mental link, day 22

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Got some information for you guys - Annie was good enough to get some of her makeshift spycams going, and we set ‘em up with the leaders of the envoys. Activated them last night. )

[ There’s a curl of gratitude for those who went along with his plan, for those who spun stories or distractions or contributed to convincing the leaders of the envoys that the trinkets of Annie goo were part of a mourning ritual. Is he gonna talk about the fact that he basically disappeared after that until they boarded the airship? Nah. Instead, he jumps right into it. ]

( Didn’t get a lot from the Carpathans or the Meradans, unless you wanna know what the inside of Saridian Black’s room looks like or what other gifts people’ve been giving him, or see more of the Meradans trash talking each other while playing games.

Got the same Second that Annie saw last time, who’s friends with the Seconds I know, and this time he was with Ysiddia Cabrielle. He’s her son, and they were talking with a Second from one of the other Houses about the murders and the Circle having its work cut out for it when we get to the Red Coast.

And the Descendents - pretty sure we got a couple of them talking about the murders. They were wondering if “they” were discovered, who discovered them and what their intentions were - might have something to do with the last time we spied on people through Annie, and she saw the Carpathans that got killed talking about new friends. That, and blood debts and someone named Casiria, and that no one in Black’s retinue could know about it. Didn’t know this until a little bit ago, but guess what information got passed onto Black’s retinue? )

[ His mental “tone” is deliberately neutral there, but the difference from the usual warmth to his mental link is probably pretty telling. ]

( One other thing, about the circle that was found burned in the ground a while back when we were still running around on the ground and the tracks next to it - Rhan said the circle doesn’t look local, but the tracks appear Rabadocean. Hard to pin down more than that so far, except they don’t really match the Hypyrians. )

[ Is he fixating on that a little too much, to be thinking about it still? Maybe, but he's not gonna let it go. ]

Comments

[aluminumandash]

[ Rust listens, his thoughts clean and deliberate as pen strokes. Smooths Sam's retelling where it gets tangled in itself. He's heedful of the proffered analysis without taking it at face value.

A sense of steady pressure, emotions held at a brittle distance. ] ( When'd you find out. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam is - more stable than the last time they spoke. He's remembered that grief is a familiar companion and he knows what to do with it, stopped trying to withdraw into himself and go it alone.

He opens their connection more under the pressure, a silent offer to show Rust so he can see it for himself, if he wants. ]

( About twenty minutes ago. )

[aluminumandash]

[ Later. ]

( How? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Misato. She and Annie gave the info to Black. )

[aluminumandash]

[ He takes that in and it's onto the next question. Scarcely a pause. ] ( Who else knows? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Wow Rust way to make this feel like an interrogation. Sam takes it in stride, though, because at least it's better than the people who ignore it. ]

( Whoever else they told. Anyone who gives enough of a shit to listen to this instead of letting go in one ear and out the other, like a lot of people the last time I tried to make sure everyone was on the same page with what we know. )

[aluminumandash]

[ That's exactly what this is.

And were it another kind of interrogation, this might be where he'd say: I'm listening now. Let's get on the same page, Sam.

But it isn't, and Rust's less and less convinced Sam knows anything worth knowing. ] ( But you got no problem with them flying solo on this. ) [ He can't resist. ] ( They tell you how they got him the info? Not in person. ) [ Unsaid: I fucking hope. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ What the hell do you even want from him Rust, Sam's got no idea. He pulls his attention from the Nest at large to focus more on Rust, settling in for what he suspects is gonna be an extremely frustrating conversation. ]

( You mean like I'm their babysitter and I can dictate what they do and who they talk to before they do it? Yeah, man, I got a fucking problem with people meddling in politics that are none of our damn business and getting people killed. Not much I can do about it now except add it to the rest of what I've learned. ) [ This whole damn mission is a complicated mess of spy shit and meddling in people's lives that Sam frankly wants to be done with. ]

( They rigged up a thing to look like technomancy to drop off the info. )

[aluminumandash]

[ In turn Rust drops his fragile glass walls, and for a moment they glitter like an empty bottle smashed on pavement.

Behind them: unwavering scrutiny. He wants answers. Simple, impersonal. Other considerations have been swept aside. He won't be drawn into conversation, doesn't care what Sam thinks when what Sam thinks doesn't translate into action (except, except...but that's a long hall with no end in sight). ] ( Rigged it themselves? )

[ The barrage continues. ]

[greentech]

[ Hey, Pidge is just gonna chime in here. ]

( Uh, no. I think... I helped. I had one of those little bugs and I put it together for them so they could power it. I didn't know what they were going to do with it, though... )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ There's a sudden, sharp surge of anger as he hears Katie chime in, that anyone would use her like that - then he lets it go, because getting pissed isn't gonna help at the moment.

That, and he and Katie've had a tendency to end up in an anger feedback loop in the past. ]

( I just knew it was different from what Annie and I put together to give to the leaders of the envoys. )

[wille]

( I told him. I can tell you, too. )

[aluminumandash]

[ This is the first he's talked to her with any kind of walls in place. Fractured glass, ready to shatter on contact. Embed itself in something. They don't have to be strong to be dangerous. ]

( Now you've been caught out? Generous. )

[ His anger feels, above all, familiar. The blood that wells up when you bite your tongue. ]

( You put him up to this? )

[wille]

( Seriously? You're pulling a mood? )

[ She only barks at the wall with menace, belying any intent to breach it. Because to step in would be to let him in, too. ]

( I told him so he can tell everyone. It seemed more likely to be a constructive discussion, unless you wanna talk about the manner of delivery instead. )

[aluminumandash]

( You get two people murdered and I hear about it from a fucking mouthpiece? Yeah. Yeah, let's talk about that. )

[ There was the grind of the work, then there was this. Afternoons the rest of them rolled into CID back-slapping, smelling like booze. Complicity dressed up as camaraderie. Marie Fontenot, the blank-eyed look every superior officer seemed to have perfected, the one that said Are you fucking stupid? Leave well enough alone.

Let the dead rot, let's get a beer. ]

( Was this a fuck-up? ) [ Direct, the question boring into her. Judgment withheld. ] ( Can they trace it back to you? Lie to me, we're done. )

[wille]

( He's not a mouthpiece. )

[ Guarded. The cold, smooth surface of metal doors sealed shut to protect what fragile underbelly lying beneath it. She doesn't need him to know how the ultimatum affects her, if she refuses to even acknowledge it. But she isn't lying. ]

( Not a fuck-up. Annie found the two Carpathans plotting against Black to align with the Descendants using this Casiria as the go-between, one of them were hiding from him -- being found here may have been enough to get her killed. They joked about that, so they and we knew it was a possibility. I didn't expect Black to act so fast, and so crudely. )

[ So intentionally crude that it can only be a threat to those still living. ]

( They can't trace it back to us. We used one of the Hyrypian's bugs to deliver the note. Suspicion would fall to our hosts first. )

[aluminumandash]

[ He eases up, still taut with anger but less likely to snap. Less ready to turn his back on her. ] ( Alright. Let's hear your word for it. ) [ For Sam and whatever the fuck he's trying to do here, for whatever he is to her.

Rust's careful with the details, sorting the new information from the old. Prioritizing. ] ( It's them leading the investigation. ) [ A reminder, should she need one. Maybe Black destroyed it—the message, the bug—and then again maybe not. All Rust knows of the man is he's a killer. ]

( You're telling me there's nothing. You're sure. ) [ His focus is absolute. Yes or no. ]

[wille]

( I'm sure. )

[ She is nothing but the strength of her own conviction. He must know.

Where he eases back on his anger, she refuses to let down her guard yet. This is nothing but business, a conversation between cold and logical minds with no such thing as slights or treason to taint the air. There should be no possibility of them hurting each other. ]

( The question is, why kill them in full view of everyone? If it's about getting rid of them, this isn't it. I think it's as a threat to anyone who stands against Black, but also a warning to us. )

[sistershoggoth]

( You got a problem, fuckhead? )

[ The drunk bitch that no one really wanted representing this enterprise... For good, good reason... ]

( If you wanted shit done different, maybe you should have piped the fuck up the first time I alerted you assholes to what was going on. Now that it's Sam Fucking Wilson making the rounds you're suddenly all fucking interested? You can eat my fucking dick. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam honestly couldn't agree more, considering that's exactly what he just told Rust.

Or maybe it's just a little bit the lingering effects of Annie from the last time they brain fucked. Either way. ]

( It's a fucking habit with the Nest, it's happened every damn time someone tries this shit. But you can have him, Annie, pretty sure he just came in here to bitch at me for not being everyone's mom. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Are you just that cranky, or are you trying to speak my lingo to connect with me like one of those shitty movies about inspiring teachers? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ It takes him a moment to realize what she's talking about - it's not like he's all that careful about his language in general, but he hadn't noticed it'd amped up a little. ]

( Just that cranky, I guess. )

[aluminumandash]

[ Drunk, is about the sum of his reaction. Easy to imagine her stumbling headlong into the conversation. ]

( I gotta tell you not to facilitate murder. Duly fucking noted. ) [ Pissed, still, but it lacks the bitterness, the sting of betrayal he feels toward Misato. The determination to wring a real answer from Sam.

Whatever else she may be, she's not hiding anything. ] ( Were you sober when you hatched this plan? )

[sistershoggoth]

( You aren't gonna tell me shit. You think I care that a pair of fucking nobody aliens got ganked by their own goddamn people? I don't. Let me effuse to you about how many shits I don't give. If *you* give a shit you might not be cut out for this kind of work and should take a fuckin' knee. I don't need any more fucking crybabies than I've already got. )

[ As for the other bit... Well. Yeah. She was. She'd still been clutching to the fact that she'd been sober for years, and then went tumbling. ]

[aluminumandash]

[ There's a fundamental contradiction there, you should've spoken up but I wouldn't have listened, that he doesn't bother pointing out. He can't argue her into remorse. ]

( Maybe I'm not. ) [ Cut out for this. He's still trying to get a clear picture of what "this" is, aside from the white woven into the red of Lavellan's brain. The nagging suspicion that anyone who can't sink into his prefrontal cortex, can't whisper to him mind to mind, is only going to seem less and less like a person.

A flicker of annoyance at her disregard for his question. ] ( Suppose there ain't no point in asking whether it was worth it. There an upper limit, you know, on collateral damage? )