(BACKDATED) DAY 36

[decommission]

[ Hello, friends - have a polite knock on your mental doors. ]

( Sam and me did some more digging on Ngozi trying to work out her angle in all of this. Pretty sure we can rule her out as a secret H+H1 fanatic - whatever's making her act extra shifty seems like it started around the first bombing at the warehouse.

That's about when Ven started acting awfully cagey too. ) [ But they couldn't get past his security to find out what he was hiding thanks to the second bombing.

A pause. ]

( Anyway - I've got the holo-things and articles on a screen out in the living room if you wanna take a poke at them. )

(( OOC: More detailed info is here! ))

Comments

[decommission]

( You're going with him? )

[ If it's tailing from afar he's not too worried. ]

[vocalis]

Yes. In case he's caught, I can cover our tracks.

[ He doesn't think they'll be stalking too closely, but he figured it would be better to have an escape planned. ]

[decommission]

[ Huh.

With interest: ] ( How? )

[vocalis]

Um, well... first I'd try to use the job I'm under cover with here.

[ He doesn't elaborate. It's kind of embarrassing. But if they're caught in a public place, maybe he can use his being an escort as an excuse. A couple innocently looking for somewhere private in place they don't know they're not supposed to be...

Aoba has to snap himself back out of it before getting too lost in that scenario. ]

But I can also control people with my voice... and I can destroy parts of another person's mind, like memories.

[ Somehow discussing this is much less concerning to him than the first plan. ]

[decommission]

[ AND YET it's deeply concerning to the person on the other end of this link. The connection hums, agitated. ]

( Destroy permanently? )

[vocalis]

Y... yes.

[ That's usually what destroy means, especially in the context of minds. Brain damage is irreversible. Aoba doesn't like thinking of it this way, but that's ultimately what his powers are.

Destructive. ]

[decommission]

[ He needed to hear it again just to be sure he's understanding right what's being proposed here, as though it's difficult for him to wrap his head around. His side of the link is silent at first, a thin, humid thread of nausea slipping through.

There's a hard edge to his voice when he responds. ]

( I know we've gotta avoid being seen, but you can't just dig around in someone's head like that. )

[ Destroying parts of them. ]

[vocalis]

[ Aoba mentally balks. As someone who can dig around in someone's head - anyone's head - he hardly thought of a little memory erasure as such a drastic move. ]

I- I'm not digging around-!

[ He takes a moment to collect himself. Jumbled thoughts and instinct reactions stop, rewind, pause. Now play it back. ]

I know my ability is pretty harsh, but I don't want to use it to hurt anyone. Like I said, it's a last resort thing kind of thing.

[decommission]

[ Another long pause before the link between them settles on his end, the hard edge and troubled focus steadying back into its normal base line. ]

( Alright. ) [ I believe you, is the undercurrent there. He's been given plenty of reasons not to trust certain folks around him lately. Letting those reasons cloud his ability to judge other people individually, allowing himself to jump to conclusions - that wouldn't be right.

There's not much else to say after that, though, and from his side he lets the conversation stop there. ]