It was hard for him to miss the way his mood shifted almost on a dime, where one moment Regan had felt increasingly negative and down, he was starting to feel better and he didn’t entirely know why. Shrugging it off, he just accepted it and focused on the conversation again, though this time his answer sounded more like himself. “Maybe, I mean, we can hope for that, right?” Their science team really was brilliant, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility he thought. “Honestly science was never my strong suit, but they all seem like they know their stuff, so it might just be a matter of time before they start recreating things we’ve already lost.” There was still a faint hint of skepticism in his tone, but for the most part Regan sounded more upbeat, more like himself than he had earlier.
Was he really that obvious? Or was Toby just that good? Regan shrugged slightly and glanced at the ground for a moment as he tried to find the right words to explain himself. “Not so much uncomfortable as ashamed,” he began. “The Stones are practically like family to me, but I haven’t spoken to Kori since I got back….” There was another pause. “Honestly, I didn’t know how to talk to her, how to show sympathy for her loss while I was dealing with mine. Which fucking sucks, because Mike was my friend to, but I was so wrapped up in my own grief…I just couldn’t.” Admitting this out loud felt better somehow, like he was acknowledging his own failure for the first time. “So she’s ultimately saving your sanity, huh?”
As much as Regan liked to see the good in people, sometimes there just wasn’t any good there to see, and the other man was right in that vandals were all the same. “You would think the end of the world would have changed them, but sadly you’re right, this vandal isn’t any different from the vandals I used to run across on the job.” And this whole search for who was doing this kind of reminded him of old times, back when he done this for a living. “No, it’s not out of the realm of possibility,” he agreed, trying not to let his pessimism overtake the conversation again. “After all at some point you have to figure this place has hit rock bottom, right?”
Right, the telepaths. Regan forgot sometimes that they had a few of them around the compound. Wasn’t Rae’s cousin one of them? “We could,” he replied. “I think Rae Alghren’s cousin is a telepath, but I’m not sure who’s got the lie detecting ability,” Looking back on things, he wondered if maybe it would have been wise to get people to disclose what ability they had developed, if any, but it was too late to do that now. “Thanks, I could use any help I can get on this.” Beyond what help he already had anyway.
Regan laughed slightly. “Real annoying, honestly,” he surprised even himself by going along with the joke. Huh, maybe talking to Toby really was helping him out more than he thought. “People have got thick skulls and a strong desire to do whatever the hell they want, so I suppose your right in that all we can do remind them over and over.” he smiled slightly and waved off the apology when Toby gave it. “Don’t be, I really don’t mind it.”