Kavi's Return

[hazlogs]

It is currently 20:41 Pacific Time on Mon Oct 19 2015.

Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the southeast at 5 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.05 and rising, and the relative humidity is 93 percent. The dewpoint is 55 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius.) For more detail, see: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=98501

Currently the moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (46% full).

The Hub: Main Floor

The main floor of 'the Hub' is a spacious, almost sprawling room, with a two-story high ceiling and a large loft that looks out over the room itself, accessed via a winding metal staircase set at the opposite end from the heavy security door. One side of the floor is completely open, with a bank of windows facing north and offering a brilliant view of the city, especially at night. The other side contains a series of doors and doorways that lead into other rooms, large and small. One is clearly a kitchen (a very nice large kitchen with its own island and eating area), one is a bathroom, and one a repurposed conference room with a smaller central table than likely existed before, and comfortable rolling chairs that have clearly been reclaimed from various goodwill sources. Other rooms serve as storage, with one standing out as a well maintained server room, from which the local Walker server, various databases, and hardware responsible for the block's free wifi can be accessed.

The open floor itself sports several areas clearly designated for various purposes, though none have been walled off from the rest in any real fashion. One contains a comfortable, beat-up couch and armchairs arranged in a semi-circle around a large flatscreen TV and coffee table, another is a bank of multiple computers, each with their own desk and office chair, while a third is a modest exercise area mostly consisting of an open space of floor covered in a cushioned mat and several free weights. A number of monitors have been mounted on the wall next to the security door; the largest displays the area immediately on the other side of the door, with another showing the interior of the private elevator. The third and largest is split into sections, with one section dedicated to the sub-basement, another to the roof, and the others switching routinely between various parts of the interior and exterior of Maxwell Tower.

The Hub is quiet, most extraneous lights turned off, not a creature stirring except one frustrated newly teenaged (barely) Philodox doing an awkward, wobbly handstand over in the exercise area.

Kavi has been quiet, himself, as he has been since Rina first found him. Outwardly, he seems calm, but the longer the confusion and disorientation last, the more the signs of fear begin to show. He follows Rina willingly, but without any familiarity.

The door opens with its usual faint sounds, and Rina steps in. A few hundred miles of rough road with a side of exhaustion--but then, that's the usual, lately. She pauses for a moment a few steps in, blinking at the sight of the unfamiliar kid. Then one hand rakes back through her hair, a quick covering gesture. "Uh, hey," she says in a sleepless rasp. "Mouse around?"

The taller man hovers in the doorway, looking over the space without any sign of recognition. He looks past Rina to the youth, but doesn't offer any greeting.

The long-haired kid more or less falls out of the handstand, gracelessly hitting the mat. He utters a familiar Serbian swearword and gets to his feet, pushing hair out of his face as he does so. There's little about him that's familiar except those scars, which may as well be a nametag to anyone who knows Jack Salem well. "No, she's--" He cuts off upon seeing Kavi.

Rina's expression shifts, a look of disorientation bringing more lines around her eyes as she stares at the youth. She is rarely speechless, but for a long second she stands there, still and silent, a measure of doubt slowly fading into certainty.

It's Kavi's turn to rake a hand back through his hair, an attempt to hide his own growing uncertainty. "Hello."

Salem sighs. "Yes, it's me." He rubs the side of his neck and eyes Kavi. "And I really hope that you, at least, remember what in god's name happened."

Rina swallows, and gives a tiny shake of her head. Grief wells in her eyes as she looks away--totally unseen by the tall Galliard who still shadows her, but visible to Salem.

"I--" Kavi starts, and then looks down toward the floor. "I'm sorry. I--"

Salem's eyes narrow, his gaze going from one to the other and back again. He finally settles on Rina. "What happened?"

Rina blinks, taking a breath before looking back over to Salem. "He called me," she says. "So I went to get him."

Kavi draws in a breath and his gaze shifts again to scour the room. He takes a step inside, and then another, turning to better survey their surroundings. "I-- The number was in my phone," he says softly.

Salem glances at Kavi, but only briefly. He's gone very still, hands curling into fists. "What's wrong with him?" he asks Rina, voice flat.

The Kin's face loses all expression as she meets his gaze. "He doesn't remember anything," she says in that quiet half-rasp.

Kavi looks over his shoulder from one to the other, his own frustration showing in a brief flash, quickly buried again. He moves more fully into the room, heading across to the monitors, a twitch at his brow as he looks from one to the next.

Salem bares his teeth, throttling back rising anger. He stares daggers at Kavi's back. "Of /course/ he doesn't. Of /course/ he fucking doesn't. Jesus fucking bleeding--" The rest is in Serbian, rapid and angry; he stomps away toward the stairs, cursing all the while.

Rina closes her eyes and takes a slow, steadying breath. When she opens them again, she doesn't look to the angry Philodox. Her gaze rests somewhere beyond the floor, the furniture, the familiar room. "Maybe we should go, until Mouse gets back," she says quietly. "She might have some idea, of--" Her voice catches, and after a moment she goes on. "--What to do."

Tension pulls at Kavi's shoulders, and he swallows as he watches the boy mount the stairs. It takes him a second to recognize that she's speaking to him, and even then a moment more before he turns to her. "I--" he starts again, but cuts off, and this time the frustration is all the more clear, lingering when his gaze dips downward again.

Salem stops a few steps up and sucks in a breath, trying to regain his composure. He turns back, dragging fingers back through his hair. "That... if you think so. I'm... a little frustrated right now."

"Yeah," Rina says. "Lotta that goin' around." She watches Salem for a long moment, and then asks, "You still-- remember other things, though? I mean, you know who I am?" Something about the intense focus of her eyes betrays her: she *needs* him to know, with a lurching desperation she'd never let out into the open.

Salem sighs. "Yes." He sits down on the step and rubs at his face. "The only thing I /don't/ remember is... most of our trip after we followed Stag into... wherever that was." He waves a hand about.

Kavi's gaze comes back up when Salem stops, and the kin shifts gears. He glances to Rina at her question, but then turns back to his examination of the monitors, watching Salem sidelong. Something in the boy's answer, brings another twitch to Kavi's brow, but he doesn't look directly to the others. "Woods," he mutters under his breath. "Stag..."

The Kin releases a breath, some of the hard tension leaving her shoulders at Salem's answer. When Kavi responds, though, Rina focuses on him, holding in a sudden urgency, trying to keep her words calm. "Yeah," she says quietly. "You went to look f' Stag."

Salem fixes his good eye on Kavi. "You wanted to learn a Fianna Gift." His words are all sharp and clipped, a little peevish. "To do that, you needed Stag's approval. I went with you to help. Do you remember?"

Kavi stuffs his hands in his pockets as if looking for his keys. Fingers curl into fists, and he gives a sharp shake of his head. "No," he says aloud. "No, I-- It feels-- I feel like it's something I should know, but..." He forces the fists to open so he can pull his hands free again. "But it's not there."

"I think--" Rina sounds cautious, and she gives Salem a guarded look. "Maybe we just give it some time, you know? But someone's gotta-- teach him, at least." She gives a tiny shake of her head. "I don't think I c-- If it was just some kid, you know, I could handle it. But this--"

Salem grimaces at Kavi's answer and rubs his eyes. "Nngh. Well, I'm already staying in one of the guest bedrooms for now. I suppose you can take him home now, if you want, but with the moon getting fatter it might be better for him to be here, under watch."

Rina gives a shaky nod, and ducks her head--Salem would know that she's hiding a wrenched expression, and probably fighting down emotion, behind the fall of shaggy, unkempt hair. She must not have cut it since before they left.

Once again, a hand rakes back through his hair, and Kavi looks away from the pair. As his hand drops, it reaches for a keyboard, not to press anything in particular, but to touch the plastic, and then curl again.

"I'm sorry," Rina says, her voice low. After a second, she rubs at her face and then lifts her head to look over at the Galliard. "I want to-- be here for you. It's not just that it's hard, it's--" She takes another steeling breath. "It's a lot of-- emotion. And there's reasons that-- it's just dangerous, if you get upset right now, and I can't-- be steady around you. Not yet." She gives a little nod, her jaw tightening for a moment. "I'll figure it out, though, yeah? I don't want you t'feel like you're alone. I--" A breath. "We're-- your friends, even if you don't remember yet." She takes another breath, tense enough that her shoulders lift with it, as she looks over to Salem. "Sorry," she whispers. Recovering enough voice to speak, she adds, "I, ah. I'll check back tomorrow, tell Mouse to call me, aright?"

Salem nods wearily. "Of course."

Kavi looks to Rina as she speaks, but somewhere in the middle, he looks away again. "Okay," he says quietly when she's done, turning his gaze to the boy, instead.

Rina gives Salem a nod of thanks, and then looks over to Kavi again, torment showing for a blazing instant on her face before she turns to flee the room.