Cain and Laurie - Framing

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While preparing the materials for the upcoming construction, Cain and Laurie wind up discussing some interesting views on family.



Laurie looked at the pile of lumber and gave Cain a look of confusion, then, just to make sure, she looked down at herself. Yep, still a skinny blonde girl, no sudden onset of rippling muscles, or the ability to lift houses over her head that she could see.

"So, where do you want all this?" she asked, giving him her best 'I think you're crazy but I'll do it anyway' smile.

Cain let out a breath and unrolled the blueprints, tacking them up to a piece of plywood. "We're gonna be doing some basic framing. That means two-by-fours, two-by-sixes, and four-by-fours. I already got 'em cut to length, so I want you to put 'em in sets so the framing crew can put 'em together." He paused, then pointed to the piles of wood. "The regular boards, the thick boards, and the square boards."

"I can do that. How big is it going to be when it's all finished?" Laurie asked, walking over and picking up one of the regular boards and placing it to one side before looking for another just like it.

"Big enough to keep all the dogs, cats, and whatever folks have here," Cain grunted, squatting down to check a plumb line. "I ain't about to order everyone to put their mongrels in the kennel, but we got new people showing up and odds are someone's gonna have allergies or something. Last thing we need is someone who sneezes fire having a bad reaction to Mr. Fluffy." He smiled in retrospect. "Although Chuck's massively allergic to cats, they ever mention that?"

"Kyle mentioned something." Laurie replied, picking up several two by fours at once and placing them together in a pile. "Does he really get hives just from cat hair?"

"Sneezes like it's hay fever season," Cain said with a wide smile. "That's right, you weren't here when Remy and me lived out in the boathouse. Miles - that's Alison Blaire's kid - had this ugly little cat, Mao. Kept him out in the boathouse, great way to keep Chuck from ever visiting."

"You don't like Professor Xavier?" Laurie asked, frowning slightly as she picked up another stack of wood and sorted them into the piles she'd laid out. "But you're brothers, right?"

"That don't mean we get along," Cain grumbled, lifting one of the steel corner posts onto his shoulder. "He sees things his way, I see 'em mine, and we try and stay out of each other's way. Family don't mean you gotta like each other," he said, "it's whatever you want to make of it."

"But...he's Professor Xavier." Laurie replied, not quite able to understand someone actively disliking him. Okay, he wasn't exactly the snugly bunny type of man, but he wasn't really dislikeable either. Sort of intimidating, in that she was never quite sure just what it was he wanted from her...and she was drifting. She smiled at Cain, and picked up another plank of wood in an attempt to disguise the moment of 'wha?' "Um, you don't think mutants and humans can coexist peacefully?"

Cain snorted. "I don't even think it's an issue. You forget, when I was your age, they were fighting about integrating 'colored folks', like they called 'em back then, into society. This whole human-mutant thing ain't any different. But that ain't all Chuck's about. I know you guys might see him just as this benevolent saint who's healing the world - and I ain't sayin' you're wrong, but..."

With a sigh, Cain set the post into the ground, squaring it up with a few taps from one sledgehammer-like finger. "Like you said, brothers. Issues we got go back further than this place, I can tell you that much."

"I don't know much about siblings." Laurie said, tone almost wistful.

She shrugged and placed the plank in its corresponding pile before heading back to the stack. She'd often wondered what it would be like to have a brother or a sister. Not that she minded it being only her and her Mom but she wondered what it would be like to have a large family sometimes.

"Did you always not get along?" she asked, curious. Mr Marko had always been something of a mystery, especially since he seemed so formidable sometimes, like asking him a question would get you a weeks detention just for thinking you could. She wasn't about to waste the opportunity of his current amiability, and planned on asking as many questions as she could get away with.

Cain nodded as he checked the post's alignment with a level, then hammered in a few wooden stakes around it with his thumb. "Pretty much. But look, I ain't about to badmouth him to you. He's doin' a good thing here teachin' you kids, and I respect that. Didn't always, but it took some time to come around to. Fact bein', he ain't getting any younger, and I..."

He stopped for a moment, lost in thought. "I'll be damned," he breathed quietly. "Never thought of that."

Turning to Laurie, Cain shrugged and inspected the piles she'd made. "Looks like we're set here. Just need to cut some angles into the ends of these and we can bring out the power tools for the framing crew. Do up the frames, mix some concrete for a foundation, and we'll be in business."

"Then can I get Pablo?" Laurie said, gaze a mixture of eagerness and humour. "Although, I'd probably need someone to come with me. I don't know of any places around here that sells them."

"Pablo?" Cain's eyebrow raised in curiosity. "You want to get yourself a Mexican? We've already got one."

"Nooo! Not a Mexican, although the fact that you know where you can buy one from is automatically scary. Pablo is a miniature pot bellied pig." Laurie said, not able to contain the giggle that escaped. "See, it's Pablo the pot bellied pig. The P's sort of bounce off each other all cool like."

Cain pondered that for a moment, tapping his chin. "Suppose that wouldn't be a problem, so long as it ain't trackin' mud everywhere and stays out of the kitchen. Dang, now I've got a hankerin' for one of those bacon cheeseburgers the size of a hubcap. C'mon, what say we finish sortin' the framing sets, then we'll grab the rest of the crew, load everyone into the truck, and go out for burgers?"

"I like the way you think, Mr Marko." Laurie replied, placing another set of planks down. "I call shotgun though!"