mental link | day :034

[ophidia]

[The mental impression that comes with the connection is clean, precise. Confident in reaching like this, touching so many minds at once. If anything there's a desire, simmering beneath, to press and push even further than one simple stated request.]

( I need everything we have on the Carpathans. )

[And he sounds like he expects to get it.]

Comments

[ophidia]

[Richard had called this trip a luxury cruise two days after landing in it, but hearing any of the envoys had brought musicians is still mildly surprising. But he had asked for everything.]

( How are the rest of them feeling about that? )

[perroquet]

( Afraid even their few musicians are as cold and tight-lipped as ever. If if they think anything of it, it is properly kept to themselves. )

[ As it should be, quite honestly - with the exception of this nestmate having asked. Gildor has made good relationships with the various Rabadocean musicians by now, but has little reason to believe any of them are more than what they appear. ]

( Who is this asking? Your mind rings vaguely familiar. ) [ Like brood, yet not at all. His own mind is an open pool of black that swirls curiously around, feeling along the sharp edges of the other's consciousness. All the while, gentle music continues to play behind it's dark veils. ]

[ophidia]

[That's disappointing, but not necessarily a dead end. There's other information that can be taken from how the sidelines of a unit operate. But before he can think of what to try next, he's distracted by that question. The idea of familiarity.]

( Richard Gecko. )

[perroquet]

[ Somewhere in the dark, a chime dings. ]

( Ah! There are two Geckos! That must be why. )

[ophidia]

[There being two Geckos is practically a given in Richard's world, an unquestioned fact. They were always a pair, always the Gecko brothers in operation and by reputation.

Except for when they weren't. But they're past that now.]

( You're in his brood. )

[After a beat, because Richard can do that too - feel the strings, find the places where they join. His attention suddenly focusses, narrows down sharp, a hundred eyes all open and directed on the same point. The same person.

There's a quiet pulse of something like jealousy behind it all. He doesn't acknowledge that.]

[perroquet]

[ Gildor is and isn't used to the feeling of being looked at. He's not used to it on an individual basis, and while he's quite sure he's only talking to one man, he is reminded of walking onto a stage. What it feels like to a have hyper focused collective attention. The sudden scrutiny he's under is that forceful.

That same memory keeps him from sharing any discomfort. What kind of performer would he be if he let a little staring become bothersome? The violins echoing through his mind continue to play. A black tendril of thought cautiously wraps around the strings of their connection and plucks out a new rhythm, and his voice remains merry and light- ]

( Seth? Yes, I am! Can't say I've gotten to know him well the last few days, though he's been kind to offer help when I needed it. )

[ Thrum thrum thrum on bass strings as he tries to match pace that quiet pulse. ]

( I am Gildor. Pleasure to meet you, Richard. You are his brother? Cousin? )

[ophidia]

[A spike of something insulted at cousin.]

( Brother. )

[Blunt, like plainly stating the obvious to someone who shouldn't have missed it.]

( How exactly has he been helping you? )

[Still pointed, still watching for every hitch or flinch. So focussed he might not even hear any music at all. Has Seth been working parts of the mission without him?]

[perroquet]

( Only personally. I was weary and disoriented after waking from a deep sleep when we landed outside of Tyrisson, and a rider thought it would be amused to nearly trample me. Seth picked me up and waved down a wagon after that. )

[ A beat as the thrumming shifts to a thoughtful tapping of fingers, casual. ] ( The rider may have been Carpathan, if that helps your inquiry. I didn't exactly get a good look, of sorts. )

[ophidia]

( It doesn't. )

[Dismissive. It doesn't help, and he isn't interested. The pressure of his focus has shifted, though, now less split to what Seth might have been doing, intent more on Gildor himself. And whether he's going to be a liability, attached to Seth.]

( These deep sleeps happen to you a lot? )

[perroquet]

( They don't. )

[ He echos a similar response, pointedly without the dismissive tone. Polite as ever, though that politeness is sharpening not unlike the edges of the other host's consciousness. ]

( They do, however, happen rather frequently among us hosts. Some wake up as I did, though I am told others... do not. ) [ A brief explanation, in case Richard wasn't already aware. ]

[ophidia]

[He wasn't. It's obvious enough from the beat of silence, the pulse of irritation (he hates not knowing things) and mild concern at the news.]

( So any of us can go down like that? ) [Less than ideal.] ( What causes it? )