Ominous lack of foreshadowing is ominous
Oct. 4th, 2011 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
While teleporting between worlds is not along the lines of something Galadan would describe as 'difficult', sometimes the simplest means of meeting are the best.
Which is why, he presumes, he will be joining the Tams for dinner in a location that belongs to neither of their worlds.
It seems sensible enough, at least at the moment.
Which is why, he presumes, he will be joining the Tams for dinner in a location that belongs to neither of their worlds.
It seems sensible enough, at least at the moment.
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Date: 2011-10-05 03:43 am (UTC)So when she comes into Milliways, she's looking thoughtful, and maybe a little worried. But not yet upset, as such.
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Date: 2011-10-05 03:49 am (UTC)His eyebrows are remarkably under control today, level and perhaps very slightly furrowed.
He makes no other comment.
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Date: 2011-10-05 04:13 am (UTC)It's a greeting in return, of sorts.
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Date: 2011-10-05 04:18 am (UTC)Fractionally.
Perhaps River knows aught about this summons.
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Date: 2011-10-05 04:22 am (UTC)Pronouns are ambiguous! But probably clear anyway.
"The antecedents are obscure. Smiles for the camera."
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Date: 2011-10-05 04:24 am (UTC)But as it is often a successful tactic, he is less inclined to quibble than he might be.
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Date: 2011-10-05 04:39 am (UTC)It's more useful when you're talking to the media than when you're talking to your kids, admittedly.
River shrugs, one-shouldered and small. She's not disagreeing; she just doesn't have any more details, either.
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Date: 2011-10-06 12:47 am (UTC)There is no real point in speculating without information.
And that lack may be soonest mended by finding the man that summoned them both here today.
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:22 am (UTC)Gabriel Tam walks through the front door, already glancing around the room. Despite his effort to appear calm, strain is clear in his expression to those who know him well.
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:29 am (UTC)In a room, in person, that's not the case.
Her attention snaps to the door as it opens, and as Gabriel steps through, her face sharpens with her sudden focus.
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:30 am (UTC)Then he begins moving in Gabriel's direction, fairly sure that they'll end up meeting somewhere in the middle.
(And if they don't, that will tell him something, as well.)
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:35 am (UTC)"Galadan," he says, in quiet greeting, even as his glance moves past the other man toward his daughter.
"River."
Something complex shades his tone as he speaks her name, old sorrow sharpened again by something new.
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:44 am (UTC)Her shoulders are tense, her back a straight line.
Low, and a little sharp, "He can say it."
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:50 am (UTC)Instead he keeps his gaze fixed on Gabriel, eyebrows arching in a way that suggests getting on with it would be the best course of action.
But, for form's sake --
"Gabriel."
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:56 am (UTC)"It's Mary Lennox," he says, without further preamble. "She's missing."
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Date: 2011-10-06 03:04 am (UTC)Which is why, when he feels one corner of his mouth twitch into a snarl that belongs on a far more canine face than his own, his shields slam up so hard they would leave bruises on actual flesh, were they at all corporeal.
It only takes a few seconds to bring the blood-red rage under control, but those are a few seconds too long for one so old as he.
It is --
Vexing.
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Date: 2011-10-06 03:18 am (UTC)That, itself, is notable in its way. Normally River is full of idle motion -- tiny twitches of her fingers, small shifts of weight or gaze, brief moments of distraction.
She doesn't move, and she doesn't speak, and her fists don't clench. But all the same, there's nothing childish about her in that moment.
It's a look Gabriel has never seen, most likely, not so bare and clear as this, but Roland Deschain would know it very well. There's a reason gunslingers were compared to hawks, years and worlds away: strip away the superficialities, the jesses of training and society, and you find the pure and lethally focused core.
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Date: 2011-10-06 03:30 am (UTC)It's River that he's fixed on now, though; River who's standing so perfectly still, River who's near-frozen and yet with a burning intensity that he's not sure he's ever seen before-- not like this.
"I'm sorry," he murmurs, very quietly, to both of them.
Sorry to bear the news; sorry to have given it in such a fashion; sorry that he hadn't somehow prevented this from happening at all.
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Date: 2011-10-06 03:37 am (UTC)Galadan's response is whip-quick, if not sharp. At almost the same time he relaxes his shields ever-so-slightly, both to increase the speed and volume of information exchange.
Every little bit helps.
"What is of concern now is what you and any security teams know of the where, the when, and the how."
Among other things.
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Date: 2011-10-06 04:10 am (UTC)"Do you have your unit with you?"
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Date: 2011-10-06 04:20 am (UTC)There's a job to do, or there will be soon. But for now -- for now, Galadan is better at sharp and leading questions than she is, and her father is better at being businesslike with Galadan than with his daughter.
(And River's not in much of a mood right now to play along with letting him comfort his little girl. Usually old patterns are a comfort to them both, but not now; not with a kidnapped friend, and a lethally furious Wolflord, and a job to do fast.)
So she's quiet, and watchful, and her eyes flick between them but rest mostly on Gabriel, and the sights around him that only she sees.
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Date: 2011-10-06 04:29 am (UTC)"I'll assume carte blanche while taking steps to resolve this matter."
It is not anything like a question, but is accompanied by a sense of requisitioning resources, questioning . . . suspects, and terminal dealings with those directly responsible.
And perhaps a few of those indirectly responsible, depending on the circumstances.
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Date: 2011-10-06 04:41 am (UTC)River's eyes cut to him anyway, and hold there.
It's not anger; it's not even disagreement. She hears, and she sees very well.
But this is her world. And this is her mission.
And Mary is her friend -- but that's the least of these matters. (Not nothing. Not irrelevant. But less relevant.)
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Date: 2011-10-06 04:52 am (UTC)In the next moment, he offers his datapad to the other man, meeting Galadan's cool grey gaze directly, without hesitation in either look or tone.
"Dāngrán. I trust your judgement."
The unspoken message in the simple statement is intended for them both.
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Date: 2011-10-06 05:05 am (UTC)He does hope River is not in the habit of refusing to use available resources just so she can do the job alone. Even he, in the height of his wrath, was not so much a fool.
"Wise of you."
The Wolflord is not much of one for gratitude, particularly in such circumstances as these.
He doesn't even glance in River's direction, merely turns his visible attention to the data that he will shortly begin scrolling through.
(Mental contact is a strange form of live feed, and with River there is always the trouble of extraneous noise -- but it does save time. In both directions, even.)
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Date: 2011-10-06 05:18 am (UTC)It might even be to both of them. River's never minded ambiguous conversation.
(She's not so much of a fool. And she doesn't, in fact, mistrust Galadan in this. Not unless the situation changes dramatically. He has useful skills, and cool and patient judgment, and an unassailable eye for strategy.
But this is hers.
The word 'jurisdiction,' perhaps, is applicable.)
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Date: 2011-10-17 03:22 am (UTC)"Yes," he says. "I've already started making inquiries myself, and Bajian and Magda are doing more, but..."
There's a dry acceptance to his words as he finishes,
"... I think we all know that Galadan has a great deal of skill in this particular sort of area."
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Date: 2011-10-17 03:33 am (UTC)Gabriel might not have previously seen River's taut, predatory intensity of a few minutes earlier, but he should know this look very well. It's the flat, disbelieving stare she gives when someone she's fond of says something extremely clueless. (River's childhood featured a lot of expressions like this.)
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Date: 2011-10-17 03:44 am (UTC)"River? What is it, sweetheart?"
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Date: 2011-10-17 03:50 am (UTC)"It's in the collaboration," River repeats, more slowly.
Her patience here is careful; she's trying to be clear. (She may or may not be succeeding, but she's trying.)
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Date: 2011-10-17 03:59 am (UTC)There will be time for amusement on another day, but not when matters are this urgent.
"-- my habit of acting as an adjunct and consultant for the Tam family continues apace. And as River has a great deal of field experience of her own -- "
And, of course, this is her universe, and thus her sphere of influence.
" -- it would be rather pointless to work in tandem with someone farther removed from the action. As it were."
The eyebrow he arches at River seems to say 'do you find that clearer enough?'
"And her plans are hardly poor ones."
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Date: 2011-10-18 03:25 am (UTC)"... field experience," he says, at last.
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Date: 2011-10-18 03:32 am (UTC)Gently.
She smiles just a little, crooked and apologetic and not quite sad. There's nothing childish in her bearing right now.
"I'll take care of it. Promise."
We is as accurate as I, in this specific circumstance, but in this instant that's not the point.
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Date: 2011-10-18 03:41 am (UTC)"We have neither of us, I think, broken one yet."
Promises, that is.
And this is unlikely to be the first time.
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Date: 2011-10-25 03:23 am (UTC)He's staring at his daughter, seeing her bearing, searching her face, even as his own pales and his expression grows bleak.
"Now, if there's nothing further--"
"There is. River is a gunslinger."
Very, very softly:
"Aid and succor, baobei?"
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Date: 2011-10-25 03:42 am (UTC)Her eyes flick down, to the floor or to some other sight, and lift back to her father's face.
"Nobody's aiming but me."
"It's okay, Daddy."
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Date: 2011-10-25 03:51 am (UTC)He blinks back the sudden tears that threaten -- ridiculous, after everything, to find himself on the verge of such a collapse now -- and manages first a single shaking breath, then a nod.
"I know, River." Gabriel's voice is rough, but there's certainty in it.
"It's okay."
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Date: 2011-10-25 03:56 am (UTC)And now is most certainly not the time for him to begin to make an effort.
Which is why, when he speaks, his voice retains the same sharpness and clarity as ever.
"I suspect I shall have fewer quibbles with that terminology once we've recovered Mary Lennox."
Speaking of their objective --
"If you are quite prepared."
That last is directed toward River. They have a few travel options here. First among them --
"I'll need to obtain us a ship."
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Date: 2011-10-25 04:09 am (UTC)"Got supplies."
On Serenity.
('Supplies' means, among other things, 'weaponry.')
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Date: 2011-10-25 04:15 am (UTC)"What can I do?"
Because of course there's going to be something, one way or another.
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Date: 2011-10-25 04:23 am (UTC)(Of course, River's personality doesn't lend itself well to that anyway, much of the time.)
But as it happens, she doesn't have to.
"You're the distance coordination," she says, with half a smile -- less complicated, now. This is purely cooperation. "Funnel the informational revisions. It's a confluence."
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Date: 2011-10-25 04:32 am (UTC)In better times one corner of his mouth might twitch at this point.
But these are hardly better times -- though they are hardly the worst he has seen, either, in all his long years of life.
"I'll wave you with the relevant codes once I've obtained the ship of which I just spoke."
Again his gaze flicks to River and holds there.
"Milliways? Or more pedestrian modes of transport."
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:10 am (UTC)"I shall. If anything -- and I do mean anything -- comes up where you think I might be of assistance, I trust you'll let me know. Until then..."
Gabriel looks at them; at both of them, addressing them together, as equals.
"... I leave it in your hands."
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:36 am (UTC)In other words, by current planetary orbits, prohibitively far from Mary's last known location of Aberdeen. Milliways would be significantly quicker even if River convinced Mal to leave right away -- which she could probably do, but this is easier.
Her father gets a bright smile -- quick, and confident, and more than a little startled.
River knows she's capable here, and she wasn't going to accept any attempts at vetoing, but she still expected her father to take longer to come to terms with it.
And -- well. It's different, to know you're an adult, and to know your parents realize it too.
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:43 am (UTC)This could be directed toward Gabriel. Who is to say?
"Hmm."
Galadan does not sound absent at all, merely thoughtful.
"Milliways it is, then."
He takes another moment to estimate distances and projected durations, calculations piling up behind his eyes, and inclines his head one more time, toward the front door.
"Twelve hours?"
Doubtless she'll beat him back, but the waiting is unlikely to kill or seriously maim. This time.
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:53 am (UTC)Got it, see you then.
She doesn't say anything like wave me if you see reason for me to bring anything in particular, because that goes without saying. It's just one more facet of share relevant information.
Which is a given.
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:59 am (UTC)Galadan turns his attention from River to Gabriel, giving the Senator a brief nod.
"Gabriel."
And, with the social niceties taken care of (such as they are) -- the Wolflord rests his hand in the air over his heart, then fades into shadow and is gone.
Twelve hours it is.
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Date: 2012-01-11 04:28 am (UTC)Twelve hours.
That'll give him plenty of time to consult again with Bajian and Magda, to set searches going through more usual channels, to pursue every possible lead while Regan stands in for him where she can and Mark reschedules everything else.
And, of course, to do one more thing.
He has to tell Simon that in a way, it's happened again.