mental link; after everything goes down on the evening of :038

[adamance]

[As it becomes apparent that it's time to move on—to shift forward in what feels like an endless pilgrimage, one in which none of the Hosts will gain any "true" enlightenment, as they will never see this culture as anything more than a means to an end. (At least, that's as far as Lexa sees it. Perhaps it's disrespectful. Perhaps she would bristle at it herself if it were about her culture. But then, no one is calling these people primitive and uncivilized like she's heard about her people in the past.)

Not that any of this will be spoken. This mission will go on, but it's a mission that can come to an end. That is something within their reach.

Which is why she opens up a mental communication to all the Hosts.]

( We must discuss, as a whole, how we hope to proceed moving forward. Before we pack up our things, I would prefer that we have some plan in place for how we act next. It'll prevent any further need to take on actions individually as we will be acting for each other. With the knowledge of each other's future actions.

That is not to say that I recommend against actions. But we can't act in contradiction to one another. Out of impatience for each other. We all hope to be done with this mission as soon as possible.

We have confirmed the presence of the Enemy. How do we hope to proceed? How will we ensure that the Descendants do not claim control of this power?

Furthermore, I implore you all to consider why it is the Enemy would act to prevent peace talks that could secure them the Nectar. And why it is that they need the Nectar. We are only fighting one battle here.

I won't lead this discussion. But we must have this discussion. We work well under time constraints. Let's have an idea of how we hope to proceed before we continue our journey. )

[That's her way of setting a time constraint, all in hopes that people will discuss what they will have to do. It's no longer about Keya (as far as she's concerned), but about their greater mission.]

[ooc: please please please treat this as an IC discussion post where people can threadjack and discuss whatever! i figured it would be a good idea to facilitate discussion here!]

Comments

[incinerates]

[ He laughs out loud AND mentally - sharp and incredulous at this. ]

Everyone I've talked to has been whining non-stop about keeping a low profile on this mission.

Man, you really think this is the only fight we're due for?

[raw]

( Because we didn't know shit. This is the first bit of real information that could help the mission we've managed. I'm not saying we should pull off our disguises and say hi, yo, but if we have to straight up show these guys their bullshit pilgramage process is being interfered with by non-Rabadoceans to stop them picking the Enemy, then that's what we do. )

[adamance]

( Recent information has led me to believe that we haven't given ourselves away. Doing so will only cost future missions, especially if we may need to high within plain sight. )

[Much of that information was gained through discussion with others, as Lexa challenged her own point of view.]

( As I said, and as he's stating, this is one battle in a war. )

[incinerates]

I'm not saying it's not important! I'm just asking what we're working towards.

If we're playing the long, STUPID, subtle game, maybe we have to give our findings and a story to someone we trust, and they have to be the one to expose their fellow. We give THEM the power by giving them the proof that whoever's behind it is being supported by an outside faction. Non-Rabowhatevers.

-- also, you fucking suck, but this isn't the hill I want you, or anyone, dying on.

[raw]

( Thanks. That's sweet. See if I help your punk ass out again. )

[ Also he has a good point but like fuck Elliot's going to admit that. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( If we blow our cover enough to bring the Enemy's attention to us, Cathaway'll leave us all here rather than risk the Enemy following us back to the Station. )

[incinerates]

What.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Yeah. ) [ It's agreement with that what more than anything else. ] ( That's why we need to keep a low profile. She'd prefer to get us back alive, of course, but the Nest comes first. )

[ There's no hiding his opinion on how much shit he thinks that is. ]

[incinerates]

Good to know. It's not going to come down to that, I won't let it.

Focus on the matter at hand -- what's our endgame? Ideas? We can tailor our approach based on that.

[deployed]

( That's why I told you to keep your robes on, back at the beach. )

[incinerates]

I'll own it, fine. Wanna' call up any other screw-ups while you're at it? No? Good.

All of this discussion is good, but you and I need to figure out how we're going to handle what happened to Keya, too.

[nastygram]

( Since when. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Since as long as Cathaway's been a we and not an I, probably. But if you're talking about this mission specifically, since most of us got here. )

[adamance]

( Plus, strategically it's sound. Again, this is a war. )

[raw]

[ Darlene gets some serious "right what the fuck" vibes from Elliot so obviously he had no idea either. ]

[isorropia]

( If we blow our cover enough to bring the Enemy's attention to us, there won't be anything left for ol' Cathy to pick up even if she wanted to. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ There's the mental equivalent of a noise somewhere between a chuckle and a snort, a spark of resigned amusement. ]

( That too. All the more reason for us to keep a low profile. Don't know about you, but I like being alive and having all my pieces, and I like most of the rest of you that way too. )

[whereabout]

[ No actual words, Joshua's still just listening without having much to add, but man, he's not sure what else y'all expected. ]

[isorropia]

( My, such pessimism. )

//private

[erbier]

( What do you think of all this? )

[ She won't say a word about Sam Wilson. ]

[persevere]

( Wait, you mean if one person screws up, we're all stuck here? They can't do that! )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam's mind opens up a little more towards hers automatically, and there's a clear sense of his resigned unhappiness. He doesn't like it, but it's not something that'd surprised him. ]

( Yeah, they can. I've been on a lot of missions with no real extraction plan. And Cathaway is so far deep in the Nest that nothing else matters to her. But we're not gonna let it happen. )

[deployed]

[ stuck here aka dead, but bellamy's not going to correct her. ]

( They're not going to have to. Sam's right. We're going to be careful and get this done, so there won't be any reason we can't go back. )

[raw]

( So I guess Annie was right, we're just shock troops. )

[ That isn't to say he doesn't privately think that still might be an acceptable sacrifice, though this planet is backwards as helllll. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Not to me. ) [ Whether that matters to him or anyone else - well, it probably doesn't in the scheme of things, but it matters to Sam. ] ( And not to some others here. We're not planning on letting that happen. )