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

[deployed]

( No. It didn't seem like they were anyone important. )

[ Not as important as the Admiral, at least. ]

[wrackful]

( So he's working with whoever. )

[A beat, and then, a little more bitter:]

( Or someone's trying to frame him. )

[deployed]

( Murphy. )

[ The bitterness doesn't go unnoticed. ]

( Do you really think someone's framing him? )

[wrackful]

[He can hear it in that, the shape of his name in Bellamy's thoughts. They both know what experience he's talking from, and his words edge a little colder, flatly turning it back on Bellamy.]

( I think we've got nothing that says it was him except the aunt pointing fingers and these turning up in his room. I don't know about you, but that's not enough for me. )

[deployed]

( What would be enough? )

[ Whatever it was, they were unlikely to get it. ]

[greentech]

( He has a point. It's strong evidence, but if we're sneaking around, so are other people. And it wasn't neat, like everything else in the room. It was... messy. Sort of. Like someone had stuck it there in a hurry. )

[deployed]

( What would be gained from framing him? )

[ Borrowing an angle from Lexa, tbh. ]

[wrackful]

( What, have you forgotten how it works? )

[Derisive, and very much directed specifically at Bellamy for apparently needing this painted out for him, like he didn't live in messy power struggles even more than Murphy did.]

( He's their leader. He goes, someone else steps up. )

[deployed]

[ there's a sweep of mental distaste, irritably recoiling away from the power struggles interwoven with these factions. ]

( I don't think it's that simple. )

[ Though maybe it is, and Bellamy just refuses to see. ]

( They couldn't count on us finding it. )

[wrackful]

( They wouldn't need us to find it. The aunt already thinks it's him. All she'd need is a bunch of bloody clothes under his bed. )

[deployed]

( It's a sloppy way to frame someone. )

[ Bellamy's thoughts snag on the uncertainty of it. Suppose no one had gone rummaging through the Admirals things? Suppose one of his own people had found it rather than someone willing to give him up. ]

[aluminumandash]

[ Rust's tried to be judicious in where he directs his attention—some of them are so tangled up in each other there'd be no point in picking at the knot, and it'd guarantee him a fucking migraine besides. But this one seems quick enough on the uptake that it might be worth chiming in. ]

( It's a stretch. ) [ He agrees, his mind humming along. ] ( The aunt doesn't come out of mourning til tomorrow—why plant the clothes just then? Shit, why use clothes at all, why not the murder weapon? )

[wrackful]

( What was the weapon, a knife? We've all got those. )

[And there's that ring of bitterness again, striking like metal against metal under his words.]

( It doesn't need to be neat. She was ready to take us to fight him as soon as word was out Keya was dead. )

[And when people are thinking like that, it barely needs a nudge to have them moving on it.]

[greentech]

( I mean... yeah. It is sloppy, but we do need to consider all the angles before we jump into something, right? It's worth thinking about. The clothes were hidden pretty sloppily too, honestly - but then again, they probably weren't expecting anyone to go through their stuff. )

[ Too many variables. ]