Kalen has built a house that he mostly insists is for Elliott. Not Elliott Dane, the name he was first given, but Elliott Chandler. The name he took after relaxing enough to offer that first name, the one before he took a name and tried to leave that life behind to settle into a life of duty. And he did the things that he should do for that, tango lessons and photography classes and eventually SCUBA diving, because he needed it to sound real enough.
And then there was an uncertain peace with the vampires and he had this house. With books and cameras and antiques. There are framed illustrations from old books on the walls, foxes, griffons, humming birds. Downstairs there is a nearly life-sized portrait of a tiger in oils. Original, of course. For anyone who knows him, anyone who has been Named by him, it is clear the lines he tried to draw here are blurred. He does not keep pictures, tries to keep from holding onto things from which those he loves could be traced, but here are their pictures in some way.
The living room has a couch, a coffee table with a whiskey decanter and two glasses and an antique globe, and a fireplace. The most evident thing on the walls here is a massive map of constellations, but the illustrations are here too: a fox, a set of hummingbirds, butterflies. There are plants inside too, rosemary in window boxes, a dwarf tree in a corner. The garden outside is neat, bushes trimmed into squared-off lines, but these plants inside are not shaped at all.
The house smells like pipe tobacco and old books and beneath that sage smoke and lemon furniture polish. And Kalen, Kalen who has let people into the library and brought people who killed him in visions home to live with him, hesitates a little as he opens the door wider. More self-conscious than reluctant. Not for years has he had a home to show anyone.
"Come in. Ah." He runs a hand through his hair and smiles a smile that makes his eyes look no less tired. "Mi casa es su casa."
The smile grows slightly darker and slightly less for show. "Drink?" He sighs heavily. "Because you might need one. Or ten. Pretty sure I do."
AlexanderThere had been a message left somewhere, it doesn’t really matter where. But it was a request to meet Kalen, and it was somewhere new. New to Alex, anyway. Kalen had all kinds of places that he liked to hang around – that much Alex did know, even if he didn’t know where a lot of them were. He didn’t ask. He understood the need to keep certain things in life separate from each other, even with the occasional troublesome overlap. Things like having to call in the remains of corpses as some kind of serial killer, just to get the families some sort of closure. And, if they cared, the spirits.
There wasn’t much in the way of hints as to what they would be talking about, but when there’s a risk of someone intercepting messages then the less said is often for the better. So the only real way to find out is to arrive and talk and see what comes. So outside the house, in an area that Alex hadn’t really spent any great time exploring – it was always somewhere he passed through on the way elsewhere – a blue sports bike pulls off the road and onto a driveway. The sound of the engine fades away suddenly as the keys are removed, and the presumably male figure swings a leg over the bike to dismount. The helmet comes off and Alex takes a moment to look over the immediate neighbourhood. There were worse places to live.
He pulls off the gloves and tucks them into his helmet, before unzipping the jacket and heading towards the door. He knocks and waits until the familiar face of Kalen appears. But there’s some hesitation – none of the barely restrained movements that he’s used to. No... well, you can’t call them unexpected if you’ve gotten used to the way they’re offered, but no hugs from Kalen.
Alex steps in, shrugging out of the jacket and laying it over the back of the sofa. The helmet gets set on the floor just behind it. And, just as most people do, Alex takes a look around. More out of curiosity than anything else. The furnishings are, in some ways, what Alex would have expected Kalen to choose. Old, expensive, impressive.
“That sounds ominous. Either you have the end of the world in your basement, given the way you opened the door, or you’re about to tell me it arrives next Thursday. I’ll go for coffee, for now. Thanks.”
Kalen"No," Kalen says quietly. "At least on your first guess. The basement has a bar and a pool table and a bunch of storage and a panic room." Kalen says this as though those things all belong in basements. "As to the second-" There is a second of contact as Kalen walks past Alexander into the kitchen, though neither of them really needs the hand Kalen rests against him to avoid colliding with each other.
"Probably not so soon as Thursday." He takes advantage of a moment not looking at Alexander and not really in easy to ask, "You remember when I was in that coma? That particular intelligence has...transcended at least some of its bounds. Also, one of the parts of it is here. But not in a mindscape or a computer program. He's a Mage."
Kalen tries to focus more on making coffee than on what he is saying. Tries to pay attention to setting water up to boil and measuring coffee instead of what Denver was like after everyone was dead. The hollow chantry. The husk of the Node. Sid taking the only way that they had out and abandoning them. It might be easier if that way out hadn't been, at that moment a twelve-year-old girl and was not now a slightly older Mage working with...Technocrats. Former Technocrats. Tradition Mages.
"And he's trying to reform the Technocracy. Which is apparently about as fucked up in its politics and its cohesion as the Tradition Council right now. But...whatever we do about this mess, I doubt that the world ends, at least because of this, so soon as Thursday."
AlexanderAlex follows Kalen through to the kitchen, not pulling away at the casual contact. He isn’t against physical contact, not in the way some of the others were. But there were certain boundaries. He wouldn’t kiss Sera. When he’s withdrawn, he doesn’t want to be touched. He wouldn’t particularly welcome contact from people he’s only just met. Assuming they wanted to get close enough to the heart of the comet to touch it, anyway. He continues the casual survey of the house – the home? – on the way through to the kitchen.
In a more familiar place, he might help Kalen to get the coffee ready. But this is a new place, and he doesn’t know where anything is. That, and it seems as if the simple motions are aids for Kalen to get his thought in order. Instead he rests back against the corner of the counter and watches.
“Yeah, I remember. I.. Wait, what? There’s a computer program walking around in a body somewhere? How is that even possible? Is he some kind of robot?” Alex shakes his head, lost once again in just what Awakened and their creations are capable of. “Wait, doesn’t matter. Right? Didn’t Elijah start poking around in the wrong places and nearly ended up landing the Union on top of us? We already know that they’re starting to pay more attention to the city, and we have this guy prodding them with a stick to find the friendly ones?”
“Great. Fucking wonderful. So we’ve got until Saturday then.”
Kalen"It's a bit more complicated than that, though I don't have most of those specifics. I haven't gotten to meet the people he's working with yet and I...I might know someone who can tell me more about one of them, but I'm going to have to go meet him." Out of things to do while the coffee brews in the press, Kalen leans into the counter. Close to Alexander, though he doesn't flop against him. "I could do with spiritual counseling right now anyway."
Kalen sighs heavily and looks up at Alexander. "I've fought the Technocracy before. We've played this war out once.
"We need some way other than blood to end it. It's...the more dangerous thing. I think it's the right one. If-" Kalen frowns a little and then reaches out for Alexander again, resting a hand on his arm. "If it's a thing you can't or won't do with me, I understand. But I'm going to meet with them. And if there is a chance to stop this before we nearly destroy everything again, with or without you, I will take it." His expression stays still, difficult to read, but if Alexander hasn't pulled away from him he can feel little tremors in the hand resting against him.
"There's nothing else I can do." And then he waits, because he cannot, not at this moment, bear to ask if he has ruined everything.
Alexander“All anyone has told me since I found out about the Union is that they’re dangerous. Not to be trusted. That we’re all uncontrolled reality deviants that need to be killed, controlled or converted. I’m failing to see the happy, fluffy side of these guys that might be in the slightest way inclined to find a way other than through blood.”
Alex sighs, more out of frustration than anything. “Do you even know if you can trust this guy? Are you sure it’s really the program you met? Not some Union construct designed to drag you out into the open? It does seem awfully convenient that rumours start surfacing about their return and, hey!, look!, your new best friend is here to give you some dire warning and wants to take you along to see a group of people you’ve not met, have no reason to trust, and no reason to believe will do anything other than bundle you into the back of a black car, never to be seen again.”
Alex isn’t pulling away. Instead, he rests a hand of his own on Kalen’s. “I really, really don’t like this.”
Kalen"It's not my favorite either. And I'm not sure. Not yet." Kalen takes a deep breath. "One of the people with him is a Mage who left the Technocracy and joined the Chorus. I'm flying to Santiago. I'm going to see what Ramon can tell me. And then I will meet them, and I will see what I think."
Kalen leans into Alexander's side, now that he has apparently calmed down enough for that. "I never told you the long version of how I met Kelsey. I dreamed about it first. The way it would have happened if I hadn't known. So...I got all bulletproof and went about my day. Stopped off for coffee, because I was exhausted. I'm standing in line, and also in line, just in front of me, is a man I'm relatively sure might be a Technocrat. So he looks back at me and we are both trying to figure out what we are going to do, standing here in this coffee shop, about having just encountered each other.
"So. Before we get there, I see the people I remembered taking the place hostage. There are two of them. I can hardly move, both because this was before I could really walk and because this was shortly after I woke up from that mindscape. I took the chance that he was more concerned about the threat gunfire posed to all the people in that place, because he could have gone for a weapon. He could have tried to shoot me. He had a gun. I know that.
"And so, I warned him. And then I ran for where they'd hidden the shotgun. Diffused that whole situation. He was there. Ready to fire. He could have done it in the middle of all that. Claimed he hit me by accident. It would have been the perfect cover. But we resolved that with no one getting shot.
"I waited for someone to come after me. I didn't go to the chantry. I was careful about being followed. I never found anyone following me. No one ever came." Kalen lets his head rest against Alexander's shoulder. "I think he had a choice too, and I think he let me go. I don't know if he could have caught me, but I don't think he ever tried.
"I don't think we hear about that. Because in a relationship marked so dramatically by aggression, there is almost no chance to interact and show anything else. There is the change to fight, and there is the chance to choose not to fight. But there is very little room in this relationship to send an olive branch or a basket of oranges and indicate the chance to take another option than violence or avoidance.
"Maybe there isn't one. But I can't not try to find it. If we try, and if this doesn't seem like a viable option, I can let it go. But I cannot refuse to try at all."
Alexander“Or he was too concerned about the other men shooting him in the back. Or he thought he didn’t have much chance to pull it off with your shield up. Or he was hit by a bus on the way back to base. Or he didn’t think you were worth the risk of a bloodbath of Sleepers. Or that what’s going on now isn’t actually the result of your being followed. I’m not going to deny the potential that there was some reason why you weren’t shot, or captured, or tracked that didn’t involve incompetence or capacity or other flukes of random chance.
“But I haven’t heard a single good thing about these guys. And yes, I know, that is all I have to go on. But when that’s all you hear? That’s a hard message to ignore.”
Alexander knocks his own head against Kalen’s, sighing and sagging a little. He already knows where things are likely to head, with or without him. And Kalen’s chances? Would be somewhat higher if he wasn’t alone.
“Just for the record, I think this is an exceptionally bad idea. And I reserve the right to tell you ‘I told you so’ if we survive it all turning to crap. But if you think there’s the possibility that this might work out? Hell, you said the same with the vampires and that didn’t turn out… entirely awful. So if you think this is something that needs doing, I’ll see what I can do to help. Just promise me that you’re going to everything you can to make sure that this isn’t some ridiculously convoluted plot designed to wipe the city clean of reality deviants. And I’m really not sure I trust this contact of yours as far as I can throw this house. But… do what you’ve got to do.”
KalenKalen laughs a little. "Just for the record, I wish I had better options. I have what I have. Which is people who seem unable to conceptually understand a truth beyond that we have the chance to be better than what we have been. We could have a world where so much of the horror we have now is unnecessary. I know better than to expect a perfect utopia, the same way I know better than to expect to live long enough see whatever form it takes.
"It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be for me. It just has to be better. That's all I want."
Kalen sighs heavily and pushes reluctantly away from Alexander. "Let's not overbrew your coffee any more than we already have." He presses the filter down slowly and grabs a mug from one of the cabinets. "Probably," he says, "We have until at least the Tuesday after next for the end of the world.
"And I promise. I want this to be real. I do. But I'm still checking it out. And Grace and Ian are...well...cautiously willing to consider this. They met Atreyu with me. I...did not know it was going to turn into this. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what that artificial intelligence getting loose means. I don't...I don't really know anything except that this is much bigger than me, and whatever I've trained for, whatever I've already accomplished...I am fucking terrified.
"Less for me. I made peace with my death years ago. More for you. All of you. If I'm wrong. If I'm right but I'm not strong enough. I never thought I would be here. I never thought I would have to make these choices. I know I'm not making them alone, but I always expected, when we spoke of these moments, that I would taking the orders of the people who stood here."
Alexander“Well I guess when the options you have are both awful, you’ve got to make the best of them that you can. Unless you suddenly fancy moving to another city. Although I can’t say I really want to go through all that again. I was starting to like the place, even with all of its problems, vampires, corrupt spirits, and who knows what else lurking.
“Does anyone else know what’s going on? Do you know if these guys have been in contact with any of the Traditions? Assuming that they would be prepared to listen.” In a war lasting as long as the one between the Traditions and the Union, it’s almost to be expected that knee-jerk reactions would lead the way more than considered thought.
“Artificial intelligence isn’t really something I understand, but don’t they run under a set of rules? Three laws, or something? What if Atreyu isn’t bound by those rules any more, and decides the best thing to do is wipe both side of the war out by aggravating what little peace there is? Or how about if it was sent out into the world to get revenge for what the Union did to their new universe? I don’t think I trust the guy any more than I’d trust someone who walked in saying that they’re Union and are offering free hugs.”
Kalen"I was there with her," Kalen says softly. "She and Ian and I held hands and waited for the world to end. She looks different now. But...whoever or whatever that is now, I know that they are brave and I know...I don't know. It's hard to explain. I think we can trust him. Maybe he will fail. But I don't think he's lying.
"I'm not sure who else they've spoken to. We'll have a chance to meet them. We can ask more then." He pours coffee into Alexander's mug and slides it across the counter toward him.
"You want to return to where there are couches and whiskey?"
Alexander“I’m still not convinced. You’ve got something that, let’s face it, isn’t natural. Who knows how he, or she, or it for all we know, reacts and things. Or believes. Maybe he does want to try to avoid a flare up of the war. Or maybe it thinks that this planet would be better off without any of us and wants a rerun of whatever the hell it was that happened in the ‘90s.”
Kalen pushes the mug towards Alex. Alex picks it up and swirls it round, watching the motion of the fluid without any movement to start drinking it.
“Or maybe pie. Or just to escape the city for a while. Not that there’s any shortage of dangerous strange things in the wilds, but at least they don’t tend to be quite so… political.”
Kalen"I am entirely willing to go hang out on a mountain with pie and try very hard not to talk about politics. I like stars. Also, pie." Kalen smiles a little. "Even willing to risk marshmallows. Valentine's day turned out okay and there were marshmallows." He heads back into the living room and flops onto one side of the couch.
"But you have to promise to protect me if Arionna shows up, because I don't think I can handle that right now."
Alexander“Stars are good. If we head west far enough, you lose the light from the city and you see so much more of the sky. I’m game if you are.” He finally takes a sip of the coffee. It’s drinkable buy, hey – cop – cold instant coffee is drinkable.
“I think I’ve missed something, what’s up with Arionna.” The edge of a smile surfaces. “She was quite keen on hiking some time, we could pick her up if you’re worries about getting away from the stress for too long.”
Kalen"She just likes to torment me. Particularly since she discovered I was Christian." Kalen laughs. "Intolerant people like me, you see, are the reason for the witch trials. Terrible, closed-minded, vicious people like me just love to persecute." There is a little twitch at the corner of his mouth. "You know how I am, Alce...."
"Should I be grabbing blankets and more coffee instead of being here? I'm sure that we can find a pie somewhere in Denver. Or three. And marshmallows. Though possibly not the good flavored ones. Might have to settle for the bagged ones."
Alexander“Ah, that sounds familiar. Because you were there setting fire to the straw under her great-something-grandmother, right? Or because you’re in some was responsible for something that happened a ridiculously long time before your parents were alive. Unless you’re actually a lot older than you look. Which would explain the money you have to play with, if you’re selling the secret to eternal youth. I’m assuming it doesn’t involve burning witches?”
“Blankets and coffee are good. And food. We can swing by a supermarket on the way out, if you don’t mind slumming it a bit. Grab some sausages to roast, maybe.”
Alex gently digs an elbow into Kalen’s side. “You’re not luring me into the middle of nowhere to burn me for your next century of youth, are you? Just so I know not to wear anything too warm.”
Kalen"Mmmmmmm...." Kalen says. "Also, apparently, I don't like assertive women. Whatever you do, don't call up Alyssa and tell her." He pushes up to his feet with a sigh.
"Okay. Blankets. Coffee. Food." Kalen smiles a little. "And no, no sacrificing you for eternal youth. You'll probably still be entirely underdressed and fine, while I am buried under a small mountain of blankets and shivering. Still. I am learning to like the outside. Trees. They're a new thing for me, outside of the mostly anemic and relatively solitary ones you find in the city."
AlexanderAlexander stops moving for a few moment, considering what would happen if Ari and Alyssa ever met. It was probably for the best that Alyssa was out of town at the moment. Certainly best for the neighborhood that they might have bumped into each other in. “I think I can wait until New Year to see those kinds of fireworks.”
“If you’re that against the cold, I guess you’re driving. Unless you really want to perch on the back of a bike freezing the less important parts of your anatomy off, but then where would we keep the munchies? Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t like the sound of owls in the night.”
Kalen"One of these days," Kalen says with a smile, "I'll have to try this letting you drive. But...not tonight. Still. It seems like yet another reason for people to make the damnedest assumptions about our relationship. Though, admittedly, Serafine's assumption that I was dating Gallowglass may be difficult to outdo in the amusement department." He wanders toward a closet to grab a small stack of blankets.
"Owls are the things that make that whooooooo sound, right? Like ghosts, but alive?"
Alexander“What, don’t you trust my driving? It’s not like I go that far over the speed limit. Not where there are cameras and patrols anyway.”
Kalen and Gallowglass. Gallowglass? “Wait. The guy. With the glasses. And… Damn, I’d completely forgotten about him. What’s he up to these days?” The memory is strangely fuzzy. Something about a shop. And a weasel?
“Yeah, the whooo things. Unless you mean the howling thing. Those tend to be wolves and are a bit less friendly. Owls just tend to fall asleep and fall off the branch. Anyway, define alive? If a bit of code running in a compute can be alive, why can’t a spirit? The ghost might have more free will.”
The last of the coffee gets drunk in one, swift go and the empty mug left in the sink.
Kalen"Wolves are, what, aooo-ooooo?" Following what may be the least enthusiastic howl attempt on record, Kalen reaches out to squeeze Alexander's shoulder. "Did I mention before, that I really missed you?"
"Gallowglass is off on business. He's alright. C'mon. Let's get out of here before I throw my keys at you and force you to drive so I can take a nap. We are getting so much more coffee on our way out of the city." That threat doesn't seem very serious.
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