had only been the start of a face, one brow beginning to inch upward, not about to actually make a correction to the question, but amused by it all the same. He lifted one hand in a mock-surrender at the self-interjection and went about flipping the first batch of pancakes onto the plate, covering them with the pot lid and ladling out a second batch while he waited for the actual question.

He considered for a moment, "There's this cliff along highway 1 in California." A snort, shaking his head, "Okay there's a lot of cliffs along highway 1, kind of a feature of the road. But this one, I don't know if it was part of some kind of state park or what, but it was always quiet when I managed to get there, it's only been a few times."

Another little head-shake, "It's an observation point, a few yards out from the road, safety railing goes out that far too, so it's definitely meant to be there." He made a gesture with his right hand, "Bridge off in the distance if you're standing there, trees on the opposite side of the road behind you, and everything else is just... ocean. It's quiet there. The water's far enough away you can barely hear it, but only if the wind's in the right direction, and the trees are far enough back that unless it's really windy, you can't her them, either, never been any traffic when I've ended up there. One of the few times I haven't minded being outside, away from modern conveniences."

Gerard understood it was a strange thing to ask someone who had it in their power to literally go anywhere, but given how often things went wrong or got complicated, he thought clarifying in an ideal scenario made a difference. He smiled as he listened to Cal describe the place. Gerard had been briefly to California in his travels, but wasn't familiar enough with the state as a whole to know where Cal was talking about. It sounded nice, though. Like a beautiful place - peaceful - and Cal's description was vivid enough that he could close his eyes and picture it in his mind.

"Sounds real lovely," Gerard mused, voice soft.

He nodded, "That kind of quiet is hard to find." More than that, there was some kind of gravity to the place, and that he couldn't even begin to describe, always figure I'll make it back there eventually, been there enough times I could probably gate there without trouble. Just never been worth it to try."

He considered a question for a moment before asking: "If you could go someplace you've only read of, or seen pictures of, I guess. Where would it be?"

That was a better question for Gerard than the one he'd posed to Cal - Gerard had been to many places after all. More countries before puberty than most hit in their whole life. Narrowing it down to places he hadn't gotten to go to yet, it was something he had to think about.

"... Does it have to be a real place?" he asked, thoughtfully, as he considered his answer to Cal's question.

That wasn't a clarification request he'd expected, though maybe he should have, and after only moment of thought he gave a shrug, "Don't see why it has to be, because now I'm curious."

There weren't many imaginary places or story-settings that he'd want to visit himself. He could pretty much count them on one hand and would still have fingers left over.

"If it had to be a real place I COULD think of something," Gerard clarified, insisting. It would just take more work. A place he hadn't been, that he'd wanted to see, that wasn't too cliche, on the other hand-

"Always thought the Dreaming seemed cool. I got a used copy of the 'Fables and Reflections' graphic novel when I was a teenager and the idea of this whole fantastic realm where theoretically my patron couldn't reach seemed … pretty awesome. At least, when I was fifteen it did," he explained with a little shrug. He was learning how to block out the Watcher in dream, but it was an exhausting endevor and hit or miss for success rate. Back then, he couldn't at all.

"Of course, knowing my luck I'd fall straight into some pocket nightmare and get trapped, but I think I'd still like to see it."

He considered that one for a moment, finally shaking his head, "Might be an interesting place to visit, but I don't know if I'd be able to stay for more than five minutes before wanting to shake the guy in charge."

And not even out of any real malice, probably, but just because Dream had always seemed like someone who needed a good hard shake to knock some sense into him, "But I don't think I've read the whole thing in order, just a couple of pieces a few years apart." He shook his head, "I don't even remember the titles."

Gerard had to give a laugh, because he couldn't even argue with that. He hadn't read them in a while but it seemed like that was a plot point during some part of it.

"Same, really. Stuck with me, though. Parts of it anyway. Guess I also liked the idea that there was some kind of cosmic entity out there that wasn't entirely malicious in nature," Gerard admitted. He couldn't believe in fully benign ones - after everything he'd seen, it simply Wasn't Possible, to the point that he had been taking lessons with Ish for some time and still firmly disbelieved in angels. Something cosmically powerful that was in it's own way petty and selfish but was capable of being kind? That was ... nice. A nice dream.

It didn't exist either, but it didn't stretch his ability to believe like most religions did.

"I remember that Death looked like some kind of goth Joan Jett, but that she was... kind." Which had been the most unbelievable thing for him at the time, "Always kind of hoped that part was real, even though I didn't think it really could be."

A thoughtful sound, considering for a moment even as he turned the pancakes over, "Now, I don't know. I've seen weirder things."

Gerard nodded, understanding that. The idea of kindness in an unkind world. It had been something his own Cal and him had bonded over, too.

"What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen?" Gerard asked with a little smile. "Fun weird."

Hopefully it wouldn't lead stumbling headfirst into more landmines of bad memories to ask.

There was no hesitation in the answer, "Dog parade, one of the times I was in New Orleans, just like a regular parade with floats and costumes everything, but they were made on dog strollers and wagons, and it was all dogs. People walking them, obviously, but the parade was about the dogs."

A wry little twist of a smile, "Obviously I was watching from a safe distance, but I still saw it."

He considered his own question for a moment, but decided to continue almost in the same vein with: "Most useless superhero power, go."

Oh- Gerard thought if he had to consider himself a kind of animal person he was probably more of a cat person, but a dog parade sounded adorable. He'd have to look that up to see if it was a thing on this world and maybe find an excuse to go to it. Maybe Caliban would like that too.

He gave a very thoughtful hum to the question. It really depended on how you judged 'useless'. Quite the thought experiment.

"Psychic communication with colossal squid, but you have to be within ten meters for them to hear you."

It had been adorable, even at a safe distance, and given a few minutes to think he'd probably remember what it had been called.

"Oh that's good." He replied, laughing softly, "I usually go with internal internet awareness, just being psychically aware of everything going on on the internet at any given time."

A little tilt of his head, plating pancakes and turning off the stove, "Bullet-magnetism without invulnerability is pretty useless, too, but for different reasons."

"The internet thing could be useful under the right circumstances, but... if you got no filter, ugh," Gerard said, thinking through that. Too much information coming at you all at once. Even ignoring how much was likely things you never wanted to see, the sheer volume would be overwhelming.

The bullet one got a laugh out of Gerard, though. Yes, pretty useless for other reasons. or if you were trying to draw them away from someone else, useful, but only once.

He stepped away from the counter he leaned on as Cal turned off the oven, fetching plates and forks to bring to the table along with the sliced fruit toppings.

"When'd you learn to make pancakes?"

"Obviously no filter, that would make it useful, or at least almost useful." He actually had to think about the question, brow furrowing even as he dropped into a chair, "I don't actually remember. Just kind of feels like one of those things I've always known."

He couldn't even remember if it had been Nik that had taught him, though he didn't think so, he felt like he'd remember that, but he also didn't know who else would have, unless he'd just taught himself off the back of the bisquick box.

Gerard got water for himself, and offered to grab something for Cal as well. He had a certain caretaker aspect to his personality that worked well with Niko in some ways and conflicted heavily in others - both wanting to carry the load for the other at times.

"Suppose they're not the most complicated thing to make," Gerard admitted.

"I can do eggs, few different ways, even, and I can even handle French toast, most of the time, just don't try to get me to do anything inside the oven. Actual baking is still beyond me. Been lucky so far with reheating leftovers when there wasn't a microwave available, but even that feels like tempting fate."

Water was just fine with Cal, as well, mostly because he knew he probably needed more of it just in general.

He also made a careful, mostly-even layer of chopped fruit across the tops of his own pancakes, not to the level of some kind of neurosis, but still enough to make sure every bite would have some.

Gerard topped his the same way, a bit lighter on the fruit, but the same idea in mind.

"I've been in way too many places that didn't have a microwave. Got really good at bare bones sustenance finding with a hotplate though."

Which probably contributed to Gerard's lack of care for eating. Even now he ate very little, and while thanks to constant feeding from Niko he was no longer scrawny, looking at former pictures of himself ... well, the idea that he hadn't realized he had cancer was kind of dumb, thanks to the diet of cigarettes and tea and sometimes coffee.

"I definitely got more experience since moving here."

"Hotplate and camp stove take a similar skill set, and it's one that I have about half of." He replied, nodding, as he cut a bite of pancake with the side of his fork, "And having a stable base camp to work with," A circular gesture with the fork to indicate the apartment, "Definitely helps with, you know, remembering regular meals and learning how to make more of them."

Something that he probably would have managed himself, if he'd actually managed to stick around at any point in time, and something he had managed whenever he'd ended up caught somewhere even semi-stable for more than a few days.

"And people to get on your case if you forget," Gerard admitted with a wry tone that said that was a normal source of conflict to deal with. Gerard ate slowly, carefully, like after every other bite he was considering whether he wanted the next.

"... Cal really did miss you. He talked about you a lot."

"Yeah, that too." Cal no longer ate like he thought someone might take it before he could finish, and while sometimes it was close, now was not one of those times. Gerard had his own plate, that was apparently enough to convince that little food-aggressive corner of Cal's brain that everything was fine.

He nodded at the rest, "I'll have to try not to ambush him when they get back from the thing." Because while it might be hilarious, it might also lead to stabbing, and he really didn't want to deal with that when he was still achy from raptor-scratches.

Gerard had also learned from his Cal how to not set off food aggression triggers. Especially for when Cal's murder chorus was particularly loud that day.

"They can be a little ... wound up when they first come home, yeah," Gerard agreed with a wry smile that spoke of his own misunderstandings over that, though clearly given he wasn't yet dead and had very few scars they had all turned out okay. "As long as Spartacus isn't giving off the intruder alert though it's probably alright."

He nodded, "And that's if Cal hasn't smelled me from downstairs." Which considering he hadn't been downstairs himself was unlikely, but not impossible, "I'll make sure there's a clear path between me and the door."

Not because he'd need to make a break for it, but because he could be reasonably sure Cal would vault furniture to get to him. Mostly because he'd do the same.

"Can he? Smell the differences between the two of you?" Gerard asked, curious. Well, right now they'd probably be clear - Cal having just come from dinosaur world probably had some very unique scents on him indeed, but if he stuck around did he still smell different or just like Caliban smelling himself?

"... Is that weird to ask? You don't have to answer if it's weird."

He huffed a laugh, shaking his head, "It would be weirder if we weren't what we are, but yeah, he can, we both can, especially when I first get back from somewhere else."

He gave a little one-shouldered shrug, stuffing another bite of pancake in his mouth but talking clearly enough around it as he chewed, "Things get a little muddier the longer I'm here, but there's still a difference, always figured it's just from years of y'know, different diet and location and stuff."

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