station72 | (CLOSED)

[ Ilde is not know for her comforting or tactful nature herself, so Lexa's silence is acceptable to her. It lets her deal with her own uncertainty, something she is well-used to and growing ever more adept at as this new phase in her life continues to challenge her abilities to adapt... She shuts off her thoughts about the water and just focuses on the task at hand. Ropes tied off, preparing to fight their way first into the lift and then down into its belly.

Flashlight shining downward, it seems to go on a long ways... ]

( This must have been quite a secret, to bury it so far beneath the earth. )

( It may not be just that. They may have been protecting themselves, as well. Naturally, something happened to change that. )

[What she means is that the way in has proven, despite the difficulty, that they are likely no longer safe. If it were this easy to get into Mount Weather (and comparatively, it is), then the people there would have died long before Clarke managed to decimate them.]

( We may not be safe once we reach the inside. It may simply be a matter of ... there being hazards. Don't unhook yourself from your gear until we have a better idea. )

[ That was an idea that had not quite occurred to her, that they may have been hiding from something... Was that something they needed to worry about? Being found by their hunters? That seems a bit strange, that they would still be here... but it does agree with the idea that they may be stepping into something deathly. ]

( Understood. )

[ She goes quiet with that acknowledgement to focus on the climb downwards. She hears Lexa's feet hit the bottom before she truly realizes they've made it, torn between satisfaction and now new worries to contend with. ]

( What do you see? )

( Whatever made this ... inconvenient ... did not reach the door on the inside. [There's a sense of agitation as she strides forward, using her flashlight to see if there's any disturbance on the ground. The doors themselves don't look as if they've been opened for a long time, and she sees nothing that would get them to open.]

( How strong are you? ) [It feels important to ask before they unhook themselves to head inside. Brute strength will be required here.]

[ That is a good question. ]

( The symbiote has... changed things. I am not certain where my limit is. )

( Hence why I asked. It's much the same with me. I've trained to know my limits, but there are certain things that we can't test on the ship. ) [Endurance as a result of adrenaline, for instance. Lexa knows her physical limits from before, but she also knows she's hit them since.]

( This should be a worthwhile test. ) [Look, she's not about to turn back now. Might as well accidentally dislocate a shoulder along the way, right? It's ... science ... of an unscientific nature.]

( I will do my best. )

[ This is not polite response, she means such things. She comes to join Lexa at the pair of metal doors, they should be mechanized but with no source of power... They will have to pry them open. At least the gloves will protect their fingertips... ]

[Lexa's footing shifts before long. She knows the limits of her strength before, but she doesn't know them now. She's at least able to tell that there are physical limits, but again, she lacks the full breadth of knowledge she might have if she were at this longer. Still, she draws a knife, pressing it firmly into the place between the doors. That will give them some purchase to hold on to as they open the doors.

The elevators in Polis were like this, but not as ... well formed. Plus, she's never exactly been in the position to have to open them herself. There is that.

She looks over at Ilde, and after a nod, she begins to use her strength (increased because of being an Iota type) to drag it open.]

[ Ilde herself is no Iota, but the symbiote is not for nothing. She works harder for it, and gets less of the way there, but the opening they make is large enough for someone to slip through. She observes their results for a moment, listening for any signs of stirring on the far side. ]

( We can slip through and let this close behind us... That may make escape difficult. )

[ But what were they going to do to keep them open? Already the strain of holding this is beginning to burn in her hands and her shoulders. ]

[It's obvious that Ilde is straining herself more. Lexa holds open the door from her end. Pain shoots through her shoulders, but it sends adrenaline kicking through her veins. She doesn't want to be weak.]

( We may need to rest and attempt escape later. ) [It isn't the brightest of decisions, but she's beginning to sense that they have nothing to escape from.] ( Unless we can find something to keep it open on the other side. )

[ It doesn't seem so entirely stupid that they might find something on the inside of the door. That was how things worked, yes? It kept things out, but should be convenient from the inside. ]

( Yes. Let's try. )

[ She exerts as much more of herself as she can to edge it those few more inches, and then it is time for the pair of them to slip inside as the doors slide back into place, it is slow in their heaviness, but inevitable.

Breath strained but still under control, she shines her light down the tunnel, and it bounces back off the next set of doors... Disappointing, at first glance, but then... How many could there be? ]

[Now it's clear about why no one came down here. Her lips are tight with what lies ahead, as she quickly finds that they won't have much to utilize here. Inconvenient.]

Rest. [No one can hear them. She's certain of that much, and she would like to use her voice again.]

We'll start on that soon enough.

[Lexa wishes she knew what her ability was. It seems others have figured theirs out, but she's had little reason to. And heating things up won't help with the doors here—at least, not yet. Not at the level it'd be at. So, she won't be able to accidentally find it, either.]

[ She almost wants to argue, that they should just keep going, but... It will be to their disadvantage to exhaust themselves struggling their way inside. There was much more to be done. She forces herself to lean back against the wall of the tunnel and relax her back and her shoulders. ]

Your strength is greater than mine... You must be an Iota.

Body instead of mind, [she says, speaking what understanding she has of the matter. She moves to rest, finding a spot to sit cross-legged as she has many times before and will be found doing many times in the future. Both of her hands come to rest on opposite knees.]

It suits me. I've given every part of myself to my people.

[ Ilde is not quite so confident that her symbiote type suits her, she understands the way her power works better and better each time it activates but... Her life has always been very physical, very base. Why shouldn't Iota have suited her? She has no grasp of her own will, the force of an imagination that has had to cope with so much ugliness. ]

How did you... come to lead them?

[ That is most of what she has gathered of Lexa's situation so far, and she is curious how someone no older than herself came to have such responsibilities. ]

I was chosen by the spirit of the Commander who came before me. [The answer comes without any hesitation. How someone is chosen comes with more complications than just that: a fight to the death, as well as killing all the novitiates along the way. But the answer is the same in her mind. The previous Commander would not have let her make it to the end if she hadn't been the right choice.]

[ Ilde doesn't really question any of this, it makes as much sense as anything else from her own world, the ritual of it all, the violence, even without understanding in full she has a sense, a concept. ]

An honor. [ Well, Lexa takes it very seriously, Ilde isn't going to call it anything else. ] We did not have such a leader, in my caravan.

[ The first person she has mentioned this to, her childhood, the group of starving people she roamed with. ]

[Her gaze on Ilde is steady and curious.]

Did you have rules? A law of the land? Were you nomadic? [These questions come from two places: intellectual curiosity and the curiosity of someone who does wish to genuinely understand another. There are parts of Lexa that are shortsighted, but it's her thirst for knowledge (thirst to see and adapt her views in a broader sense) that makes her a capable commander. She could have been all brute force, but she isn't.]

[ She shuffles one foot against the ground, looking at nothing in particular. ]

The law of the land was survival, and obedience to the Godking. We roamed, as scavengers. There was nowhere fit to stay for long.

[ There was no real food, and should they attempt to stay anywhere for long, the shadow sons would descend en masse and tear it all apart. It was better to stay in small groups, better to keep moving. ]

And so this Godking ruled with fear, then? That is how he expected obedience? [Judgment leaks into her voice all too quickly. That's the conclusion she draws immediately. That Ilde would be forced to live that life isn't outside the realm of possibility. Her people do exile those who are deformed, and control most of the supplies that they might have to trade within the Dead Zone and beyond, but she would never demand that her people force nomadic individuals to always be on the move.

It would only anger them, and cause more problems.]

[ Difficult to explain the man, the shadow that hangs over her, eclipses her, wraps her up in darkness with the slow embrace of a lover. ]

He did not expect it.

[ He knew mankind to be unruly, pitiful and miserable and ugly. He expected nothing of them, and he cared nothing for them. They were animals, consciousness in a sack of flesh. Their anguish was the music of the world, and he had rended it from so many with his with his cruelty, with his overbearing strength, with his scorching fire, with his oppressive charisma, as hypnotic as a cobra. ]

He did not leverage fear, he was simply fearsome. He was too powerful.

[ Too powerful for what a man could contain, his cup ran over, boiling lava, drenching the world around him in ash and burning. ]

[Doubt rings clear through her mind. No matter what she's learned about abilities and alien species while here, and no matter how she's changed, she still has a difficult time envisioning someone with that much strength.

But she knows better than to speak to that, choosing to hold her tongue. What Ilde feels and believes should not be undermined, even if Lexa herself thinks she might be weakened by those beliefs. They cannot be changed so easily.]

Those who use their power to expect obedience do leverage fear, [she says finally.] It's all in how he chose to use the power. He believed he had to oppress. [Lexa knows she could just as easily throw her weight around without any additional ... strength, and become a tyrant. But she doesn't. That's a choice she makes, and her people follow her more easily because of it.]

[ She stares into emptiness. She understands what Lexa is saying to her, there was just so much more to Godking Dreus. So much that could not be explained in words, he was a being which overflowed with magic. Mere words were inadequate, and so she too decides this is not a topic for this moment. She inhales, stretching out her shoulders, ready to try again on the next door.

It moves a bit more easily and slides back into place more slowly... the one after it has half of one door missing altogether, the deterioration only increasing, until the end. ]

(CLOSED)

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