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Kaleb was home and made a phone call which was easy enough, and made request for Vitale to help him out. He called it only a 'checkup' and that it was an informal meeting but that he'd be home between 4 and 7. He was dressed down: Waistcoat, slacks, and sleeves rolled to the elbow all crisp pressed, and with a watch that cost as much as some people's cars. The radio was almost constantly, jazz as always, with some Coltrane in place of Miles Davis. One thing about musics around sound elementas, the quality cannot be beat.
Vitale was always willing to come when Kaleb calls him, when anyone does really. With the knowledge that they are also a mutant, that just drives his need up more, but as it was, Vitale hardly ever went anywhere alone now. His closeness with the X-ternals meant that he always kidnapped one of them to accompany him everywhere, designated X-ternal companion. So, before he comes over to Kaleb's place, he stops by Elmo's and honks his car horn until he's annoyed all of Elmo's neighbors, the birds, the insects, every dog within fifty miles and even the trees before Elmo joins him.
Vitale is dressed to the nines, as he always is, in a fine navy suit that looks brand new, a red shirt beneath, he has forgone the tie today (for shame Vitale De Angelis), an equally as expensive watch on his wrist and of course, cufflinks with his initials, you know, classic Vitale. He taps fingers lightly against the door when they arrive if Kaleb hasn't already opened it hearing them.
"You are gonna get me kicked out," Elmo had groused at Vitale when he finally showed up. He then had complained the entire way here. Complained about the projects he's working on, about JP, about cars giving him trouble at the garage, about how great the weather is. In contrast to the other two men, he's only wearing a t shirt, jeans, and boots—greaser uniform, and he's not doing a great job of hiding his envy at Vitale and Kaleb looking so sharp. "Hey, boss," he greets Kaleb pretty cheerfully nonetheless.
Kaleb arched an eyebrow but if it was at the attire or the unannounced third party it was unknown. In the end Elmo got a nod as his blue eyes shift back to Vitale leaving his body language even in this casual setting was fit for business. Echo was always on even at home. "Gentlemen. Come in. Kitchen's yours." Apparently he was in his studio working from teh smudge of graphite up the back of one hand and the lamp still on over the drafting table. "I appreciate you making yourself available to me on short notice, Medico." Looking to Elmo he greeted, "Mr. Rosenkratz."
"You two know each other, Sparks? I didn't know that." Vitale says surprised, wrapping an arm around Elmo's shoulder to guide him inside. He's not nearly as professional as Kaleb is, hardly ever is professional when he's around Elmo. "Of course, Kaleb, we're pals, when you have need of me, I'll be there." He adds, with a confused look at Kaleb's seriousness. "You call, I'll come. We gotta take care of each other. So what's wrong? You hurt? Your brother? Jay?"
Elmo seems resigned. Vitale drags him out on Shabbat when he's just peacefully tinkering at home. That's how it is. "Call me Elmo, huh? Only judges call me Mr. Rosencrantz. Yeah, I'm workin' on a project for him," he tells Vitale. "A gevaldik one, too." A word meaning roughly 'bad ass', the way he uses it.
Kaleb tilted his head to the side and looked to Vitale quizically. Kaleb squint at him and shook his head, "I… repeat that?" Admit a frailty? No, but solicit an order or request for someone to do something? Far more comfortable. "Oh, yeah. Me." He pivoted and walked back inside after locking the door and following behind them swaying slightly to one side and jut veering off towards the kitchen while his fingertips gently grazed teh wall idly.
"Oh yeah? What you two working on? Nothing I gotta yell at you for, right?" He asks, raising his eyebrow at the pair of them. When Kaleb says that he's the one that's hurt. "Well forget the formalities then, Kaleb, c'mere." Vitale says, seriously reaching out his hand for Kaleb's, as usual not even bothering to ask what's wrong with Kaleb, just ready to take all of it right now. He takes his arm off of Elmo's shoulder as well, his happy-go-lucky demeanor fading.
Elmo's eyebrows tilt up, watching Kaleb sway off. The boss isn't feeling so hot. He trails along after him and Vitale. Rather than say anything about it, because he knows how it is to have pride that burns your throat shut rather than admit weakness, he says casually to Vitale, "Nah, no subway cars or runnin' factory equipment backwards in this one." He's got a sharp eye on them both, though.
Kaleb turne to vitale and offered his left hand, the one withteh graphite smudges, out to him palm up. When Vitale took a hold the Italian would find the sonic was down to maybe 15 hearing right now. The left side has alnost no reception in it. Right side is damaged and heavily impacted. It's a wonder he heard them at all. He murmured, "He's helping me with an instillation piece." That much he figured out. Truthfully, he was putting on a good face. His balance was pretty shot.
Vitale takes Kaleb's hand after pushing his own sleeve up, wrapping his hand around his wrist, using his other hand to press Kaleb's to his own wrist. More skin contact, quicker results, he probably should have expected it was Kaleb's ears, because it usually is, but the pain and loss of hearing is disorienting and takes him by surprise, he stumbles, grabbing the nearest chair by the kitchen table, tipping it over and slamming his elbow on the table in the process with an aubidble /CRACK/ of bone meeting wood. He has to bite his bottom lip to keep from yelping because he knows that when Kaleb does get his hearing back, that loud noise is going to be greatly unwelcome, but Kaleb will feel the damage receding with a throb.
"Jesus!" Elmo grabs for Vitale as he stumbles, eyes going wide. He gets his arms around him and hauls him into a hard embrace, adrenaline lending strength and speed. "Vushka, are you okay? What happened?" He looks wide-eyed at Kaleb, because whatever he expected to happen, it wasn't that.
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 17
Kalebheld onto Vitale's hand with a vice grip. Hey, he was on the rowing team for four years. He could keep VItale from falling. Unfortunately, his hearing being damaged was widely what was ironicly proecting the sonic and as sound rushed back upon him he went green, but didn't let go of Vitale's hand. Every… damn… time. He had no emotions, right? Ask anyone. There was from him a yelp of pain with a hiss. His free hand went out and tried, and on the second attempt dropped all sound around them until no voices, no ambient sound, and not even the stereo was able to generate a noise until he was ready. He… waasn't ready.
|ROLL| Jebediah +rolls 1d20 for: 7
The noise drops and Vitale temporarily forgets that this is Kaleb's mutation, between the pain in his ear, the disorienting drop of noise followed by another drop of noise, his hand is on Kaleb's, and Kaleb's pulse might spike along with V's own, a secondary mutation that Vitale still wasn't aware he had, regulating his 'patient's' heartbeat to his own… or not regulating it at all as much as spiking it when he panics. If Elmo's got any skin to skin contact with Vitale in that embrace, Elmo will feel it too, the sudden jump in his pulse. His free hand fumbles for purchase on Elmo's arm as the usually calm and composed Italian /whimpers/.
Elmo's startled too by the sudden absolute silence, but he figures it out after a second. Even if it feels like sudden weird pressure behind his eardrums. He sucks in a gasp as his pulse jumps with Vitale's. He's talking to him, reassuring and soothing him, although of course nothing can be heard. Looking at Kaleb, he asks, "You okay?" The lip reading should be pretty simple on that one.
Kaleb held on and felt his heart speed up and that made him hold on a bit longer to heal the damage his ears took when and because his hearing was restored and not tempered immediately. It was really like suddenly sitting in front of an amp from a colosseum sneaking up on you in the middle of he library while you are trying to work. Rude. Very rude. Kaleb let go and he withdrew from Elmo's concern putting his face on pointing to Vitale in that 'worry about him gesture." When Kaleb waded over towards his room teh 8' cone fo silence traveled with him while he fished out his ear plugs from his dresser. At least that room was a sound eater. Good times. Great gift. 10/10 would recomment. Really one might surmise that the walk was part for the earplus and part to regain his composure.
Vitale releases Kaleb's wrist after being certain that he had sucked all the pain of his grip out of the other man's skin. He stumbles back more heavily against Elmo and blood rushes to his cheeks, needing to regain his composure too, he did just whimper in front of Kaleb when he was supposed to be calloused to this pain thing, dignity taking a hit. When the sound comes back to him, slowly, his pulse slows along with Elmo's, bringing it down as his panic ebbs off of him. He doesn't try to stop Kaleb from leaving the room. "Sorry, Sparks, didn't mean to be ridiculous."
Elmo pulls a face at Kaleb, but does turn his attention to Vitale. "There ya go, tateleh, I got ya." He's got his arms around him, rubbing his back. "Knocked you for a loop, huh? You all right?" Just some soothing nonsense for Vitale to hang on to while he gets his groove back.
|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 5
Kaleb didn't actually come out but instead walked into the bathroom. Having no ambient sound to go by it would be hard to surmise what was happening as the door hung open. It would be a couple minutes before he returned with his face washed off looking a bit tired but otherwise alert. He came back and opened up his wallet, nice, leather, and well oiled. He didn't do something as garish as pull out cash though but held out a matte grey business card that looked to be on a good weight linen stock.
Vitale straightens after a minute, giving Elmo a tight hug. "Thanks, Sparks. I'll take you out for dinner after this, promise." He says, before he releases the other man before Kaleb comes back. Vitale bristles hard when Kaleb brings out his wallet, he's already got his hand up to refuse whatever cash he thinks Kaleb is going to hand him, but when it isn't cash, he relaxes, reaching out his hand to take the business card. "What's this, Kaleb? You know that you never owe me anything, right?" He asks, slowly, so that Kaleb can read his lips if he needs to. "We're friends. I take care of you because we're friends."
"Ah, let the man repay you, V," Elmo mutters, but not overly insistent. It's an argument he and Vitale have a lot and he knows its outcome. He hikes his eyebrows at Kaleb, asking without words if he's okay, too. There's a lot he'd like to ask him, and he doesn't know how to ease past that fiercely defended facade.
Kaleb took a deep breath and shook his head and the tone wasn't one of a lecture, but instead that tone one uses for the Pledge of Allegiance said so many damn times it's just going through the motions, "Friendship is a futile commodity. It's a lazy man's way of showing appreciation and it really isn't much for material recompense. It's a favor. Go see my guy. This… will get you an appointment with him. He doesn't speak a lick of English, but he'll take care of you. Just… go. Trust em. Let him do his thing." The script was entirely in Chinese, but the address was in English. "Listen to Elmo. He's got a nose for business." Looking to Elmo he just shook his head and offered in his breveloquent manner, "Compliment, not slander." Could go either way with Elmo having such a prominent feature.
Vitale crinkles his nose up at that statement about friendship being a futile commodity. He looks down at the card in his hand, written entirely in Chinese. This is all very cryptic, Kaleb isn't even telling him what his guy was for. "What kind of.. guy? You going to give me any more information than that, Kaleb? I can't read this, could you tell me what address I'm going to?" He asks, questions falling right off his tongue. He looks between Elmo and Kaleb, slinging an arm back around Elmo's shoulders. "I think Elmo would appreciate you telling me to listen to him more, he's sure none of us ever do."
"Comin' from you, boss, it's a helluva compliment." Elmo grins at Kaleb, pleased. He laughs, though, and shakes his head over Kaleb's dissertation on how useless friendship is. That Kaleb, such a cut-up. "Yeah, listen to me more," he adds, prodding Vitale in the ribs. As twitchy as he usually is about being touched, Vitale apparently has the privilege. He looks expectant though; he wants to know what this mysterious address is about, too.
Kaleb gave Vitale a flat look, "It- oh nevermind." He shook his head and wasn't going to argue the point of an invisible social structure existant to make sure one didn't leave their people they were concerned for- (others call those friends)- ad leave them taken advantage of. "That," he said of the card, "Is the card to Kenman Wu. My other tailor. I mean the address part is IN english. Just have your driver take you. If he says, " He replicated a few phoenemes in a tonal patter for V to identify, "That means he's coming at you with a box of pins. Don't move. I think it means don't move but …just treat it at sich and you'll be fine."
"Alright, thank you, you do always look like a million bucks, Kaleb. I appreciate this. I've been a little jealous of your wardrobe, always wondered who you went to." He smiles when Kaleb imitates the Chinese likely perfectly. "Whenever anyone comes at me with a box of pins I tend to stay still, I can heal but those little stabs are the worst, aren't they?" He says with a smile. He puts the card in his pocket. "Kaleb, don't let it get bad before you call me. You can call me for absolutely anything. I don't care if you've stubbed your toe, if it hurts, it hurts and I can take it away. I /want/ to take it away."
Now that interests Elmo. "Your tailor? Oh man, I can't wait to see what he's gonna put you in!" As different as the three men are, there's one thing they all agree on and that thing is suits.
Kaleb paused and gave VItale a squint look and said, "I've been practicing. I've been learning Tibetian from Max and he was like oh you're doing well, let's learn three more." He sighed. "I'm not… Doug. But I hate not knowing things so what can ya do. I'm told if I want great baoi I have to order it the right way and frankly… it's worth it. I'll keep you posted on hos that goes." Looking back to Elmo he nodded, "Never short change the men that keep you on yoru feet." The sonic grinned in a wry, good humor and laughed, "And now he can stop dressing like a hobo." As if that were even a fear, but hey, he does have some humor.
Vitale smiles at hearing that Max is teaching him plenty of new languages, "That's how I know he's the right one for you, he challenges your mind, exactly what you need. It's also good to hear you taking the iniatitive on things. I've been thinking about picking up another language, maybe French, just so I can know whether my other half is cussing at me or talking sweet to me." He winks at Elmo, a shared problem they have. "I'll be good to your man, K."
Elmo gestures at Kaleb, like, right?? "I tell him that all the time, but he don't listen to me." Shakes his head with Jewish mock rue. And turns a little red when Vitale teases him about JP. "Yeah, well, I just assume it's a lotta both."
Kaleb considered that and offered sinply, "Well if you want to practice I mean ask. Been speaking it since we were in the damn womb." For Elmo's sake since they didn't have a less than formal history he offered, "On eof the places my fmaily has property. Grew up spending a couple months every year over there. Beautiful country. I encourace this." Looking back to them he shrugged, "You guys made it all teh way out here. Could grab lunch befure you guys head on out?"A civil offer to be social. Who knew?