2020-04-10 - When did hooking people up with researchers of the dark side become networking?

Over the past few days, possibly close to most of a week, Byron's been scarce from the casino and while he's been taking calls, he had other more personal problems to tend to. Now that those situations are mostly resolved, this is his actual first day out and about in full. He's playing catch up, having kept much shorter hours, if any, over the course of his crisis.

So of course, today he's dressed strictly for business, donning a cream colored three-piece suit with a black and gray striped tie, a white dress shirt worn beneath. He's made some appointments with a restaurant and store owners as well as making sure that repairs and necessary remodeling is almost complete. It's late afternoon and he can be found standing on an overlook with the entirety of the gaming room laid out below him.

On first glance, it might look as if he's relishing in his acquisition, but there's this far off look in his eyes, almost as if he were daydreaming that may hint at something more.

Katherine is dressed for a meeting. Black pantsuit with white pinstripes, bright red heels, her brown hair tied up in a high ponytail. It's the way Byron would be used to seeing her. She'd spent the morning in Seattle, wrapping up a merger and having a celebratory lunch with her clients there. But when Byron asks to meet with her to catch up on business related matters, Katherine immediately says yes. She doesn't know if the details surrounding his week, but his reduced hours were noticeable. While he'd kept her busy with a steady stream of required paperwork, she'd known that the loose deadlines were in place for a reason, despite not knowing it. Not that it bothered her any, it gave her time to get her personal life in order.

As she is walking up behind him, Byron can hear the familiar clicking of her heels, the rhythm steady and determined. When she finally gets to the overlook, she stands next to him quietly for a few moments before she fishes a folder out of her briefcase. "The leasing agreements you wanted drafted up for the businesses who wanted space in the casino."

While business related matters is what he'd called her for, Byron promised someone that he'd inquire about other matters as well. The tapping of her heels alerts him of her presence and only once she draws near does he half turn to glance over his shoulder to catch his first glimpse of her. "Thanks for coming." One hand reaches to take the offered documents and he'll idly flip through them, skimming some of the text within. "Looks like we're doing fairly well drawing in interested parties to lease space here. I was a little worried that the scandal would keep people away. Especially, when there are still some environmentalist protesters out there who might have a bone to pick with the casino's location all for the sake of some fish."

"Thanks." He adds in, his gaze lifting to regard her with his attention as he reaches down for his own briefcase, which was resting at his feet, to tuck the folder into.

"My apologies for being rather scarce. After the werewolf debacle." There, he brings that Dream up, "I seemed to have pissed off the Veil gods." A pause and he turns towards her again, "Speaking of, I meant to talk to you about that night. How are you doing?"

"You don't have to apologise, Byron," Katherine immediately says, "It's not like you have any control over that sort of thing, right?" She's looking out into the gaming floor herself, not turning to face him directly. She figures they can still have their conversation this way, and she's standing right next to him anyway. "You hired me to look after this deal, get all the paperwork sorted out, look after the legalities...I'm always going to have your back, as long as I'm on the payroll. And the businesses don't seem to be deterred. You still have a handful of empty spots, from what I understand, but I've got the bulk of space tied to their specific contracts."

But then Byron is the one who gets personal first, and it throws Katherine off, because the last time this had occurred, she'd tossed angry texts at him about a certain ex-boyfriend. But these days, she feels lighter, she feels like a weight is off her shoulders, so even in her full Business Mode, there seems to be an edge missing to her entire aura. "It was rough for a while, I had a hard time sleeping," she admits, "But...everything seems okay, all things considered. I mean, I've been trying to sort out my mess of emotions and I think I'm doing okay." She smiles wistfully at that last statement.

The business portion of their conversation gets a slow nod from Byron. It's not anything that he dismisses, he has a head for business after all and a mind for that profit margin, though he knows that it will take some time to make back everything that he and his investors put into this casino.

It's this personal discussion that he seems more focused on, his eyes seeming to look her, perhaps gauging how brightly she shone among other things. "No. None of us have control over 'that sort of thing.'" He starts to say, before deciding to admit, "Well, okay. Not usually. Sometimes, there are those who will seek 'that sort of thing out', but they have their reasons." He's not saying that he's one of these people, but that they exist.

Studying Katherine for a moment longer, he seems satisfied enough with what he can gauge, "I wasn't sure if you had a good support team to help you deal with things of that nature." He then continues, "I don't normally like to bring that up in most company, but seeing as we've experienced a Dream together, there's no denying that things like that happen." He then looks thoughtful, "Have you spoken to Alexander Clayton yet?" Adding in, practically murmuring, "From what I'd heard, he's been involved with one mess or another recently as well. Doesn't seem like a good time to be in Gray Harbor, but when is it ever?" That's spoken in a dead pan before he breaks out in a weary smile and a laugh.

"It's all relatively brand new to me, and I have someone...but he and I, we're working through it. Wayne and I have had a rough month, but he's the best I've got. He grew up here. I don't know if you know the Evergreen family, but he seems to know what's up with this town, so I have at least one person. If you can call that a support system. Although, Harper and Geoff, they seem nice too. I ran into them at the Pourhouse the other night. So I'm slowly building up it up."

There's a raised eyebrow at Byron's comment about people who seek 'that sort of thing' out. "That sounds really dangerous. I don't know that I could do that. And I've definitely considered not staying. I've gotten a job offer in Seattle to head up the legal department of a tech company there. But it would require me to cut ties with my New York firm and start over. I told them I wasn't interested and they said they would always have room for me if I changed my mind."

When Alexander Clayton is mentioned, Katherine replies, "He hasn't reached out to me yet, I'm thinking maybe I will at some point. Or you could invite him over and I'll just kill two birds with one stone here."

Katherine still doesn't turn to look at Byron, her posture was not tense, as he'd expect it to be, but rather casual, leaning over the railing, despite the lack of a laugh on her part.

"Wayne Evergreen." Byron repeats the name, his lips curved up into a smile, "I don't know him personally, but I know the Evergreen family. His mother, I'd heard, died some time last year unfortunately. I think he was a couple of grades lower, but this is a small town." He also seems satisfied that she'd gotten to talk to two other Gray Harbor residents who he's familiar with. "Geoff was a good friend of mine when we were growing up. I hope that both he and Harper can be of some help to you."

Keeping to this tall, erect posture, his shoulders squared, he lets his gaze drift between Katherine and the appearance of a couple of workmen off in the distance, having only a passing curiosity of where they may be headed to. "Smart people don't go chasing these things. But, admittedly, sometimes they don't give you much of a choice and I hope that you are never caught in a situation like that." There's no change in his expression when she mentions her consideration to not stay in town, but that all seemed to be squashed away. "How many experiences have you had so far?" Maybe it won't be so bad for her. She didn't light up like a beacon the way many others did. Maybe They would ignore her and things would be fine.

"Ah, very well then. I'll set something up between the both of you." He might need to keep an eye on what Alexander says in Katherine's company anyway! "Like I probably said earlier, he's an interesting person to know. On Friendzone, he posts a lot about... historical murders in the area. Light-hearted articles like that."

"So far, just the one, the one that's left me with an injury. I've had nightmares...but it's hard to tell if it's a...Veil thing, or if I've just read too many of Wayne's comics. I definitely didn't have a choice with the werewolves...is it possible to pull people into those types of things? Easton said that he didn't mean to pull me in...is there some connections that leave you more vulnerable than others?" Katherine ponders a little, as far as Geoff and Harper are concerned. "They're friendly faces. I've been in town since late October and I've been too work focused, so it's nice to have people to talk to, I guess."

Katherine nods and casually says, "Friendzone, huh? I deleted my account the summer my friends all got married after my breakup with Easton." Her tone, while casual, is combined with a bit of tension returning to her body. Between talk of the Werewolf Dream, and now this, she's trying pretty hard to keep her cool.

Just the one

Byron replays her words in his mind, nodding slowly at that. Taking a few steps forward to join her at the railing directly, he rests the small of his back up against the rail, taking on a more casual stance. "For your sake, let's hope that that's the only one." Thinking further on this, however, his lips form into a tight line and he does confirm what Easton had told her. "Sometimes, yes. I'm not one hundred percent sure that the Dream we all shared was Marshall's, but when I'd spoken to him on the phone, he told me something similar." This brings back other memories and he starts with, "This wasn't the first Dream that he pulled me into. That said, I'm hoping that if Easton can control his Dreams somewhat, that he doesn't drag you into another. Ever again." This is spoken with such conviction as if that were even possible. "That's wishful thinking, but if They, the Dark Men, haven't drawn you in Themselves," His shoulders lift into a shrug, "Then again, I don't know all of how these Dreams really work. Just that I've been dragged into far too many of them as of late."

Here, he opens up a little about what he'd experienced over the past few days. "Shortly after Easton's Dream, I was pulled into something else. This may or may not have been the result of some investigation several of my friends and associates had been poking at." There's this brief pause where he draws in a deep breath, "My.. girlfriend, Lilith, was injured badly during that time, so I was with her at Addington Memorial, where I was pulled into another Dream as she slept."

This tight smile forms on his lips and he has to laugh, but not one out of joy, "I'm getting pretty tired about all this bullshit and after that stunt," He says, as if blaming the Veil and the Dark Men for all of his woes, "it's really hard not to just pack up and leave this place altogether. Especially after what happened to Lilith." He turns slowly to face Katherine again, looking just a tad annoyed by his situation.

He then adds as an afterthought, "Most of my friends are still single, luckily. At least, he ones here."

The information Byron bestows on her is not lost on Katherine. It's a lot to handle, a lot to take in, but since Byron is only the second person to really be helpful in cluing her in (Wayne being the first), she's making an effort to really understand what's going on. "Easton should really learn to control those things, I mean, he's lucky Bennie didn't end up getting sucked into that Dream. It could have been worse for him." She felt terrible seeing Easton on the ground in the aftermath, she could only imagine how it would be if Bennie had seen him. Even worse, if she'd gotten hurt and Easton had seen her. She has enough of a knowledge of who Easton Marshall is to know he would have felt way worse. "Is there any way to learn control? I mean, I know that when I get a bit emotional, things get a little out of control...objects flying everywhere and stuff. I mean I know I can control that part to a certain extent when I keep my cool. But the Dreams themselves? Are they also tied to emotions?"

The brunette looks slightly confused but then she realises that Byron is starting to confide something deeply personal to her and her expression becomes compassionate and caring. "That must be so tough, to be so intrinsically tied to the one you love and not being able to do anything about...all of that," she simply says, at a loss for what else to tell Byron.

Though Byron may have brought it up, this wry smile seems to brighten his features and he shakes his head, "I'm not even sure if that's possible or why you were chosen instead of Bennie. Or why I was chosen for this. As I'd said, if this werewolf Dream were really Easton's, it would be the 2nd time being pulled into one of his Dreams. Why us, right?" He tries to rationalize this somewhat, "I mean, sure, he'd seen the both of us not too long ago, right here in this casino. I don't know why that would've influenced anything, but apparently it did."

Pushing off from where he was leaning, Byron turns to Katherine in full now, standing directly in front of her-- in front of her person, not particularly in front of her gaze, unless she's staring forward. "If there is a way to control your Dreams, I've never learned how. It is something to ask a few of my friends who have been looking into Dreams and the Veil though." It's when their discussion returns to the ordeal that both he and Lilith experienced, this brings out a slow nod, "I'd like to say that we've been through worse, at least emotionally, but something about this time has got me worried." Realizing that he may be oversharing, he takes a single step back, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll ask around, see if anyone's found an actual way in which to pull your friends into Dreams and whether there's a way to prevent that."

With all of that said, he gives the casino floor another idle look over, his gaze somewhat distant. From what he can sense, she shares at least some of his abilities as a mentalist. That's about all that he knows. Without looking at her now, he asks, "So what do you know about the things you can do?"

Katherine bites her lower lip as she feels Byron move to head behind her, she turns around to face him, the polite thing to do in the midst of the conversation. When he mentions having friends who are looking into Dreams and the Veil, she quietly asks, "Would you mind introducing me to them? Just so I can learn more? I don't really know much about what I can do and I would love to prevent me accidentally pulling people into Dreams, especially the ones I'm closest to." Wayne, her current love. Easton, her past love. She wants to do whatever it takes to avoid any sort of dangerous situation, if she can. Control is a big thing for her.

With as much natural empathy as she has, enhanced by the supernatural empathy of a Mentalist, Katherine senses that Byron's retreating, only because they aren't that close, but she feels his concern for his girlfriend more than anything else. "I mean, we haven't been close in ages, like almost two years, but...if strong emotions played a part in it, I know I definitely have had them." She for the first time in the conversation gets personal with Byron. "I mean it might not have been love recently, but it was definitely something strong. Frustration. Anger."

"Of course, I don't mind." Byron says, wearing a warming smile. Though something more comes to mind and this he will bring up, "I'm have one qualm about doing that and, in truth, I probably shouldn't." Biting down on his own lower lip, he turns to look off to the side, pondering on what to say next. "I'm afraid that if I do introduce you, because of who they are, this might mean that you're dragged into more dangerous situations, the opposite of what we'd intended to happen." His shoulders shrug gently after thinking on this more, "But who's to say that you wouldn't have been drawn into these Dreams otherwise, with or without your association with them."

Katherine then brings up her current relationship with Easton, or at least, the latter's emotional state when it comes to her. It's more than clear that Byron would love to inquire further on the topic and be terribly nosey, but once more, he refrains. "You'd spoken to him since the Dream. Is that still the case?" The Anger.

Katherine raises an eyebrow at Byron seeming to know that she and Easton had spoken after the Dream. Had she told him and forgotten? Or was that something Easton had shared? Her expression wordlessly seems to ask 'How did you know?' as she considers the answer to Byron's question. "I have, and admittedly, the anger's faded. There was an Actual Apology, if you could believe that," she says quietly, still facing him but her eyes lowered significantly, and he can see past the Strong A-Type Lawyer at who Katherine really is inside, and she doesn't seem all that guarded. In fact, she seems comfortable. Maybe it's because it's nice to have an objective person who isn't at all close to her to talk to and reason with her. "I even returned some things to him. Sort of. Not in person. I kind of just left the box at his door."

There is a pause to consider Byron's reserversations about an introduction to his friends...Katherine doesn't blame him when the logic is clearly sound. And the last thing she wants is to get pulled in deeper. But at the same time, does anyone really know if relationships come into play like emotions do? "I mean, that's entirely up to you, Byron, you seem to have better grasp of this whole thing, a better grasp than I do. But I'm a researcher type. I've always been good with learning, and figuring stuff out. Maybe I can learn more to be more prepared. Maybe your friends can point me in the right direction. Knowledge is power, right?"

Sensing Katherine's confusion and seeing that look in her eyes, Byron explains somewhat, "You'd mentioned that he said that he pulled you into his Dream. But also, because I'd spoken to him since then... right before my second," Was it really second? Or was it his third? "Dream in a row. I believe he meant to speak with you and I told him that I would check up on you too, but that never happened. Unfortunately." There's this keen look within his eyes now as he looks on the lawyer, his mind pondering over Easton's apology to her. "He apologized," Not for the Dream? but for... "What happened in your relationship that soured?" He's never really asked for details and if any of the parties are willing to give it, he would not turn them down.

If anything, when told that he had a better grasp on the weirdness of Gray Harbor, this makes Byron beam. It's not really meant to be one done out of pride, but a sort of feigned pride to go with what he says next, "I've only been dragged into more than a dozen, a few dozen Dreams now." The smile fades very slowly and his tone begins to sober, "Some of which I nearly died in. I think. It's a good thing that I have some great friends to help bring me back from it all." Here he clears his throat lightly, "Even if it's a detriment to themselves. Healing, especially, brings out the Dark Men's ire."

In response to Byron's explanation about the conversation with Easton, she'd simply ask, "What did he say to you?"

Almost immediately when Katherine hears about healing bringing out the Dark Men's ire, the tension Byron recognises returns to Katherine's body, her posture stiffening, as if on the defensive, like she'd been with Easton in this casino before. She recalls that when she'd returned from the Dream, Wayne had been the one to heal her. "Dark Men? Are they dangerous?" she asks in a low voice, "I really don't know that many people so...well, Wayne can only do so much. Maybe that's part of the reason why I want you to introduce me to more people. Just so I have more support just in case. I mean, there's also Bennie...but I feel weird around her, after everything." She shrugs.

"Not too much to be honest." Byron states as he draws his posture up to a full stretch, feeling some of his own tension being relieved in his shoulders. He then leans his head to one side, feeling the pull there and hearing that crick, before he repeats this in the other direction. "His concern was basically on how you were taking it. Everything. That's all that we talked about."

Of course, he can sense this rising agitation within her, this fear perhaps? Concern of some of things which he is disclosing to her today. "The Dark Men are very dangerous. Alexander Clayton once dubbed them Dolorphage before we even knew what to really call them. They feed on the pain and suffering of others. Of us. Sometimes, they try to recruit people who, in turn, make other suffer. They tried to do that with Geoff once early last year. Hell, we might be coming to the anniversary of that event in a month or so." He then makes sure to state, "From Lilith's experience as a Healer, They do not like people healing others. I don't know if this is true for all Veil denizens or just those under the Dark Men's grasp, but whenever she healed anyone, it burned them. Hurt them. And once they rose up to retaliate against her." He quiets down here, remembering it like it was yesterday. "I wasn't there for her then or else I would've done something about it."

With that said, all he can do is nod to Katherine's logic. He believes so too. "You're probably right and it would be a good idea to--" Then she brings up Bennie. "So you've met Bennie? She's a bright ray of sunshine, that one."

Katherine sighs at the mention of Bennie. "Yup, just a bright ray of sunshine," she says flatly, "I don't know what Easton's told her...I don't know if she'd want to have anything to do with me anymore after finding out my connection to him. I haven't seen her in a while. I've been avoiding her. I've been avoiding him. It's been a weird time lately. It was almost easier when I was angry at Easton, I didn't have to deal with...what was beneath the angry surface."

She isn't entirely surprised at how vague Easton's communication tends to be. "He was just talking specifically about the Dream, right?" she asks for clarification.

Byron relaying his experiences with Lilith and the Dark Men, and Geoff almost being turned to their service, her eyes grow wide with shock mostly, but also a hint of terror. She's speechless for a few moments before she asks, "Who do you think would be best to talk to to learn more? I need to know more. I need to prepare as much as I can. If this is the reality of Gray Harbor, then I need to be ready."

Byron doesn't need his empathic powers to tell how exasperating it might be for Katherine to hear just how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Bennie is. In fact, he cracks a smile at her sigh, not taking it entirely seriously that she disliked the perky blonde. "Bennie is, well I've known her to be friendly and kind no matter what. But seeing as I'm not even sure what happened between you and Easton, I would say, maybe it's best not to approach her. Until Easton introduces you both maybe?" However, he then pipes up, "Does she know who /you/ are? I mean, seems like you've met her so need no introductions. And I'm not 100% sure on whether Easton would kill me if I brought you both together, so I might just leave that on him to do when he feels comfortable about it."

Following this comes a single nod, "Right. He called to ask if I'd spoken to you yet. With you being my lawyer and friend, about the Dream. Unfortunately, at the time, I did not, so I had nothing to report to him on your condition." A pause. "He sounded pretty concerned."

The rest of the story, however, is not a good one. Even if the person closest to him and one of his best childhood buddies came out of their personal ordeals mostly unscathed. "Right now? If she's not in some sort of recovery mode herself, I'd say Isabella Reede. We grew up together and as far as I know, she had one foot into the Veil ever since I knew her. Of course, she was smart enough to leave town, but now that she's back, she's definitely been trying to learn everything she can about the Veil and the Dark Men." Here is where he says, "Maybe I can have Alexander bring her along-- they are sort of an item." May as well relay that bit of info too. "I'll tell you what, I'll set that up. You, me, Alexander and Isabella. While Alexander might be more reluctant to lead others into danger-- even though he enjoys telling everyone about the weird things, even though he has no idea whether they even know what he's talking about, Isabella is a whole different monster all her own. She's brave, reckless and has dived in head first into danger time and time again. I'm sure that you'll like her. Both intelligent and accomplished young women." Such dangerous minds to put together, to be honest.

Taking out his phone, he taps out a few messages to send, "I"ll get all of your schedules and assign a date and time. It will most likely be held at my office, so not a far journey from where you live." He says with a laugh, his eyes still lowered to his phone's screen.

It's not that she disliked Bennie, just the opposite, Katherine liked her. But they had both been caught off guard by their mutual connection in Easton, that she'd felt weird trying to talk to her again after the St. Patrick's Day charity event. "She knows me, we've met. We just both kind of got blindsided at the Pourhouse during the St. Patrick's Day event. That's where we learned who each other was to Easton." Katherine shrugs. "It's not like I dislike her, I guess I'm more nervous about what she thinks of me now that she knows that I'm also Easton's Ex."

A part of her is always going to be thrown off guard by anything other than anger from Easton, she is still getting used to a less aggressive approach from the man. The fact that he's expressed concern before ever having spoken to her after the Dream is still a little strange to her. "Yeah, luckily, he and I cleared the air. I told him there was nothing to be concerned about."

Speaking about Isabella and Alexander, Katherine seems relieved to see that Byron as willing to set something up for her. She would feel so much better knowing more people who would have her back should she need it. "I think I'm going to need Alexander's caution and Isabella's savvy and her knowledge in equal measure. I can't wait to meet them. I'll send you my availability when I get home." She offers a hug, but not like, a super close tight hug, just a quick squeeze, before she says, "I should probably get going. I'm gonna head to Wayne's for a bit. After everything we've talked about, I feel like I need to hold him or something." She chuckles.

Listening to Katherine talk about Bennie, Byron comes to some understanding about the situation and the fact that they'd bumped into each other at the St. Patrick's Day charity thing at the bar. Byron heard about it and was planning on attending but he was sidetracked before he had the chance. "From a male perspective, I am a little curious about what women think about that. Meeting their lover's ex. I guess, I'd be a little weird about it if I were in your position, but then we might bond over sports teams, so who knows right?" He's trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

Reaching down to scoop up his briefcase again, he takes out the folder which was presented to him earlier in order to get a better read on those contracts. Several of the leasees were present aboard the casino at this very moment, working furiously to open up their shops. "Looking forward to this meeting strangely enough. It's always a wonder on how things will go when we're talking Veil stuff. But thank you again for this. You'll be hearing from me within the next few days." And with that, rather than leave, he waits to watch her depart. He has a lot of things to think about and an expanding to-do list.