mental link, v important questions;

[narcissithstic]

(Tell me, have any of you spoken to Cathaway within the last two months.)

[The newer Hosts are the most likely suspects, but perhaps through the link—

Perhaps he feels nothing not because of distance, but because she's chosen to keep him locked out. The possibility is a nagging itch at the base of his skull; he'd rather know for certain.]

Comments

[wrackful]

[And that catches his interest.]

( So she doesn't know what we're doing here. )

[narcissithstic]

(She isn't blind.) [He'd seen through her eyes, after all. The multiverse, its networked threads and how they spiralled down, down, down to the marrow—

Even this, his desperation painted in whatever light she chooses, is likely already noted.]

(But she cannot guide us. Our choices are our own, for better or worse.)

[A beat, and then:] (—And too many here can't be trusted with that kind of power.)

[wrackful]

( Yeah, sooner we all turn into mindless whatever the hell she is the better, right? )

[Disdain under cold sarcasm. It's more than Murphy would ever really admit, but choice being taken from him is an old scar ripped open far too many times.]

[narcissithstic]

[That, at least, he can understand. Still—]

(She isn't mindless.)

[The Force, the Nest, even life itself to those wholly devoid of sensation or sentient thought is never a matter of complete, sterile isolation. If it were, he might have been happier— or exponentially more miserable.] (Existing as a part of something greater doesn't always mean surrendering yourself to it.)

[Passive service was the Jedi's path. One that was nearly forced onto his shoulders without consideration or kindness.] (Let no one tell you otherwise.)

[wrackful]

( And you know because you knew her before she got the bug in her head.

Tell me, was she already talking "we" and "this one" back then? Did she actually want any of this, or did she get the same bullshit only-way-to-survive deal as the rest of us?

And don't forget the bells or whatever she wears, I really want to know what that's about. )

[narcissithstic]

( I've seen through her eyes; she showed me, shared it with me. ) [For Ren, that was enough.]

( If you need an example as to what the opposite looks like— someone that chose differently and survived— look to Prince. He's as selfish and removed as any one of us, and he is part of her -brood-. )

[wrackful]

[Nothing about the bells, then. Shame.]

( So you saw what she wanted you to see. )

[And from a point that where it would be impossible to tell what or who she really was before. But this guy was obviously eating it up with a spoon, so pointing that out would probably be a waste of time.]

( Didn't meet any Prince, but I guess it's good to know we don't all have to end up like that. )

[And to have another name to keep note of.]

[narcissithstic]

(I live through the eyes of my enemies— my allies— whenever I want. I know what it feels like to see the truth, just like I know when I'm being -lied- to.)

[A flicker of intensity, something like a heated spark: is it anger or adrenaline that has his heart beating faster for a short handful of seconds?]

[wrackful]

[Crazy? Maybe, maybe not. Murphy has a long list of reasons why he doesn't want to be here, and he can definitely add "being able to know for certain when people are talking nuts" to it.]

( And you think everything here is going to be exactly the same as whatever the hell you're used to. )

[narcissithstic]

(Yes.) [Said ever so simply.] (Why wouldn't it be?

Should I expect less? Cower more? Fear every corner just like every close-minded host that would rather lie down in their own discomfort than accept the possibility of something greater?)

[Hosts like Steve Rogers or the newly arrived Paladin child.

Are you one of them, Murphy?]

[wrackful]

[If it's possible to feel the universe's biggest eyeroll through a mental connection, that's exactly what Ren is getting right now.]

( Yeah, I wasn't talking about cowering. I was talking about realising we're all up to our necks in alien crap. Assuming any of it's going to be the same as what you're used to sounds like a quick way to get yourself killed, but maybe that's what you're going for. )

[narcissithstic]

(To me, it isn't 'alien'.)

[This time the thought isn't judgmental or livid: only an admission of fact. When you've lived with the universe in your head, too little becomes too bizarre to swallow down.]

(But I wouldn't imagine someone unfamiliar with the Force to understand that.)

[-oh never mind, there's the arrogance.]

[wrackful]

( So you already had a bug in your head. Did they take it out to put the new one in, or have you got two in there now? )

[narcissithstic]

(The Force isn't 'a bug'.)

[Does he sound snippy about that? Because he's snippy about it forreal.]

[wrackful]

( Fine. Enlighten me. What is "The Force"? )

[Is he saying the capital letters wrong? Whoops.]

[narcissithstic]

[A long, considerate beat, and then:]

( ...How 'enlightened' do you want to be? )

[wrackful]

[The fact there's a need for that kind of clarification should probably give Murphy some caution. But he's in the groove of belligerent irreverence now, and doesn't see a need to jump out of it.]

( I don't know, you're the one who knows what it is. )