station72 | mental link;

[ the gesture, incorporeal as it may be, causes him to tense just barely. he's not exactly unwelcome to it, but does not, cannot, allow himself to appreciate it. ]

( Really? Different strokes for different folks, I guess. )

[ the implication sits and ripens in the sun. ]

( I'm beginning to realize my reasons belong on the fringes, but I'd rather be in the dark. I don't want to light a spark where I can't put out the fire. )

( Never. I have seen too much suffering because people are unwilling to acknowledge what is happening. I will never allow it to happen whilst I have a say in such things. )

[ In the way she thinks of all things as a extension of her own wars, her own knowledge, her own reasoning. her own shortsightedness, perhaps, that she is so much of this one state, this one understanding. The need to take it all and show it to the light, and if it burns in front of it, so be it. But she will do it. ]

( I'm in no position to blame you. But doesn't a person first acknowledge something before they make the decision to walk away? )

[ for as many people who suffer under blind ignorance, there are just as many who suffer under blind acceptance. as far as kaji's concerned. ]

( What is it? Your symbiote's power. ) [ she would not be amiss to notice his deliberate turn of phrase. ]

( Not in my experience. They would rather deny it right out, stop a person from even speaking if they can. )

[ There's a sensation of holding letters. In her hands as she shakes with a barely kept. It's a all too personal knowledge. ]

( I seemed to invoke my own emotion in others. Followed by a subsequent lack of any feeling in myself. )

( Permanently, I take it.)

[ he won't re-litigate the merits of leaving alone the symbiote and whatever special powers it confers. an old and comforting habit sees kaji drop his side of the argument with casual insouciance.

if he were to assign her power a title, he would opt for 'reverse emotional vampirism'. though he knows better than to use that turn of phrase with her. ]

( That could be the most powerful one I've heard yet. I'm inclined to keep my distance. ) [ only half-joking, and he doesn't bothering hiding the half that is serious. ] ( Emptiness? Or dissociation? )

(Misato insists it is fitting. )

[ it's laughed like it's light easy topics to talk about and to that her own defense if nothing is taken too seriously in her immediate presence, she can distance herself. ]

(Emptiness. Utter, complete. I felt nothing. Not love or hate, and no shade between. )

( Katsuragi? Hers is fitting, too, now that I think about it. )

[ somewhat misleading. he's thought about it before, thought it to death, and from his ruminations he has concluded that the similitudes between a host's natural gifts and their symbiote ability evince more sinister influences at play. easier to accept something when it is familiar. give it enough time, and you'll forget you ever needed the symbiote in the first place. ]

( Most likely I'm inviting disagreement when I say this, ) [ MUST BE NICE ] ( but that doesn't sound too bad. Not that you would be able to appreciate it in the moment, of course. )

[ She trickles bright with laughter over that - him too? ]

( Now you sound like Master Cohle. )

[ There's a shake of her head before she goes on. ]

( And for that, I have but the same answer. I am only as good as the compassion I have for those that I serve. Without that, I am nothing. )

[ Not the nest, that much is clear, she thinks. but her people. Those whom she serves. A mix of the sun-drenched people of her homeland, to the rain-logged starved and hungry of England. My people, comes the memory, the feeling, the utterness of purpose that is no more or less than the clock that ticks over, the sun that rises and falls, on and on and on, and I am theirs. ]

[ he doesn't quite manage to stifle his laugh. someone might have the mind to take offense to that, but kaji's been accused of much worse, much of it true. cast no mud at a pig rolling in filth. ]

( What you're saying, no compassion in the absence of feeling? Some scientists would disagree with you. )

[ a brief, thoughtful pause, almost as if she'd been put on hold while he reminisces about something or someone. but then: ] ( By the way, Master Cohle? Tell me, is it his hazardous good looks or his lone wolf personality? )

( Scientists I find, aren't in charge of governments and -- )

[ Whatever she means to say is quickly derailed.

What?

There's a freeze of something like an animal moving and someone had turned the lights upon it quite suddenly. She hovers, a step between thoughts and - ]

( - Neither. It is a term of address. It is shockingly rude to simply refer to someone by their name. )

[ So there! At least one member of this hive wasn't raised in a barn. ]

[ seeing that she's unbalanced by the quip, kaji smiles very quiety. it's the small things in life. ]

( If there's something you want to say about me, go ahead and say it. ) [ outside of a perverse pleasure in rattling a queen, nothing strange or accusing comes from his easy, disarming chuckle - it echoes from the depths of the connection between them. he'd been the one to refer to misato by her last name, after all, and he hones in on the discrepancy like a fox after a rabbit. ] ( If I remember correctly, Misato's name stood alone. Or maybe it's a male thing, in which case leave me out. It's even worse to refer to someone with a title that doesn't suit them, right? )

[ This is only fair when she's doing it to Rust. Or Elena. Or basically anyone but herself. ]

( If it was about suiting a title, Master Kaji, a great many Lords would never have their name names uttered with the reverence that comes with those positions. )

[ ... ]

( She is one of the few that I can speak plainly with whom does not grow offended. ) [ There's a pause, off a moment in the words between English and Hindi and Marathi like a flicker of half understood meanings and - ] ( He has a decent punch when I ask him to throw it. )

[ This isn't at all what she regards either of them for, and yet it is completely all of it. It will have to do for now. ]

[ what goes around, come around faster and harder. ]

( She tends to be like that, doesn't she. ) [ though if lakshmi is met with no offense in her attempts needle it out of misato, she's doing something patently wrong. he'll have to show her just how it's done. ]

( I see. ) [ said in a manner of someone who is 'seeing' more than what they might ought. ] ( Well done, Lakshmi Bai. ) [ said in the manner of someone who is serious about his irreverence. ] ( Do you return the compliment? He looks like someone who needs a good thrashing every once in a while. )

[ cough, cough. ]

[ She should be more upset but - it gets the better of her, as she begins to laugh, low and dark perhaps, but laughter all the same. She is someone ever quick to it. ]

( Bai Saheba if you're going to take that tone over it. ) [ the translation smooth in the symbiote, respected lady. ] ( It is merciful, that she lets me be so plain. Men can be so... fragile at times. ) [ Her own happy dig back.

Though the response, is perhaps, a little more fond than it should be, all things considered for someone trying to feign in ] ( He does, doesn't he? )

[ Which is to say, yes, she did, and oh yes, he did look good being thrashed. The flicker there, of the feeling of having her fist meet something solid, the strike that he blocked, the one she caught in return, palm to elbow, ankles hooked, the juxtaposition that comes as natural to any kind of combat, exposed and covered, wounded and moving. Contemplated instinct. It is to her - a odd sort of satisfaction to connect to something solid when she must deal with so much beyond her own experience. ]

( More fragile than women. )

[ much of human history stretched over the course of millennia is testament to that fact. but what is already understood need not be explained. ]

( Do me a favor, and put me on notice if it matures into something more. I can ignore Rust as he is, but I don't know if I can handle his more intense emotions. You know what they say about men like him. 'A dormant volcano waiting to erupt'. )

Edited 2017-09-25 13:03 (UTC)

[ And oh, if there isn't a better way of getting her to like you, she can't help as woman used to hearing quite the otherwise - ( the brief flicker of a deep male voice, of course you will never be capable quite as much as a man, you but certainly have merit ) - but snicker. ]

( Is that so? ) [ She hovers, a curiosity that sits that which she could play the game - how dare he imply, who does he think she is? But they are the required indignation of a woman still upon a throne, but here she is otherwise, and well and truly past those things. ] ( Should I ever coax the bit from his mouth, I will definitely forewarn you. )

( Ah, it's so. )

[ he likes to think himself a good judge of character, only because being so did not require or demand anything of him personally. the male alto echoes. ]

( Much appreciated. Though I don't think he'd appreciate our referring to him like a horse or a volcano... the symbiote has some uses, right? )

[ She shouldn't really but while she's here - may as well help him out since he certainly helped her. ]

( Some. He certainly dislikes being called 'husband' less. )

[ a quick, receptive laugh. rust's immune sensitivity to nicknames was nothing short of a grecian tragedy. everything about him invited diminutives and petwords, encouraged creativity on part of those with the pleasure of interacting with him. 'mr. holmes' was a verifiable bust.

matter of fact, kaji's unsubtle crack into rust's sexual preferences didn't go over well, either. ]

( Don't lose hope. It's only because he craves a softer touch. ) [ every heard of aftercare, lakshmi? kaji will run this joke into the ground then murder its whole family in cold blood. ] [ Darling, or honey. The word the Japanese use is 'anata' and 'omae'. Only in marriage does the word carry tenderness. Otherwise, it can be in bad taste. )

( He does seem... raw, at times. )

[ To say nothing of herself, but she wasn't fool enough to invite Kaji's opinions on her - she might be willing to wrestle a half-breed, but foolishness is putting her head in it's mouth. ]

( We prefer terms like 'piya', or 'aashiqui' in Hindustan. You do not do it too openly of course, it is meant for a private endearment. )

( Privacy. I like the sound of that. It's in short supply these days. )

[ if it was possible to think a wink into existence... ]

( That's probably what gives him trouble. So, keep him close to you. Closer than your fists. )

( I always do. )

[ She pauses - hovering on a particular topic and she doesn't mean to derail this conversation, it is after all, fascinating to her from a purely scientific point of view. But - ]

( You are... from a time after mine, aren't you? And a Japanese? ) [ Hovers, again on a further understanding. ] ( Like the young Master Shinji? )

Edited 2017-09-27 01:05 (UTC)

( 2015. )

[ no beats were skipped in the making of this segue. ]

( Shinji Ikari, Misato Katsuragi, and Asuka Langley Soryu. They're all from my world. ) [ he knows why she'd mentioned the name she did. it was elena he'd examined for deficiencies, annie who had given him something to worry about until she put swift rest to his wild assumptions. ] ( Shinji and you share a brood together. )

(1850.)

[ A slight lie, but the churn of numbers however that makes it somewhat believable. ]

( We do. Is there something I am missing that I should understand about privacy? He is not the only one but - I find I am not completely comprehending what others to find to be privacy? )

[ 1850. he's no historian, and he can't claim to a thorough precis of the era, but a few events come to his mind -the ansei great earthquakes. the taiping rebellion. the opium war. the indian mutiny.

a turbulent time by anyone's standards. it explains everything. ]

( Hm? Did you do something? )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject