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It takes about an hour. Its unclear what Maximus might be doing during that time, but likely…sweet talking the people who are in charge of the special chamber that was used for Black Bolt, while he was growing up. He does sweet talk where he can…rather than use his other talents. Then he comes back to the room to fetch them. Unless they are making out or something equally attention-grabbing, he simply says, "Ready? Time to see if this will work."
Kaleb was actually crashed out. Recently he's had his blood purged, his DNA scrambled, an eardrum replaced, and way too much sensory input to handle in a day. Some might say he's been a bit busy. Right now when they were called back on he was just trying to find zen and pick out what sounds he did hear outside of the walls. The sound of footfall caught him and his eye cracked open. When Maximus returned there was a push to sit up and with that again to his feet. There was a pause as his balance was off what it usually was, and looking foolish was not on his itinerary today. He looked to Kellan and arched an eyebrow as if he were their internal monologue. Fingers flexed into a nervous flex but the agitation wasn't from Maximus who got a nod; it was from not knowing what to expect.
Kellan had fallen asleep in a chair not far away from Kaleb while keeping vigil. He'd been worried quite a bit lately with his brother missing, finding his brother, healing his brother, his boyfriend getting shot, and now a trip to a palace in a place he couldn't have imagined more tha a month or two ago. The return of Maximus and the sound of his voice stirs him from where he'd drifted off and he rubs at his face a little bit. He looks over at Kaleb and returns that look, and he nods as well. "Ready," he confirms.
Immediately, Maximus smiles with amusement…the two brothers all sacked out and tired. Good. They'd be all the more impressed with all the technology here. Max waits for them to get themselves together, then moves down the hallway in a different direction. Indeed, they do not need to leave the palace, but the view of the city disappears as they move inside the mountain, delving down this path and that, all of them manicured. There are indications that this is the working part of the palace, and there are side halls and rooms and such. Then, there is a secured door, beyond which the texture of the area is sterile, like a medical facility more than a living home. And this sterile sense surrounds a work of craftsmanship and technology. In the center of a ring is a circular room encased entirely inside a clear wall. The door is barely visible, because it comes from the floor. Inside the room is a bed with a white cushion, a screen for some mild privacy, and a stack of books on a bedside table. There is also a low-sitting thing that must be a toilet, but it doesn't have a tank like most toilets in the 1960s would.
Kaleb was tired and stuck with his brother which wasn't that hard as Kellan presently had a far better constitution than he did. Still the shift off city noises to something far less jarring at every bend was at least helpful He still had the cotton in his ears and earmuffs in the dead of summer. Now he was not one to generally be overly expressive but two things took place. 1- he knew if he didn't give something to Max by way of expression he'd be utterly disappointed after he went through all the efforts and he'd never hear the end of it. 2- the architecture was painstakingly amazing. Every tiny detail served its own need and its own will to enhance the still living palace. Blue eyes got wide, then a little bigger, then the eyebrow arched. He let his fingers brush small details where he could; he had to touch some of it. If only he treated the living with such care. And then there was a great shift in design and his feet brought him up short. It was to the round glass he analyzed first and then- woah that… that was tech. That was something James Bond would be in envy of. Its reasons were beyond him, but Maximus would not be disappointed by any lack of reaction From Echo. There was a slow exhale of breath in lieu of a whistle lest things get all haywire and havoc ensued.
Kellan followed along with the pair, his hands in his pockets, lest he too try to touch things, something that he was refraining from doing. He didn't dally, didn't wander, didn't stray. He kept close by and attendant to whatever twists or turns they took as they descended from the view of the city into the mountain itself and eventually into the more sterile environment. Truth be told, that particular shift made him a little nervous. But he reigned it in. This was for Kaleb. If it would help Kaleb to feel better, then he was all in, even if the whole hospital vibe made him a little unsettled. He glanced to Maximus as they were lead down the paths. So many questions. But he kept it in check. When they finally reached the round room he stared at it with a combination of wariness and fascination. "It looks like a cell," is the first thing that comes out of his mouth, with just a hint of that nervousness showing through.
Maximus nods faintly. "In a way…that is exactly what it is. My brother is not unlike Kaleb…except that any sound that he makes is so incredibly harmful to those around him, that he had to be placed in this room…a silent room. A room that would protect others from his powers. In this way…the inside of the room is devised to minimize all sounds. Though it seems like it is glass, it is not. There are fibers…its complicated, but inside there, the sound will be reduced to practically nothing. This meant that it was a safe place for my brother to learn to control every moment, to sleep without making a grunt, to weep without uttering a sob. Inside, you will find such respite." Maximus walks closer to what must be the entrance to the tunnel that leads to it. "Its perfectly safe. I do not think it even has a lock, really. It did once, when he was younger, but not since."
Kaleb looked all around and back to the clear chamber in the center of the room as Maximus spoke. Kellan's nervousness was noted and there was a part of Kaleb, fresh and free of restraint that completely bucked at this idea. The rest of his body that was ringing from the constant drone of feedback and awareness held him fast. Fibers? There was something he'd become entirely aware of and that was the shift in movement every sound wave around him like a fish felt the water, or how fliers were aware of drafts, updrafts, and air currents. Sound was fluid to him except, this curiosity. He snapped his fingers and blinked. He whispered quietly to them, "I can't sense it… that's… Max this is amazing." Though that it had no lock was nice. He was a little full up on those this week. He shot a look to Kellan; excitement. His jaw tightened a bit with anticipation and he looked from it to Max to it back to Max, and finally he walked over to examine it closer.
There's a flicker of sadness in Kellan's eyes as Maximus describes what Black Bolt had to go through in that cell just to learn how to live day to day without hurting anyone and it strikes him as both very lonely and very difficult. "At least when I talk in Kaleb's head, I can make it soft for him, since there's no actual sound waves for him to pick up, just thoughts," he says quietly. "Were you and your brother close?" he asks Maximus, studying him for a moment or two, curiosity finally overcoming his control over his questions. To his credit, they don't come out in a flood. Then he looks back over to Kaleb, judging how he's interpreting this room and its potential. Though when he sees that excitement in Kaleb, some of his own tension seems to ebb and he nods, "Try it, Kaleb.. see if it helps." It seems he's hopeful that it does.
Maximus grins faintly to Kellan. "We were, before the mists. Then…he became…/everything/…" Maximus gestures towards the clear room, and like any 'normal' child in a family with one that requires extra, special attention, one can only imagine the hours spent wondering why being 'normal' meant that he didn't deserve the same attention. A whole…bitter world. "But, this is not what matters now. My brother and Kaleb have different gifts, even if they share some similarities. I hope that it works. It has not been used in years." Except probably by him, as King, when he felt like it. The passage into the room is simple enough. There is a short tunnel leading in from one side, underneath the room, then a ladder that goes up. Its not far, about 8 feet. There's a button to push to disengage a seal, probably, to allow access. "I can show you how to go in, but you should go in on your own, Kaleb. We will still be able to see you." A glance to Kellan, "And then you and I can tell alllll those terrible jokes about what an awful person Kaleb is and he won't be able to hear us."
Kaleb could, weirdly, completely empathize with the small details of Max's brother. It wasn't oh turn things on when you wanted to; it was a ton of constant vigilance. Granted from Max's story their ability worked very differently from opposite ends but, having had dire personal experiences at someone else's expense growing up? This was weirdly hopeful. he muttered, glibly, "Oh any rumors of my general awfulness are likely undersold." He looked from Maximus to Kellan, and there was that look. It was brief in Kellan's face but it was enough akin to sympathy that he repelled away from those personal feelings he hand and toward the room. His hand ran over what his extra sense didn't want to return to him. Carefully he took a step around and then inside the tunnel and pulled the panel close behind himself with a push of a button. He turned, almost falling in the room as his equilibrium changed once again on perception.
The silence was deafening compared to the world outside the walls. He just stood in wonder perfectly still for a long moment before he slowly removed the earmuffs. Eyes trailed around as his senses were just cudgeled and blunted. There was an utterance but nothing was heard inside or outside the clear sphere to know what was said. He sank to his knees looking at all the 'glass' of the room. Slowly the cotton was pulled from his ears too and he just wept. It stopped. All the ceaseless noise stopped. It was no minor victory for his peace of mine. His head fell back and a grin split his features in half. There was hope. He had a tool? A place. If he wasn't sitting in Max's back pocket formally for a favour later he was now.
Kellan nods silently when Maximus explains how they were once close and then not, after the mists. He has no idea what that means but since he's making a concentrated effort, he doesn't ask, but merely files it away for later. He nods about the difference in the gifts. He does chuckle just a little bit at the aside about telling terrible jokes about Kaleb and says, "I don't think I have any." There's a little crooked smile but then he looks over to Kaleb to see what he will do. He watches carefully as Kellan goes into the room and scrutinizes every moment, watching his brother carefully for signs of distress, reaching out and establishing that mental link with him almost reflexively. But he says nothing, not even in his head, allowing Kaleb his silence. And when his brother grins, that seems to relieve all the tension in Kellan's body at once and his shoulders physically slump as he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thank goodness," he murmurs aloud.