mental link;

[shri]

[ Knock-knock -

- or something like the creak of city gates of her wanting to reach out to anyone else in the hive that will respond. ]

( These ability we have aside from communication. I require a trainer for my own.

And a decent explanation of what they are and their pitfalls. I am not familiar with this kind of... magic. )

[ Yeah she can't think of another word for it. ]

Comments

[shri]

[ She starts laughing - she likes you Rust, you say the funniest things. ]

(Is that so? )

[shri]

[ She's confused and worried and - ]

( Aliens, what do you mean aliens? )

[sistershoggoth]

( Like aliens? We're surrounded by them. Species not from Earth, advanced technologies, shitty ethical boundaries? )

[shri]

( Well yes I -

- you have encountered these sorts of creatures before this... place we find ourselves in now? )

[sistershoggoth]

( Yeah, the bitch who ran the boarding school was an alien. She started it to raise lady soldiers to take over the world. Then another one of her species showed up and apparently they don't get along, so they stopped playing human and trashed the place fighting with each other. So I killed them.

It's a long shitty story. )

[shri]

[ She's somewhere between laughing and - she softens, he is too brave, too good in his heart and it's better if she just didn't - ]

( That... would not be advisable. I do not want you caught in my own squabbles in such a manner. )

[ Her own fight would be her own fight. She bend that much. ]

[wille]

( You know, all of ours seem specifically well suited to each of us. Makes you wonder, right? )

[ Makes one wonder if the symbiote had probed their minds to extract the essence of their desire for power. It throws into question the very definition of whether the skills were chosen, subconsciously or otherwise, rather than given. ]

( I think being a commander is as much about deciding what to do as it is about making others want to do it. Seems to me you've got the second bit down pat. )

[shri]

[ Well the one part she is able to follow is that Annie is... young, and that someone had taken advantage of that and then... it had been dealt with. So to that at least comes with a gladness at least of that notion.

She really has too many people to hunt down as it is. ]

( Good. She should be put down for that. )

[ Shoves it through, unforgiving in her condemnation and easy in the praise for it. ]

( And no one has done anything like that to you since, here? With these... other aliens. )

[shri]

[ She laughs for that - its praise she not sure she deserves, really, she has caused plenty of trouble here already, from the minute she arrived and on wards. ]

( - what gave you that impression? )

[sistershoggoth]

( You mean aside from having a telepathic parasite implanted in me? Nah. )

[wille]

( Your ability, for one. )

[ And Misato is liberal with her compliments when she thinks them deserved. ]

( I like to think they're just extensions of what we already have. Something like -- like, turning our impulses into something tangible. )

[earthborn]

( Life's full of risks. I like you, and I wanna be friends, but I don't know you all that well just yet, and I don't know if I can trust you as far as I'd need to, to do this on the ground. )

[Shepard trusts herself, but she's also fought herself before. She can't be completely sure who'd win. She's honest because there's nothing else to be, not like this. Any excuse would fall flat-- this is about trust.]

( Strong emotions bring out instinctive responses. So we start where we start, and work towards a mnemonic standard, just like Biotics training. You wanna work with me or not? )

[shiro2hero]

(So... you can make people feel... anything you're feeling?)

(How long does the side effect last for you?)

[shri]

[ There's a grunt of she isn't sure how she feels about that. ]

( Perhaps. I am not sure how much I went in for convincing simply as acting. I always found words hollow, but I suspect that is the effect of... my wars. )

[shri]

( That is... something I suppose. )

[deployed]

( You can change your mind. )

[ But that's about the answer he expected. ]

[sistershoggoth]

( It's not worth thinking about any more. It's done. Time to just deal. )

[wille]

( Words have their uses. )

[ To goad and challenge and encourage and reward and lie. ]

( If you're anything like me, I found it useful to test how far I could go. We can start with that. )

[aluminumandash]

[ He snags briefly in her laughter, her not unkind laughter. Dry: ] ( Yeah, it's so. ) [ A newfound wariness tempers his drive to know. ] ( I think you'd better explain. )

[shri]

(Next you'll tell me the knights aren't real.)

[ The mirth is rich in her words as she carries on. ]

(I was able to invoke my own feelings in those around me, not of the hive. )

[shri]

[ There's a flicker - I like you. What did that mean? She wasn't sure. Friendship wasn't something a Queen could ever take readily, and a wanted rebel even less so. There's a hesitation. ]

( Alright, at your pace then Commander. We should have a back up plan, in case it all goes... untoward. )

[shri]

( It seemed about... twenty minutes or so? )

[shri]

( That seems a fair plan. I need someone to test it upon, however. )

[earthborn]

[Her only thought is, perhaps to have a third watching them, able to report back. They only ought to find trouble if they chose to influence one of the Enemy. And if that Enemy were capable or noticing their interferance...]

( I'm open to suggestions. )

[shri]

( ... I have a thought. )

[ And boy does she sound miserable. ]