The Dangling Conversation

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The telepath wasn’t disconcerted over the similarities they discovered; he was amused, but he also lacked the animosity towards Cobalt that the other man had towards him. That made all the difference in the world. And while he might be curious about just who or what it was that had caused Cobalt to leave the Church behind, he didn’t go into details and it was nothing to ask about.

Sean chuckled as the other man described that he was the only one who had wanted to hold the incense. That had been the general consensus of the altar boys at his parish as well. Even though the incense smelled real and reminded them all of Christmas, it was extremely difficult to breathe when surrounded by smoke and it usually resulted in coughing fits, which resulted in stares from the adults; it was better just to avoid that altogether. “They couldn’t get volunteers for the incense at my church, and so the Priest usually did it, unless he managed to guilt someone into it. That worked sometimes; Catholics and guilt, you know.” It started early with the altar boys.

The other man didn’t need to articulate his next points, because Sean was aware of them; it wasn’t Cobalt’s fault, but he didn’t think quietly. However, as he had for all of this impromptu heart-to-heart, he listened patiently, letting the other man say his piece. When he was finished, the telepath replied, “I appreciate the candor, on all counts.” Particularly an explanation of why, just as Sean had given his explanation earlier; reasons told him what could be changed. Here there was nothing that could be changed, because Sean was happy with his personality, and this had been sparked by that and not a specific incident (more than the clearings of the air he had already attempted in the past and beyond what had happened this afternoon). Basic courtesy was all that he asked, particularly when around mutual friends.

There was a pause briefly, before the telepath continued, “Actually, your candor and your willingness to be civil in front of our friends puts you miles ahead of a couple of the people I’ve dated over the years.”

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt huffed out a laugh, “I do know. We’re very good at that guilt thing.” Somehow, he still counted himself as a Catholic. Somehow. Which didn’t make sense, since he hadn’t been to Mass since he was seventeen and hadn’t said a proper prayer since he was almost twenty. But he supposed old habits died hard and the Church had been an integral part of his life for a rather large chunk of his childhood. He’d known and understood his faith inside and out. When he was eleven. And then everything had helpfully unspooled all over the place and he’d spent the majority of his teenage years trying to sort it out before letting it go.

Cobalt figured that Sean had heard all of his thoughts and feelings about this. But since Sean hadn’t seemed very interested in acting accordingly to his supposedly loud thoughts, Cobalt figured he’d say it out loud. Just so everyone was clear. So he nodded curtly at Sean’s acknowledgement, and said nothing else.

But Sean’s comment about dating and civility startled a laugh out of him. “If you’ve dated people that are miles behind me, you have horrendous taste.” He…was vaguely aware that he might be opening a door to more awkward. But he wasn’t actually expecting Sean to share things with him. That would make no sense—Cobalt hadn’t done anything to make Sean think that this was story hour.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

As a school boy, Sean had been a golden child: obedient, loyal, gentle, honest, appropriately meek, generous, and compassionate. Despite all of that, he used to worry about sinning, because that was always in the back of his mind. It was easy to manipulate him with those fears and his guilt over his perceived shortcomings. For the benefit of his own sanity, he’d gotten over that. Smiling because he was amused, he said, “I used to joke with Josh about which one of us was more predisposed to guilt based on our upbringings. Stereotypes aside, he proved himself the winner, but I used to give him a run for his money when we were young.”

To the contrary, this had become story hour because there was literally nothing else for them to do with their time. Rather than bothering with the intercom, Sean had reached out telepathically and found that little progress had been made on freeing them. And while he and Cobalt would return to the status quo when they finally left but for the moment they were the other’s only source of companionship and entertainment. And while the telepath had a long list of topics that weren’t up for discussion, surface details of his failed past relationships weren’t on that list.

“I’ve been told that,” he replied, referencing his taste in romantic partners. While it was true that he had an unusually high number of failed relationships, and that he wasn’t on speaking terms with all of his exes, he didn’t think he had poor taste. No, his problem was that there was an immutable part of him that had a strong effect on the rest of him, and that immutable part of him was more often than not considered undesirable. “To be fair, she was an objectively ‘good catch’ and vice versa. We’re not still in touch, not after how we broke it off. She moved across the county, and she’s in politics now.” The telepath shook his head to himself. “Sometimes I wonder if she worries that I’ll come out of the woodwork and ruin her career.”

[Cobalt Weaver]

As a schoolboy Cobalt had been…none of those things. At least outwardly. He had been an angry, suspicious, hurt little boy who felt things too much and was afraid of almost everything and too proud to admit it. He’d been lonely and unpleasant and making friends was far too hard for him to do. So he had turned to the Church to be a community he could hide in. However, the infamous (albeit stereotypical) “Catholic Guilt” was too much for him to carry, especially as a young boy. He laughed a little, however, at the mention of Josh. “Josh is more predisposed to guilt based on his personality, really,” He replied, a reluctantly fond grin on his face.

Cobalt shifted in his seat and glanced at his watch. It was far past lunchtime. Leila was going to start wondering where he was. Hopefully she wouldn’t worry too much. “Well.” He sighed, mostly to himself, “This is hardly the most absurd situation I’ve found myself in.” But it was certainly one of the most irritating.

Cobalt shrugged passively at Sean’s admission about his choice of romantic partners. Cobalt didn’t have much experience on that front; whether by choice or his constant state of misanthropy, he didn’t date much, especially once he left college. He snorted, however, at Sean’s statement about his ex’s political career. “Nah, you don’t seem the type.” And, while it was said passively, it was true. Sean was irritating, and a headache to be around, but he wasn’t intentionally malicious.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“I agree completely.” That had been the final assessment in that little debate that Sean and Josh had had, although playing it from upbringing, religion, and stereotypes had provided an extra dimension to it. Josh’s close relationship with his family also played a role there, as far as Sean was concerned, since that managed to dictate life choices his friend made, while life choices Sean made had impacted his own family situation, a complete reversal.

“Not even in my top ten,” Sean agreed with a nod. The other man was mumbling, but that wasn’t an effective deterrent, not when they were locked in this room together and there was quite literally nothing else to do. Still, Sean had experienced far more bizarre situations since moving to Pilot Ridge as a staff member at Hammel, and had even had more bizarre ones in his youth, both as a student and then during his tenure as a quarter-life radical. That wasn’t to say that this was just another day, but considering what he expected on the horizon, it wasn’t even all that bothersome. It would only approach that level if he was needed while still trapped.

“I’m not.” Sean’s tone wasn’t corrective; rather there was an undercurrent of appreciation there because he wasn’t a malicious person. He did only wish happiness on those in his life, and he certainly wished no malice on those who weren’t. Present plans aside, and even those were borne from necessity rather than pleasure; he didn’t relish what was to come. “It’s enough to keep me out of that state but she isn’t hurting anyone. Not that it would matter, since she didn’t think too highly of metas-”

The rest of his story was cut off by the harsh interruption of the intercom, followed by a woman’s voice. “Doc? If you’re still awake, we should have you out in five.”