#––– ❛ cain romanov 【 a handshake of carbon monoxide / about. 】

[stigmvtas]

CAIN ROMANOV — ABRIDGED.

welcome to marina, CAIN ROMANOV ( nonbinary, they/them ) ! they are a THIRTY SIX year old who has lived on the island for MOST OF THEIR LIFE. word on the street is they’re currently living in TOWER HILL and works as a LIBRARIAN. everyone also says they look a lot like AARON TVEIT. what do you think? — JAMES, 24, THEY/THEM, EST.

MENTIONS OF DRUGS, CULTS, DISAPPEARANCE / MISSING PERSONS, MORE DRUGS, ADDICTION, AMNESIA, AND TRAUMA.

profile.

full name: cain alexei romanov.

birthday: feburary 19th, 1987.

astrology: pisces sun, scorpio moon, cancer ascending.

sexuality: bisexual.

currently listening to: no surprises by radiohead.

last known location: [[[cannot be found]]]

PINTEREST.

brief history.

born to one of marina's current senators, vaughn romanov, and his philanthropist wife adelaide. the eldest of five in a very nuclear, picture perfect, preppy chic family.

upbringing consists of becoming an outstanding citizen; the golden child destined to follow in their father's footsteps - life planned out in front of them, just need to follow the lines. volunteer work and bible study, star athlete and student body president.

always in the public eye, standing besides their father - the ideal to work towards, a shining star - leading model to follow. cain's anything but that behind closed doors; arrogant and harrowing - classist, sneering. consequences never faced - because who could face cain, who could stand up to their antics? a narcissist who never lifted a finger - others doing their bidding in hopes of just a taste of cain's life.

drugs; a poli - sci major in college, business minor - frat president, a face seen everywhere, even in the dim light of a party gone on for too long. when they're too bored with the everyday - they become a middleman for suppliers and dealers, another form of control - another form of payment, something to pass the time.

everything changes when they meet the meyers; an older couple who volunteered alongside them and their father around the holidays. they take a liking to cain - and cain takes a liking to them; grandparents sparsely in the picture, and the meyers practically surrogates. they get closer as months turn into years - meet their family, visit on the holidays - clapping at their graduation.

cult mindsets; manipulation slow but sure - the more they talk about religion, and the end of all days, and the rapture; the more cain listens. the restraints of capitalism, of all materialistic item - of vanity. cain falls deeper and deeper, plays right into their hands.

disappearance; the turning point's when cain finds out that they're not their father's son - that they're illegitimate, that everything's been for nothing. hurt and betrayed - cain disappears into the night and isn't heard from again, leaving their family and a fiancee behind.

cult / drugs; in a brief summary - it's everything that cain's been conditioned to want; free from consumerism, free from material guilt - living out their days and preparing for the world to end. spiritual awakenings and drug use, days blurring into one another - cain worshipped as a savior, as the one they've been waiting for; a leader, like how they've been raised. saviors turn to martyrs, and everyone needs a strawman - and everyone needs an example. days further blurs - years passing, years of things cain can't remember - doesn't want to, doesn't need to. at some point - they're left for dead, that much they remember.

by some miracle - cain reemerges ten years later. they're found off of a highway and brought in - and unable to recall where they've been since their disappearance. memory spotty overall - missing chunks of their life, of who they were - of who they used to be. the news calls it a miracle - photos of the family hugging one another; of cain pulling away from their touch - heaving, sobbing; overwhelmed and afraid.

it's only been a year since cain escaped the cult - since cain survived; almost two years, with the new years coming up - the anniversary of their disappearance, and their rescue. years and years and years apart.

facts & temperaments.

no longer who they once were - it's like they're a different person. their memory is shot beyond hell; still struggles with remembering details of their past life, pre - cult. still struggles with remembering the day to day. they're convinced that it's karma at work - that they deserved this, that it's their chance to repent, to change - to be better. has spent most of their time back apologizing to others for who they used to be.

always been fairly quiet, but they're quieter now. more reserved - less confident in their self. ego death to the max. kinder, and a little sarcastic - skeptical of others, brain - rotting paranoia that makes them distrust strangers. they're working on it, though.

drugs / addiction; the drug use during their cult - time was... intense, to say the least. things they wouldn't do now - still struggles with addiction, though substances have changed. keeps it private.

can't sleep for very long anymore - insomnia and night terrors. constantly deprived of it - though they're used to it. still isn't used to waking up and forgetting where they are - the names of their loved ones, their faces. what they've done the past five days - what they're going to do next. a constant battle.

trauma; they attend therapy weekly - sometimes bi - weekly, if time allows. working on their ptsd, on memory recovery - on their addiction, on the stutter that's formed after years of traumatic events happening over and over and over again. their anxiety, their severe touch aversion that leaves them unable to have skin - to - skin contact with anyone. even the people they love the most.

on a lighter note they have four cats! there's frank, who sometimes goes by big chungus when it's yelled - he's white and grey. then there's brock, who is orange and stoic and fluffy, and shoelace, who is missing an eye and half an ear. and crunchwrap supreme, crunch for short. a calico <3 they keep pictures of their cats on them at all times. on their phone, in their wallet. everywhere.

pretty blunt. they won't go out of their way to talk about the cult, but they won't deny being part of it, and tries to not shy away from the topic if it comes up. it might help them remember more. it also might get the person asking them questions to go away faster. honesty is the best policy!

screwed up so many people's lives both pre - cult and their disappearance. just. fucked up so many people. it's okay. cain's trying to make up for it. feels the need to redeem their self.

low energy. still sociable, and still tries to hold up conversations even though it's a struggle sometimes. wants people to feel comfortable around them, now - so they try to be very casual. they're just going through it and needs some. patience in their life. trying so hard to be friendly and kind to others.

oh. became a librarian because it's quiet and low - contact and they can sleep at the front desk sometimes.

[stigmvtas]

They'd been watching the contents of their drink swirl around the ice - occasionally giving it a stir; nursing it, mostly, before turning their head towards Romy. "I g-get it - it's hard, isn't it? Relaxing, and all." Even so - Cain'd been trying; that was something, wasn't it? "It's not a bad thing, though, is it? You've got - respon...responsibilities, more than before, but you still deserve to enjoy the night."

OPEN STARTER / FRIGHT FEST

"I can't remember the last time I've been out like this," Romy told the person sitting next to her at the bar. "I'm not sure I remember how to have fun. God, I've turned into such a mom."

[stigmvtas]

"You've missed part of their Hereditary re-reenactment - the girl's just, uh - lost her... head?" Cain nodded towards the pumpkin on the edge of the stage - all bloodied, wig - half off of the top of it, hanging on by the stem. This year it'd been rumored that there'd be a cult story - chanting and all - bringing them to take a seat out of morbid curiosity. "Ouch - what's wrong with the gi-girl bands? They weren't - bad." They gestured to the t- shirt pulled over their vigilante peasant blouse - Dynamix front and center.

( open - frightfest )

"I didn't miss any of it yet, did I?" One of Cait's favorite things about the islands Halloween celebrations were some of the reenactments of horror stories that the schools drama club put on. They were always terrible - always, but it was just one of those things that she never really missed. "please tell me that girl-band shit is all over?