mental link | day: 006

[shri]

[ Her options are at this point, are brood up how much she wants to kill Damon and Elena, or get on with work. She didn't do so well at brooding, though her mind is still so new, so sharp and edged and not kept inside of herself. But in this case, a fire trying to find new kindling to keep itself going. Her own impatience and frustration are evident. But when isn't she anyway - ]

( I was informed when I arrived that we need to be ... ascertaining particular pieces of information.

Have we begun such? If not, should we not begin planning to reconnoitre? )

[ She has already plans, but even so, if it's already been done - well, she's happy to be told if it means she doesn't have to go chasing her own tail. ]

( And does anyone know how to use these - light books - that has the time to show me? It keeps flashing at me and I cannot make it stop. I think it wants something. )

[ The data pad, she means the data pad, she's grouchy at it for not! giving her! the things! she wants! Being a grandma in space is a trial. ]

Comments

[shri]

( Would it be better if I simply went and did it instead? )

[ Give apology rather than asking for an allowance. Oh, just give her permission to be that forthright. She'd be happier. ]

( The side. At the top. )

[wrackful]

[He doesn't answer on the datapad. Not in words. Instead there's a press at the edge of her mind, like an object being placed in front of her. Offered, but not forced: the knowledge on what that flashing means. How to turn it off.

He doesn't even acknowledge it as he carries on:]

( Are you asking for advice or permission? ) [It's a curl of amusement, tinged slightly incredulous.] ( You know no one's in charge here, right? )

[shri]

[ A knowledge that she lets guide her - that she puts side what is in her hands ( sewing, as it turns out ) to take up the datapad and how to turn it on to make it stop that flashing. Which as long as it does that, she sets it back down again and goes on with what they're talking - thinking ? - about. ]

( When no man is king, all men are masters. ) [ which is amused more than anything. ] ( Lest we sink into total, mostly useless, anarchy, I think it best to do what we can confer about. )

[ - A hover, she doesn't play games that kind of way. Or rather, she does, but with everyone having full understanding what they're getting themselves into. ] ( But in this case, I would rather know who I should take the time to call on, if the need arises. )

[ Which is to say, if no one wants to help her - that's fine. She'll just carry on as she does. But helpful to know if she ever has backup or not. ]

[wrackful]

( Yeah, you're not going to get a good answer on that one, either. )

[Who to call on. Who to trust to have your back. There was too much feeling, good and bad, swimming around for that to get a conclusive answer.]

( Conferring hasn't stopped the anarchy so far. Best you'll get is everyone arguing for a while and then someone doing whatever anyway. )

[Which is to say: she might as well skip to the end.]

[shri]

[ And she with no one here that she knows, nothing familiar and only what she loathes most, is looking to change that as quickly as she can. Forcing her way forward the only way she knows. ]

( Cracking skulls wouldn't have much of an effect, would it? )

[wrackful]

( If you want to make your headache worse, sure. )

[shri]

( How life can loose even its smallest pleasure.

I suppose nothing to do but power on otherwise, is there? )

[wrackful]

( Well, you could sit back and watch everyone fumble through it, but it gets boring. )

[There's a discordant chime, quiet under his irreverent tone. They needed to win this one, and everyone needed to be kept close, if not totally involved.]

( Just don't expect to get everyone in on whatever you're doing. )

[Better she chooses a few, a tighter team. If she knows any of the other Hosts enough for that yet.]

[shri]

( Sitting back is a crime I do not think I could ever be accused of. )

[ Selfishly, arrogantly, and to the end the great loneliness that comes not from ruling, but holding so many things together, she expects to do it by herself if nothing else.

She simply does not know how to go back. It spreads in a ripple, she will keep going forward, always. ]

( Well, if I must hold everyone to no more than themselves: what shall I count on you for? )</b.

[wrackful]

( Me? I'm in the talking squad. With "no diplomatic talents". )

[Both serious and not, a thread of some bitterness lacing the words. The bigger things he could probably be counted on for, he keeps to himself, mostly because he doesn't actually like the idea of being counted on for anything at all.]

( So I've been told, anyway. )

[shri]

( Ah. Better with your actions than your words? )

[wrackful]

( Let's just say the person who said that doesn't like being called out on her bullshit. )

[And has little to no idea of who he was. But then, he doesn't like explaining himself all that much. Now is only different from his arguments with Lexa because he isn't being pressed to prove anything.]

( I'm good at staying alive. )

[No matter what that took.]

[shri]

[ Ah - well, she had been warned of squabbles. Here they come then. Doesn't dig, right now. not the time or place. ]

( Well met, good-at-stayng-alive. I am Lakshmi Bai. )

[ ........... or she could make a dad joke that works too. )

[wrackful]

[That's... is that meant to be a joke? Murphy doesn't know whether to groan or laugh in disbelief.]

( It's Murphy. )

[John is a whisper somewhere underneath, never shed but rarely shared directly.]

[shri]

[ And by contrast, she laughs, always quick with it, fast as her temper. ]

( I will no doubt call on you soon. )