mental link: day 34

[erbier]

[ It is actually quite late when Ilde's soft voice moves through the hosts, her scent of smoke and earth. She is at a club somewhere deep in the city, dazzled by noise and light, something you are free to establish if you look for it. ]

( It has been suggested to me by a hacker named Y that I throw a concert to lure our bombers out again. )

[ This part is forthright, a statement of fact with no value attachment to it. ]

( I believe she is questioning who I really am. If I refuse this idea, I may encourage that. )

[ This may not be strictly true, but it is how Ilde has perceived their conversation. ]

( She seems to know something, but is it worth losing my guise? If not, how am I to refuse this suggestion and maintain it. I do not know if she is a part of the group who contacted us before. She may already know I am false and this is all a game. )


OOC: link & all threadjacking here very much encouraged!

Comments

[snaphiss]

( You don't honor the dead by becoming toothless. )

[Meanwhile, Mara's first response is always harshness.]

( There's no way to complete this mission without risk. It's better to know where it is ahead of time and minimize it. )

[adamance]

( Did I say we don't involve our teeth? I said we don't risk the rest of the mission. There's a difference between being forthright about our ambitions and being reckless. Being here is a risk in and of itself. )

[snaphiss]

( We're always at risk here, yes, so an attack could come at any time. If defense is your great concern, better the attack come when we're prepared and ready. )

[adamance]

( You speak as if it's only us and them. The attack won't be coming at the Bearings. )

[snaphiss]

( You can't know that for sure. No one can. )

[adamance]

( I see you have a knack for only seeing what you hope to see in my statements. There was another point there. Do I need to repeat myself? )

[snaphiss]

( Please do. Your commentary is so enlightening. )

[Mraow.]

[adamance]

( I'm not here to be petty. I can suggest a few other individuals who are interested in endless squabbling for little gain. Petre's name comes to mind first. )

[snaphiss]

( You clearly have a vested interest in repeatedly moralizing on tactical suggestions, yet I am the one interested in 'endless squabbling'? )

[adamance]

( Is it moralizing to suggest that we don't draw more attention to ourselves by killing citizens? If killing them would help us complete our mission, then so be it. I have no attachment to the people of this world. But it won't, and it will prevent the singularity that we came here to allow and preserve.

If we cause another death among our numbers, we will be weakened by it. Risking that is even less desirable, as we are all forced to deal with the aftermath of it.

But there is more than us, the bombers, and the people who might be at that concert. There will be many who aren't, but they will watch. They have been watching. We haven't been subtle. We have poor covers. We've placed the wrong Hosts on the wrong missions. We lack the information we require. And to gain it, we will have to take risks, but the risk you mention may shut down our operation and return us to the Station for another round of chastisement.

So do tell me again how I am moralizing at you. )

[batmotif]

(You don't honor the dead by being reckless, either.)

[Guess who's putting in his two cents, this guy here.]

[snaphiss]

[Mara realizes she has no idea how she would honor the dead. Revenge, once, was her answer, but she knows now he was never worth avenging. So... time to lie? Sort of.]

( We don't honor the dead on my planet. )

[adamance]

( The dead are gone and the living are hungry.

Your suggestions do not consider the living, either. )

[Did she just quote herself?

Yes, yes she did.

Arrogant commander at her best.]

[snaphiss]

( What's your name? )

[adamance]

( Lexa kom Trikru. )

[The full name, sans title. There's a sense that she would normally give less of it in a more casual situation, but she's gone from "not harsh" to "tense" fairly swiftly.]

[snaphiss]

( Mind your own business, Lexa from Triku. )

[adamance]

( I am inside your head. )

[snaphiss]

( I am unpleasantly aware of that, believe me. )

( Can you perhaps keep your presence in my head to a minimum? )

[adamance]

( Don't give me cause to give you my attention. )

[batmotif]

[Bruce can't imagine what it would be like to not honor the memory of those lost, given that loss is a trait that defines him -- but given he doesn't want to go into that, he pushes past it.]

(Even if that's the case, we should at least treat the lives of the living as more than bait.)

[snaphiss]

( So you would never purposefully put the lives of yourself or others in danger for greater gain? For a greater mission, I mean, not out of pure selfishness. )

[batmotif]

(No. Not the lives of others.) [Note the omission there.] (We don't need to rely on desperate measures anyway. There are other leads to follow.)

[snaphiss]

( We don't need to choose one lead over the other. )

[But.]

( But if we had to, I would go after the commissioner rather than this, yes. )

[batmotif]

(Plans are underway where that's concerned. I intend to pay her office a visit.)

[snaphiss]

[Time for a less public venues!!! Mara switches to contacting him directly, boop.]