[Author's Note: Ian is only present in the background for this scene, but since he's there, I'm putting it in his log.]
Wesley Edevane
[This is for Ian - sneaky/subtle Mind Shield, Mind 2, diff 5 -1 (resonance, woo!) -1 (practiced)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (1, 1) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Wesley Edevane
[Never have I been more glad that I spent WP]
Wesley Edevane
[Extending +1 -1 (taking time)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Wesley Edevane
[And again]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 2 )
Kalen Holliday
[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 2, 5, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Wesley Edevane
[Oh also, almost forgot - masking resonance. Mind 2 diff 5 -1(resonance again) -1 (taking time)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Wesley Edevane
[extending +1]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[Magicking. Magicking to protect our Mind. Mind 1 | D=3 | WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Kalen Holliday
[And again, still D=3 even with +1 for extension because -1 time - 1 node
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 4) ( success x 3 ) [Doubling Tens] [WP]
Wesley Edevane
[Ian: Level 4 Mind Shield, Level 4 Resonance Masking - both for 24 hours. Kalen: Level 3 Mind Shield for 1 month.]
Wesley Edevane
[Wesley: aw, all that for little old me?]
Wesley Edevane
[Wesley rolls some dice]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Kalen Holliday
[How distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Wesley Edevane
Turnverein
was an old dance hall located just off of East Colfax. The building
hosted regular events in its main ballroom, and tonight the place was
bustling with local swing dance enthusiasts. A jazz band was busy
setting up on stage, tuning and warming up their instruments, while
dancers and spectators continued to trickle in through the main doors.
The ballroom was a wide, open space with polished floors and tall
windows decorated in strings of fairy lights. The space had a warm,
bright glow - welcoming and infectious. An older woman at the door
collected a small fee from each of the participants, smiling as she
offered them pins with her club's logo - "Lindy Diversion."
This
is the place where Kalen had agreed to meet with a man named Wesley
Edevane. The time was nine pm - a few hours after sundown. And true to
his word, Wesley was there right on time. Maybe Kalen got there early
and was already waiting. Maybe he hung back to observe from a distance.
Maybe he saw Wesley pull up in a blue VW Golf and walk across the lawn,
his hair blowing softly in the wind as he gazed up at the dark sky.
Wesley was wearing a vintage grey suit. It fit him nicely.
It
was easy to forget: what he was, what he might be capable of. Right
then, he looked like something out of an old, romantic movie.
No one was with him. At least, that Kalen could sense.
Ian
didn't arrive with Kalen. They'd made arrangements in advance. He was
actually already inside, warming up with Emma while he chatted with some
of the other dancers. Tonight, Ian's usual resonance was dampened.
Silenced and snuffed out. He felt like any other person there. Kalen
would have no hint of his presence outside.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
has not come dressed in a vintage suit. He does have one, and it is
yet being tailored, but he plans to reserve that for a second date,
should there be one. He did, however, not spend time researching the
twenties for nothing. He's wearing a suit, complete with a waistcoat as
befits a gentleman in the twenties, even if this suit is decidedly new.
Tailored. The shirt is a pale purple, pale enough that at a glance it
could be mistaken for white. But, Wesley likes his eyes and his eyes
look fantastic with purple. He's not slept as well and he's been
casting, so he looks more tired than last they met, but at least there
are not the kinds of shadows drowning out the color of his eyes that
sometimes linger for days at a time.
He arrives early, less
because of any strategic purpose and more because he is nervous. He may
maintain that this is not a date, but the last time someone asked him
out was Shoshannah just after he arrived in Denver. That didn't end so
well. (Or, from the right angles, Ian. Once. That night hadn't ended
well either.) He is not really concerned that Wesley Edevane intends
him harm. He is only mildly concerned about the possibility that
Greyson will come pouncing them from the shadows. This nervousness is,
almost entirely, because whatever Kalen says, and whatever his
intentions are, this is a fucking date.
Extra complicated by
circumstances perhaps. But this is a date. With a vampire. That he
might be about to step into a war with.
He sees Wesley walk
into the room, takes a deep breath, and reminds himself that this is not
not as complicated or as likely to get him killed as his relationship
with Jenna. He smiles, and despite all of his intentions, his eyes drop
for a second. Because he is nervous. Because he is not used to being
told he has nice eyes anymore. Because he only barely knows anything
about the Lindy Hop and only slightly more than that about the
Charleston. Because in another world, as he had told Serafine and Kiara
the night before, he would have come out here tonight for no purpose
than that he liked Wesley. And Wesley looks like he stepped out of a
romantic movie.
"Hi."
Wesley Edevane
Such
a simple greeting. Modest. Perhaps a little shy. One would be hard
pressed not to believe that Kalen Holliday and Wesley Edevane were here
on a date. And not just any date - a first date.
There was a
time when romance had certain rules to it. Steps. Choreography. Some
people looked at that time with nostalgia. Perhaps Wesley remembered it.
Kalen had no idea how old the man really was. But then, if it really
had been the great jazz age, neither of them would be here like this.
Not together. Not out in the open. Change was not always bad.
Wesley
made his way inside the ballroom, smiling at the old woman by the door.
They greeted each other like they were old friends - and perhaps they
were. Perhaps Wesley just had that effect on people. When he saw Kalen
standing there waiting for him, he closed the distance slowly, taking in
the sight of Kalen's well-dressed figure with this soft, almost
reverent smile.
"I'm glad you came. It's been too long since I
had a proper night out." When Wesley stepped to Kalen's side, he
offered Kalen his arm - as though he meant for them to walk together.
"That is a lovely suit."
Whether Kalen accepted the contact or
not, he lead them toward one of the tall windows, gazing out at the
lawn and at the sparkling reflection of the fairy lights on the glass.
People were still arriving, but the band looked like they were just
about ready to begin.
"I'm sorry I should have asked... are
you very familiar with this type of dancing? I'm not really an expert,
but I enjoy it. It's... whimsical."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
laughs, and there is nothing mocking in it. He is startled by the
gesture more than anything, or at least being on this side of it. He
does take Wesley's arm, easily for all that times may have considerably
changed but some things will still draw attention. Kalen is just
unruffled by most people's opinion of him. Most of the people whose
opinions he cares about don't want him to be here at all, on the arm of
some undead creature looking out over a dark lawn.
"Thank
you. I don't...do this much either." He smiles again. "The dancing I
have the most experience with tends to be decidedly more formal or
decidedly less formal. I have...only a passing familiarity with this.
But it seemed...." Impossible to hide a gun. An unlikely event during
which to be bitten. And probably like- "an entertaining enough way to
spend an evening. Or at least part of one."
Wesley Edevane
It
was a rare occurrence to find Ian looking less showy than Kalen in his
manner of dress, but tonight it was, in fact, Kalen whose suit seemed
the more expensive of the two. Kalen may not have glanced over long
enough to pay Ian much mind. (That was the idea, after all. They didn't
know each other.) But although Ian looked quite nice, there had been a
conscious attempt made to not stand out. At least not the way
he usually did. He had on a pair of tailored pants and a buttoned black
shirt, but that was all. He rolled his sleeves up while Emma leaned in
to say something to him. She looked lovely, her hair and dress chosen to
match the occasion, but perhaps Ian had given her the same memo because
there were no flashy colors - no designer fabrics. She never once
looked at Kalen, though she probably remembered him from the soccer
game. Who knew what Ian told her about why they were there that night,
but whatever it was, she played along. Neither of them seemed to notice
Kalen or Wesley.
And Wesley? Did not seem to notice them. His
eyes, for the moment, were entirely on Kalen. And perhaps there was some
flicker of shy pleasure on his face when Kalen hinted that the evening
might not be over when they were through dancing. "Well, if you get
dizzy and want to stop, just give the word and I'll whisk us off to some
other place where the world spins less quickly."
That's when
the music started. Bright, brassy notes with an energetic beat. All
around them, couples poured onto the floor and began to twist and twirl.
Some of them seemed quite practiced at it. Others, less so. But nobody
seemed to care if some of their neighbors danced with less finesse. It
was a gathering, not a competition. People were there to enjoy
themselves. Wesley smiled brightly and grabbed Kalen's wrist, giving a
gentle tug to lead them out onto the floor.
"I guess it's now or never!"
Kalen Holliday
Wesley
is dangerous. He is a vampire. He is a predatory creature. In a
fight, even a young vampire can often take an unprepared Mage. Older
vampires even a well prepared one.
Kalen is, at least to some
degree prepared. But Wesley is oerhaps more dangerous because the laugh
that he gets when he promises to take Kalen somewhere where the world
spins less quickly is real enough. It isn't the kind of sound most
people get from Kalen. "If I'm not at least a little dizzy and
breathless, we might be doing this wrong."
Kalen is both more
and less guarded when he steps onto the dance floor here as he was
stepping onto the dance floor during a fateful club opening with Ian.
The things he fears tonight are so different from the things he feared
that night. Wesley makes it easy not to want to look for Ian, but
harder to banish entirely the looming spectre of the memory of zombies.
Ian and dancing and the undead. An unlikely combination to recur.
He
lets himself be drawn to the dance floor and pushes away memory with a
new puzzle, studying Wesley. Is Serafine right? Does Wesley want to
sleep with him? Does he know what he is? Are they both doing the same
complicated evaluations?
Is he about to step on anyone's toes?
[Perception+Empathy: What do you want with me? | WP because reasons (3 spent/7)]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Wesley Edevane
Sometimes
it was the least suspicious people who possessed the greatest capacity
for damage. Because it was so blissfully easy to be unguarded around
them. Because winding together lies with truth made the game seem less
like a game.
Maybe each of them were thinking this precise
thing about each other. And perhaps that was why, against expectation,
Kalen and Wesley made the most ideal candidates for this particular
mission - if, in fact, it was a mission. At that moment, it didn't entirely feel like one. The lines between reality and fantasy could get so easily blurred.
What did Wesley want with Kalen?
Seemingly - precisely what he'd said he wanted. Dancing. Company. Specifically Kalen's
company. Wesley's eyes, for all that Kalen knew them not to be living -
sparkled with genuine warmth when he smiled. And when he looked at
Kalen, he did not look at him as though he were prey. He looked at him
as though he was something beautiful and fascinating. A puzzle to piece
together. A dream to get lost in. Something with hints of romantic
nostalgia (maybe Kalen reminded him of someone.) He seemed happy to be
there with him. A bit lonely, perhaps. A bit wistful.
Did
Wesley want to sleep with Kalen? That was... not the immediate sense.
Not the way that it had been with Ian. Whatever attraction Kalen held
for Wesley, it was not that kind of primal drive. This was something
else. Something more like the way that Kalen looked at the stars.
Did
Wesley glance at Kalen's neck once or twice? Yes. Was there hunger
there? Perhaps a shadow of it. But he did not behave like a man who was
hunting.
Did he know what Kalen was? Ah, now there was a
question. Kalen couldn't be certain what Wesley thought he knew - surely
vampires had about as much understanding of mages as the mages did of
them. But he was far too fascinated and just a slight bit too knowing
not to have picked up on something out of the ordinary.
They
danced, and Wesley was actually a bit better at it than he'd claimed.
But his unassuming charm made it less intimidating than it might have
been. And they touched, and spun, and laughed. Wesley's cheeks held a
subtle flush. He seemed so perfectly lifelike tonight.
There
was a moment near the end of a song where the infectious spell of the
evening caught up to them, and Wesley pulled Kalen into an embrace,
leaning in to kiss the outer curve of his cheekbone. If Kalen wanted to
avoid the contact, he could. There was no force to it.
"You're exquisite, you know that?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
is...exactly what he claimed to be with this kind of dancing. And not,
in general, so much of a dancer at all. He's known a few of them and
he's learned enough about dancing to generally not fall over while they
show off around him. He knows that. He's fine with that. He is not at
all self-conscious about his dancing. It isn't one of the things he
does because he's good at it or because he is obligated to - Kalen
actually does love dancing. He's just devoted hours of study to
monsters and magic.
There is a moment when he could avoid
contact, but he doesn't. Wesley kissing him on the cheek starts Kalen
laughing again, but he stills when Wesley calls him exquisite. Wesley
uses words like exquisite. To people. In ballrooms. Looking like
something out of an old romance movie. Kalen wonders how the world can
be this dizzying when he is for this second so still, and he wonders if
there will come a moment when he has no choice but to fight with the man
whose arms are still around him, and he wonders what people drank in
the 20s because mint juleps are a southern thing and not the twenties
and he is so distracted that it takes him a moment to remember
prohibition. Speakeasys. Secrets.
Move.
He
remembers how to move, but the song is already closing, notes falling
around them softly and then stilling. Like snow. Like cherry blossom
petals. "You sure you don't want to reserve judgment on that until I
haven't broken any of your toes and you've gotten to know me?"
Wesley Edevane
[Wesley does this Empathy thing - what are you thinking right now, Kalen?]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1
Wesley Edevane
Wesley laughed - this
gentle, pleased sound that got swallowed up by the music as the band
segued into the next song. Somewhere, in the background, Ian and Emma
were being watched by a small crowd of admirers. They were careful -
perhaps frustratingly so - not to look as though they were the best
dancers in the room (which they probably were.) But still, even playing
it easy, they were a pleasure to watch. Graceful and athletic, though
perhaps not the most passionate pair in the room. That award went to a
couple of middle-aged women at center-floor who danced as though they
couldn't imagine anything more enjoyable in the world.
Wesley
and Kalen weren't watching Ian, but Ian was watching them. Carefully,
covertly. Subtle glances thrown over his shoulder as he danced. When
Wesley pulled Kalen into that embrace, Ian went still. It was a natural
pause in the momentum - sliding in neatly with the dip between songs.
But after that, Ian and his partner drew closer to the place where Kalen
and Wesley stood - closing some of the distance between them.
"Perhaps,"
Wesley answered Kalen's question, leaning in to speak closer to his
ear. "But I think you would be exquisite even so. That you exist at all
is cause for some wonder."
Did he mean to imply something? Or was he just being romantic? (Perhaps both.)
He
watched Kalen for a moment, meeting his eyes. Reading him quietly. Then
he nodded toward the door. "Come. You look tired. Let's go somewhere we
can talk."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen doesn't
really notice Ian closing, can't track him in the ways he is used to.
And he is distracted, and tired, and this moment feels like it should
be a taut and shimmering thing, heavy with the promise of blood but all
he really feels when when Wesley lets linger the implication that he
knows something of not everything linger and then suggests they go talk
is relief. He likes Wesley too much for it to be entirely without cost,
being here. Especially with Ian.
Wesley has already leaned
in close and so Kalen lets his head fall to the side to rest lightly
against Wesley's. "You have no idea." And that is true. He can barely
remember the last time he slept without nightmares. He can feel the
pull of the cost for his casting and their date so far. And this has
been the easy part. "Please." And then he picks his head back up and
slides out of Wesley's arms. The better to actually cross to the door.
Ian...well...Ian will find some way to follow. In person. Magic.
Kalen does not know. There are enough windows he may not even need to
leave the building to see them.
Wesley Edevane
[Ian - sneaksneak]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 5 )
Wesley Edevane
[Wesley, do you notice?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 4, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Wesley Edevane
Kalen
seemed on the verge of exhaustion. Wesley was far from it, but he
tempered his energy to better match Kalen's state. The two of them left
the crowd of dancers behind, heading for the double-doors that led out
into the cool evening. Kalen was probably a bit overheated after such
vigorous dancing, but Wesley showed no physical signs of their activity.
Knowing what he was, it was little surprise, but the almost too-steady
breathing and the lack of visible perspiration were still a bit
disconcerting. In the moonlight, he looked ethereal. Fae-like, almost.
They
left the dance hall together, walking side by side. Wesley didn't seem
to be in any hurry to lead Kalen anywhere. Instead he began to wander
across the lawn, heading down to the sidewalk. There were a few other
people in the vicinity - people walking to and from vehicles in the
parking lot.
"You told me that no one calls you Elliott anymore. Is there another name you would prefer I call you by?"
Kalen Holliday
There are those little things to
remind about Wesley's lack of actual humanity. For all that everything
about him that seemed to be him seemed human. What is identity
anyway? Most general theory of identity tended to fall to experience
and perception and attitude over just form. An identical copy of your
body with different experience and sentience of its own would not be, to
most people, the same person as you.
So what does that say
about monsters? Or Technocrats? There was, after all, that one guy at
that coffee shop. He seemed...not immediately monstrous. They had, for
something like 45 seconds, been allies of a kind. Much less
complicated than this.
But also less promising. He pulls his
attention back to Wesley. "What?" It takes him a second. It is
probably fortunate that Wesley isn't trying to kill him. At least right
this moment. "No. Elliott is fine. I wonder what would have happened
sometimes, if I had just stayed...." Mundane. Like the rest of
humanity. But at what point had a normal life been something alien to
him? Long before his Awakening.
"Life gets complicated," he
says after a pause. "And I sometimes wonder what it would be
like...slightly less complicated." What this otherwise might have been.
If Wesley were even alive in that theoretical less complicated for
both of them world. How old was he? If tonight was about 1920's
nostalgia....
He looks at Wesley and smiles and it is hopeful
and wistful and a little apologetic all at once. "I think we're about
to step into more complicated rather than less though, right now."
Wesley Edevane
"Only if you want to."
They
could have been speaking of any number of things, really. Wesley
watched Kalen as they walked. Soon enough they reached the sidewalk,
where Wesley turned and continued West, leading Kalen past an evenly
spaced line of trees. Their bare, forked branches spread out into the
dark sky.
If anyone followed, neither of them noticed.
"I think many people wonder... about these what-ifs. What if things had been different. What if I was
different. But we do as we do, and we are who we are. Wondering can be a
way of not moving. I speak as a foremost expert on the subject of
stasis." He smiled, but there was something a little sad in it. "Not
that we shouldn't use our minds. We should. They are there for a
reason."
Wesley let his hand drift to touch the back of
Kalen's arm. This light, almost tentative gesture. As though to reassure
himself that they were both really there.
"Why did you agree to come here with me tonight?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
smiles a little when Wesley reaches up to touch him and slips just a
little closer. Partly because he's about to drop his voice even
further, but also because Kalen responds to touch and proximity. "There
is really more than one true answer to that question. I kind of wish
we had a world where because you said I had nice eyes and have a rather
interesting book shop and I think I could probably really like you was
the most relevant one. But, more than that, and more than that you
fascinate me, which, admittedly, you do...."
He leans in a
little closer. Because you really cannot be too careful with some
truths. "Because I'm about to get into a fight with Grayson Addario,
for a whole host of complicated reasons that don't bear mention here."
By which he means, 'that I am not talking about here, even if no one
seems to be close enough to hear us.'
"But, honestly, even if
that is a thing we never discuss again, I would do something like this
again. I do, afterall, have an actual vintage suit on order. Though,
if we're being completely honest, I would much prefer the nights this
place is dedicated to the tango. Still...I enjoyed this. Really. I
would do this again too. And I very rarely manage to find ways to make
time for things that are...for me. This wasn't, exactly." This wasn't
until it was.
And then he laughs again. "I'm sorry. I make a mess of honesty. I'm...still learning to speak it."
Wesley Edevane
[How much of this is Ian even picking up? Per+Alertness, +2 diff because of distance and quiet talking, -2 because acute senses]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 7, 8, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Wesley Edevane
The
firs part of Kalen's response elicited a dreamy smile from Wesley -
soft and honest and almost childlike for a moment. But his expression
sobered when Kalen leaned in and invoked the name of this other figure.
Grayson: who Wesley knew at least in passing, but how well beyond that?
He
slipped his arm around Kalen's, leaning into his space like they were
old friends walking down the street in a black and white film.
"I'm
glad you enjoyed the evening. Perhaps the tango next time?" His voice
was low - gentle. "But I should like to know... why you wish for such a
fight. Has he threatened you?"
Kalen Holliday
Kalen
does not fight against the contact, though there is hint of tension at
first this time. Until Wesley says that perhaps next time they can
dance the tango. Because, for all he really did come here about Grayson
and those vampires at the Black Orchid and a lessening of the suffering
in the world, he really would like dancing with Wesley. In vintage
suits. Not a date, of course. No. Just two very unlikely dance partners exploring...a possibility for peaceful coexistence.
"No,"
Kalen says, very quietly. "I simply take exception to the human
trafficking ring being run through, among other places, the club he
manages. And all the ghosts therein." He says this as though this is
as normal a question to be answering as one about the weather. There is
something a little cool and clinical about the tone, carefully
measured, but most of that calm centers not on control but on the fact
that Kalen is just frighteningly used to speaking about atrocities.
Wesley Edevane
Wesley
got very quiet at that. For a few beats they walked together in
silence, and perhaps Kalen might begin to wonder if he'd made some error
in trusting Wesley with this information. If even now the man was
leading him toward some dark end. But if there was tension in him, he
did not show it easily (did not tighten his grip on Kalen's arm or
quicken their pace.) At some point they reached the end of the block and
turned right.
"It would be... unwise... to make too many
assumptions about men like Grayson Addario. Or to think that he is the
worst monster this city has to offer." After a beat he asked, "Where did
you hear this?"
Kalen Holliday
"Hear?" Kalen
asks with a trace of amusement, still whisper-soft. "I was at the
Orchid. One of the people with me told me about the ghosts. There
was...." But really what is the point of pretending now. "Another of
your persuasion there. He...elected not to kill us when we got into a
fight with him in the alley outside."
"That evening caught our
attention, so we researched the club, and then the company that owns
the club, and then an associate of mine hacked their e-mails and what we
could decipher indicates they sent Grayson here so far as we can
determine to get or keep things running smoothly.
"Are you
talking about the creepy shadowmancer one?" Kalen shudders. It's the
first time, either presented with Grayson or discussing any of this or
with Wesley leaning closer to his throat, that Kalen betrays actual
fear. "I'm not looking to a new flavor of those. And she...she's
picking a fight with us, I think." He shudders again. Presses a touch
closer to Wesley. It isn't exactly easy to forget nearly having your
soul devoured by shadow-tentacles from a plane of terror and madness.
Those are almost certainly much worse things than Wesley.
Wesley Edevane
Kalen
shuddered a little, pressing in to Wesley's side, and Wesley's eyes
dropped for a moment to the pale, exposed skin at Kalen's throat. "Ah,"
he said, subdued and enigmatic, before glancing away to take in the
stretch of sidewalk laid out ahead.
"I'm not sure who you mean
by that. But..." he seemed reluctant to offer this piece of advice. Or
perhaps reluctance was the wrong word. Fearful, maybe. He looked around,
and his voice dipped into an uncertain whisper. "If you ever see a man
with black-mirror eyes, run."
His eyes caught Kalen's again.
"Whatever it is you think you saw, I don't wish for you or... others
like you to get hurt. The world you live in, it's... so much greater,
more vibrant, more beautiful than ours. I wish I could stay there with
you.... but I can't. This isn't your fight, Elliott. Please."
Kalen Holliday
Kalen,
the very same Kalen who not thirty seconds ago was pressing himself
closer to a vampire he barely knows because of the things an
Umbrood-possessed shell of a person summoned to destroy him remains one
of the most terrifying experiences he has ever had, squeezes Wesley's
arm at that uncertain whisper.
"Whatever it is," he says
quietly, switching, without any real warning to Spanish. "It almost
certainly is not here now. And even if, somehow, it is, you are not
alone."
He holds Wesley's eyes when Wesley meets his,
steadily. There is some warmth there, for the concern. But what he
says, gently and warmly, is, "Of course it is. My place in this, in all
of this, is between monsters and the innocent. My world...it is,
perhaps, at it's brightest here. And, I've almost died here a half
dozen times and I have seen some some rather terrible things. If there
is a world, somewhere, with as much light as you've glimpsed, it is
certainly worth fighting to protect, because this one, all jagged edges
and imperfects certainly is. It has been and always will be worth
whatever I have to do for it. To chase back the dark. To make it
brighter.
"How could I walk away?"
Wesley Edevane
Wesley
pulled away from Kalen's side, unlacing their arms so that he could
stop and slide his hands into the pockets of his suit jacket. Kalen would have to turn around if he wished to continue their
conversation, at which point he would find Wesley gazing at him with
cool, crystalline-blue eyes.
"And what would you say I am? Am I
a monster?" He didn't sound angry or upset. There was a calm, liquid
quality to his voice. "It isn't myself I'm afraid for, Elliott. And it
isn't just you either. Actions have consequences. They ripple like
water. There is a very delicate balance that you are threatening to
destroy." He looked up at the sky and his eyes went hard, then soft. "I
should go. This was a mistake."
Kalen Holliday
"No."
He says, quiet, but absolutely certain. "I don't think so. I don't
know what to think you are. But you change...everything."
Kalen
sighs. "If you want to go, then go. But I don't think this was a
mistake. I didn't learn what I came for, and I don't think you'll tell
me. Even knowing that, I still don't think this was a mistake." He
half-smiles, but it doesn't really hit his eyes. Those are full
of...what? Regret? Wistfulness? Longing? Some combination of those
things? "Even if this is as far as this goes, you were worth it."
Wesley Edevane
Wesley
met Kalen's eyes again. His lips parted - a quiet breath that had to be
more out of habit than need. After a beat he closed the distance
between them, drawing his hands out of his pockets to run them up the
sides of Kalen's arms. Then he leaned in slowly, allowing Kalen time to
process what was happening - and to stop it, if he chose - before their
lips met. His eyes fluttered shut, and the press of his kiss was at
first butterfly soft. Then reverent, exploring.
"I can't give
you what you seek because I don't know the answer." Wesley whispered
this over Kalen's mouth, pulling back only barely. "I'm sorry." He
hovered a moment, eyes cast down, pupils dilated. Then he wet his lips
and pulled away.
"Be careful, Elliott."
Then he turned and walked across the street. When he reached the other side, his form melted into the shadows like a ghost.
Kalen Holliday
Kalen leans into that kiss. And it is strange to kiss someone he knows is dead. Someone who doesn't need to breathe.
Wesley tells Kalen he doesn't know what Kalen wants to know. And then that he is sorry.
That he doesn't know? That he's about to walk away? Both?
"You too," he says quietly.
