Alhen "Psi" Captor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
temperedadmin) wrote2012-08-30 02:35 am
temperedadmin) wrote2012-08-30 02:35 am
Entry tags:
Lost Realm app
PLAYER INFO
Player Name: Rose
Preferred Contact Methods: AIM/Plurk: kakarikarose
Other Characters: Dave Lalonde
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: The Psiioniic (AU) - Alhen "Psi" Captor
Series: Homestuck
Canon Point: After finally coming clean to Sollux about his job and the identity of Sol's mother.
History Link: Link.
AU History: General summary
Alhen Captor's background
Individual character blurbs
Personality: Loyalty is one of Alhen's most obvious traits. Even under the threat of impending death and torture, he would never turn on those he cares about and would gladly rather die himself than letting anything happen to them. And in his line of work, he knows very well that it's a real possibility that one day he may have to face such an incident. Before, the only ones who deserved such were his close friends. But as time went on and he became one of the top members of Alpha Omega, that devotion was by default extended to the rest of the gang as a whole. Without any hesitation he would lay his life on the line for any single member should they need his assistance. In some regards he can be considered a little over protective, though mainly when it comes to the younger girls in the group as well as his own son. Because of that there's even been times when he was compared to the stereotypical "shotgun dad", but he likes to believe he's more classy than that.
And class is of course important to him. If there was one thing that Scratch rubbed off on Alhen it was that things had to be done in a certain manner and anything less than perfect was simply unacceptable. Because of this he has a tendency to switch between moods at the drop of a hat. His usual pleasant attitude replaced with an almost robotic like emotionless mask the moment he slips fully into a job. Everything taken care of in calculated steps, elegant and deadly all in one swoop. Since no one's left who knew Alhen before Alpha Omega, none of them realize the impact Scratch and his two daughters had on the man. He was reckless before, determined to just get it done and over with and let that be that. But his personality was shifted by the two woman the most, molded into the perfect killer with a mindset to match who knew how to not make a mess of things. But he prefers to keep that side of him down when he can, only using it when he feels it's necessary.
The rest of the time he's almost always in a good mood, though not necessarily pleasant to be around. He's never liked arrogant types who believe they're better than everyone else, and he makes it his job to fuck them over six ways to hell the moment he sees someone like that sit down at one of his card tables. Never obviously and never maliciously, all of his intentions hidden behind that calm smile and careful manipulation he learned from the best. Making things look natural is something he's learned over the years and has spent more than enough time perfecting it. He has a tendency to be a smartass when faced with serious questions and situations, taking everything lightly without a care. Most people believe it's foolishness, but it's really just an overwhelming amount of pride and confidence in himself and his allies. Something that wasn't always there either, grown over the years out of his mess of insecurities and problems he had when he was just a kid. But there were some things he couldn't out grow, no matter how hard he had tried.
His biggest downfall is his tendency to place the blame on himself whenever something happens to go wrong. If someone dies it's his fault for not listening carefully enough, despite the fact that no one expects him to be everywhere at the same time. If someone gets injured, it's his fault for not paying enough attention to protect his allies. And it's not just a brief moment of guilt either, he'll continue to be convinced that it's his fault until the wound heals and even after that may bring it up in an argument against himself in the future. And when a death is on his shoulders, he never forgets and never forgives himself for it. The biggest incident being when Kulira and Leona were killed, even after ten years he continued to have nightmares over it with them accusing him of letting them die. But at the same time he tries to make up for his mistakes in any way he can, even if it's something as simple as doing favors for the person without asking for anything in return as he would in most situations where he has to go out of his way for something. Even if that something is taking care and watching closely over the children that were effected by the death he caused, nothing is ever too much and nothing is ever enough to let him forgive himself.
Alhen's a master of hiding his emotions though, able to either mask it with a smile or wear a completely blank mask, just to make sure no one sees his weakness. For as confident as he is, another issue he never quite fully grew out of is the temper he had as a child. It takes much more for it to come out, but all someone would have to do is prod hard enough at his insecurities and it would snap in whichever way happened to be appropriate at the time. Be it a simple fit that ends in someone's feelings getting hurt or a reckless fight that ends in blood getting all over him when he usually tries to stay clean on the job and some of it even being his own. He's gotten better at containing himself though, another act from Kait to train him into a proper pet.
Which just leads to his other destructive habit he tends to keep to himself. While he had once fancied the idea of loving Kait Peixes, he knew she would never feel the same and accepted what she did want from him. The perfect toy for her to play with, something to mess with and brag about to others on how well her pet had been groomed and trained to be the best. She didn't like getting her own hands dirty, and so long as it kept her attentions on him he allowed her to do with him as she would. No one really approved of it, though they didn't say much after a while as it was clear he had no intentions of changing it. Whenever she's around, it's like he's not even human. Just a pretty doll for her to hang on and show off, a deadly toy and a symbol that her daddy couldn't control her or stop her when there was something she really wanted.
Which in combination with how her sister Shera Megido taught him to kill gained him another habit he's less than proud of. Killing for pleasure is wrong, the one thing that he had always believed and the very thing that had caused this group to be formed in the first place. And the one thing he enjoyed the most, the rush and the adrenaline that would pump through him in the middle of a battle and letting him forget everything else. He loved his job, he would rarely pass up the opportunity for a good hit and everyone knew it but no one would say a thing about it. Because while he seemed like a nice guy, most of those who didn't know him very well tended to be scared of him based on rumors and reputation alone. All of which he proudly lived up to while he was at work. The only thing that made him feel not so much like the scum they were made to take out is that once everything was said and done and the rush of battle drained away, he was never pleased with the carnage around him. The main reason he tried to keep blood off of his suit was so he wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of thinking just who those people were behind their horrible ways. He would always tell himself he didn't enjoy killing, it was still wrong no matter what, but the rush of actually doing it was something he was almost ashamed to admit he was addicted to after little over twenty years of it.
Despite his issues and and less than favorable personality at times, he's actually rather laid back in his current years. He knows he shouldn't feel old being not even forty yet, but finds it hard not to when his son is almost twenty himself. So he enjoys just taking pleasures in the simple things in life, just spending time with Sollux whenever he can and making sure the boy could have everything he could ever want. Though part of him knows it's unhealthy to the degree he takes it, the fact that he couldn't possibly go on living if Sollux were to die, but like with most of his negative emotions he never shows it. He'd rather relax and enjoy life while he still had the chance before the inevitable would happen than worry over little things. It was never little things that got him worried after all, so they were never important to him.
Powers: Psi is able to hear the voices of those soon to be dead, but only if they're within a certain range. The distance can vary depending on how well he knows them. At best, if one of his best friends was soon to die he would be able to hear their voice if he was on the first floor of a building and they were on the 30th. He only hears them if they'll be dead within the next 24 hours.
Other than that his skills are simply that of a well trained hitman who's been doing his job for nearly twenty years. He usually keeps on him a select number of high tech gadgets that are meant to be used in a tight spot. Most of the time he prefers using only his twin golden desert eagle pistols and the goggles given to him by Kait. Their main uses are night vision, thermal vision and an advanced lock on system that allows the tracking of multiple targets.
Other Details: Obviously he's not exactly like canon Psiioniic due to being human and not having such extreme circumstances around him. And also thanks to being human all of the ancestors had to have human names as most of their titles just wouldn't quite fit. As for Mindfang and Condesence, I decided against using Meenah and Aranea because they were more based on their ancestor selves than their kid selves. I tried to be as linear as possible with the general AU summary and Psi's personal summary, but the individual blurbs are really just extra info about all the different characters and only contain info directly related to them, just tie in with the others down the line. I hope that's not too confusing? Though the other characters isn't necessary, just an extra thing I felt like adding to get more of a feel for the world, so I hope it's not a problem.
SAMPLES
It's almost funny really, how little people can think of others based on appearances alone. It's a situation he's quite used to, it's almost to be expected at this point. There's never any survivors to be able to ID any member of Alpha Omega, neither Derse nor Prospit has even the slightest bit of an idea what any given member looks like. The only time they do is moments before they reach the end of their lives. Alhen finds it amusing, how it never fails to go the same when they're in Derse. Prospit gangs were more likely to be cautious and never judge a book from it's cover, but where's the fun in that? Derse has always by far been his favorite place to clean up, while not really a challenge most of the time it's a bit of cheap entertainment to go with the rush of a fight. And that knowledge that there's that man, standing off to the side and watching them with a sort of twisted amusement and anticipation. Well, maybe it was incorrect to say that no one knew or that there weren't any survivors. But that man was special. An odd one, never one to lift a single finger towards helping his own gang members. Perhaps it's a game to him? Alhen can never quite figure it out, but after the first time they realized the man would do nothing but watch and slip away. And there's always that lingering hope Alhen has, that the man will stop whatever game is going on in his mind and give them a real fight to remember.
But that isn't really the issue, never will be more than likely for reasons he's fairly convinced of.
"Shera, I believe your boyfriend is here to watch the show again."
The gang members around them are confused by the words, they always are, and Shera doesn't even glance into the corner where the man lurks. No, this part is clockwork as well. Her subtle glare is directed at Alhen for his comment, the pleasant smile on his face would almost be enough to get on her bad side but he knows her better than that. She's used to it anyway, he can never resist teasing his friend over the unwanted attention she gets from that man.
"Hey! You don't have a clue what you just walked into, what makes you two little bitches so cocky?"
Alhen barely gives the gang member who spoke a glance, but does consider answering his question. At least the more direct one out of the two. He takes a moment to listen, actually listening to the voices around him instead of just hearing them. He considers for a moment on whether or not to put his goggles on for this one, but deems it unnecessary. It would be a waste, these men didn't deserve it.
"Because you're all going to die. I can already hear the screams." A faint smirk flits over his face as he listens and turns to one of the men near the back, tilting his head toward him looking as if being surrounded by a bunch of armed gangsters is nothing. Because really, it's not. "You in particular have the loudest voice. Men aren't supposed to cry at their own death."
And that's all it takes, that's all it ever takes really. People are so quick to lose their temper when they feel their pride has been wounded, and Alhen considers that one of his biggest weapons at times. From there, it's the same blood bath as always. He tries not to make too much of a mess of himself and Shera, but a few splatters really can't be helped on occasion. While they have plans to sneak out anyway, blood is always a pain to rinse out of expensive clothing. Once the job is done the man that was lurking in the shadows is already gone, as he always is once the show is over. Clean up takes a bit longer than usual, he figures in hindsight perhaps they should have tortured the code for the safe out of one of them before they blew their brains out. But in due time they have what they came for, the papers are locked in a briefcase and Alhen does the gentlemanly thing and drops Shera off with it at the casino before making his way home for the night.
The two bedroom apartment he shares with his son is small, but cozy in a way and neither of them have ever had a problem with it. No one would even be able to tell they had plenty of money to throw around, unless of course they looked into his son's bedroom. He had a bad habit of spoiling the boy over the years and it shown brightest through the various game consuls and the best computer equipment that money could buy. He's never been one to believe in money buys happiness, but happiness is better than the problems that would have arisen if he had ever forked over the cash toward a babysitter instead.
He's unsure what time it is when he gets home, having had to stop by a Denny's on the way home to use their bathroom to change into fresh clothes and grab Sollux some cinnamon almond pancakes while he was there, but he tries not to make much noise or even turn on the lights as he sets the bag down in the kitchen. He's listening for something in particular, one of two things that's always there whenever he comes home this late. Silence is the first thing he picks up, already counting out trying to hear for the sounds of video or computer games, so he takes just a moment to concentrate before hearing exactly what he expects. A mutter, soft breathing and the faintest shift of cloth. There's a quirk of a smile on his face as he slips on his goggles and makes his way out of the kitchen into the living room, flicking on the night vision as he goes.
And of course, just as he had expected, his nineteen year old son is slumped over on the couch fast asleep with an Xbox controller in his lap. The TV had long ago been programmed to shut off after thirty minutes of no use, they'd wasted far too much electricity in the past between the both of them, so it's never on when he gets home. For as much as his boy is a night owl, it seems he can never stay up when he really tries and Alhen has always found that adorable. He slips out of the long coat he had worn just for the occasion, draping it over the teen before reaching to remove the dual colored glasses he had fallen asleep in. Sollux never really asked questions on these nights, and Alhen always made sure to stay vague enough that the boy could use his imagination to guess why his single dad was staying out at odd hours of the night and would come home smelling faintly of perfume. It isn't his fault Shera usually waits until right before they get out of a car to put hers on, but it helps Sollux's imagination he's sure so he's never complained.
"...Dad? What fucking time ith it?"
The mumbled voice is enough to break him out of his thoughts, smile still on his face and brow raised even though he knows the boy can't see him very well in the dark.
"Late enough for you to go back to sleep, early enough to grab the pancakes I left for you in the microwave. Either way I'll see you when I get up."
That smile quirks into a grin as he can hear the grumbling behind his back as he makes his way into his own bedroom. When Sollux was younger Alhen used to keep his own lisp to make the boy feel better, despite the fact that he had learned to control it as he grew. But now that the kid is old enough, he doesn't see the point in humoring him anymore and never ceases to be amused at how easily annoyed Sollux becomes at times when he talks. Mostly because he remembers being a difficult little brat just like Sollux can be at times, he learned it from somewhere after all.
It's a quiet night, both his surroundings and the voices, so it's one of the few nights he's able to fall asleep without much difficulty. He knows the morning might be a little more hectic, after all it's never peaceful when he has to call in and tell the others he doesn't feel like coming into work. He knows he's been taking on too many jobs recently, the pancakes being a silent preemptive promise to make it up to Sollux. Raiding the nearest gaming and electronic stores should do nicely, and with those plans in mind he lets himself drift to sleep. He never has nice dreams anymore, but that's okay. He's too used to the nightmares by now to be very affected by them.
Any Concerns: I apologize for just the written sample, I haven't had a chance to play him in a musebox/meme/game because of my pickiness when it comes to lack of human psi icons (which I plan to commission from someone if i get him in)
Player Name: Rose
Preferred Contact Methods: AIM/Plurk: kakarikarose
Other Characters: Dave Lalonde
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: The Psiioniic (AU) - Alhen "Psi" Captor
Series: Homestuck
Canon Point: After finally coming clean to Sollux about his job and the identity of Sol's mother.
History Link: Link.
AU History: General summary
Alhen Captor's background
Individual character blurbs
Personality: Loyalty is one of Alhen's most obvious traits. Even under the threat of impending death and torture, he would never turn on those he cares about and would gladly rather die himself than letting anything happen to them. And in his line of work, he knows very well that it's a real possibility that one day he may have to face such an incident. Before, the only ones who deserved such were his close friends. But as time went on and he became one of the top members of Alpha Omega, that devotion was by default extended to the rest of the gang as a whole. Without any hesitation he would lay his life on the line for any single member should they need his assistance. In some regards he can be considered a little over protective, though mainly when it comes to the younger girls in the group as well as his own son. Because of that there's even been times when he was compared to the stereotypical "shotgun dad", but he likes to believe he's more classy than that.
And class is of course important to him. If there was one thing that Scratch rubbed off on Alhen it was that things had to be done in a certain manner and anything less than perfect was simply unacceptable. Because of this he has a tendency to switch between moods at the drop of a hat. His usual pleasant attitude replaced with an almost robotic like emotionless mask the moment he slips fully into a job. Everything taken care of in calculated steps, elegant and deadly all in one swoop. Since no one's left who knew Alhen before Alpha Omega, none of them realize the impact Scratch and his two daughters had on the man. He was reckless before, determined to just get it done and over with and let that be that. But his personality was shifted by the two woman the most, molded into the perfect killer with a mindset to match who knew how to not make a mess of things. But he prefers to keep that side of him down when he can, only using it when he feels it's necessary.
The rest of the time he's almost always in a good mood, though not necessarily pleasant to be around. He's never liked arrogant types who believe they're better than everyone else, and he makes it his job to fuck them over six ways to hell the moment he sees someone like that sit down at one of his card tables. Never obviously and never maliciously, all of his intentions hidden behind that calm smile and careful manipulation he learned from the best. Making things look natural is something he's learned over the years and has spent more than enough time perfecting it. He has a tendency to be a smartass when faced with serious questions and situations, taking everything lightly without a care. Most people believe it's foolishness, but it's really just an overwhelming amount of pride and confidence in himself and his allies. Something that wasn't always there either, grown over the years out of his mess of insecurities and problems he had when he was just a kid. But there were some things he couldn't out grow, no matter how hard he had tried.
His biggest downfall is his tendency to place the blame on himself whenever something happens to go wrong. If someone dies it's his fault for not listening carefully enough, despite the fact that no one expects him to be everywhere at the same time. If someone gets injured, it's his fault for not paying enough attention to protect his allies. And it's not just a brief moment of guilt either, he'll continue to be convinced that it's his fault until the wound heals and even after that may bring it up in an argument against himself in the future. And when a death is on his shoulders, he never forgets and never forgives himself for it. The biggest incident being when Kulira and Leona were killed, even after ten years he continued to have nightmares over it with them accusing him of letting them die. But at the same time he tries to make up for his mistakes in any way he can, even if it's something as simple as doing favors for the person without asking for anything in return as he would in most situations where he has to go out of his way for something. Even if that something is taking care and watching closely over the children that were effected by the death he caused, nothing is ever too much and nothing is ever enough to let him forgive himself.
Alhen's a master of hiding his emotions though, able to either mask it with a smile or wear a completely blank mask, just to make sure no one sees his weakness. For as confident as he is, another issue he never quite fully grew out of is the temper he had as a child. It takes much more for it to come out, but all someone would have to do is prod hard enough at his insecurities and it would snap in whichever way happened to be appropriate at the time. Be it a simple fit that ends in someone's feelings getting hurt or a reckless fight that ends in blood getting all over him when he usually tries to stay clean on the job and some of it even being his own. He's gotten better at containing himself though, another act from Kait to train him into a proper pet.
Which just leads to his other destructive habit he tends to keep to himself. While he had once fancied the idea of loving Kait Peixes, he knew she would never feel the same and accepted what she did want from him. The perfect toy for her to play with, something to mess with and brag about to others on how well her pet had been groomed and trained to be the best. She didn't like getting her own hands dirty, and so long as it kept her attentions on him he allowed her to do with him as she would. No one really approved of it, though they didn't say much after a while as it was clear he had no intentions of changing it. Whenever she's around, it's like he's not even human. Just a pretty doll for her to hang on and show off, a deadly toy and a symbol that her daddy couldn't control her or stop her when there was something she really wanted.
Which in combination with how her sister Shera Megido taught him to kill gained him another habit he's less than proud of. Killing for pleasure is wrong, the one thing that he had always believed and the very thing that had caused this group to be formed in the first place. And the one thing he enjoyed the most, the rush and the adrenaline that would pump through him in the middle of a battle and letting him forget everything else. He loved his job, he would rarely pass up the opportunity for a good hit and everyone knew it but no one would say a thing about it. Because while he seemed like a nice guy, most of those who didn't know him very well tended to be scared of him based on rumors and reputation alone. All of which he proudly lived up to while he was at work. The only thing that made him feel not so much like the scum they were made to take out is that once everything was said and done and the rush of battle drained away, he was never pleased with the carnage around him. The main reason he tried to keep blood off of his suit was so he wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of thinking just who those people were behind their horrible ways. He would always tell himself he didn't enjoy killing, it was still wrong no matter what, but the rush of actually doing it was something he was almost ashamed to admit he was addicted to after little over twenty years of it.
Despite his issues and and less than favorable personality at times, he's actually rather laid back in his current years. He knows he shouldn't feel old being not even forty yet, but finds it hard not to when his son is almost twenty himself. So he enjoys just taking pleasures in the simple things in life, just spending time with Sollux whenever he can and making sure the boy could have everything he could ever want. Though part of him knows it's unhealthy to the degree he takes it, the fact that he couldn't possibly go on living if Sollux were to die, but like with most of his negative emotions he never shows it. He'd rather relax and enjoy life while he still had the chance before the inevitable would happen than worry over little things. It was never little things that got him worried after all, so they were never important to him.
Powers: Psi is able to hear the voices of those soon to be dead, but only if they're within a certain range. The distance can vary depending on how well he knows them. At best, if one of his best friends was soon to die he would be able to hear their voice if he was on the first floor of a building and they were on the 30th. He only hears them if they'll be dead within the next 24 hours.
Other than that his skills are simply that of a well trained hitman who's been doing his job for nearly twenty years. He usually keeps on him a select number of high tech gadgets that are meant to be used in a tight spot. Most of the time he prefers using only his twin golden desert eagle pistols and the goggles given to him by Kait. Their main uses are night vision, thermal vision and an advanced lock on system that allows the tracking of multiple targets.
Other Details: Obviously he's not exactly like canon Psiioniic due to being human and not having such extreme circumstances around him. And also thanks to being human all of the ancestors had to have human names as most of their titles just wouldn't quite fit. As for Mindfang and Condesence, I decided against using Meenah and Aranea because they were more based on their ancestor selves than their kid selves. I tried to be as linear as possible with the general AU summary and Psi's personal summary, but the individual blurbs are really just extra info about all the different characters and only contain info directly related to them, just tie in with the others down the line. I hope that's not too confusing? Though the other characters isn't necessary, just an extra thing I felt like adding to get more of a feel for the world, so I hope it's not a problem.
SAMPLES
It's almost funny really, how little people can think of others based on appearances alone. It's a situation he's quite used to, it's almost to be expected at this point. There's never any survivors to be able to ID any member of Alpha Omega, neither Derse nor Prospit has even the slightest bit of an idea what any given member looks like. The only time they do is moments before they reach the end of their lives. Alhen finds it amusing, how it never fails to go the same when they're in Derse. Prospit gangs were more likely to be cautious and never judge a book from it's cover, but where's the fun in that? Derse has always by far been his favorite place to clean up, while not really a challenge most of the time it's a bit of cheap entertainment to go with the rush of a fight. And that knowledge that there's that man, standing off to the side and watching them with a sort of twisted amusement and anticipation. Well, maybe it was incorrect to say that no one knew or that there weren't any survivors. But that man was special. An odd one, never one to lift a single finger towards helping his own gang members. Perhaps it's a game to him? Alhen can never quite figure it out, but after the first time they realized the man would do nothing but watch and slip away. And there's always that lingering hope Alhen has, that the man will stop whatever game is going on in his mind and give them a real fight to remember.
But that isn't really the issue, never will be more than likely for reasons he's fairly convinced of.
"Shera, I believe your boyfriend is here to watch the show again."
The gang members around them are confused by the words, they always are, and Shera doesn't even glance into the corner where the man lurks. No, this part is clockwork as well. Her subtle glare is directed at Alhen for his comment, the pleasant smile on his face would almost be enough to get on her bad side but he knows her better than that. She's used to it anyway, he can never resist teasing his friend over the unwanted attention she gets from that man.
"Hey! You don't have a clue what you just walked into, what makes you two little bitches so cocky?"
Alhen barely gives the gang member who spoke a glance, but does consider answering his question. At least the more direct one out of the two. He takes a moment to listen, actually listening to the voices around him instead of just hearing them. He considers for a moment on whether or not to put his goggles on for this one, but deems it unnecessary. It would be a waste, these men didn't deserve it.
"Because you're all going to die. I can already hear the screams." A faint smirk flits over his face as he listens and turns to one of the men near the back, tilting his head toward him looking as if being surrounded by a bunch of armed gangsters is nothing. Because really, it's not. "You in particular have the loudest voice. Men aren't supposed to cry at their own death."
And that's all it takes, that's all it ever takes really. People are so quick to lose their temper when they feel their pride has been wounded, and Alhen considers that one of his biggest weapons at times. From there, it's the same blood bath as always. He tries not to make too much of a mess of himself and Shera, but a few splatters really can't be helped on occasion. While they have plans to sneak out anyway, blood is always a pain to rinse out of expensive clothing. Once the job is done the man that was lurking in the shadows is already gone, as he always is once the show is over. Clean up takes a bit longer than usual, he figures in hindsight perhaps they should have tortured the code for the safe out of one of them before they blew their brains out. But in due time they have what they came for, the papers are locked in a briefcase and Alhen does the gentlemanly thing and drops Shera off with it at the casino before making his way home for the night.
The two bedroom apartment he shares with his son is small, but cozy in a way and neither of them have ever had a problem with it. No one would even be able to tell they had plenty of money to throw around, unless of course they looked into his son's bedroom. He had a bad habit of spoiling the boy over the years and it shown brightest through the various game consuls and the best computer equipment that money could buy. He's never been one to believe in money buys happiness, but happiness is better than the problems that would have arisen if he had ever forked over the cash toward a babysitter instead.
He's unsure what time it is when he gets home, having had to stop by a Denny's on the way home to use their bathroom to change into fresh clothes and grab Sollux some cinnamon almond pancakes while he was there, but he tries not to make much noise or even turn on the lights as he sets the bag down in the kitchen. He's listening for something in particular, one of two things that's always there whenever he comes home this late. Silence is the first thing he picks up, already counting out trying to hear for the sounds of video or computer games, so he takes just a moment to concentrate before hearing exactly what he expects. A mutter, soft breathing and the faintest shift of cloth. There's a quirk of a smile on his face as he slips on his goggles and makes his way out of the kitchen into the living room, flicking on the night vision as he goes.
And of course, just as he had expected, his nineteen year old son is slumped over on the couch fast asleep with an Xbox controller in his lap. The TV had long ago been programmed to shut off after thirty minutes of no use, they'd wasted far too much electricity in the past between the both of them, so it's never on when he gets home. For as much as his boy is a night owl, it seems he can never stay up when he really tries and Alhen has always found that adorable. He slips out of the long coat he had worn just for the occasion, draping it over the teen before reaching to remove the dual colored glasses he had fallen asleep in. Sollux never really asked questions on these nights, and Alhen always made sure to stay vague enough that the boy could use his imagination to guess why his single dad was staying out at odd hours of the night and would come home smelling faintly of perfume. It isn't his fault Shera usually waits until right before they get out of a car to put hers on, but it helps Sollux's imagination he's sure so he's never complained.
"...Dad? What fucking time ith it?"
The mumbled voice is enough to break him out of his thoughts, smile still on his face and brow raised even though he knows the boy can't see him very well in the dark.
"Late enough for you to go back to sleep, early enough to grab the pancakes I left for you in the microwave. Either way I'll see you when I get up."
That smile quirks into a grin as he can hear the grumbling behind his back as he makes his way into his own bedroom. When Sollux was younger Alhen used to keep his own lisp to make the boy feel better, despite the fact that he had learned to control it as he grew. But now that the kid is old enough, he doesn't see the point in humoring him anymore and never ceases to be amused at how easily annoyed Sollux becomes at times when he talks. Mostly because he remembers being a difficult little brat just like Sollux can be at times, he learned it from somewhere after all.
It's a quiet night, both his surroundings and the voices, so it's one of the few nights he's able to fall asleep without much difficulty. He knows the morning might be a little more hectic, after all it's never peaceful when he has to call in and tell the others he doesn't feel like coming into work. He knows he's been taking on too many jobs recently, the pancakes being a silent preemptive promise to make it up to Sollux. Raiding the nearest gaming and electronic stores should do nicely, and with those plans in mind he lets himself drift to sleep. He never has nice dreams anymore, but that's okay. He's too used to the nightmares by now to be very affected by them.
Any Concerns: I apologize for just the written sample, I haven't had a chance to play him in a musebox/meme/game because of my pickiness when it comes to lack of human psi icons (which I plan to commission from someone if i get him in)