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]

( What kind of blood debt? )

[Because the definition he knows isn't something you really accrue.]

[sistershoggoth]

( Like literally. Like blood in a bowl kind of blood debt. )

[ophidia]

[This just got a lot more interesting. But also more frustrating, because he doesn't think he can tolerate eking this out of her bit by bit.]

( You can skip the cliffnotes. Give me the full story. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Then fuckin' pucker up, asshole. )

[ Gross, Annie. But he can have the whole scene from her, complete with that dizzy upside down sensation of watching from within a jar of goop. ]

( And then I personally, with no fuckin' help from anyone, got them murdered by telling their fuckin' boss that they were where they shouldn't have been. )

[ophidia]

[He hasn't experienced this before. A direct sharing of memory using the links. There's a brief second of surprise, but it fades into a feeling of familiarity, an objective appreciation of the efficiency. The information itself he digest, analyses, and comes back with the most important question, rather than the extras that accumulate around the edges

(like how the fuck she was seeing out of a jar).]

( Those two were the ones dead in the baths? )

[sistershoggoth]

( Yup, super fuckin' dead. )

[ophidia]

( After your gave their names to Black. )

[Confirming without directly asking who the "boss" is.]

( What about the other one they mentioned? Casiria. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Dunno. If somebody followed up they sure didn't tell me about it. )

[ Unsurprising: drunk bitch. ]

[ophidia]

[A pulse of resignation mixed with impatience, almost like a mental sigh. It isn't necessarily directed at Annie. More like everyone.]

( How about the "new friends"? Anyone pin down who they were? )

[sistershoggoth]

( No. But I got a maybe. Pair of Descendants were muttering about being found after those two got dead. And yeah, before you ask, I have no fuckin' clue if anybody followed up. )

[ophidia]

[It could be better, but it's something. Something he can use. But there's another question that occurs, driven by the whole exchange.]

( What about you? )

[sistershoggoth]

( What about me? )

[ophidia]

( You did all this. You didn't feel like following up yourself? )

[sistershoggoth]

( I’m not good in close quarters. You need me to look remote, I’m your girl. When it comes to approaching some shithead to weasel them for deets, you need someone who can watch their fucking mouth. )

[ophidia]

[Honestly, that makes sense. You do the job you have the skills to do. But being a cog in a machine only works in a functional whole. If the other cogs aren't turning on their own, you do something about it.]

( So you're saying you're happy to do the work, then just sit back and let it catch dust. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Don't try to push my buttons, you shithead. No, I'm not happy about it. You can already see why it ends up like that just from the asking. Half the fuckers don't pay any attention and the other half of the fuckers treat you like you're an axe murderer they have to keep an eye on. We're not a team, and I can't do everything myself. )

[ A shockingly lucid statement for her usual drunken squawking, but she's not *currently* drunk. ]

[ophidia]

( You don't know what I can see. )

[He might have already encountered what she's talking about, but he doesn't intend to let any of it stop him doing anything. It's just going to require a little skill.]

( Maybe if you tried laying off the sauce, you'd get further. )

[sistershoggoth]

( Go fuck yourself. Get back to me when your sweetheart brother isn't keeping up with me drink for drink. )

[ophidia]

( My brother can hold a job together. )

[Hard, arrogant in the blistering certainty of it. The Gecko brothers got the work done. Any nerve she's hit about Seth's habits, prickling like an irritation under the surface, that doesn't change those facts.]

( When you can say the same, you know how to reach me. )

[He disconnects, a clean, smooth cut in the line.]