He would like to be better about staying in touch with those who are far away, Nicholas Hyde. One could argue that someone who has power over space and time should be able to do this with ease, shouldn't lose track of weeks or of people who grow distant; maybe the answer is that Nick simply doesn't care to keep up. Maybe the answer is that he detaches easily with people who are no longer in his life.
It wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption.
When it finally does occur to him that he misses Robin Kestrel though, it's sharp and unbidden. It's not when he's talking with Ari about what gift to give their friend (to make up for the lie somehow, karmically) or when he's texting Thane a photo of some soaring Denver vista. It comes with a joke, a thought that Rob would probably have something funny to say to this or that: and suddenly a pang. It surprises him; their friendship was not easy and Rob is not an easy man.
So he calls one evening when Pen is off doing some ritual or other. It's been a month or two, with scattered texts in between. Nicholas is in his study which overlooks his garden, and he stands in front of it, and the glow of evening behind him draws him in makes him look as though he could have been cut into the glass itself. The phone rings.
Robin Melchior
The phone rings. There are many jokes made about phones, and phones ringing. People don't call one another any longer, not without the herald of a message first. Are you home? Let's skype; are you ready? I'm calling.
It's two hours later in Connecticut, or where ever it is Robin is likely to be, drawing toward midnight, and as when Arianna called Robin answers his phone.
"Yes?"
Nicholas Hyde
It is always a little startling to him, how Rob will answer the phone. It reminds him occasionally of some of his clients, the ones who are gruff old men: they are called the Silent Generation for a reason. Because he is startled there is a moment's pause on the other end, though it's a quick thing all told, the space of half a breath.
"Hi Rob. Just thought I'd call to see how you were. It's been a little while."
Robin Melchior
"You thought you'd call to see how I am because it's been a little while," Rob says, his voice dry, even wry, the taste of metal polish and tarnish. "I didn't realize today was 'a little while day.' I would have marked it in my calendar."
Nicholas Hyde
Dry humor he expects, even the sardonic tone, and he knows Rob too well to chalk it up to thinking he is angry or upset or otherwise put out. "The one I have has special dates marked in. You should get one."
Robin Melchior
"I prefer mental agility to relying on some corporation's cutesy important date calendar, but I'm sure they're very good for some," Rob says, the tone still dry, quite as if there's a calendar somewhere that actually does have a date for 'a little while day.'
Nicholas Hyde
"All your mental agility and you still missed Little While Day. For shame, Rob." Nick's tone can be dry too, particularly when he is talking to Robin; just now it is playful, flippant almost. "How are things - ?" There's a certain cadence that implies that his sentence came to a more abrupt stop than he intended when he started it; Nick almost said 'back home.' He caught himself.
Robin Melchior
[Mimcry, activate! Manipulation and Acting, we suppose.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Robin Melchior
"How are things - ?"
A passable echo of Nicholas's cadence, with a veneer of Rob-brand mockery; maybe a splash of amusement.
Nicholas Hyde
"Back in Connecticut," Nick finally adds. "Or just with you."
Robin Melchior
Over the phone, Rob sounds different than he does in person. Most people do; there is something about a voice flung as it is, via this technology, which changes it just a little. The voice has to settle into one's memory of it.
Rob, when he is not wry, sounds calm and serene: he is likely both of these.
"They are, as usual, an exercise in chaos. But they are 'as usual.' Haven't spoken with Jackson recently?"
Nicholas Hyde
"Not for a few weeks, no. We've been playing phone tag." Not a lie: A Little While Day came for Jackson not too long ago, only he had gone to bed early, or Nick thinks maybe he is on-again with Ciara. "What's been going on? Denver is weirdly sort of quiet, compared to Connecticut."
Despite reports of the place as a hellmouth. Nick thinks maybe he is relieved.
Robin Melchior
"There is something strange going on with stone men," Rob says, dismissive. The dismissal is more for speaking about business over the telephone than it is for the business itself. He even clarifies: "But it's not the kind of talk I talk on the phone. Jackson may be less cautious than I; you should ask him." Beat. "Do you enjoy the quiet, Nicholas? You must feel you fit in."
Nicholas Hyde
There is a noise of acknowledgement as Rob suggests that Jackson is less cautious than he is; there is a second when Rob suggests that he ask Jackson about the stone men. He might have had a follow up question: but Rob has one for him. There is a pause. "I don't know if I would say that. But there is more room to explore here. Less managing crisis after crisis."
Robin Melchior
"'More room to explore' is an interesting turn of phrase. In what sense is there more room? What direction are you exploring?"
Nicholas Hyde
"Out and around Denver, more or less. I've had a chance to do more experimentation magickally too." A brief silence from Nick's end; he has never been good at talking about himself and evidently that has not changed. "What are you up to other than the business with the stone men?"
Robin Melchior
"Some of this, some of that. Infusing vodka as gifts at the July 4th jazz lawn party. So far I have habanero-bacon vodka and blueberry-basil. It's a bit autumnal, but I've made some lapsang souchong bourbon ice cream. When you say you've had a chance, do you mean you've actually put your ass to chair and decided to work at it? Why?"
Nicholas Hyde
There is a noise of acknowledgement as Rob tells Nick about the infused vodka; it is warm and there is an edge of amusement there. Rob has a talent for such things that he does not match. Rob's follow up question ensures that the next sound he makes is one of slight surprise, something thoughtful. "Pen encouraged me to," he says. "An Adept came out here and said the Order would be declaring war, so I started to step it up a little. Since then I...I don't know. We're some of the most experienced people out here, it seems like."
Robin Melchior
The Order would be decla, "Nicholas," Rob says, sternly, because they are on the telephone also known as the Technocratic Union's Spy Vault Thing of Conversation Or Something. He sounds aggrieved, "Please use code," and in that, he and Pen are quite alike. "And yes, Boston and its surrounding has been quite the minefield, but it's something for the soldiers to do besides getting ideas, so," and Nick can perhaps imagine the wave of Rob's hand; the sharp gleam of Rob's eyes, neutral but goading because he can (and generally with a purpose; Rob is not cruel, and he does not goad just to goad). "What have you been experimenting with?"
Nicholas Hyde
He does halt when chided; Rob and Pen are quite alike in using code, and it is a thing Nick never grew used to. Some Traditions find themselves in conflict with the Technocracy much less, it is true; more likely it is some holdover from his time as a reckless Disparate. "Learning to summon, and more recently I've been trying to study Life," he says, and Rob can probably hear the capital L. Nick will sometimes use the Latin with his Hermetic friends out of respect, but generally not when referring to his own Work. "I started to teach Pen Time, too. The conversation was helpful for me."
Robin Melchior
Rob does not make unnecessary noises over the telephone. He would be better to video chat with, perhaps: some way in which one can see his face. There's a brief pause after Nicholas says he's started to teach Pen time and how helpful that was; and then Rob says, "You know I think you are too satisfied with what you can already do; I am pleased to hear you finally attempting to become a well-rounded person, Nick." Nicholas can probably imagine the smirk, too; the sidelong glance through veiled lashes. "Why Life?"
Nicholas Hyde
Nick can imagine the smirk; he can imagine the flicker of Rob's dark eyes and that sidelong glance that could cut. He's armored though; Robin has the right of him in this regard at least, and sometimes satisfaction is its own armor. "I like gardening," he says. "I've enjoyed trying to talk to the plants and the plant-spirits to see how I can get them to change shape."
Is it the entire answer? It might very well be. A beat. "Do you think of yourself as a well-rounded person, Rob, out of curiosity?"
Robin Melchior
"Ah. And now you wish to try so without the middleman?" Rob says, the question dry. Who is to say if he is trying to push buttons or asking a question because he wonders? That, during the beat.
"Why, yes. I am a spherical man, with no corners at all."
Nicholas Hyde
"I don't know if I'm cutting out the middleman so much," he says, and the question might be dry but it has provoked a sort of reflection. "More of a partnership with what's already there, I suppose."
Rob's rejoinder is met with quiet on the other end of the line, and maybe talking to Nick on the phone sometimes feels like dropping a rock into a darkened well: one has no idea where it is until it hits bottom however long later. "So that's a no?"
Robin Melchior
"A partnership?" Rob sounds skeptical.
And then: so that's a no? Beat. Guilelessness: "So what's a no? Explain."
Nicholas Hyde
Rob sounds skeptical; Nick sounds calm and assured and as though he'd find skepticism itself hard to believe. "A partnership," he says again. "Like helping it grow or change the way it's inclined, better than it could on its own."
The other man's voice is without guile as Nick's had been, and so now he is slightly more pointed: "Well, either you believe yourself perfectly well-rounded or that was a deflection, so I thought the clarification might help."
Robin Melchior
There is a smile in Rob's voice; it sounds honest. "But can't it be both, Nick? Shouldn't want you to get the false idea that I'm prideful." Deliberately he says these words, with an air of resolute nonchalance.
And, still skeptical, "As far as partnerships, it sounds rather one-sided." There's a pause; a certain kind of breath taken, but nothing follows that comment. Robin Anton: he's not a newb.
Nicholas Hyde
"Of course not," Nick says, and his tone is humorous and also plainly dismissive. Then, "One-sided how?"
There is a pause, some weight given to consideration, before he names something that gnawed at him moments before. "What made you believe I'm trying for well-roundedness?"
Robin Melchior
"You are a diplomat and a smoother-over of arguments until you are a stirrer of shit. Your focus has been too narrow for too long. It's about time for you to shift in another direction."
Nicholas Hyde
"When have I ever stirred shit?" Nick asks, and there's no smile but there is a sort of warm humor in his voice. "Pen and I have already talked about this. I've been broadening my focus. Or did you have a directional shift in mind for me already?"
Robin Melchior
"Oh, well, if you and your wife have already discussed this. Why would I have anything in mind for you?" Rob says, and Nick can still hear the smile in the other man's voice; somewhat diminished, perhaps, but as easy as a knife held to a throat. Rob has a cool voice, cooling further. "Speaking of Thane, next time he visits tell him -- and pass this on to little Arianna -- that the next Bronco-themed gift will be returned in a form not likely to be welcome."
Nicholas Hyde
"I didn't speak of Thane," Nick says, "but duly noted." There is hesitation; perhaps Nick is debating whether or not to continue to try to circle around Rob's parries, but it would be difficult to tell: his tone is as even as it always is. "You should think about coming to visit."
Robin Melchior
"Sure," Rob says, and here's the cool flick of amusement again. "It sounds like a fascinating city."
Sarcastic? Not sarcastic? So hard to tell.
Nicholas Hyde
"It's not," Nick says, because sometimes he is honest. "But it would be good to see you in person. I was sorry you didn't come out when Thane did." And he knows why Rob didn't; he knows that and it's precisely the reason he speaks only for himself.
Robin Melchior
"That's very generous of you, Casper, but you know where I am; if you want to see me in person, you are welcome to develop enough to make that a reality by your Will, or to fly and visit in the more conventional fashion."
Nicholas Hyde
"One day I'm sure I'll make the trip back," Nick says, though: it will be with Pen; his ties to New England are not as strong as hers are, because blood carries with it obligation no matter how distant the heart has grown. "Maybe sometime in the fall, when we'll have some time to visit everyone there. Will I find you right where we left you?"
Robin Melchior
"I should hope I'm not so lazy," Robin drawls, and there's a certain languor to the cadence of his voice now. "How is Arianna doing in the wild west, far from structure?"
Nicholas Hyde
There is a thoughtful huff of air from Nick's end of the phone, not quite a sigh but an exhale: something reflective. "She seems to be doing well. She and I have been talking and Working together a lot more often, or more than we were in New England. She's reconnected with a...well, did you ever meet Silas?"
Robin Melchior
"I'm aware of him," Rob says. Dry, again, dry as Denver during the Prohibition: Dry as it was supposed to be, dry as the eyes of a career widower. "But, well, I suppose there's no accounting for taste." Layered meaning; naturally! This is Robin Anton, talking to Nicholas Hyde about taste in romantic partners. "Is she getting any work?"
Nicholas Hyde
Maybe Nick catches the layered meaning; maybe he doesn't. Maybe there's a response that leaps to the tip of his tongue and doesn't quite work its way past his teeth because: he does not want to hurt Rob, his friend. "Any work in what sense?" A beat. "She and I have been trying to find books to help Pen build a new library, actually. We found one that...well, we've been trying to find out where it came from. But no work in the more formal sense, unless there's something she's not telling me."
It's not said flippantly; there very well might be something Ari is not telling Nick, because Ari is Ari.
Robin Melchior
He laughs. "No, I meant regular work. A job, in a shop." He sounds quite Dickensian, Robin Anton, pronouncing those words: job, in a shop. "Evelyn and I have a bet."
Nicholas Hyde
"Oh," Nick says, and here he shares Rob's amusement, here it creeps into his voice. "I think you already know the answer to that question. No, she's primarily just doing her Hermetic work. She did buy a house, though."
Robin Melchior
"As some people buy purse dogs, new coats, cauldrons or hair clips," Robin says, and here: the tell-tale acidic edge which means: smirk, again. Good humoured, it seems. But laughter clings; it lingers, reluctant to leave. "You should encourage her to get a job in a shop, Nick." Decisive: do it already, hmm? He is so serene in his absolute surety, Robin.
Nicholas Hyde
"What kind of shop do you think she would enjoy working in?" A beat, and Nick is not wry the way Rob is; his voice carries a fondness for his friend, a warmth without the edge. "We were out the other day at a gas station and she dropped lingua franca in casual conversation with the gas station owner. She'd probably like a bookstore. Or a winery."
Robin Melchior
"There is a bookstore with ties to her house in Denver. It has been there thirty years, perhaps more," Rob says, casual, and, "But I don't think she should work in a shop for the enjoyment of it. I think she should work in a shop for the experience of it; a clothing store, perhaps, or an art supply store - low class, like Michael's."
Nicholas Hyde
The tidbit of information about Ari's house surprises him. Rob can tell by the way his voice lilts upward, and maybe he takes a little satisfaction in that given how casually he said it: taking Nick by surprise is so rare. "There is? Does she know?" A beat, and he laughs. "I can't imagine Ari working at a Michael's. I almost feel as though we ought to wager."
Robin Melchior
"Perhaps, unless her Eurotrash tendencies have kept her from due diligence on rare bookshops in the United States," and Robin says this with no small amount of dry glee; he knows what Ari would say; he knows what Pen would say. He would have had fun arguing with them both once upon a time.
Maybe he does take satisfaction. Maybe he doesn't. Rob: is difficult to read even face-to-face, with all the nuance one can dredge from his body language and his expression (modulated; serene; acerbic). Over the phone Nicholas has intuition, is all. And how well he (believes he) knows Robin Melchior.
"'Almost,' Casper? Very friendly of you. Go ahead and set your terms."
Nicholas Hyde
"Ari, Eurotrash?" Again the faint hint of amusement, though it doesn't seem to rile him. "If I can get her to work there for at least a week, you come and visit us here in Denver for a period of no less than three days, with the majority of your time in our company. If you can convince her to do it...then set yours."
Robin Melchior
There is a tiny silence, just long enough to be notable.
Then Rob says, "If I can convince her to do it... Give me a lock of your hair, and Pen's."
Nicholas Hyde
Again the surprise. "Locks of our hair? Why?"
Robin Melchior
"Because it's a wager, Casper," Robin says, with a smirk, "and I don't have anything to clutch at night when it's dark and I'm alone."
Nicholas Hyde
There are dangerous things that a mage who specializes in the Art of Mind (any mage) could do with a lock of someone's hair. There is a reason that cautionary tales abound. See, Nick still considers Rob a friend; one can tell by the way he pauses before he answers, by the fact that his answer is not a flat out refusal. He says, "I can't wager Pen's because it's not mine to give. But you can have mine."
Robin Melchior
"I can win yours," Rob corrects. Beat. Then: "And I was at your wedding; you can wager Pen's; it is yours to give. As much yours to give as an invitation to Denver," and see - Nicholas can imagine exactly what Rob looks like, raised eyebrows, guilelessness and the hint of a superior smirk, this c'mon we're in this together tone beneath unruffled serenity.
Nicholas Hyde
He can imagine precisely what Rob looks like; he can hear the tone. He says, "I can't give you something of her without her permission and full knowledge. Sorry, Rob." If there was hesitation, perhaps it was only him considering his words, perhaps he might have said more and thought better of it.
Robin Melchior
He chuckles. Whisper-sound. "Are you? Then offer me something of equal value if I win. A lock of your hair, and... perhaps you here for no less than three days, on a quest of my devising?"
Nicholas Hyde
There is a silence there; maybe he is trying to determine whether it is indeed of equal value. Whether the bargain is fair. Finally he says, "Sure. I'd like to come visit," and see, his voice is lifting again but this time it's with an unspoken: I won't because I won't lose.
Robin Melchior
"Where was that confidence a moment before?" Rob asks. Goads, perhaps, but Rob never sounds as though he's goading; he's too calm for that.
Nicholas Hyde
"Tied up in trying to be a considerate husband," Nick says. Then, "I'll provide you with some updates if I can talk her into it."
Robin Melchior
"Heh. Do you think you succeeded?" Beat. "I'll let you know, once I have won," Rob says. "And I'll let you get back to your life, Casper. Tell Ari I say hello."
Nicholas Hyde
"Probably," Nick says. "I'll say hi to Ari for you. Have a good night, Rob."
Robin Melchior
Click!
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