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 vanishes, blips out of the conversation, however this works. He talks to Katie, whose confusion and distress linger in his thoughts vivid and discolored as bruises.

Everything else is empty, hollowed out. ]

( They knew. You know that, right, Sam? ) [ Leaning hard on the name. ] ( Not for certain, nothing's certain, but they had a pretty fucking good idea how this was gonna play out. Went and made a little girl do their bidding anyhow. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ The thing is - he blips out, maybe, but Sam knows exactly what he's doing. Katie's his broodmate, and he can feel her anger and distress almost as easy as if it was his own.

It rasps at his skin, the way he says they made Katie do their bidding, as if she was some naive, stupid little thing who could be easily swayed to do whatever anyone wanted. But it's more than that, it's - Rust is a cop. Rust's got his own issues, and Sam knows that, and he doesn't know what kind of a place this is all coming from - it's probably not the way Sam's taking it, but he can't help it.

Rust is a cop, and he's treating Sam like Sam's just another criminal for what - for not reacting appropriately to something he just found out about, for passing on information he learned, for knowing Annie and Misato, for fucking existing? - and Sam's had more than enough of that on his own world to last him a life time. ]

( You want a gold star for figuring that out? Sounds like that's something you should be talking to them about, instead of sitting here getting up in my face for trying to keep communication open. )

[aluminumandash]

( Mmm. Wanted to be sure we were on the same page. ) [ Rust says blandly, Sam's bristling anger less affronting than his prior carefully cultivated neutrality.

Thing is, if Katie isn't some naive, stupid little thing—why treat her like she is? Why lie, by omission or design, then fall back on ignorance as an excuse?

If this was...not the right thing to do—the right thing to do is nothing short of a bullet in his own head, he's more certain of that than ever—but a considered plan, if these lives were worth sacrificing, why insist you never had the slightest idea they were at stake? ]

( Katie thinks otherwise. You gonna tell her? Keep communication open and all. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam's been angry, most of the conversation and some of the others - sharp bursts and a low simmering burn that he hasn't bothered to hide, though he's tried to let go of them. ]

( You wanna know what page I'm on, man, I'll tell you. Annie and Misato had a plan that may or may not get us information but sure as hell got people killed, our presence on this planet is responsible for those murders and probably a lot else, and this is fucking bullshit. )

[ Anger simmers stronger when Rust brings up Katie, made brighter by a tinge of protectiveness, the kind more fitting to an older brother reacting to someone talking about his little sister. ]

( Of course I am. She always knows what I think, and she always makes her own opinions. She's smart as hell, she doesn't deserve to be given half the information of a plan and have to work with that. )

[ They're broodmates. Sam doesn't hide much from her - except things Shiro related, out of respect for the fact that that's awkward as hell - and even though he tries to keep himself shielded on a general basis, when they're talking they always tend to pick up feelings.

It's gotten them in trouble in the past, especially where anger is concerned, but that's none of Rust's business. Neither is the fact that Sam hasn't really thought of how much he relies on that extra input when talking with those he has a strong connection with, but that - that's something he can work through later. ]