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. ]

[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. ]

[perroquet]

[ He likes the feeling of her - reminds him of days spent traveling from one end of the continent to the other in search of another bounty. The good ones, anyway. ]

(Just Aloy then. Well Aloy, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this mission and any skills you bring to it, either in person later or now if it suits you.)

[ Her thoughts will be open for the rest of the Nest to pick up on should anyone else care to listen, and Gildor makes no effort to hide that. Only his song is focused on her, the rest of his mind open, vast, and incredibly dark. It would be unsettling if not for the sense of normalcy in it. ]

[huntsmachines]

( I don't know that I have many thoughts. We're being led around practically blind--I'm not sure what's going to end up happening, but it definitely makes me a bit nervous. I'm going to try and do what I can. Mostly I'm a hunter, a tracker. A warrior. The spy stuff isn't something I've done much of. )

[ It's nice to just talk about work, as it were. It's something to keep her mind off other unpleasant realities. ]

[perroquet]

(Ha, well, being blind I suppose it does feel a bit like that, yes.)

[ There's a dip in his tone, but no bitterness to the words. Just an amused sense of relation to their current situation. The music of his mind continues, light and cheerful as ever. ]

(Now don't count yourself out there! I'm sure the skills of a warrior will prove useful despite our need for discretion. It's nice to know there is a hunter among us when we are, in a sense, hunting for this mysterious enemy.)

[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.)

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. ]

[greentech]

( We have loads of anti-social people. S'not that surprising... )

[ Pidge yawns again. She's a bit wiped out. His concern is touching, even if she's not sure she really needs it. ]

( Mmm, that's OK. I'd rather just... sleep under my own power. No offense. )

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. ]

[perroquet]

(Good thing I've worked with loads of anti-social people before, just... not like this, and not with so many at once. Though I'm sure it will all be fine.)

[ Charisma can't be everyone's highest stat, and Gildor has found himself covering that ability for entire parties before. If he's got to break the ice with this one, he may as well shatter it and hope for the best. ]

(If you're sure, none taken. Rest. I'll save you something from the breakfast tent.)

[ The dark shadow of his mental shadow and sound of his voice grow distant as he yields the connection. ]

[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]

[ The sound of the voice seems fitting, and the goodwill he radiates quickly turns to amusement - brief and fluttering like a flute. The pushing and shoving and imaginative suffocation is already forgiven. ]

(I won't - save for emergencies. You have my word.)

[ The amusement fades, because as he thinks the words he means them, commits to them, in the old way giving your word used to mean something. He then settles back to that gentle warmth as the dark expanse of his mind reopens, quieter this time, and makes itself welcome should this host wish to meet more properly. He already introduced himself, so he waits. ]

[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.)

[aluminumandash]

[ He's suspicious—of the dark and its uniformity, of the warmth and the part of himself that's drawn to it. There's a stiff-backed reticence that's also a form of alertness. ]

( Rust Cohle. Lately of Louisiana. ) [ His drawl more pronounced now, the last three words like sweet tea, saccharine and then bitter. ]

( You break your word what happens, Gildor Helyanwe? )

[perroquet]

(Well, I suppose then I'd be dishonest, and that wouldn't sit well with me. Honestly.)

[ As if to prove his point, he continues. And continues. And- ]

(And if we're being honest, then I must admit I'm really Gildor of Helyanwe. Esterport is just where I made my musical debut and feels more like home. Though if I were to also say lately, then that would be the Greenhill Temple of the Artist. I've been their pianist the better half of the last decade, though really violin is my specialty-)

[aluminumandash]

[ What can be said for this is: it's familiar. He can't tell if it's nerves, some kind of ploy, or the guy's fucking around. Maybe he's one of those people who just can't take the quiet.

Resignation on Rust's end, a mental sigh. ] ( You've never heard of Louisiana. ) [ An observation. ]

( Your training, it's exclusively musical? )

[perroquet]

[ Answer D: all of the above. ]

(No, I haven't.)

[ Likewise, he can assume Rust hasn't heard of any of the places he mentioned. So far no one has.

He settles in comfortably for the interview, the dark and warmth of his mental presence continuing to radiate softly. As if to answer, the music picks back up too - gently, gently. ]

(Musical and magical. I'm a bard, not a plain musician. Though I take it you do not know of bards?)

[ He'll wait to ask this host, this rusty man, too many questions of his own. After how badly he reacted to that entrance, Gildor suspects he's one of the 'anti-socials' Pidge warned him of. ]

[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.]

[perroquet]

(However a host would like me to, if they make it known. And I guess I did put myself first...)

[ He's hardly guilty over the action as a whole, though individual apologies are being issued where deemed appropriate. So far recipients include a sleepy Pidge and very irritable Rust. ]

(I'd just like to get to know who it is I'm connected to is all. If no one will break the ice then I have no qualms with shattering it.)

[ Speaking of, they're getting off point- ]

(I don't believe I got your name.)

[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? )