Hello, it's me

[perroquet]

CHARACTERS: EVERYONE
WHERE: Hyrypia - The Swept Manor Grounds
WHEN: Morning of day 12
SUMMARY: Rudely calling like 80% of the Nest out for being cagey.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary.



(Hello! Am I doing this right? Hello!!! Good morning!!)

[ The red sun is hardly up, it's barely after breakfast, some of the members of the nest may still be sleeping - and this one doesn't seem to mind. He noisily floods the network like a one-man-band who just won the lottery, his very thoughts musical and abrasively cheerful. ]

(It's been several long days since my young broodmate and I joined you in this dustbowl, but I have yet to meet all of you properly. I understand we're working covertly, but you're all quite cagey for being connected in the head, you know that?)

[ There's either a slight tone of vindication, as though he believes most have earned this morning call for being so standoffish. Or perhaps he's just being loud because he's inexperienced with the symbiote still. Possibly both. It's hard to tell through the band playing behind every word. ]

(Most of you don't know me yet, but I want to get to know every single one of you. Since we have another day here, I'd like to get started. Here, I'll go first-

My name is Gildor Helyanwe, and I'm a bard from Esterport. How are all of you? Well I hope, not getting too hot, learning to ride those constructs?)

[ The band stops. Crickets chirp, though hopefully not for long. If he's left hanging, he has no qualms over striking up the mental orchestra next. ]

Comments

[greentech]

( Gildor, it is way too early for this. )

[ Pidge's sleep schedule is, like most teenagers, mostly nocturnal. The morning is when she crashes (if at all, depending on what she's working on). So her thoughts are fuzzy and addled and full of sleep, because Gildor basically just set off an alarm clock in her head. ]

[perroquet]

[ Of all the people he believes deserved this wake-up call, Pidge is not one of them. His tone immediately turns apologetic, and there's the sensation of hair being stroked as he gently turns down the volume. ]

(Oh Pidge, I'm terribly sorry - you've been the kindest, most open and helpful of everyone here. Please, go back to sleep a bit longer.)

[ The band quickly transitions and begins to play something soothing and sleepy for her. ]

[greentech]

[ The sensation is a bit weird, but it's honestly not the weirdest thing she's had to deal with before. So she sort of lets it be. Besides, she's still half asleep. ]

( S'ok. Probably needed to get up anyway. )

[ After like four hours of sleep. She can't be too mad at him. There's the mental equivalent of a yawn heading his way. Of course, the soft music is a nice touch. ]

( What's going on? )

[ Give her a sec to catch up. ]

[perroquet]

(Nothing really. We are here another day, so I'm heckling those who haven't yet said hello and trying to get a sense of the Nest's varying strengths.)

[ Her drowsiness is adorable, though her words unconvincing. Pidge should sleep. He will be able to talk to her more about her skills later. ]

(No no, I can come find you and cast something to help you get back to sleep if you like. Calm Emotions, Lullaby, or... actually just Sleep would probably be the best spell.)

[huntsmachines]

[ Aloy was already awake and despite some of the unhappy emotions she has going on, this rather cheers her up. There's an amused brush of the mind in return. ]

( I'm Aloy of the Nora. Nice to meet you, Gildor. Sorry I haven't had a chance to meet you in person yet. )

[perroquet]

[ A new voice. His mind is quick to commit it to memory. ]

(Hello Miss Aloy! Miss Nora? Or just Aloy? It's a pleasure.)

[ The amusement is sensed and returned not with a brush, but with more music - something more pleasant, catered to fit her voice and help him remember better. A soft swelling of woodwinds that call to mind the warmth of sunrise after a cold night. ]

(It is all well and good. We're meeting now, aren't we? It's best to get to know everyone we are working with to better function as a team, especially while operating covertly, wouldn't you agree?)

[huntsmachines]

[ The music is surprising to her and her delight only grows. She hasn't heard anything like it before. Certainly, she's heard flutes and drums and singing but woodwinds... never. There's a fascination in her now as her attention turns towards him a bit more fully. ]

( Just Aloy is fine. Well met. And you're right. We all have to work together here, it's better to know each other. )

[ She's certainly warm. Almost like a flame, though there's also something like a breeze whistling through pine trees or the glint of light on snow-capped mountains in her. Something wild and free. ]

HOW'S THIS FOR CAGEY

[aluminumandash]

[ From Rust, a feeling, a ripple—it surmounts annoyance, is too impersonal for exasperation. Agitation. An almost animal discomfort.

(A chain reaction, yolk yellow-asphalt-C sharp.)

He hasn't yet tried to push anyone out of his head, but neither has anyone tried to march their thoughts through it with a parade's worth of fucking fanfare.

So. First time for everything: Rust shoves, hard as he can. It's disorienting, comes with the frustrating sensation of struggling against something formless. Like challenging a bucket of water to a fistfight.

It doesn't take long to adjust his approach. He plots the limits of his thoughts, seals them precisely off. In his mind, the thought and feel of a vacuum, a space slowly emptying of air. Vibrations stilled; sound suffocated. ]

Very!

[perroquet]

[ Despite his forced entrance, Gildor is quick to cut the band for those he senses irritation from, or at least to soften it. No need for negativity over his little stunt - they can all be civilized, gentle- ]

(Oof!)

[ Annoyance was expected, mental walls sealing off their entrances, but not pushback. Not like this, desperate with the suspected intention of violence. It's disorienting for him as well - so much that he momentarily sways where he stands and holds his head.

The stranger's consciousness then seeks to suffocate him out, and it works - Gildor isn't fighting back, though the sound of his mental music dies down slowly and stubbornly as invisible musicians continue to play despite the lack of imagined air. Muffled shouts of 'sorry!' and 'talk later?' call out among the dying notes of song. In their place a sense of apology, sun-lit warmth, and pacifism fill whatever small mental space he's still afforded. ]

[aluminumandash]

[ He can't sustain it, not for long. The seal breaks with a pop, and Rust seeps in—like ink, like a gust of frigid air.

His focus doesn't let up, not for the sun or the radiant goodwill. ] ( Don't do that again. ) [ A windswept voice, dispassionate. ]

[adamance]

( Were you hoping to anger the very people you haven't met just yet? )

[It feels like a worthwhile question, given everything that's just occurred. Lexa had been awake, but blaring sound in her mind is hardly welcome. Getting up this early is supposed to be of a benefit to her: it should help her avoid something like this.]

[perroquet]

(Hmm... not really, though I was aware that could be a possible outcome.)

[ And he still decided to do it anyway. He radiates sunlit warmth and gentler music, and the black expanse of his mind easily welcomes this new voice inside. ]

(If anyone's mad, I suppose I'll just have to make it up to them.)

[adamance]

( And how do you hope to do that? It's clear you considered the potential outcomes of this, and still acted on it. Either you put yourself first or you thought it would be worth seeing whether that would happen. )

[The lightness of how he projects himself leads her to believe that perhaps it was nothing so callous. It's impossible that he could both be new and control what others perceive of him, but maybe he has experience with all of this. It wouldn't be the first time.]

[hymnals]

[ Adra doesn't mind the aggressive cheer, nor the mental shouting. He's up with the dawn every day, and today isn't any different. The sheer volume of Gildor's presence is a slight deterrent to his meditation, though. ]

( I'm perfectly well, Gildor. )

[ The front-facing aspects of this mission were made for him--he's robed and spiritual all the time. ]

( What, exactly, do you think you need from us? )

[perroquet]

[ It immediately strikes him that this new mind is very, very quiet. That and he's being afforded a rare polite response. Like a wave from a conductor, he quiets the band in his brain to something softer before answering. ]

(Names to call you by, voices to remember, and if I'm being idealistic, less walls and more bridges.)

[ He ticks them off to the beat of a mental metronome, with a musical emphasis on bridges. ]

[hymnals]

[ Adra's mental landscape is light and heat, a swaddling warmth that radiates outward from a burning center. Something intense, but focused, restrained. ]

( We are all one with the universe--here, more literally than I ever thought possible. Yet the heart resists as much as it longs for connection. )

[ Matter-of-fact. He shrugs, going on. ]

( My name is Adrasteius. )

[ His voice is deep; stentorian. ]

[sistershoggoth]

( Are you gonna do this all the time? )

[ It's the creepy, rude bitch again... She has a presence like a tentacle monster, slimy and dreadful, echoing from the deep. ]

[perroquet]

[ Slimy, salty, tentacle monster. He quickly regards her with the sound of light and cheerful strings to counter the dread she carries wherever she lurks. ]

(No, not all the time.)

[ He'll reserve the mental parade for emergencies from now on. Or at least he'll make an effort to. ]

(Hello again Miss Annie. Are you feeling more sociable now that you've been reunited with your brood?)

[sistershoggoth]

( Egh. )

[ She doesn't like being reminded of that. She is earnestly attached to her brood, but did everyone have to rub it in her face all the time? Don't they know that she likes to keep an air of not giving a fuck? But, simultaneously, he was there while she was pitching a bitch, it's not like she can convincingly deny it. ]

( Yeah. They're important, the stupid fucks. )

[ Very beloved, also useless assholes that she couldn't care less about..... ]

[deployed]

[ Being startled out of sleep is not the way Bellamy wants to begin teh morning. There's an immediate, panicked spike of awareness in answer, which settles slowly into irritation. ]

( I was better before you woke me up. )

[ With noise??? Was that music?? ]

[perroquet]

[ Like with Pidge, he's quick to turn apologetic and cut the mental band. Maybe not as quick, since this new voice is not as adorable, but still - the mood shifts with the volume. Loud to quiet. ]

(So sorry. I can come back another time if it better suits you-)

[ Would you like to reschedule the concert, sir? ]

[deployed]

( Not with that music. )

[ Though he takes a breath, rolls over in bed while clearly giving up on the idea of going back to sleep. ]

( Does this approach usually win people over? )

[shri]

[ Thank God she gets up at dawn, anyway. But still - ]

( Must you? )

[perroquet]

(I must~)

[ There's a sense of mild apology in his mental voice, reserved for her out of respect for their brood - they have met, yes, and he should have avoided her mind in his call. Until he learns to create some sort of filter, something besides a thick wall, she will be caught in his music with the rest of them. ]

(Do you have any requests, Rani?)

[shri]

( Nothing I suspect you know, perhaps you should pick something I will like instead? )

[ Which is to say she isn't too cross with him. Because if she had her way with the hive, everyone would be up and training at first light anyway. ]