Participants:
| Scene Title | A Choice To Be Made |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Revelations about Richard's family plants seeds of doubt and worry in his adopted sister, Kaylee. |
| Date | June 28, 2018 |
WRAY Grounds
The excitement for the moment died a little when Richard uttered that questioning word, “mom?” It felt like in a single moment the world shifted and changed extensively. While things where in motion that were already threatening to upend their lives, it didn’t really sink in until that transmission. This was something that had the potential of tear everything apart.
Deep down, she was excited for Richard. His own mother, alive, and an actual sister he never knew about.
Yet, this also worried her. Deeply.
That unspoken worry left the telepath quiet and subdued in the moment of great discovery; she desperately need the quiet. So while they were all focused on the radio and all the data gathered, Kaylee slipped out of the radio room. Away from the buzzing of excited minds, towards something familiar. Hanging from a large tree, was a swing. Typical board attached to ropes. Something that Joseph had hung for the kids to play on near the tiny trailer they called home for sometime while the country was at war.
Lowering herself into the swing, she ignores the creaking of the ropes as her weight settles, eyes only on the world in front of her. It was a good view of the compound from there, surrounded by trees and fences. This was where they had all truly become a family, brought together by her father… protected from the worst of the war. Given a chance to really get to know each other and become a family unit.
The darkness at the back of her mind was shifting, awoken by the woman’s anxiety. She could almost see the glint of light off black scales out of the corner of her eye, but she knew it was just in her head. Still, she knew that even in the deepest parts of her mind, her anxiety had weight.
With a heavy sigh, Kaylee leans her head against one of the ropes, above the hand that grips it, and tucks her feet under her; swinging ever so slightly as she turns this new event over in her head, trying not to listen to the dark silken whispers and wishing Joseph was there to talk, too.
She's left alone for a few minutes with just her thoughts. Luther, having consulted with the other members of the security team that had accompanied the group to coordinate the logistics of the protections for the trip back, can be seen approaching alone from her spot on the swing. She knows already, she's not the only worried mind amidst the group who bore witness to what was something straight out of a science fiction novel somewhere. And kicked it right into factual fantasy.
The Raytech security chief, though hardly looking the part in his jeans and tee combo, slows to within a polite distance for conversation at first. Even though he's regarded Kaylee with more than mere professionalism by now, there's still effort made to respect their jobs and titles. Not so much in his tone, though, when he asks in gentle concern, "Hey. You doing alright?"
Blue eyes watch the security chief approach, but she doesn’t really move, except for the slight sway of the swing held by the toes of her boots, which dig a little deeper into the dirt under the swing. When he is close enough, Luther is offered a small smile that doesn’t seem to reach the rest of her face.
There is a bland sound of amusement, her head straightening, at the question. Was she alright? Her gaze slips past his tall form to the radio building beyond. “It was kind of a lot to take in,” Kaylee answers softly, looking up at the man who had become a trusted enough friend that she doesn’t hesitate to talk to him about what is bothering her. “I’m not going to lie, I feel like— “ She sighs, attention falling to the ground in front of her, as she fails to find the words for the anxiety that is gnawing at her stomach.
“I know Richard well enough…” Kaylee finally starts again, “That getting to his — family will become an obsession.” She gives a short laugh, a soft breathy thing, “Not that I blame him, if it was my family, I’d do the same… I’m just… scared?” Was that the word for it? “For that means for mine.”
“Yeah.” The monosyllabic response to ‘a lot to takin in’ sums up Luther’s agreement in an obvious tone. The security chief side does the swearing internally. When she drops her gaze, he comes over to stand by the swing, arms crossing over chest and looking back in the direction of the radio bunker. Long beats of silence slip past, disrupted only by the peaceful sounds of nature around them. No construction, unlike the city.
“How do you know it was real?” The man shakes his head slowly. “I mean, Jesus Christ, what the hell even was that in there? Sounded like… Felt like…” He can’t find the words for it, so falls quiet again and takes a breath, releasing it as well as his crossed arms in a short sigh. Storm-grey eyes turn back to the telepath, and brows crease. “They’ll be fine. We can protect them,” he says in firm belief of the team and inclusive of the pair of them. “All that happened in there, doesn’t change the fact that we’ve got things to take care of and prepare for.”
But he understands the anxiety, as he too feels the nervousness. Anticipation of the worst, one might assume. “What are you going to do?” It’s a question for the more immediate moment, although could include what she’s planning now, for the future of herself, her own family waiting back in New York.
“With everything we’ve been dealing with lately and everything we have witnessed, how can you even question it?” It’s a simple question, curious rather then snide. “It’s real. A rather historical moment, too. Sort of.” Kaylee sounds very certain of it and not as happy about it as she thought she’d be. “Not one that anyone will really know about.” The sounds of a bird, in the tree above her, gets a sharp look and hands tighten around the ropes. A narrowing of her eyes at the tree is the only hint that her ability might be at work; but, after a moment, she relaxes again.
What was she going to do? That was a harder question to answer, one that she couldn’t at that moment. For now? “All I can do, right now, is stay the course. Continue what we’ve been doing.”
Stretching her legs out, Kaylee is pushed back in the swing, holding herself there with heels dug into the sand. Leaning forward on the swing, she studies her security chief. “Unfortunately, I am pretty sure this means that the target on Raytech’s back just got bigger. Especially, if Richard decides that he is going to go against everything and build that Looking Glass.”
There is a rueful turn to her smile, almost apologetic to Luther as she admits, “I don’t plan to stop him either.” She looks up at Luther and it might be a little unfair, but she asks, “What would you do to save the people you care the most about in this world?” Looking back towards the building that house the radio, her head tips towards it, “I’d probably do what he’ll probably want to do. So I just have to be prepared for what trouble comes with it.”
The man uncrosses his arms at the question, looking over at the telepath with a brow raised. “How do you not?” The question may as well be one of religious faiths and beliefs. Except, this one has tangible evidence, to date. “I just… it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. Alternate dimensions, or other timelines. It means a lot of things, including what we’re going to need to consider for security measures back at the office.”
Like how does one protect against unknown assailants from said other timelines and dimensions?
Luther frowns with the note that the targets have gotten bigger, even as he exhales slowly, resignedly. There’s a further knitting of his brow for Kaylee’s not-quite-apologetic admittance. The question of what he’d do to save the ones he cared about gets a low, humorless laugh. It goes without saying, given what he did to Richard’s office door in the interests of protecting those he cares for, that he’s not one to stand around and fret.
They both turn back to the radio bunker. “If Hollywood still existed, they’d make a movie out of all this. It’d be a big summer blockbuster.” As it is, there’s the regular watching of River Styx amongst the team. “That’s fiction, though, and this is real.” Maybe too real, as the concepts and consequences are still staggering.
After a beat, though, he turns back to Kaylee, expression serious once more. “If it comes down to it, though? The ones I care about are in this world, now. Not some other dimension. Not some other time.” And he’ll do everything he can to keep them safe.
“Same,” Kaylee comments in soft agreement. “Joseph. Those kids, they are my world.” So she’ll do what she has to and make sure they stay safe. “I don’t want to know what the world would be like without them.” The prospect terrifies her to think of or the lengths she might take to ensure they live.
Maybe, that’s why she understands her father’s motives.
Hands slide up on the ropes of the swing and she uses it as leverage to get to her feet. Turning, she looks down on the swing fondly, finally letting it go to swing gently. “Spent a lot of time in this spot during the war, with and without the kids.” It was a good spot.
Quiet for a long moment, possibly thinking back to those time or maybe thinking ahead, Kaylee looks troubled. “Can I ask you a favor?” Kaylee looks over at her companion, “Keep this conversation between us for now?” There is a twitch of her head as if she might look over her shoulder, but she stops herself. “I love Richard. He is my brother, but he doesn’t need to doubt my loyalty. I’ll do what I can for him, until I have to choose between him and everyone I hold dear.”
Kaylee offers Luther a weak smile, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and we won’t have to make that choice.”
What isn’t spoken, although certainly thought, is how Luther includes the Sumter family with Kaylee. The children of Richard Ray with Richard. Alix with Chess. Silvia with Lynette and Mateo. And so on. The man’s reaching sense of responsibility for their security extends fairly far, overall. Though he’s still only one man.
He turns a look towards Kaylee when she swings herself lightly, only watching for that quiet moment. The way the sunlight catches her hair sends a fleeting pass of memory over the man, one that starts off good, but ends bittersweet. At her asking a favor, he comes out of the reverie and blinks a few times, focused back on the telepath. Brows lift at first, then drop back down to furrow at her words.
Luther takes in a long breath and looks off back to the radio bunker at that, studying the structure without much focus to his gaze. His mind’s eye is elsewhere, turning over impossibilities made possible, and the choices that have yet to come. “Alright,” he says after a long pause. “But if I’m going to say anything about all this, it’s something your brother said. There are always choices, and we make them, and hope they’re the best ones for us and everyone around us.”
With that he pushes off a heel to start back towards the bunker, turning partly and head tilting at Kaylee, a silent suggestion made to return to the others.
There is relief that her moment of doubt would stay their secret. She loved Richard, deeply. Of all her siblings, he was the one she was the closest to. So to have something like this suddenly make her realize that even the closest of bonds can be tested…. It shook her.
How well will those bonds hold without the blood to tie them?
She didn’t know, but clearly, they would find out soon enough in the months to come. Family first always, but there was an order even to family. Joseph and her children would always come first above all.
“Hold up,” Kaylee sounds a little less stress, though the dark whispers continued to turn in the back of her mind. As she sets the pace back towards the bunker, she offers her Security Chief a smile only; with his men not far away, she doesn’t even try to hug him. “Thank you. Joseph is usually the one to listen to my insecurities; but he’s not here. So I appreciate you taking one for the team,” Kaylee jokes lightly, “and for the discretion.”
In other words, thank you for being her friend.