outer_divide | voice; open

[Gaheris's hand is near his weapon, but after a moment he raises it in a somber return of that wave. He can almost guess who it is from that gesture. He can be glad to see him- not let anything else muddy up the thought for him. Because he found something important.

Rather than pressing himself too hard, he walks casually in his direction and pulls back the hood of the loose white (or sand-brown now) garment he's wearing as he gets nearer.

Ignoring that his lips are chapped, he's on the verge of giving Dylan a report when he runs into him. But when he opens his mouth to speak to him, his voice is grated and scraping. The words are bitten back as he scrambles to get his bottle of water.]

[Dylan, on the other hand, starts running as soon as he's close enough to see that it is indeed Gaheris. He just spent the last two days afraid that he was dead, after spending two days before that brooding over having killed him in his time.

As soon as he reaches Gaheris' side, he puts a hand on his shoulder as if making sure he's real.]

You reckless idiot.

[He hands Gaheris another water bottle. He's got some water to spare and Gaheris looks like he could use it.]

I thought Nietzscheans weren't supposed to take senseless risks.

[He's actually surprised by the fact that he does run up to him, and he's finishing off his own water when he greedily opts for the fresher bottle.

A few swallows later.] On the contrary, Nietzsche spoke highly of dangerous situations as a part of living life to it's fullest. [Still a touch scratchy, but-

Now he's standing there with the man that he must have let live in another universe, that he put his life before his own.] I only intended to be gone until- [-his mind settled? There were religious texts about wondering the desert that could have been written about the time it would have actually taken to settle his mind after that information. He doesn't know how to finish that statement anymore, so he just gestures.

And then clamps his hand over Dylan's, giving it a squeeze, before offering him his water back.]

Next time you feel like living life to the fullest, don't just leave me with a note. [He doesn't say that he was worried, but it's fairly self-evident. He still hasn't removed his hand from Gaheris' shoulder.]

You shouldn't have come out here after me. [Gaheris's own concern seeping through, but Dylan always was the one that would jump into the brawls that he helped start. He always guessed not entirely to break them up, even if it was his primary focus. Loyalty to his friend. Enjoyment of the fight. There must have been something else there. So he adds] It's still good to see you. [Despite everything.

He doesn't shrug his hand off his shoulder.] I had a lot on my mind. Until I saw another dome, and realized this used to be a lake.

If you were in danger, I wasn't going to let you die. [Again. Only not, because this Gaheris isn't dead and was never dead. Time travel wasn't easy. He knew he shouldn't hold this Gaheris responsible for things he hasn't done yet, and might not ever do, but it was difficult, since he remembers Gaheris doing it. But he is grateful that Gaheris is alive. This expedition made him realize how grateful.]

Another dome? [He looked around. Not the most hospitable place. And definitely not very lake-like any more.] Do you think they drained the lake or was it a natural geological shift that dried it out?

The dome appeared to be still perfectly intact and directly in the middle of the desert. I saw no craters, no evidence of geological activity. Just the remains of the lake. [He wants to bring up the other topic. But they still have plenty of walking ahead of them.]

[He looks over Gaheris. He appears a bit dehydrated, but not severely so. They could both could probably use a little bit of a rest, though.]

Let's find some shade. I passed a rock formation about an hour back.

Any clues whether the domes are part of the same system, like a confederate of cities, or whether they're independent, or even hostile with each other?

Edited (missing word) 2012-04-24 07:01 (UTC)

[Nothing that would kill him, no. He wouldn't be able to handle a massive fight when he got back- a normal human would give him a run for his money. But he'd heal quickly and be stronger than before.

He pulls his hood back up as he starts to walk again, only then slipping out of Dylan's reach.]

I didn't get close enough. The dome seemed to be of the same manner of construction. [He seemed bothered by this. Even if they left, that meant the dome beside of the Old City could destroy their environment permanently. The Southern City could be the starting signs of irreparable damage.

The children there like unusual visitors. He rubs his hands over one of his armwraps, thinking about it.]

I really don't like the sound of this. [Another dome. Probably with their own Authorities. And this eerie, suddenly disappearing lake.]

How close did you get? Did you see settlements, or the remains of settlements outside that dome too? [Were people living there before the area was made barren?]

Boats. Fishing equipment. Skeletons resembling animals such as what you described to me. [In the lake that Dylan had seen on his way to investigate the weapons cache.]

[Dylan is silent for a while.]

We need to find out what happened. Maybe ask the locals. Even if the lake vanished a few generations ago, a large body of water up and leaving is the sort of story that gets passed down.

[He walks alongside him quietly for that while.] Someone should know. If no one else, the old woman. I enjoy puzzles, but I don't know how pressing this one is.

[Then he looks to Dylan.] Why did you come to find me if you can't trust me?

Edited 2012-04-24 23:55 (UTC)

It's not as important as figuring out how to protect ourselves and the city from the Authorities, but I don't like these sorts of mysteries hanging over our heads. I'd rather get it solved before it does become pressing.

[Gaheris' question is complicated. Dylan thinks before answering. He decides on the simplest of the many truths.]

I don't want you to die.

[He wants to argue that he wasn't going to. He was going to come back fine. He can handle this, and he's a survivalist and a walk in the desert might as well have been a walk in the park. Parched as he is, he would be completely recovered within a couple of days.

But his end of the resistance boils down to what he'd been wringing his brain out over, anyway. He's worried that Dylan risked himself to come out here after him.]

I don't want you to, either. [After all the warnings, the veiled hints, setting up the Andromeda to adequately defend herself...]

You said that I told you my reasons for doing what I did. When? [He doesn't look at Dylan then. He just follows the faint light pollution back towards the more familiar dome, as it's getting darker.] I need to know.

Right. [No dying. He shouldn't take the foolish risk of chasing Rhade out into the desert alone in response to Rhade's foolish risk of wandering out into the desert alone.

Then he tenses when Rhade brings up *that* moment.]

It was while you were shooting at me. [He says flatly.]

[He suspected, but he almost doesn't want to hear it.] You've seen me kill people, Dylan. When have I ever stopped to discuss it with them?

[He really doesn't want Dylan to die.]

I don't know why you decided that then was a good time to talk. I had other things distracting me at the time. Like trying not to get shot.

[The answer is obvious to him. But he doubts it will ever be to Dylan. Maybe it's for the best. It would probably bother him more.]

Then... I want to apologize. Not for doing what I haven't done, nor for siding with my people when I didn't want them taken advantage of, but for waiting that long to tell you why I was bothered.

I suspect- I can say why I hadn't prior to coming here. I was hoping that it wouldn't be necessary. [He forgets, sometimes, Dylan thinks like a human, and probably never looked more deeply at anything he did until long after the fact.]

[Dylan wonders, not for the first time, if things might have turned out differently if he'd noticed something wrong before he was being shot at.]

I suspected that you weren't happy about the treaty. A lot of people weren't happy about making peace with the Magog after... [Genocide isn't a strong enough word for what the Magog did.] Hell, even I had mixed feelings about it.

But I trusted you. There's a big jump between being bothered by a political decision and committing mutiny. I never thought you'd do that to me.

[He wasn't bothered just by the political decision. There was a lot more to it. But even now, he doesn't want to explain. He doesn't think that it'll do much good.]

I felt exactly that way about the Commonwealth. So it's alright if you hate me. I can accept that and understand it. But I don't hate you.

[He had been angry at Dylan for not noticing. But being angry with someone wasn't hating them.]

[He had hated Rhade at first. Too much was destroyed by the mutiny, too much was lost for Dylan not to hate. But the more he started to understand him, even after he was dead, the less he was able to hate him.]

Just before I woke up here I met your descendant. He was an Admiral on Tarazed. I was put in a position where I could take a giant step forward on restoring the Commonwealth, but to do it I'd have to destroy your descendant's life. A strong Commonwealth could mean the difference between a Magog victory or defeat. So there was my choice. Save the universe by letting a good man be unjustly destroyed, or side with justice and take my chances.

I didn't do it. I didn't let him fall to ruin. [He closes his eyes for a moment.] But by god I was tempted. And I still don't entirely know if I did the right thing or not.

[His descendent is a Home Guard Admiral (on a planet that he'd never heard of, but an Admiral nontheless)? He's a good man?

He reaches for his water again.] I'll selfishly say that I'm glad you didn't. [But does that mean Dylan doesn't hate him.]

Dylan, I- [don't think I would be able to live with destroying a good man, either. Would saying that help? Probably not. He swallows back the words by downing some water.] -I don't think we should leave these people even if we find a way home, not when their environment might be destroyed by short-sighted overlords. [Not what he was going to say, but it's close enough.]

He's almost exactly like you. Genetic reincarnation. [And Dylan called him a good man. That's a hint, too. He may have lingering trust issues regarding Gaheris, but he genuinely thinks that he has good intentions. That Gaheris is, at his heart, a good man like his descendant.

Dylan knows enough about Nietzscheans now to guess that what Gaheris is saying isn't entirely what he's really saying. But he's not sure what exactly it is that's not being said.]

I agree. We can't just abandon them. If we find a way home it'll just have to wait until these people are safe.

[He knows he could destroy someone who didn't deserve it, if it was needed. Most of the time they did (in his opinion), but someone who didn't? That he knew didn't? That would bother him.

That's why Dimitri managed to live through failed extraction. Even if Rhade had been kind to him in no other way.]

Does he hate me? [Because he doubts that the Nietzscheans would have been quiet about their victories.] If he's my genetic reincarnation, no Nietzschean should hate- [he clears gravel out of his voice, another drink] -themselves.

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