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]

[ There's a mental crackle of her thoughts. Already churning, already working through it. The burning that sits low as she takes the problem into her hands. One more bit of kindling - ]

( Do you know how to play courtier, sir? )

[aluminumandash]

[ It's subtle, maybe the subtlest thing he's picked up on since they'd peeled off the top of his skull. Rust listens, to start, is beginning to grasp—he opens his eyes—that he's feeling her think when she reverts back to words.

A pause, and he composes himself. ]

( I'd say it's safely in my repertoire. My courtly manners might need some shine, which I trust you'll provide. )

[ But all that's just preamble to: ] ( What are you thinking? )

[shri]

( I have been advised that it would be beneficial to us to get in contact with the Seconds.

Guards, I have a volunteer or three for, but it would see strange if I merely went alone everywhere. )

[aluminumandash]

( You work fast. ) [ A glimmer of what might be approval, might be admiration. And readiness: so do I. ]

( Who will you be? ) [ Riding the edge of teasing: ] ( Yourself? )

[shri]

[ It's an almost feeling of being pleased - that's what she likes to hear. She's usually moving too fast for half the people she knows. ]

( Only if I have a husband at my side. Are you offering? )

[ Happy to be teased, and more than happy to tease back. ]

[aluminumandash]

[ Recoil, as from a gun—a hard kick, deadened bodily. I don't play house hums through the link.

Almost overlapping, the thought's sudden crispness at odds with Rust's placid drawl: ] ( I wouldn't go wedding yourself to more than one lost cause at a time. )

[ Later, maybe, he'll think about this in a context other than himself. Think about what her husband must mean to her. ]

[shri]

[ And at once, at the sharp kickback of his reaction: she laughs, rich and quick. Rippling all the way through her thoughts. It's an easy thing, hadn't meant quite that, but it was certainly worth it for that response. ]

( Not in bond, but in appearance, sir. We don't have time nor resources for that kind of ceremony. )

[ Flickers with the image, of just such a ceremony. Of walking around a fire, being paraded accompanied in lines of elephants and horses and golden palanquins. ]

[aluminumandash]

[ The connection between them remains unchanged, but as she laughs Rust's presence recedes.

Like holding the phone away from your ear. ] ( I know what you meant. )

[ Her mental illustrations are striking. He can picture them on the page, shot through with gold. Something he could reach out and touch, if he wanted. Something that doesn't touch on him. ] ( Let me know when you're ready to move. )

[shri]

[ Her laughter quiets, if only to a rumbled happiness in her link. She has ever been quick to laugh. But even so, it's sure, steady, moving forward. ]

( When I have a solid plan, I will name you first to help. You have a sharp mind. )

[aluminumandash]

[ A pair of images, one-two like fingersnaps: a whetstone, a bottle broken on the edge of a bar. ]

( Much obliged. ) [ Lackadaisical but sincere. ] ( Anything I find you'll be privy to. )

[shri]

[ There's a sense of - bowing almost, that motion of appreciated acknowledgement. Held as equal, rather than lesser or greater. ]

( Here is to hoping we find much of anything at all. )