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

[narcissithstic]

( Survive. )

[Whatever steps are necessary to ensure it, whatever it takes to ensure their proven enemies aren't controlling their every move.]

( Everything else, you'll deal with along the way.)

[Whether she hates the Nest or comes to terms with it, whatever she might think of him or Cathaway - all of it is less important than guaranteeing they all continue to draw breath.]

[greentech]

( Don't worry, I plan on surviving. I've still got way too much to do to let this stop me. )

[ She's definitely determined. She's still not that happy about what's going on around her, but she's also not super hostile. ]

( You seem to have thrown yourself right into. Any reason for that? )

[narcissithstic]

(I can't go back to what I left behind.)

[The First Order in shambles, the Resistance clawing their way up from the rubble while the Senate chokes on the ashes of what it once was. Besides, Snoke was weaker than Cathaway; he had less to impart.

As he would have replaced his apprentice with the Scavenger, Ren does the same in turn.]

(But the Nest has power. The sooner it's utilized, the sooner we can put an end to those that hunt us - and use that strength to bring change when we return to our own galaxies.)

[greentech]

( I don't need the Nest's power, though. I already HAD it. )

[ Sort of. It's a complicated story. She just knows that she had a responsibility and a 'job' of her own, complete with a giant robot. Maybe the Nest does have power, but she didn't need it and she doesn't really think she does now, either. ]

[narcissithstic]

(It didn't save you before you were taken.)

[Offhandedly. Curiously, even.]

(You said you had people that needed you.)

[greentech]

(I do. What's it matter to you? )

[narcissithstic]

(Do you really think the strength you might find here wouldn't help them?)

[greentech]

( I know I'm not helping them by sitting around here. )

[narcissithstic]

(How young you are.)

[How unbearably impatient.

Was he ever so impulsive? Yes]

[greentech]

( What does that have to do with anything? )

[narcissithstic]

( Everything, if you don't see the benefit of what you stand to gain here. )

[Hux would be better suited to this conversation. Better suited to giving advice, guidance - Ren, on the other hand, knows only blunt sincerity.]

[greentech]

( I'm losing time is what I'm doing here. )

[narcissithstic]

( Not as rapidly as you might think. )

[She arrived after Anakin Skywalker's death, too late to know either him or his loss. A full explanation would be pointless, but...] ( My grandfather was here, briefly.

Before the Nest's enemies killed him. )

[greentech]

[ Oh. Right. She'd sort of heard that someone had ended up dead. She's a bit more muted. ]

( I'm... sorry. That must've been hard. )

[narcissithstic]

[To her apology, he says nothing; she wasn't involved, she couldn't understand, and more than anything else, it's not her burden to bear.]

( In the galaxy I left behind, he'd been dead for thirty years. Here, he was a child. A man so young I hardly recognized him.

Time isn't what it once was. Not here, not there.)

[A beat, and then:]

( Take this opportunity for what it is. )

[greentech]

[ Well, that actually matches up with something she's been suspicious of ever since she met Shiro here. Good to have that confirmed. ]

( I'll think about it. )