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

[ryohji]

[ another self-starter, another workhorse, probably armed with ideas on how to shift through the confusion until the truth reveals itself to them like a gold nugget in the dirt. everyone wants to feel useful. and no wonder, when they've been used as distraction while rhan and lyr engage in real recon from behind the curtain.

he thinks the last thing they need is such unbridled confidence. ]

( They have gripes with their bosses, too. )

[perroquet]

[ Everything? Well alright- ]

( Their music is rather woodwind heavy when they actually bother to play. There's a wonderful flautist they've brought who stands out among them, though I heard he's blowing more than a few Hyrypian horns now. )

[ His own string of mental music plays along behind his words, merrily and unceasing. ]

[sistershoggoth]

( They're sketchy assholes. Were accruing some blood debt bullshit, sneaking around behind their own backs. That's how those two idiots got their shit kicked in. )

[wille]

[ It's impressive, how clean and precise he has honed his mind to become, and she makes her sentiment equally clear: appreciation for the sureness of his request, an answer on the tip of her tongue. But first: ]

( Why? )

[deployed]

[ Bellamy's answer comes as an echo of Misato's; the why? is unspoken but present, weighting his answering question in suspicion. ]

( What are you doing with the Carpathans? )

[ophidia]

( Watercooler gossip or bring a gun to the office gripes? )

[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? )

[ophidia]

( What kind of blood debt? )

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

[ophidia]

[She might appreciate his surety, but he doesn't appreciate her question, and there's a fairly heavy roll of judgement for her even asking.]

( Because, despite the fact we're all on this so-called "mission", the only centrally available information is still the cute cultural handbook we got on the trip down here. Now if I need to know anything, I have to ask, and I have to hope someone's done the work to be able to answer. )

[ophidia]

( Are you asking what I'm directly doing with them, or is this more of a query about if I'm trying to do some real fucking work on this job? )

[ryohji]

( There's wanting something done, and there's having the means to do it. ) [ he's not really talking about the carpathans, anymore. but he doesn't expect richard to catch on. ] ( Who are you rooting for? )

[sistershoggoth]

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

[ophidia]

( That's not a question you answer when you don't have a full picture. )

[erbier]

[ His mind draws her attention more than his question. She has not been among the Rabadoceans long enough to have much to say at all, besides the old wive's tales about the garstall that she has gathered from the weavers on the beach. Nothing she thinks is immediately useful, not yet. He, however, strikes her as useful. Someone to be aware of, and who should become aware of her.

She is pristine cool in reaching back in kind, a cleanliness that can only be as eyes meeting, unquestioningly. Although she lets nothing else through, no lust nor greed, she is an avatar of white, feminine and clear. ]

( Have you begun movements among the Carpathans? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( I kinda think I should say 'I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours' here. ) [ He kind of is saying it, honestly, but... he's also not a fan of withholding information that should be readily available, especially not when someone asks for it. ]

( All right, two questions for you - someone tell you what's probably gonna happen if we blow our cover here, and do you want this the quick way or the old fashioned way? )

[ryohji]

( Oh, come on. We're allowed a little irresponsibility. )

[ stick in the mud is the tacit accusation leveled here. ]

( It'll be long over before we get anything close to a full picture. )

[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. )

[ophidia]

( If we keep wasting time. ) [Which is to say:] ( Do you have anything or not? )

[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. )

[wille]

( Really? )

[ The same judgment rolls off her back easily, because she doesn't know who he is, hasn't yet assigned the requisite weight to him. Soon, soon. ]

( Since it's sooo hard to ask and hope for things to fall onto your lap, you'd better appreciate me asking what for? What do you wanna do with the Carpathans? )

[ophidia]

( I already told you. ) [Slow, like he's spelling out the two word sentence for her:] ( The. Mission. )

[As much as he hates the word. He's a thief, not a soldier, but it's getting easier to think job even if the actual chosen term is different. The pieces are much the same.]

( I can't decide what I'm going to do, where, or to who without more information, and I'm not interested in fucking around covering ground that's already been covered. So you either have something for me, or you're throwing more wasted time on what this crew's already clocked. )

[There's the sense of raised eyebrows, expectant. Which is it?]

[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? )

[wille]

( Ugh, don't act so special. All you've told me is how you expect to get your homework done for you, and how fishy it is that you won't say anything more. )

[ But, she reminds herself, it's about teamwork, isn't it? ]

( Tell me what you're thinking of doing, and I'll tell you what's relevant for you to know. )

[ophidia]

[The absolute cleanliness she's projecting is probably fake. No one's that pure. It's also boring, and there's a sense he's already preparing to dismiss her even as he answers.]

( It'd be stupid to ask for anything on them after I'd made a move. )

[The implication that he isn't stupid is clear enough.]

[erbier]

( So there are none of among them who have alerted your curiosity, and have begun this inquiry at random. I see. )