A Day to Remember

[Natalie Grey]

"You mean you didn't include the secret dungeon in your tour? How remiss."
This time she did roll her eyes, the veil obscuring her caustic nature abandoned now. If she had not offended him yet she doubted a little sharp irreverence was going to do the job, not with the sarcasm dripping from his own tongue. "A secret shared is a sin shared too. I can hardly walk out the door now that I know about this, can I."

"Don't mistake me for a politician; I am not, I don't care for it. But Avalon is, and she will discover proof of the lie sooner or later. You will be seen with one hand pandering to idealistic proposals, while the other hastens to the task of war before an accord can be met. What a fine point for diplomacy and the relationship between our nations that will make. But as you remind me, the game is far older than I am, as are you. I'm sure you know what you're doing."
She spoke drily, but there was a truth there too. She didn't approve deceit; preferred bluntness to farcical manoeuvrings. Did he even intend to truly consider Avalon's proposal, or was it simple placation? His position seemed clear; he had already decided that he would concede, and what he would not. Why waste her time? But that was his affair.

Natalie watched the holo silently; could feel the impatience begin to creep upon her as he belaboured his point. Nothing new flashed from those images. He even chose to remind her of the hubris that pulled a shining monument from the bones of the earth. The magnanimous parent was beginning to wear against her, and those patient little nudges towards his own ends made her feel heinously belligerent. She agreed to his proposal. And he had offered an answer to her question, even if she did not like to hear it. Surely it was enough.

Instead she found herself drawn back into the argument. She shook her head. "They are still men. Not guns, nor bombs or missiles, and not commodities to be bought and sold and traded. Or conditioned. No threat, real or imagined or future, negates that right."
Her voice was sharpening with the necessity of repeating things she thought she'd already made clear, but now she chose not to dull the blade. The first hint of the anger brewing beneath her cool demeanour began to burst bullets in her words. "A good man? What does it even matter to you? If it were good men you wanted, perhaps your methods of acquiring them would be less clandestine, and perhaps I would be sure he had actually been given a choice in this."
She didn't ask the question; couldn't quite bring herself to hear the truth or lie offered, or know which would be worse. But the pierce of her gaze suggested she did not give him the benefit of the doubt. "You've said friend twice now, but the truth is I barely know him. He was assigned to protect me in Africa. Saved my life more than once. And yes, I believe he is a good man."


Something in the word guardian finally stilled her. It was another honey-tongued notion, but one that reverberated like an old echo. She didn't dispute the need for channelers in military positions; he didn't need to sugar-coat it for her. She wasn't her mother, nor had her highly moral ideals. If the men were willing, the idea did not fill her with revulsion or horror. She had suggested herself that channelers were the only ones who could stop their own kind. Surely he didn't think he must convince her of that.

Her tone levelled. She had remained utterly still the entirety of this conversation, but shifted now to place her elbows on his desk. Her forearms laid flat, her fingers laced. "Guardian. If that is what it truly is you seek, why the need for secrecy? Good men don't hide when there is a need for them. They answer the call. You wouldn't need to stand alone. Men fight harder when they are given the choice. I don't oppose that."


She slipped back, hands back in her lap. "This power is a gift that comes with responsibilities. I don't refute that either. I'm here aren't I?"
She could have refused the summons, but she didn't; despite all the reasons she might have to remain distant. The Northbrooks offered her up like a tribute, but there was no gun at her spine urging each step onward. Some part of her accepted the path, even as she made it a difficult one. "Men have always killed other men. They always will, whether it's with guns or knives or the power. But for every renegade with the ability to level buildings, there is someone struggling to harness that same gift just to survive. It isn't only a weapon, after all. Protection is your contingency, not your foundation. You need more than an army."

[Ascendancy]

She was right. Evelyn would learn the truth sooner or later, although he preferred later. Yet he wasn't concerned. For one thing, nobody thought to inquire about the circumstances that brought Vellas into the CCD nor how any of those in his command found such positions of power. How in the wide world of the Custody were such individuals located and trained until they were ready to be revealed? It was safe to assume some sort of training facility existed. Look at all the Sickness quarantine camps popped up the last few years. Knowing now that the Sickness was linked to the emergence of channeler abilities, any such camp had the potential to transform into a center of training, whether the individual wanted trained or not. That channelers were forced into training was only a logical development. Why was everyone so surprised?

The dry crackle in her tone was not overlooked, however. "It was not my intent to be condescending. Thank you for your suggestion that we tell the Representative. I will take it into consideration."
Okay, maybe that was condescending. Did she really think him so naive? That perhaps he knew something she did not about Evelyn? That they were plotting together to unite their two nations? No? The child of Eleanor Northbrook did not fathom so nefarious a plan.

Her accusation that he treated soldiers inhumanely burrowed under his skin, though. The immensity of his patience wore thin as her ignorance. "What do you think the military is, Natalie but conditioning men and women? You'll argue that a volunteer enlists knowing what they face, but they don't know. None of them know, and they are trapped by enlistment. Leaving the military, let alone special forces, is not like quitting your job as a waitress. You are told where to live, what to eat, how to speak, stand, and take--"
he cut off the rest of the sentence. Swearing was uncouth. Arnold Francis would roll with laughter to see a girl getting on his nerves where heads of state, presidents, and generals did no such thing.

He took a breath and reset his mind. He wanted something from Natalie, which was why he agreed to engage her at all. He had to return to the task.

"You're very astute to propose that we should form some sort of organization to assist these wild channelers to learning to wield their powers, hone their skills and contribute to society. Do you watch the news? The consulate on channeler oversight is led by Marcus DuBois, who is tasked with organizing just such a tower of responsibility. He will listen to your ideas--"
he started to smile. Marcus would get along well with the girl. Probably more so than Evelyn, despite their bond over channeler rights.

Before he could continue, one of the agents whispered a development in his ear. He listened momentarily, glanced at Alric, but the man's face was impassive, and he nodded. "I'm going myself,"
he answered and stood.

"My attention is required elsewhere. Someone will contact you. I thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention,"
he nodded and departed swiftly.

In the corridor beyond, he was given the details of the explosion in the Facility. His expression smoothed to stone. He supposed it was inevitable.

[Natalie Grey]

Natalie receded from the conversation when it returned to polite banalities. It was her nature to seek a connection with those around her, even a disagreeable one, and for a moment the stark honesty had been enough to hold her interest. The entreaty of his envisioned guardians tugged at her; she had even leaned into her reply to those words, drawn to his plea of not having to stand alone. It was the most amenable she had been to anything he had said so far, but if he sensed that shift in her he did not seize on it. Instead he shut her out.

By now his tone held the scathing tolerance of one dealing with an irritant. He berated her on the manner of the military and her face froze over, swallowing back the acid on her tongue. It seemed a waste of breath to point out the irony of the word volunteer, and aside from that, Jay wasn't military; he was Legion Premiere. Being the CEO of a mercenary company didn't give Danjou the right to barter Jay's life like a bargaining chip. Or Brandon the right to facilitate the trade.

The rest, well. They were hardly likely to agree.

Even sensing the bite of words stuffed back down his throat was not enough to coax a wry smile to her lips. For once she took no pleasure in proving subversive. They crossed wires without ever finding cohesion. The point was missed again.

Someone will contact you.

She nodded, perfectly docile, though she had no intention of waiting on that call. She respected his frankness, but it didn't earn him favour. A little knowledge was a dangerous thing, so they said; she could almost feel herself tangling up in it, like thorns across a simple path. And this should have been simple.

When the door closed, Natalie pressed her eyes shut in a moment of respite. Someone hovered to escort her out, but she made them wait. Her chest felt tight, but she had no use for the emotions within it. She pushed it down somewhere dark, somewhere easier to ignore, and stood to address the man who waited.

"Where can I find Representative Avalon?"

[Natalie Grey]

The man's face smoothed into polite stillness. "The Representative is very busy, Miss Northbrook. I'm not sure... Well, I will see if she is available."


When he left, Natalie leaned against the desk, drummed her fingers down once in irritation, then finally pulled out her silent phone. She was perfectly capable of being patient, but the stifling etiquette and protocol surrounding this kind of thing simmered her with useless frustration. She'd already wasted half the day inside this room.

No missed calls flashed on her screen; her mystery caller had not tried again, which was perhaps a good thing. She took the moment to message Jared; unsure if the warning might already be too late. Outside the light was already beginning to filter towards late afternoon. 'Jay was never processed at any police station; he's completely off grid. Whatever's going on, Danjou already knows about it. Be careful, Jared.' Then, as the remaining minutes trickled passed, she browsed for details on the woman she intended, one way or another, to meet.

Evelyn Avalon. Far younger than she might have anticipated; perhaps only a handful of years older than Natalie herself. A real media darling in the states and childhood friend of the man touted to be the US's next president, whose most recent splash included a CNN interview opening up about her channeling abilities. Religious. Moral. Perhaps the type of woman Eleanor might have hoped her own daughter to grow up to be. Natalie tilted her head, considering, when the door opened once more.

Her hard stare brooked no nonsense; she was almost ready to argue against whatever excuse might be presented to ward her away. But he only nodded. "This way, please."

[Evelyn]

Behind the opacity of three working screens, Evelyn tapped her fingers on the desk and examined the immensity of her draft. Nearby, Arnold Francis, the Secretary of State and Senator Castilla sought verification and precedent for their proposal. It was a little unfair to assign them the task of seeking impossible standards by which to compare such a proposal, but she thought it best that she draft the actual proposal points while the experienced politicians rummaged the government archives for the authority by which to evoke these laws. The only comparison to be made was nuclear weapons and who better to investigate their Intelligence than the Secretary of State and Ranking member of the Foreign Defense Committee. Meanwhile, Evelyn was freed to invoke her own language in the proposal itself. She would be able to single-handedly claim authorship of this world-altering piece of negotiation. She swelled with pride over the work.

That man interrupted her again, and Evelyn forced herself to smile. She had not paid too much attention to him the first time, and only agreed to meeting with this CCD citizen after being told the girl just finished a long conversation with Ascendancy and suggested they should speak. On his authority, Evelyn assented to the meeting. She needed a break anyway.

She knuckled her back when she stood. A quick break to the restroom where visited the facilities and smoothed her hair behind her shoulders, she was pristine as a marble sculpture. She settled into a meeting room and left Sofia and Arnold to work together while she met with this girl. When ready, she told the man to lead her in.

[Natalie Grey]

The woman was much as she presented on her vlogs. Pristine. Glossy hair dark and perfect. But the one thing lost in the feeds was the first thing Natalie absorbed; the sense of familiarity emanating from her blossomed like warmth beneath her skin. She knew what that meant now, though had only felt it once since the girl in Africa had drawn her like a moth to flame. Her lips tipped up in greeting; a reserved smile, but not unfriendly. She offered a slender hand.

"Natalie Northbrook."
Unlikely, unless Evelyn was particularly genned up on CCD politics in preparation for her visit, that she would know her connection to DVII's Patron, but given the woman's humanitarian interests it was possible she might have heard of Natalie's mother. It didn't matter either way; the way she said the name was in simple courtesy, and lacked any anticipation of being recognised.

Her introduction came with no apology for her intrusion; a meaningless platitude since she was here regardless, and she was never that fond of empty words. Truthfully she didn't care whether she had interrupted Evelyn's work, not least because she suspected there was some futility in it. Best not think of forty stories down or the man she knew was held there. "Brandon suggested we may have some harmonious views on channeler rights. Truthfully I think he meant to extract a thorn from his side by offering me to a more receptive audience. Do you have some time to speak about your proposal? He did not go into detail."

[Evelyn]

Evelyn's amiable greeting was paused by the flowering of warmth from the girl before her. It was llike she knew Natalie all her life, or perhaps that they were cut from the same bolt of cloth. The kinship beckoned her close. Surely Natalie must also be blessed by God. She smiled warmly as their palms clasped.

But the smile slid behind the mask of a politician and one of Evelyn's perfect brows lifted high with Natalie's first word.

Brandon? Are we on so informal a basis with him? The spike of jealousy was surprising, but the ebb flowed quickly away. She would think about it later. For now, she was curious to learn why Natalie was so close with the Ascendancy and why he thought they should meet.

"Well he wouldn't go into detail, since I have yet to show it to him."
She smiled like she was about to share a secret between girlfriends. Natalie was pretty, gorgeous actually. Her eyes were glacial blue, but framed with gold where Nik's were framed dark. How long had they spoken? Had they been alone?

"Ascendancy never pursued any interests in channeler rights until I pushed the issue under his nose. I'm glad to hear he is seeking connections even when I am not there to nudge him,"
she gestured that they sit while also gently correcting Natalie regarding her familiarity of Nik's name. One of the Kremlin staffers offered refreshments. Evelyn accepted a sparkling water.

"Do you have something in mind specifically or are you more interested to all subjects germane to basic channeler rights?"


((wrote this on the phone. ignore bad typos.))

[Natalie Grey]

The greeting was warm, but evaporated quickly to an appropriate formality.

The emphasis was not unnoticed, of course, though the US Representative was the last person she'd thought to be corrected by. Pure belligerence erased the absurd title from her tongue, and she was not repentant of it; in fact it had been absent the entire conversation with the man himself, and either he'd not noticed or he'd simply not cared enough to comment. It was somewhat ironic that whilst gently pointing out her disapproval, Evelyn spoke with poignant familiarity about the man who ruled half the world, like a patient mother guiding an errant child despite the abyss between their ages. Given the sour aftertaste of her own recent encounter with him, it was almost enough to make Natalie smile. Instead it made the gears turn a new direction.

The ideologies between these two did not align, and yet Evelyn defended his title like it was a personal affront to call a man simply by his name. Then she recalled the ghost of a smile when Brandon spoke the representative's name.

"I think he will need more than a nudge. But perhaps that's why I'm not a politician."


So she kept insisting. And yet her interests here were not as transparent as a moral interest in channeler rights.

Natalie accepted water graciously, and sat when invited. Her thoughts cycled through the bare facts she had to work with, and the greyer areas of assumption she used to build a picture. She sought an ally in Evelyn, but already suspected that painting a common foe was not going to work. Her gut cautioned her away from detailing all the sharp edges of Brandon's faults, lest the woman mistake her for an enemy -- or worse, a traitor in the same vein as her father. Still, some knee-jerk reaction wanted to rip the veil from Evelyn's eyes; to force her to confront the reality that Nikolai Brandon was not some misguided fool to be manoeuvred to the correct answer, even if doing so might result in a swift bullet for the messenger. Instead her tactics adjusted, with a little regret. She'd have preferred to be blunt.

"Broadly speaking, I am interested in it all, since they will be my rights too."
Her lips lifted in a half-smile, but her intensity never really wavered; the attempt at lightness fell short of her eyes. "But I do have specific concerns. I've been in Africa the last few years, working with the Red Cross. Projects that promote education, mostly -- I was in Sierra Leone during the recent coup. My school was caught in the crossfire."
She spoke to give some context, her tone level despite the pain wrapped so tightly around those words. "We do enough harm to one another without the power to aid us. I'm not naive. How do you stop it? But men conditioned as weapons? Hoarded like nuclear missiles?

"When we spoke he likened the power to a loaded gun, but it's such an imperfect analogy; a gun has only one purpose, after all. This gift is dangerous because it's not understood, but it doesn't feel like a weapon to me. It has disturbing implications that we think of military might before simple education.

"You sound like you know him better than I do. My family has been aligned with the Custody since it was first conceived as the ASU, but I've never met him before today.

"Do you think he will listen?"
The question was asked in earnest. Clearly Evelyn had faith in her convictions; this was not a disparagement of that: she would not be here, as a guest, if she sensed a lost cause. It was an appeal; one woman to her elder. The touch of worry wasn't even feigned, just a lowering of the defences that kept her expression so coolly still. A breadcrumb trail glimpse of a personal investment. She blinked her gaze away, looked down at the rim of her glass. The faint ripples within. The emotion was real, but its revelation was pure calculation. "And what happens if he will not?"

[Evelyn]

Evelyn nodded carefully as Natalie spoke. She was an easy conversationalist, and despite the earlier affront to Nikolai's title, she genuinely liked the girl. Perhaps it was the comment that overall channeler rights would be her rights also. It meant she did not hold herself to another standard than the general public. Evelyn certainly approved of that. Simply being the youngest Congressperson in history did not mean that she herself was too special to not be held to the Constitution the same as any other American. Channeler rights should equally apply to all. Including Nikolai Brandon, Evelyn Avalon, and Natalie Northbrook.

"I can assure you, Natalie that I am here to prevent that very thing from happening. Channelers are not weapons, nor should they be. I confess that I yearn for a world without the need for weapons at all, where war and conflict are such distant histories that they are no more than myths and legends."
She smiled reassuringly.

"So you can rest well at night, Natalie. He's already agreed to a disarmament, so to say. To not utilize channelers in battle at all. In fact, I am drafting the very proposal that he has requested that promises just such terms."
She tapped the table like the technology was floating in the air behind her, although, of course it was not.

[Natalie Grey]

War was an inevitable consequence of humanity, and peace -- true peace -- little beyond a beautiful ideal. Worth fighting for, perhaps, but still a Sisyphean dream. She did not think Evelyn could truly be so naive; not in order to stand as highly as she did in American politics, and so as much as the disclosure made Natalie want to smirk and say something deeply divisive, she only listened; let the words wash over her as any normal young woman might, eyes tugged up like they soaked into her soul. It surprised her, given Nicholas Trano's outspoken opinions about the self-titled dictator of the CCD, that she was so willing to take Brandon at his word -- particularly when the promise was so deeply flawed. Natalie wanted to shake her. The woman sounded utterly deluded.

Instead she only nodded like there was comfort in the words; as if she truly did believe them. But her gaze dipped once more to the rim of her glass, the hint of concern still on her brow, like she wanted to speak but could not quite capture the words. It was a stark contrast to the eloquence of her speech before, utterly intentional. After a moment of apparently troubled indecision, she spoke. "I'm not sure this is my place to say, but ... you know what's happening in Africa, and I imagine you must know Jacques Danjou of Legion Premiere is here in Moscow.

"Last night one of his men was taken into the Custody's care -- and promptly disappeared from public records. The last time I saw him he had just discovered what he is -- one of us, and he sounded terrified of it. Channelers are registering everyday, but they aren't going missing.

"When I asked, Ascendancy--"
she didn't pause over the world, much as she wanted to imbue a bite of sarcasm; she would play whatever game she needed to if it gave her plea a hint of honey "-- told me he has him here. To train him, though he wouldn't let me see him. Why the secrecy? What would he want with a soldier if he's all but promised disarmament? And an American solider, at that, not even a Custody citizen."


Not a question she truly anticipated an answer to; or at least not one she would enjoy hearing if Evelyn chose now to unsheathe her claws in Brandon's defence. The accusation was subtle, but it was there, and she did not expect Evelyn to absorb it easily -- least of all because it suggested Brandon had lied to her. But it was phrased innocently enough -- still seeking the reassurance Evelyn seemed so keen to bestow, whilst planting dark seeds of doubt at Brandon's theft of her countryman. She did not mention the Facility, deliberately skirting away from explicitly breaking Brandon's confidence. He said himself he had not told the representative; he was unlikely to take kindly to even this much interference, she knew that. But if Evelyn led herself to the conclusions? Hardly Natalie's fault; Brandon was the one who had pushed her in Evelyn's very direction in the first place.

And if her proposal was going to have any impact at all, she needed all the facts.

Natalie's voice softened, taking away the sting of blame in the same moment she aimed for Evelyn's good heart. "Jay Carpenter saved my life. I can't not know what's happened to him."
The words whispered off quiet and with the trust of confidence. If Evelyn perceived a starry-eyed girl in that confession, it didn't much matter; in fact she did not care what the other woman deigned of her reasons at all, so long as she was swept up in them enough to take her under wing and unite this cause naturally with her own. Evelyn had little true authority in the CCD, but Natalie had not come here believing she could free Jay from the snare. She came here for the light Evelyn could shed, if she were but pointed in the right direction.

She dipped her eyes, as if embarrassed, and straightened in her chair. The brief glimpse of vulnerability faded. "It's not why I'm here; forgive me. I came to offer whatever assistance I can, if you have any need of it. Ascendancy was right, we have similar views in this."



Edited by Natalie Grey, Feb 10 2018, 06:57 PM.