Time To Get Back In The Game

Participants:

kaylee_icon.gif richard_icon.gif

Scene Title Time To Get Back In The Game
Synopsis Kaylee reveals what she learned and Richard decides it's time to come out of retirement.
Date March 09, 2018

Richard's Secret String Room - Raytech Industries


“You know….” The softly spoken words echo in the room full of criss-crossing strings. Heels of her flats click softly as Kaylee gently slides a finger along one line. “I don’t think I ever told you. When I was in that dream with our father, during the Ark raid. I saw the web in his head. Stretched off…. Infinitely in all directions.” There is wonder and awe when she speaks of that moment. “All of it, to keep the four of us alive and together.“ Pausing, the telepath looks across the sea of string to the man on the other side, her brother Richard. “I can’t even begin to imagine.”

She gives him an apologetic smile. “Of course, that’s not why I asked you to bring me down here.” Kaylee glances around the room, “I wanted to talk about what happen, away from any potential ears, about Odessa,” she doesn’t even use the woman’s fake name, “and Mateo.” Ducking under a string, she adds blandly, “I know you felt it when Mateo was getting upset…But, I… heard something.” Arms cross and a hand rubs along her arm as if trying to warm up, “It… was a little unsettling.”

“I wish he hadn’t. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we all survived, but…” Richard looks past the plastic lattice-work that the string web in the middle of the room is anchored to, hands clasped loosely at the small of his back, “…that’s a lot of guilt to carry along. And despite what he said, I wonder if that really was his end game. There’s still a lot I don’t understand.”

Then he frowns, looking over, “I’m… a little concerned in general, given what we saw in her head. They separated them for a reason, and I’ve got a feeling it wasn’t disconnected from that abattoir we saw. What did you hear?”

Of course, now that Kaylee tries to put it into words, she can’t really. Brows dip down with her frustration. “Let me see if I can… put this into words.” Eyes cast down to the ground as she searches for the right words, “When I hear the people around me… it’s like being in a room with thin walls and people are always talking.” There is a glance up to see if her explanation is adequate. “It never shuts off really, so I am always hearing the muffled sound of voices outside my head.”

Kaylee’s head wobbles a little on this next part, “The tone might change with the emotions and stuff…” She trails off… “Ruiz… Mateo…. Doesn’t have a hum. It shifts and varies, but always…. natural. I’ve never had that before.” She sounds baffled by it.

Richard’s brow furrows at that, one hand rubbing at the nape of his neck. “Curious. What do… I mean what does that even mean? That he doesn’t have thoughts doesn’t make sense— I mean— I’m not a telepath, help me out here.”

“I know the thoughts are there…. Just… buried. I can catch them now and then” Kaylee stands on the other side of a length of string from Richard, giving a bit a of a smirk. “Buried under natural sounds…. As in nature. It varies with how upset or how close he is to using his ability. The sound of a beach… a waterfall… the sound of a sandstorm… The crunching of bones.” That last gets a shudder. “It is not normal. It’s his ability…”

“What is his ability?” Richard moves to step around the string map in the heart of the room, reaching out a hand to rest on her shoulder, brow furrowing, “That it’d cause that sort of… reaction in his mind?”

“I… don’t really know… but… I saw something, in his head. This, ability is loud. Very loud. I… just couldn’t ignore it.” She talks about it like it is a thing… She hesitates, a hand moving rest over his, briefly, “If I show you, this does not get discussed past this room, Richard Ray. Do you understand me?” There is a firmness to those words, the look in her eyes equally so. Kaylee will have no argument in this, this stays between the two of them. “When they are ready they will tell us, but… I think in the meantime, we need to be careful.”

“Of course.” Richard’s chin dips in a slight nod, “We need to… be careful with the two of them anyhow. Des, especially, is…” A breath’s drawn in, “Fragile. Very fragile.”

“I agree… and I think in his own way, so is Mateo,” Kaylee’s voice is soft as she reaches up and presses the fingers of one hand to his temple. It’s like a single frame of memory, what she deposits in his head, strengthening it… a ring of dark lightening, a swirling open maw of a vortex. “It feels like a hungry beast in its own way. He says it pulls to him, like my ability calls to me.” Richard has heard that call, felt it himself.

There is a soft sigh, but the fingers do not move. Seems Kaylee is not done. “It’s not just him though….” There is a shift in her fingers, fingers move to press to the other side of his head and suddenly his head is filled with the sound of a beach. “That’s Mateo… moments before Odessa…” Suddenly, the sound of the sea breeze picks up, the rustle of leaves… the picture is complete. “When her head turned towards him.” Kaylee watches her brother’s face to see if he notices that, “They blend…. connect.”

The world goes silent for him, as her fingers finally move to disconnect from his temples, severing the connection. He has just been given a rare look into what a telepath hears.

As she reaches up, Richard closes his eyes and does his best to calm that usual racing torrent of thoughts and connections in his own head to see what she’s trying to show him. His brow furrows a little, shifting under her fingers, as she reveals those images and sounds.

Then she lets go, and his eyes open, “They’re like the Fournier twins.”

After a moment of thought, Kaylee nods slowly. “Maybe.” Eyes unfocus a little, “I didn’t know those girls well enough, but I think that is the best description for it. But you see my concern?” Fingers press to a temple, a sign that he ability is still tender from the recent abuse.

“He has a block,” Kaylee announces suddenly. “Not like Des, but it’s there… and something wants out.” There is a fascination in her tone, in her mind a desire to reach out and unravel it. The hiss of temptation. “Memories, more than likely, but… what happens when they both remember who they are?” She spreads her hands before her, “What if that block is keeping a part of his ability at bay?” It was there in some form, they felt it for a moment.

“We need to know what his ability is, before we can assume more. Make sure to press him on that resume, get it from the interview,” Richard instructs, his jaw setting as he looks back to the string map, a model of five timelines and how they’ve interacted, lines moving back and forth in unnatural bridging of temporal travel and manipulation. “There’s something coming. Something going on… shit.”

A sigh spills past his lips, “Broome’s sitting back across the board from me, and more old secrets of the Company coming to roost. It’s time to get back in the game, I suppose.”

“So that’s… He’s still alive then?” Kaylee doesn’t press it, giving a wave of her hand. “I told Edward Ray —father — once that we’d take up the watch.” She turns to look over the map, standing beside her brother. “I guess the world has decided it’s time.”

“It was probably too much to hope for a few more years of quiet…” Lips press together, but Kaylee’s tone is one of subtle amusement, “at least till the kids were grown and out of the house.” Priorities.

Reaching out she loops her arm through his, hugging it to her side and resting her head against his shoulder, “You know I’ve got your back, big brother.” As if she feels it needs saying, “I’m not sitting on the sidelines. I’m as much as a Ray as you are.” Her head lifts to giving him a knowing look, “Don’t you forget that.”

“I know, little sister,” Richard says, his head tilting to brush a kiss against her hair, his other hand lifting to briefly cradle her head there against his shoulder, “You’re more of a Ray than I am, if you want to get technical about it…”

A hint of a grin down to her, brows lifting, “You got any big plans with Joseph tonight?”

“Pfft. Technicality,” Kaylee flicks the comment away with a chuckle. “Your his favorite anyhow.” There is a glint of mischief that comes with a little sibling teasing.

Teasing done… “Big plans?” The smile falls away a little and shoulders shrug. “Just the usual.” Kaylee comments lightly, “Probably tuck in the kids, enjoy some TV, then crash hard….” Typical parents evening. She sighs, “We are, honestly, overdue for a date night.”

“Alright. I forget how you people in relationships work anymore…” A wry note in Richard’s voice as he looks back over the room, “Alright. I’ll go through the files and see… who we still have to call on, who we know will respond and who we can trust. Go through your old Ferry contacts and make some judgement calls too… just in case we need to fire up the ol’ engine again, as it were.”

“I just got a bad feeling about the future.”


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