Logs:Quieter Times

Quieter Times
Dramatis Personae Lucien, Matt	2020-03-26 "{I don't know whether I ought congratulate him or make plans for us to evacuate the region.}" (During emergency raid team meeting.)
Location <PRV> Tessier Residence - Greenwich Village
Understated opulence claims this spacious and well-kept townhome, the decor throughout the whole of it of the highest quality and carefully chosen. The front door opens onto the entrance hall, a closet close at hand to receive coats and shoes -- the pale hardwood floors gleam underfoot, unsullied by tracked-in mess from outside. The living room beyond the entrance is all dark woods and pale earth tones, comfortable couches and armchairs and a thick soft rug laid down beneath. Two large and painstakingly aquascaped aquariums flank the entrance to the dining room, with several brightly coloured species of fish within. Most of the rest of the wall space, notably, is taken up with shelves -- shelves crammed with books of every subject and genre. A study branching off of the main hall is cozy, small, done in pale blues and lined with books as well around the large computer desk and smaller futon, though these rarer books are cased behind glass. Another securely locked door leads to the basement, and another to the full bathroom downstairs. The kitchen connects to the living room; in contrast, it is sleek and modern and well-appointed, stocked by someone who takes their cooking seriously. And takes their alcohol equally seriously -- to one side of the kitchen there is a fully-stocked bar. The back door to the kitchen looks out on a small well-kept garden. It's a perfect spring day outside, and though Matt's done his classes for the afternoon, he still ostensibly has administrative work to finish, though in reality he's dozed off with his laptop still open in front of him. Though he's dressed as sharply as for any school day in a pale blue dress shirt, slate gray chevron tie, lighter gray vest and trousers, his weight has dwindled to the point that his clothes are starting to hang oddly on his skinny frame. It probably doesn't help that his hair has been buzzed close, leaving only a velvety nap of dull brown hair. He stirs suddenly, whimpering softly and struggling toward wakefulness, the word "*Hive*" little more than a whisper on his pale, chapped lips. Lucien has a stack of books in front of him -- children's books, mostly, ranging from picture books for very young children up through middle grade novels. He's been perusing them with one hand and fielding emails with the other, a slow frown settling onto his face. He is dressed much more casually -- jeans, a very soft green v-neck tee. His eyes lift at Matt's stirring, lips compressing. When Matt finally comes fully awake it's with a gasp and a start upright, bright green eyes defocused for a moment as though with feverish confusion. A sort of odd *pressure* tells Lucien out of long familiarity that his brother is straining his own powers to their limit. This subsides a few seconds later, Matt slumping back into the chair's embrace, too exhausted to keep at whatever task he had attempted. "{What's going on?}" he murmurs, patting the blanket tucked around him for his phone. "Crisse..." "{You fell asleep}," Lucien replies mildly, glancing back down at the copy of The Graveyard Book in his lap. Closing it gently. "{Were you dreaming?}" Matt's eyes finally settle on *The Graveyard Book*, lingering there briefly "{No.}" Almost immediately after, "{Yes. But this was real. It was Hive, he's...}" He turns one hand palm up and sweeps it vaguely out at the street beyond the wall of their living room. "{He does not do this *often*...}" He frowns, the shadows beneath his eyes looking all the more stark for it. "{I suppose I will hear after,}" this is resignedly dry, "{if something important happened.}" "{Here?}" Now Lucien's brows lift, a quiet surprise in his tone. Internally there is a quick and careful shifting, a reorganization of his mind to keep it just that much more impeccably groomed. He taps one forefinger against the back of his phone, studying Matt's face thoughtfully. "{Just how important are you talking? You -- slept through a notification. On your phone.}" "{Yes, all around us, I can feel him. And earlier this week, too. He...ought not to do that so.}" Matt blinks and goes back to questing for his phone. Finally does find it lying in plain view beside him. Taps at the screen and frowns even more deeply. "{Ah. Well, I guess it's probably got something to do with Leo, then.}" His powers flutter outward again, as if he would try again to reach out and snag some corner of Hive. But finally he relaxes. "{He would have contacted me if there were anything...}" He shakes his head lightly, attention drawn back down to the screen of his phone with a slight grimace. "{Gods, I should perhaps worry about discharging my own responsibilities first, no?}" "{Probably you ought.}" Lucien leans forward to carefully place the book atop his small pile, half-turning in his seat to fix his bright green eyes on Matt. "{I wish I had had some good news to bring his family. I had rather hoped we could soon tell them we had located him, but -- not like this.}" His glance down to his phone is cursory. "{This whole fuss does seem a bit out of their usual character. Singlehandedly he has frightened them more than years of your entire team's harrying. I don't know whether I ought congratulate him or make plans for us to evacuate the region.}" "{Not like this, no,}" Matt agrees quietly. "{Perhaps they are just that desperate for his continued use, given the pandemic. But even so...}" He frowns, bleary eyes straying back to the wall and, presumably the telepathic network he could sense beyond it. "{Protecting him is going to dangerous itself, and if in the course of being pursued he loses control...}" He tugs his blanket up farther, the corners of his his eyes crinkling with discomfort, but his smile is suddenly bright. "{Well, if we run for the hills, I don't have to decide about the EPOCH next week.}" "{Perhaps.}" Lucien's eyes drift slowly toward the wall as well, as though he might, too, catch sight of the invisible web that his brother feels. "{Do you suppose dangerous will give your people much pause?}" His eyes tighten at their corners as well, but he does not return Matt's bright smile. His lips purse in a small moue, his exhale short and sharp. "{A half dozen more of the staff at Sloan Kettering have tested positive for this. If that influences your decision at all.}" "{Not much, in itself.}" Matt subsides further into his chair, his mirth vanishing as quickly as it came. "{But this is very different from the kind of danger in a raid, and I don't think they *can* keep him safe, in the long run.}" His eyes darts back to to his brother, slightly wider. "{I keep expecting them to repurpose the treatment centers for coronavirus triage. Maybe it would be best to postpone it, after all.}" He doesn't *sound* very enthusiastic about the prospect, though it seems likely he would have been equally unenthusiastic about going through with it, as well. His brightness this time is transparently artificial, "{The DHAP probably bought some time, anyway.}" "No." Now Luci's eyes tip up to study the ceiling, his fingers tracing lightly against the smooth back of his phone case. "{I do not suppose they can.}" The tightness that creeps into the line of his jaw is faint; the much harder mental clamp down, smoothing over the disquieted ripples that threaten to disturb his careful calm, is far more conspicuous. "{That was its intention. I can contact them tomorrow, if you wish to hold off for a -- quieter time.}" "{If you please,}" Matt agrees softly, shifting his posture with some evident difficulty. "{Better that than getting one or two courses into this nightmare only to stop and do it all over again later, anyway.}" His eyes stray once again to the middle distance, to the telepathic conversation he can sense but not join. "{Gods help them.}" His eyelids are drooping even as he speaks, his voice hardly more than a sigh and the sensible strain of his power dropping away. "{Gods help us all.}"