#wren and Cain would’ve actually gotten along really well

[spookyboywhump]

I get the vibe that Cain and the boys would’ve actually been friends if not for the circumstances they met under—

Not Nick tho. That man is irredeemable.

NO HONESTLY THO if they had just meet as teenagers they would’ve gotten along. SO well. They would’ve literally been best friends, and Wren and Zander would’ve been the kind of friends Cain really, really needed to avoid him turning out the way he did in the end

You’re correct tho, Nicky is irredeemable

[spookyboywhump]

Can I get some more thoughts on canon Cain and Wren's dynamic?? I care them

Absolutely!!!

Cain thinks Wren is cute. Like really cute. Not in the way that Nicholas does, not like he wants to violate him or anything, it’s just. Wren is different from any other pet he’s ever had. He’s small and he looks so much more fragile and sweet than he really is. He likes to play with his hair and he fusses over him a bit more than he does with Zander when he needs him to look presentable. He likes his red hair and lets him maintain the color for appearances sake, and if he was ever going to be affectionate with a pet, it would be Wren but in a much more innocent way.

At a certain point Cain starts letting Wren cook for the three of them. He trusts Wren is obedient enough to not fuck shit up and he actually likes his cooking, he’ll even compliment him. Wren likes the praise more than he thinks he should.

Cain swings wildly back and forth between seeming to hate Wren and favoring him. He’s often harsher with him because he knows Wren will just take it, he won’t fight back like Zander does so he can do whatever he likes to him. But also, Wren behaves better than Zander and he talks back less and he’s overall less irritating (I think wren would genuinely :D if Cain actually admitted he doesn’t think he’s all that annoying). So Cain tends to be softer with Wren when he’s in a good mood, Wren has probably fallen asleep sitting with his head against Cain’s leg before.

He gets really, really mad when other owners hurt him without his permission. The best example of that is in the blinding pieces. He also gets genuinely worried about Wren whenever he gets severely injured in a fight (there’s one fight where Wren got knocked out for days and Cain genuinely started to lose it a little and was visibly relieved when he finally woke up).

Wren is annoyed by Cain more often than not, but he’s so receptive to praise that if Cain is happy with him for some reason, he also starts to get happy and a little excited over it, often without even realizing it till later. Cain’s upbeat attitude after he’s won a fight definitely effects him and leaves him feeling almost proud of himself until he remembers what he had to do to get that.

Cain sometimes shows Wren more kindness or affection because he thinks it’ll make Zander jealous or encourage him to stop acting up. It does not.

I guess this is more headcanon, but if the circumstances weren’t what they are, Cain and Wren would’ve gotten along pretty damn well. Unfortunately, Wren isn’t one to forgive or forget so, that kind of relationship just won’t ever happen between them.

[spookyboywhump]

Okay so I was rereading some things recently and I couldn't shake that mention Zander makes of the one replacement that Cain allegedly killed. Could you tell the story behind it? Mostly curious about Zander and Cain's feelings on this, but go into as much detail as you possibly can/want to :D!!!!

Hi Boa I Would Die For You Because I’ve Been Wanting To Talk About This So Bad But Haven’t Been Able To Figure Out How To

You’d think this would get brought up more since it was. A pretty major event for Cain and Zander. For the sake of this we’ll just call this replacement A. 

this got really long and rambly and I’m so sorry I just hope it’s Coherent

Content Warnings: Death, Dehumanization, Pet whump

 OKAY So. This happened when Zander had only been there for maybe. Three years. This was one of the first few replacements Cain ever got, and really he was more of a threat to Zander than an actual plan to replace him. Because of this, Cain didn’t. Put a lot of thought into the dog he picked out, and the one he got was very much so a fighter, he hadn’t signed up for this willingly, and he fought with Cain constantly.

 Zander and A didn’t get along well at all. Zander did what he could, he tried to tell him all the rules so he wouldn’t have to find out the hard way, he tried to tell him it was easier to just do what Cain says, and frankly, A thought Zander was ridiculous for not fighting more than he already did. They argued often, they’d gotten into at least one physical fight, but Zander still didn’t want to see anything bad happen to A. 

 They kind of co existed for a while though, eventually came to understand they wouldn’t agree and if they could avoid it they barely even talked to each other. They were always together but still. Very much so alone because they didn’t have the kind of relationship Zander and Wren have, they couldn’t rely on each other, and even though Zander tried early on, A wasn’t as accepting of his efforts and he eventually understood that A just wanted to be left alone. 

 The last couple of replacements Cain had gotten, he usually threw away, they were either returned or given to somebody else and Zander kind of expected the same to happen to A. He didn’t. Really think a punishment would go wrong. Cain didn’t even expect it, he never wanted to kill anybody. There were a lot of factors that played into his death, he was already weak, he likely hadn’t been eating enough, he was injured from past punishments and when Cain tried to beat the defiance out of him his body just. Couldn’t handle it. 

 Zander tried to stop Cain, he had tried to take the punishment for A initially but. Because A died he feels like he’s somewhat responsible. He feels like if he had tried harder, begged more, attacked Cain even, then A would still be alive, maybe even have gotten free. He was always a protective person but this event specifically led him to believe he needs to put other dogs before himself, that if anything like this happens again then it has to be him because he couldn’t stand to let another person die. Before this event, he never would’ve attacked Cain the way he has before, but now he knows it’s possible for Cain to make this mistake, and when Cain goes too far he’ll do whatever he can to stop it before it results in another death.

 A good example of this is this piece where he does hit Cain for what he did to Wren. He knows that could’ve easily killed Wren, he knows Cain was getting close to that line again and he knew if he didn’t lash out somehow then Cain could end up crossing it again whether he intends to or not. 

 As for Cain, he didn’t handle this. Well. It’s the kind of thing where, before it happened, he thought he could’ve handled it. He’d been raised and conditioned to be heartless, to not see these dogs as people but as things, and to an extent he does, however. He is very much so still human. He never made it to the point his father wanted him to, he was never able to truly disregard somebody’s life like that. He never would’ve intentionally killed anybody, and when he realized what he’d done he didn’t know what to do.

 He panicked, he had a whole breakdown over the situation, and Zander. Wasn’t really helping because he was lashing out at Cain because that was all he could think to do since he was just as panicked as Cain was. Zander never thought Cain would’ve done this, and while he still holds Cain accountable for it, he knows it wasn’t intentional and he knows that Cain is not meant to be a killer. He worries more about accidents than Cain actually murdering somebody else. 

 Cain eventually calmed down enough, he knew who to call to have the situation handled, and if he was anything like his father then that would’ve been the end of it. The body was disposed of, any evidence was gotten rid of, and the entire thing was covered up, if he was like his father then he would’ve forgotten about it completely, probably only mentioning A in passing conversations about disobedient pets.

 He’s not like his father though. It weighed on him for a long, long time, it still does really. Even when it comes to more drastic things he’s done, they’re more often done in bouts of extreme emotion, when he’s thinking clearly, when he’s actually planning, he does make sure to take measures so that something like this won’t happen again. It’s when he’s lashing out and unpredictable that this becomes possible again, and Zander is really the only thing making sure nothing goes that far- and the only reason it’s very unlikely Zander would ever fall victim to this is that Cain genuinely depends on Zander in several ways and he knows Zander’s limits and while he might push him sometimes, he is more careful than he would be with Wren because he could not bear to lose him.

 Zander has a lot of guilt from this situation. He feels guilty that he didn’t try hard enough, he feels guilty that it wasn’t him who died, even though he and A never got along he still feels like A deserved to live far more than he does. It’s one of several things that contribute to his intense self hatred, he feels like he’s a bad person because his efforts just. Weren’t enough to save A. It’s a big part of why he protects Wren and Cathal the way he does, and especially a big part of why he acts out to keep their owners’ attention while insisting they behave and avoid getting in trouble. 

 It’s been nearly four years and Cain is still incredibly guilty over this. He doesn’t enjoy death, he has too much of a conscience to kill intentionally, and it’s one of several things that keep him up at night. He still has serious nightmares about this event, he still feels like he deserves some sort of punishment for this event but the obvious answer is just. Completely unfathomable to him and part of it is that he’s genuinely too much of a coward to ever speak up about it.

 Zander and Cain don’t talk about this event. It fucked up both of them in different ways and Zander knows that bringing it up won’t do anything but make things worse- which he especially avoids now that Wren is here. Zander couldn’t protect A when he should’ve, and so he’s done his best with the replacements before, and now that he has Wren and he’s actually formed a genuine bond and a close relationship with him, his self sacrificing and his need to protect have only gotten stronger. Cain can’t take back what he did to that man, he can’t undo the fact he killed him, but he can do his best so it doesn’t happen again- which is why Zander is almost never punished when he makes it clear that Cain fucked up big time. 

 This is such an important event and it’s a damn shame my brain hasn’t let me write it in detail before because it’s. Kind of a major thing. But I’m so glad I got the jist of it out here and I’m so thrilled I got to talk about it so!!! Big thank Boa!!!!!