mental link - :011

[inflori]

[ Angel has been gone for barely a day now. The loss is felt in her brood most of all, and it's a surprise that volatile little Petre doesn't just lash out in another street fight. Instead he locks himself up in his room, all things left scattered, mind flooded with both silence and a scream at once. He's missing her, just like he's missing everyone else in his brood except Aoba, and it all just tells him he's meant to be alone. He hates it, he hates it so much. He decides that he hates everyone else, too, because they still have each other, because he thinks they don't care, because he's sure they'll turn against him one day.

Finally, what starts as a hum becomes a stream of repetitions, growing louder, stronger. Desperately reaching out, aimless and chaotic. ]

( When is she going to wake up? I don't want to be alone. Bring her back. I want her to come back. )

[ It won't stop for a very long while. ]

Comments

[narcissithstic]

If I did that, how would I ever get my revenge?

[They have a unified agenda to keep, after all. Attachments might falter, slipping free of their moorings at a moment's notice, too dependent on emotions, but purpose always lingers. The only constant he's ever known.]

Be strong. There's still work to be done - and I'd rather not finish it alone.

[inflori]

[ That's where Ren is stronger than Petre (he's stronger in just about every aspect, but this in particular): he has an objective, while Petre just scatters his own through whatever is convenient, whatever feels immediate. Though his anger and corruption are constants, he's much too used to jumping from one to the next. It comes with being a capricious teenager with a mind written by the Devil's hand. ]

What do I do now?

[ Still thinking in the moment. ]

[narcissithstic]

[Dwelling on what they lack will only ruin them, Ren knows it from experience. It's too easy to fall back on old habits and emotion without forgetting they're only a weapon meant to empower, not destroy.

Sometime soon he'll see fit to teach Petre properly, but for now, small steps suffice.] I need to speak with General Hux, pool our collective findings and plot our next move.

Come with me.

[inflori]

[ Truth is, he doesn't need a moment to think. When Ren tells him to come, Petre's immediate response is to simply say yes, to follow as he would have followed Angel if she'd told him the same. They're both guiding lights to him, even if they're clearly (though not to him) pointing in different directions. In the absence of one, the boy will simply drift to the other. ]

Where are you?

[narcissithstic]

[He can feel it from across the distance, that intoxicating eagerness to follow his lead, a gift he's so rarely been granted throughout his long life: troops did as they were instructed, officers acted out of fear - but this? This was adoration. Loyalty.]

Alpha Block. Seek me out, use your senses to guide you.

[Better to rely on the symbiotic link instead of instruction alone. Sometime soon it might be necessary.]

[inflori]

[ There's not so much annoyance as there's inconvenience in his tone, huffing lightly before he picks himself up and does as he's told. He wouldn't be able to do this with Diana back home, despite the both of them being extremely co-dependent. Somehow they just found each other no matter what. Maybe that's what will happen with Ren, and Petre can't say he'll mind if it does.

More family. It feels nice.

A few good minutes pass before Petre's link sends out another call for his brother. ]

How far?

[narcissithstic]

No farther.

[Said helpfully as Ren slips free of the shadows where he'd been waiting at Petre's back; the boy was close, closer than perhaps he had any right to be. Whether it's skill or luck, even Ren can't truly say.

Still, there's no praise given. Throughout his life he was never coddled, and he wouldn't know where to begin even if he wanted to.]

Tell me, what have you discovered in your time on this world?

[inflori]

[ For what it's worth, Petre isn't startled when he turns his head to finally see Ren, eyes alight and focused. There's really no way of calling his feelings for him adoration, but he's always looking forward to what he'll say or do next. Fascination and respect, until the moment the demon forgets to adorn either one. ]

Like what? There's - there's a ton of stuff to discover here.