It was terrible and he hated every second of it and he almost drowned at least thirty-seven times, maybe more, it was like he was slowly building up a tolerance to drowning so he had to drown worse before it even counted. Kaz made it look easy, float-and-sink, float-and-sink, but all Panu had mastered when he was not gripping something floaty was the sink.

He liked the part were he was gripping a kick board for dear life much better than the part where Kaz was physically holding him up. That had been like a trust fall, except the opposite of a trust fall. Like when you expected to be dropped but you had to do it anyway. He did not like the noodles either, they liked to slip away from him and then he had to pat his hand over the water to find them again except they were always drifting further and further away and their colors did not contrast with the water well enough for him to see them clearly on film. The kick board was much better.

In the end he did not die, and he had figured out how to always kick so that he could get back to the pool's edge. Both of these were important things.

"Why did you teach me?" The boy ask quietly as they went back down. His head and shoulders and everything were drooping a little, because survival was tiring. "I do not think I am swimming much." He had not needed to swim in the first eight years of his life, and that was more than a tenth of his expected lifespan. Hopefully he could go many many many more years without touching so much water again.

The shower he took was long. It was a little weird to shower in Kaz' warehouse. Normally in a shower, he did not see anything at all. Phones did not like steam very much, and most people did not have cameras in their bathrooms, so he was used to being blind while he bathed. It was weird to see himself. ...And weird to think that Kaz might see him, too. He left his phone outside the bathroom door as a little sentry, and shut off the camera feeds inside.

It was okay to be blind sometimes. There was something a little calming in just feeling out where things were. The knobs for hot and cold, the smooth tile of the wall, the rough lines of grout. The water which behaved nicely like water should, and which was so hot he had probably turned pink. The towel was were he left it, on top of the toilet, and it was soft and fluffy and very large for a skinny eight year old. He could wrap it around himself three times.

The pool had been awful, but the shower was very nice.

Awful things and nice things both distracted him from the most important thing. The cat. He had forgotten to keep track of the cat. He did not even realize he had forgotten until a large pink nose and many whiskers, like a hug from a centipede, enveloped the camera lens on the phone he had left outside.

The eight year old froze, his towel fortress wrapped tight around him.

A meowing like a hundred inquiring banshees sounded through the door.

Kaz had said that it was not trying to kill him. It just wanted to be petted. Kaz had also said that he would not let Panu drown, and he hadn't. Maybe if the one thing was true, so was the other.

Panu slowly, slowly cracked the door open--

A giant cat head shoved its way inside, followed by a giant cat body. This is when Panu remembered he was not as strong as the titanic feline. He stumbled back a step, and stood very still as it approached. But staying still was what had gotten him in trouble the last time. So. Maybe.

Tentatively, the boy reached out a hand.

...This is how he ended up sleeping with a giant cat blanket. It was like an electric blanket but it purred. This warehouse continued to be the best warehouse ever, even if it did have a pool.

Despite Panu's obvious dislike for being in the pool and swimming, Kaz didn't let the boy out of it. Learning to swim was a good thing, you never knew when you'd suddenly be dropped into a body of water. To Kaz, swimming was something everyone should know how to do, to him it was as basic skill, like riding a bike, tying your shoes, or dressing yourself. If he was completely honest with himself, he kept the boy in the pool partially because he disliked it so much. A little sadistic fun oh his part, he got to punish the boy a bit what what he had done without doing any real punishing.

When Panu began to tire form all the work Kaz was having him do, he figured it would the right time to let the boy out. He hoped that Panu would be able to go to sleep right away and not stay up, get bored and start getting into stuff or make trouble. Kaz was going to need to get at least a little rest before the next day came. He had a feeling the 'Responsible Adult' the boy had mentioned was going to be every bit as frustrating as Panu was, but for different reasons.

After putting the pool stuffs away, Kaz followed Panu back inside, smirking as he saw the boy walked. He quirked an eyebrow at the boy when he spoke and asked a question. ”Why? Because you should know how to swim, everyone should. And it kept you from sitting in the room, doing nothing except being bored. So hopefully when you go in this time, you'll just got to sleep like a good little kid.” He was teasing the boy a little, smirking the entire while.

While Panu went off to shower and then, eventually, to bed, Kaz reheated what food he hadn't eaten while he went about the kitchen making some more food, snacks really. As he munched on his reheated pizza he grumbled to himself that having to eat so much all the time really was quite annoying.

The individual rooms in the warehouse may have been soundproof, and the separate floors were nearly so, he could still hear the water going through the pipes. By the time Panu finished with his shower, Kaz was sitting in a chair staring into the fire in the fireplace. He could feel the heat from the fire, though it wasn't nearly as hot as it would be if the insulated glass door was open. He paused, glass halfway to his mouth when the bathroom door opened. Cocking his head to the side he listened to find out what Panu would do, he was half sure the boy would come out and say something, but when he moved to the room and shut the door, Kaz returned his gaze to the fire and sipped at his drink.

The place in front of the fire had become something of a brooding chair for Kaz, it was the only place he smoked, a habit he had picked up at some point. Setting the glass down he lit the cigar before refilling his glass. Unlike alcohol which he could only really appreciate the initial burn and taste, he could feel the smoke as it filled his lungs with each inhalation, felt the minute lightheadedness from it and the nicotine. He smoked rarely and never more than one cigar, he had no desire to ruin his lungs, but it combined with the drink was something he found peaceful. The flickering flames dancing in the hearth added to the calming atmosphere, allowing him to brood without him descending into a black mood.

At some point in the night, the food eaten, cigar put out, and bottle of liquor empty, Kaz put his feet up on the ottoman and feel asleep for a few hours.

He awoke hours before Panu and went about a short morning workout routine. After showering and changing into fresh clothes he set about making breakfast. A couple pounds of bacon, hash browns, pancakes, both scrambled and over-easy eggs, and breakfast sausage. If he had guessed and timed it right, by the time the food was nearly ready, Panu would be awake or waking up.

Kaz set a place for both himself and Panu at the large table and began eating. When he heard Panu approaching, ”Come and get it kiddo, plenty here so eat up.” After a little time had passed and he had piled more food onto his plate, ”We'll go see your 'responsible adult', whatever their name is, when we're done.”

Panu had strange dreams, when he forgot to turn off his eyes before bed. His memory recorded all of it as video, as if it were true, and he could never tell what was dream and what was not. Not with any certainty.

He had dreamed of Kaz smoking a cigar, and the smoke gray and curling as it drifted upwards and formed a slow snake. The snake turned into a dragon, and hung from the white ceiling with ash-black talons as it starred down at the elf-eared man. It grew and grew, filling the space, until everything was dark and black. The Midgard Serpent, all bound up in one room, waiting for someone to open the door.

He was dreaming of greasy things snapping in their own fat when he woke up, the smell of bacon rich in the air, and a cat spiking up his hair with her rough tongue. Panu pushed at the cat's chest. It gave one more stylizing lick, then lept from the bed.

Panu padded after it on bare feet, his hoodie draped down to his knees, and his headphones around his neck. The cat went into the kitchen, and started to make violent noises. The Fin hung back, blinking sleepy, unfocused eyes.

Morning was a stupid time of day, but bacon was good.

"I think your cat is hungry. She did not eat me in my sleep so probably she needs breakfast." He slipping into the offered seat. There was much much much much much more food than he could eat, but probably Kaz was a mutant who ate a lot. The man had grumbled about it. Or had that been in the dream, too? There weren't any serpents yet in that part, but that did not make it real. Panu archived the file to his dreams folder, where he would know better than to trust it like a memory.

He pulled two pieces of bacon on his plate. Then one more. Two more. ...And another, to be safe. Also he took two pancakes. Inspired by Kaz' pizza sandwich, he drizzled syrup on one, put the bacon on top, then patted the other in place.

It was very messy and sticky and crumbly but he did not regret his decisions. When he was done, he googled the English equivalent of a Finnish phrase.

Food coma.

He folded his arms on the table, and nested his head in them. Under the table, his legs swung contentedly.

"Responsible adult is Ambrose Jaager," the boy said. "He is a good and adequate adult. You will see. Are you sure I cannot buy warehouse? Mr. Jaager has more money than you."

Kaz grinned at Panu, ”I told you she wouldn't eat you.” Kaz got up and grabbed a small bowl, Kalli following on his heels, staring up at him. Sitting back down, he began to cut up some sausages, bacon, eggs, and a pancake, and mixed them in the bowl. Leaning down he set the bowl on the floor near the table leg and watched as Kalli took a few moments to sniff at it before digging in. There was a lot Kaz didn't know about cats, but he was sure what he had put in the bowl wasn't the best thing for felines. He figured if Kalli didn't like something, she wouldn't eat it, he needn't have concerned himself though, the large cat seemed to be enjoying all of it. ”I guess she made you her pillow last night huh? Did you finally give her what she wanted then?”

Kaz watched Panu pile a number of pieces of bacon onto his plate and smiled with a small huff of a laugh. The kid liked bacon, a good sign in his mind. People that didn't like bacon weren't to be trusted at all. As he watched Panu fill his plate his face lost its smile, changing to something more neutral. 'He's not really a bad kid...just....'

Then he saw what the blonde boy was doing and his eye crinkled at the corners and he smirked. ”That's one way to do it.” Kaz looked at his own plate and after watching the boy take a bit of his bacon pancake sandwich he copied him. Though Kaz made what he thought of as a couple of improvements. Instead of just bacon and syrup, he added some scrambled eggs and sliced a few sausages down the middle lengthwise and places the halves on top of the eggs before putting the other pancake on top. ”Cheese. Needs some cheese.” Moving to the fridge he pulled out a bag of shredded cheddar, lifting the pancake he sprinkled some of it onto the eggs and sausage. It wasn't the easiest thing to eat, but it was good. ”I'll have to remember this. Where'd you come up with this idea?”

Kaz gave Kalli a bit more when she finished her bowl and made it clear she wanted more by standing up and butted her head against his arm. By the time they were both done, there was hardly anything left on the table except for empty plates. It was more than Kaz normally ate in one sitting, but he had a feeling he'd want all the energy and calories before the day was over.

As he was clearing the table and putting the dishes in the dish washer Panu spoke. ”Ambrose Jaager huh?” He looked at the boy from the corner of his eye, speaking more to himself than Panu, ”Sounds familiar....Jaager...Where've I heard that name?”

“He is a good and adequate adult. You will see.”

Looking at the boy, ”Hmm.... We'll see.” Kaz washed his hands, filled Kalli's water, and started moving towards the lift, motioning for Panu to follow. ”And yes I'm sure the answer is still no. It's not about money kid. Even if he has ten times as much as I do, which I doubt, I still wouldn't sell it. This is my place.” On the way down, Kaz was silent for the most part, though he did speak when a thought occurred to him, ”Though, I suppose, if he does have ten times what I do, I might be willing to part with this place if he handed it all over to me, everything he has.” Kaz grinning before pulling out his phone and making a call to have the door replaced before noon. On the ground floor, Kaz moved to the door and pulled the remains of his destroyed Hummer off to the side where he placed the remains of the large door he pulled down next. Kaz remembered at the last moment to grab his tablet from the broken Hummer.

Kaz motioned for Panu to get into what looked like a slightly modified Corvette Stingray. The Red 'Ray didn't just look modified, it had been completely overhauled. The beast could keep up with and compete with any modern high end sports cars. ”Off to meet this Jaager guy.”

Kaz complemented his breakfast idea, which made Panu pause for a moment to replay videos of last night to be sure the pizza sandwich was not a dream. It was not.

"I learned from you," he said softly. "You do with pizza. It is delicious, so I do it with pancakes. Probably I will do it with many foods, every meal is better as sandwich of all things."

He helped clear the table. It was much easier in the warehouse than it normally was. He could see where all the plates were very well, and did not need to feel around or bump into things. He just picked them up and carried them over to the dishwasher, probably as easily as a normal boy.

...Kaz did not even appreciate his warehouse. It was not useful to him, there was more technology in it than he could use. It was like if a squirrel had made a den in the ground and was insisting that it live there, even though it had no use for a den in the ground, and a gopher would fit better.

"Probably you have heard business name? Ambrose Jaager is CEO of Jaager Worldwide." Also probably 'ten times more money' was an underestimate. It would be very very strange if Kaz had money  in the same range as an international business giant, and Panu would maybe wonder if his accountant was lying to him if he did. Individuals just did not have the same amount of money as companies.

Panu did not say these things, because Kaz was moving a Hummer with one hand. (Really two hands, but it was so easy it looked like one hand.) He did not want to remind the man that maybe Kaz had still been thinking of killing him last night, and that now was a good time to do it, since he would not have to worry about blood on his floors. The Fin had seen how fast the man was, so running was stupid. With how strong it was it would be done quickly, which was good (but not good, not at all).

When they went to a car and there was no murder at all on the way, the blond boy's shoulders slumped in obvious relief. Maybe he would get thrown out of car while it was speeding or taken to woods for murder-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, but probably maybe they really were going to Jaager. And if they could get to Jaager, Panu would be safe. The dragon would protect him. That was why he worked for the dragon.

"I will put directions on your tablet," the boy said. Then he buckled himself in. Probably people who drove cars called Corvette Stingrays were not people who drove at the speed limit.

He sent a text as they drove, to Jaager:

Are you busy? I am getting a ride now from strong mutant. Maybe you want to meet.

Maybe he should have said more. Probably the man had noticed that he did not come home last night. (Probably.) Also he was not sure what Kaz would do if Jaager said no, I don't want to meet him. But he did not think it was good to tell Jagger you MUST meet this person. Especially not you MUST meet this person because otherwise he will maybe murder me. It was Panu's fault he was in this situation, so probably the dragon would leave him to sort it out himself if he knew the truth, and then Panu really would be murdered.

...After a moment, he realized he should send one to Madeline, as well.

I am not drowned last night. Please put time in Mr. Jaager's schedule for Very Important Meeting. Thank you.

((ooc: Continued in Responsible is Relative.))