(BL) Hunting The Field Guide Chapter 105: Anticipated, but delayed

Brent ca back shortly after that, and Kellen spent most of his ti responding to any questions he thought he had the answer to. But at one point, when his mother had stepped out to answer a personal phone call, he sat in the seat next to Brent and looked around the room.

"We aren’t having our lesson today, are we?" Brent asked and Kellen sighed. They still hadn’t been able to identify one of the body parts, which ant that they were asking for help from all of the Guild’s top scientists. Maeve had been called to the conference room, since she would probably be a good fit to head for the front lines.

Gunther was on his way back with the older new recruits he’d gone out with, cutting their trip short. Kellen was pretty sure that the group had no idea why, and that they were going to arrive pissed only to find out the truth.

Casper was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, trying to keep everyone together, while also managing his own work. Kellen hadn’t had ti to chat with him about it, but as the clock ticked ever nearer to noon, Kellen knew that Brent was right.

"I think we should cancel and delay it till Friday. That gives everyone a few days to sort out what is actually happening with the gate, and we can rebook the areas we wanted to use for today." Kellen and Brent looked around the room. "I don’t think anyone would be excited right now to start their training to be a Field Guide with one having potentially lost their life." Brent snorted. He crossed his arms, his face serious.

"There is no ’potentially’ Kellen. There is no way Carter Scott made it out of that gate alive. He’s only half of the Field Guide I am, maybe a sliver of the one you are. He’d need a miracle to survive in there." Kellen humd quietly, not fully agreeing with him, nor disagreeing either.

"If they can’t match his D.N.A. to any found, they are going to have to declare him M.I.A. When the next scout team goes in, they will have to look for him." Kellen said, and Brent snorted again.

"Don’t make laugh. No one would risk their life to search for another lost in such a dangerous gate." Kellen cleared his throat at Brent’s tone, and Brent glanced at him. Kellen raised an eyebrow.

"I have, and I will do so again. Who do you think did the most search and rescue ti outside of Ms. M?" Brent rolled his eyes at Kellen’s words.

"Yeah, but you have a hero complex. You want people to like you and think you’re a good person. I’ve never had those thoughts." Brent shifted slightly, and Kellen stared at the other man.

He had a feeling Brent was lying. He knew, because there were several tis he’d seen Brent desperate to save others while in the gates. If he was as bad of a person as he was pretending to be, he never would have had the expression that was etched into Kellen’s mind. Such deep, deep, concern. His face torn, his eyes watering, and his voice loud and aggressive as he called for them to move.

Brent was the kind of person, who would give you his arm if he thought you needed it, but he would never acknowledge that he was the one who gave it. He was foolish like that, and it was one of the reasons Kellen had kept him by his side. It was also one of the reasons that had him worried if Brent was actually his friend, or if he even liked him. He was a nice person, he could be lying.

Kellen’s Mom ca back at that point, this ti being trailed by Kellen’s Father, who gave each Guide a warm hug, and a big kiss on the cheek. Brent was flustered at the treatnt, while Kellen took the affection with ease. He would never take for granted the way his parents treated him, and enjoyed taking pleasure in it.

When the Captain ca over to say hello to Kellen’s Father, he got the sa treatnt, along with scolding about how deep his dark circles were. The way the Captain laughed at the parental affection made Kellen’s chest ache. He had no idea why, and rubbed the spot tenderly, his expression soft as his Father pretended to hold the Captain by his ear to give him a proper scolding, and the Captain’s expression was open, and happy. When his gaze t Kellen’s, it didn’t change, and Kellen swallowed.

He spun, going to find Casper to talk about the plan he had discussed with Brent.

It was easy to get Casper to agree to the Field Guide’s plan, since he was also of the sa mind. It just wasn’t feasible, with everything going on, and with Gunther away, for them to manage everything on their own. The Captains were going to need their higher ups help, and with Kellen only being a week into the Guild, he couldn’t do much, but he was still helping where he could.

He was a support beam during a ti where no one knew what was going to happen next. It wasn’t lost on Kellen that Casper, Hill and even the Captain ca to him to chat about their concerns with the gate when even Kellen wasn’t sure what was going on. All he’d had was a bit more information then the regular population.

That was it.

But sohow, that was what Casper said was needed. Casper got his assistant, Guide Anderson, working on rescheduling the training lesson, and it seed like a burden was lifted off of his shoulders.

The two of them had taken a break from being in the stifling conference room and had gone down to the coffee shop for a much needed caffeine break. Kellen was on orders to pick up caffeine for the others on the way back up, but for now, he sat across from Casper near the windows in a set of soft, worn couches.

"This works out. I was worried how tired they were going to be after their lesson, but now I don’t have to worry. They can get right to their guiding sessions with the Espers who are coming back tonight." He muttered, and Kellen chuckled.

"Then it is a good thing we postponed it. Brent and I have every intention to run them ragged in the first lesson as a test to see if they can manage to even be a Field Guide." Casper cast a glance towards Kellen, before shaking his head and pushing up his glasses by their silver fras.

"I shouldn’t expect anything less from you. You kept up with Gunther and Hill on the obstacle course, and everyone sang your praise on the front lines and cursed us that we had your practically perfect pair. Or at least, that’s what Pala tells ." Casper cast a grin in his direction.

"The Guides that are doing the Field Guide training, are they still doing their regular load?" Kellen asked, and Casper shook his head.

"Slightly reduced, but hopefully manageable. They are supposed to keep Guide Anderson and I in the loop. Make sure that they are doing well ntally as well as the Espers." His words struck a cord inside of Kellen, who gasped. Casper blinked, before paling. "What?" He demanded, suddenly worried and Kellen smacked the palm of his hand with his fist.

"I almost completely forgot about sothing I was supposed to bring up to you." Kellen said, and Casper exhaled, placing a hand over his heart.

"You never gasp, so you nearly gave a heart attack. I thought sothing terrible had happened!" Casper protested, before eting Kellen’s thoughtful gaze.

"Well, I can’t say that nothing bad is happening. I have a question for you, and this isn’t ant to be accusatory or anything like that, but," Kellen wasn’t sure how to word it, now that he was here. Casper, not curious because Kellen hadn’t totally thrown away the idea that it could have been a serious topic, moved closer to the other Guide.

"But?" He prompted, and Kellen sighed.

"I’m not going to phrase this well, so don’t get mad." Kellen warned. "But do you think that there are so Guides who work in the Guild who might discriminate against Espers of a Class lower than them?" It was clear to Kellen that Casper wanted to refute that right away. Even so of the Guides around them wanted to refute it, but Casper closed his mouth and truly thought about it. "I’m not bringing this up for nothing. Soone told that they are worried that there are Guides here who would. Who are doing it." Casper’s expression grew dark at Kellen’s words.

"Who said that? Wait, never mind. I have an idea who did." Casper exhaled slowly, seeming to be upset. Kellen couldn’t bla him. If anyone ca to him to tell him that his people might be committing a hate cri, he’d be upset too. He watched and waited, letting Casper take a mont. He sipped on his tea while doing so.

Finally, Casper sighed again, before slouching forward, putting his head in his hands.

"Fuck. There might be a chance. Guide Anderson pointed out so odd discrepancies in so Guiding sessions recently, but I didn’t chalk it up too much. But with what you’re suggesting, it could be them underperforming, or not even guiding at all." Kellen’s face was just as grim as Casper’s as he ca out of his slouch.

"We better hope that isn’t the case. That’s a serious cri if it is." Casper nodded.

"A very serious one, with serious consequences." Casper agreed, before sighing again. "Is she being neglected?" He asked, and Kellen shrugged.

"Doesn’t appear so, but so of her friends might be. She didn’t know how to bring this up to anyone, but she was pretty angry about it." Casper chuckled.

"I can only imagine. She is your little sister. Who, by the way, is coming back from a two day excursion with her recruitnt group. She probably didn’t say anything because it was spurred at the last minute. Just a simple camping trip. Team bonding stuff." Casper offered, and Kellen smiled.

"She rarely tells everything, but I’m sure I would have heard about it once she got back." He said, and Casper smiled. Before he sighed and got to his feet.

"Well, shall we get back to it? You need to pick up the drink order, don’t you?" Kellen nodded, glancing over at the large stack of drinks that were piling up.

"You’ll help, right?" Kellen asked, and Casper laughed.

"Sure, I’ll help."