mental link | Day: 38

[earthborn]

( Some of you may have noticed a fire, not too long ago. Or maybe you were busy, fair enough. )

[Shepard's broadcast is just that; open, conversational. Let's have a little chat, all of you. The fire last night burned through a fair portion of the Descendants' dormitory, destroying property and causing distress. Deaths? Don't worry about it. Shepard certainly isn't.]

( I would like to formally take responsibility for that incident. Don't worry, we didn't get caught, this isn't my first time setting fire to something-- no, Sam, it was fine, I had it under control. More to the point, we happened to acquire a bunch of junk, including some tech Pidge has been making good use of-- You're welcome, by the way. ) [This addendum delivered with no particular malice. All the blame and none of the credit, that's how it always goes. ( As for the rest, I have it; decent haul, some of which might be relevant, some of which might just be that I've stolen somebody's junk mail for all I know. )

[Always a risk with smash-and-grab]

( Anybody who thinks they might have some insights, feel free to have a look. )

Comments

[100mitsubishis]

[He almost doesn't 'say' anything, mostly because he's heard there was a fire started and nobody asked him for his help in stoking up the blaze. But also because he's not the really get involved guy, he's more the Godfather, waiting for folks to come to him out of desperation.

Regardless, tech can be fun. It might not have a steering wheel, but it's something.]

( You need copies of the tech? )

[He can make copies of the tech.]

[earthborn]

( That would be convenient, since you're offering. Yes. )

[More copies of the tech means more hands can figure out what it's for, or if it has anything useful about it, so far as intel goes.]

( Already passed some of it to Pidge, though, so you'd have to circle round there, to get the full package. )

[100mitsubishis]

[His copies will be perfect, but they will depend on what he's shown. Pidge will have to deliver the goods and explain every facet, let him touch it, consider it, get to know its inner workings. He's not a copy machine, he's an artist.

But Shepherd's part of his Brood. She should have an inkling.]

( I'm not offering, yet. )

[Kavinsky wants to test drive it first. But if Pidge is the way to go, surely the master and commander can pass on the message.]

[theycalledmeacurse]

[ This turn of events is not the least bit surprising. Rogue might not know Shepard very well, but the impression of her being someone who gets things done no matter the cost was quite a solid one. And, truth be told, she kinda likes it that way. ]

( So you're a thief and an arsonist. What else do you have on your resume, sugar? )

[earthborn]

( Long story. )

[Let's not beat around the bush-- this is business. And Shepard at work is not a joke, nor is she any kind of soft.]

( I'll tell you about later. For now, let's just say that I don't tend to make a lot of friends. )

[theycalledmeacurse]

[ Ah, one of those types. She should have guessed. ]

( You get things done. Trust me, that's something I can appreciate. And something I'm always willing to help with. )

[shri]

[ And by completely separate measure, Lakshmi is furious. Palatable to the edge of her mind as it reaches ]

( Did you take leave of your senses? Did you think, at all? Or did you simply rush off because it seemed a good idea and that was enough? )

[earthborn]

( Oh I'm sorry, did I disrupt some plan of yours that you neglected to share with me? Kill a friend you planned on keeping longer than a month? No? )

[Sorry not sorry.]

( You don't like it? Work faster next time. )

[shri]

( I have made no secret of any of my plans. I had befriended Keya's Aunt, a high ranking member of their party, as some measure of use out of one of our own being killed.

Perhaps you forgot that it was one of their lives that was saved. That perhaps we could ask for anything from that.

But you might have ruined all of it because you didn't have the - what, patience? Ability to see five steps beyond yourself? )

[redheadcarrier]

( That was you? I don't know whether to be worried or impressed. )

[ And unsaid (un-thought), the idea that it's nice to hear from Shepard. ]

[earthborn]

( When you decide, let me know. I like to keep track. )

[Smug is a verb. Or, it should be, the way Shepard does it.]

( Sorry I didn't invite you along. Had to keep it light and fast, you understand. )

[redheadcarrier]

( I can be both of those. But yeah, I get it. )

[ Which is honestly a mark of how she's changed since... everything. And maybe something to do with her time here. ]

( You're not going to get arrested or anything, are you? )

[ There's an undercurrent of itchy nervousness. She hasn't had a chance to talk to Shepard about Seviilia vanishing into a coma just yet. ]

[perroquet]

( Goodness, what villainy. )

[ They may be closing in on their enemies, but thievery and arson are unacceptable methods of moving the mission along in Gildor's opinion. One he shares like a bad taste left in the mouth. ]

( If stealth and secrecy weren't so important I'd ask that you out yourself, return the items, and apologize before offering my help. )

[earthborn]

( Your occupation of the moral high ground is noted. )

[Not that it was ever in any doubt.]

( Am I hearing an offer? My door is always open. )

[perroquet]

( There's always room up here for more, you know. )

[ While he disapproves about as much as his royal broodmate, she's clearly taken care of the scolding, and Gildor isn't one to pick fights. He lets it rest, staying focused on the present. ]

( Well, what's done is done. There's no use in wasting whatever leads you may have found, even if they are likely null. My symbiote has granted me the ability to read an object's past. How it was made, who it was owned by, places it has been - that sort of thing. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Being so much in her mind - he's listening to all of this, curled up in her space like he belongs there, and it sure as hell feels like he does - the fire he'd had when he'd come to find her and talk her down from continuing, from letting this spiral until it got so big that Damon and Elena couldn't take care of everyone, is gone.

Instead there's just a resigned affection, a vague sense of disgruntlement and the sense of a shoulder pressed against hers, as though they were reading all of this over a shared communicator instead of in their minds.

He's tired from - everything - but his mental tone makes an effort at playful. ]

( You know you needed me. )

[earthborn]

( I don't need nothin' or nobody. )

[She needed him. She needed him so badly that it is possibly a little frightening. Having this little control, over what she does, over where she goes, over her choice of missions and people and circumstances, while at the same time being given no clear directive at all? It's as far from safe as anything can be. Shepard hasn't been outside of a command structure for any significant portion of her life; if Sam hadn't stopped them, she certainly would have kept going.

And it would have been a disaster.]

( But I do want you here. )

[Which is as good as an admission of wrongdoing, or at least as close to one as she's going to get.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ It's a mess and Sam - Sam understands. He hasn't been a soldier for a while but he's been an Avenger, and this... this is so close to everything he'd dreaded with the Accords. No choice in where to go, but no real direction, no carefully selected teams, just - a mix of baby chicks and half grown fledglings let loose into the world.

If he wasn't so aware of the importance of keeping a low profile, if he wasn't so hell bent on keeping them all alive - if he wasn't so completely invested in keeping Shepard alive - he might have joined her.

But he is, and they suit each other. She's the fire at the center of the earth and he's the wind to stoke it or soothe it - but that's a little too poetic even for him.

He knows exactly what it means for her to admit that she wants him here, and he leans a little more into her, mind twining in hers like fingers lacing together. ]

( Good. Because I'm not going anywhere. )

[raw]

( See, this, this is the kind of initiative we need to have more of around here! Can't make an omelette without burning a few eggs. )

[earthborn]

( Well, I'm always up for hitting something. )

[Sometimes, even eggs. To break them. Possibly to make an omelette.]

( Nice to have someone on my side, at least. )

[raw]

( Any time, sweetheart. All these assholes think you should be asking their permission, but the real guys in charge aren't exactly sending commands down the line. Brute force is just as good an option to get shit done as anything else. )

[adamance]

( You took initiative in a plan that should have been relayed to the rest of our group. A plan that could have been the first step to costing us our lives.

Is there a reason why you thought you couldn't share with the rest of us? )

[The casual conversational tone is really what hits a nerve for Lexa.]

[earthborn]

( That's fair; I did not make a general broadcast of my intent, nor did I ask permission. I'm not in the habit of submitting my decisions to a general vote-- that said, I didn't act alone, and while I didn't tell everyone, I did tell some. )

[Shepard's not dropping the conversational tone anytime soon. It's a smokescreen for an edgier emotion, but also a result of the lack of what Shepard sees as vested authority. She is not issuing a debrief to a superior officer, or recording personal impressions for the official record, and neither is she relaying the particulars in the truly casual tone of someone who must make herself understood to her peers alone.

Truthfully, in her mind, she feels she owes none of you anything like deference, and sees that no one has felt she is owed any in return: hers has not been the only dangerous little foray made without prior consultation or permission-- only, it is the loudest, the most personal, and the most recent. She isn't sorry.]

( Given that a group of people as large as four can argue for a month and not come to a conclusion? I made a judgement call. )

[sistershoggoth]

[ She only answers because she's high. It's not an up kind of high, it's a xanax low, numb and distracted, loose around the edges and filled with static.]

( Our bitch squad is gonna be pissed. )

[earthborn]

( Our bitch squad needs to put on their big girl panties and produce results, if they don't want me going out and getting my own. I didn't get where I am by screwing around. )

[Annie, you are the light of Shepard's life, truly. She can always rely on you, even if only to be yourself.]