02-15-2016, 04:57 PM
Kalen was expecting that the news would not be good. This is a different shade of horror from perhaps what he had thought that he would encounter. Still, this is Alexander. Whom he has referred to as both his brother and his griffon; among those in Denver, only Grace has also been referred to with any kind of possessive terms. His fox. His Virtual Adept. His partner in crime. And here she is, ready to charge in.
In these moments, he can remember a girl who did not yet know that she would be this marvelous creature. He has always known. Though, perhaps, not which of all the possible variants on that creature she would be. That, to him, is irrelevant. It is only all the blazing possibility crackling at the edges of his awareness ready to be made manifest he is drawn to. It plays out from there as it must.
There are other worlds and other lives and he does not believe any longer that any loss can be eternal. Love can be eternal. Hope can be eternal. Perhaps struggle and war and horror will also prove eternal. So:
His fingers tighten on the mug cradled in his hands and he is quiet at first. He listens. He breathes. And, let us be honest, he prays. Of course he does.
But then his attention is wrested away from divinity and faith and abstract concepts to a single moment, through a series of related moments, and then to this particular moment. Nick's cutting into the exchange between Grace and the doctor earns him a brief smile. It even hits his eyes for a second, because whatever is going on, Kalen can feel a dizzying array of emotions at once. Usually does, in fact.
"I can request a detailed report of the findings of another member of the Order who came here to assess the Technocratic threat and weigh our options for war. We can speak with one other contact I am aware of, others with have them, and reassess from there with the full whole of what we know from there. If he was dead, it would seem improbable that any such effort would be being made to hide that fact; so we may reasonably conclude that he is alive, at least, for the moment."
Kalen has to take a careful breath before he speaks again. Measured. Controlled. As though this control could possibly extend to his thoughts. To the too-fast pulse he can feel in the hollow of his throat. "What we cannot reasonably conclude, is that the person we reclaim from them will be the same person that they took." What he is not willing to conclude is apparently that they will be unsuccessful. Reason can be damned there, apparently.
"We will need to be prepared not only to find him and to go out and get him, but to handle whatever complications there might be." Whatever complications there might be. You know. In case Alexander's mind has been overwritten. His memories taken. Kalen does not elaborate there.
"If that is not something that we can do here, there is somewhere I can take him. Though, Alexander would prefer, undoubtedly, to remain here. This is our home."
In these moments, he can remember a girl who did not yet know that she would be this marvelous creature. He has always known. Though, perhaps, not which of all the possible variants on that creature she would be. That, to him, is irrelevant. It is only all the blazing possibility crackling at the edges of his awareness ready to be made manifest he is drawn to. It plays out from there as it must.
There are other worlds and other lives and he does not believe any longer that any loss can be eternal. Love can be eternal. Hope can be eternal. Perhaps struggle and war and horror will also prove eternal. So:
His fingers tighten on the mug cradled in his hands and he is quiet at first. He listens. He breathes. And, let us be honest, he prays. Of course he does.
But then his attention is wrested away from divinity and faith and abstract concepts to a single moment, through a series of related moments, and then to this particular moment. Nick's cutting into the exchange between Grace and the doctor earns him a brief smile. It even hits his eyes for a second, because whatever is going on, Kalen can feel a dizzying array of emotions at once. Usually does, in fact.
"I can request a detailed report of the findings of another member of the Order who came here to assess the Technocratic threat and weigh our options for war. We can speak with one other contact I am aware of, others with have them, and reassess from there with the full whole of what we know from there. If he was dead, it would seem improbable that any such effort would be being made to hide that fact; so we may reasonably conclude that he is alive, at least, for the moment."
Kalen has to take a careful breath before he speaks again. Measured. Controlled. As though this control could possibly extend to his thoughts. To the too-fast pulse he can feel in the hollow of his throat. "What we cannot reasonably conclude, is that the person we reclaim from them will be the same person that they took." What he is not willing to conclude is apparently that they will be unsuccessful. Reason can be damned there, apparently.
"We will need to be prepared not only to find him and to go out and get him, but to handle whatever complications there might be." Whatever complications there might be. You know. In case Alexander's mind has been overwritten. His memories taken. Kalen does not elaborate there.
"If that is not something that we can do here, there is somewhere I can take him. Though, Alexander would prefer, undoubtedly, to remain here. This is our home."