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[ Their circumstances are intrusive to her sullenness. Bright and piercing, concern and rage and determination. She would almost rather not care, but then the thought of something happening to them makes me want to be sick. She reaches first for Steve. ]
( You've found trouble? )
( You've found trouble? )
Edited 2016-04-15 03:48 (UTC)
[ There's a brief spike at the sudden, direct mental contact on his end, a flicker of surprise. A worded response takes some minutes to follow. ]
( A merchant. Said we stabbed one of theirs. )
[ His communications are brief, clipped and unpracticed. ]
( A merchant. Said we stabbed one of theirs. )
[ His communications are brief, clipped and unpracticed. ]
[ There's a sharp flicker of disbelief, his response more immediate than his ability to grasp. ]
( Why? )
( Why? )
Edited (html) 2016-04-20 00:55 (UTC)
[ The scene flares with her anger, hazy at the edges, focused only on the traders, their toothy smiles, the one who had been playing with a knife as she had spoken to him. Her sharp disapproval for their poor manners, their embarrassment to be chastised by a girl barely twenty years old, small and with golden hair. His death itself happens in a flash, lashing out instinctually when they follow her as she turns to walk away from them. Barely the glitter of the knife before she's buried it deep under his jawline. Swift, thoughtless, assured that it is the best course of action, act now or suffer later. ]
( Such things happen. )
( Such things happen. )
[ His thoughts are muddled: anger and concern for her as the scene with the men plays out, threaded with shock over the simple answer for her actions. ]
( No. ) [ then: ] ( We would have come. )
[ To help her. Any of them. Maybe there wasn't time but - ]
( No. ) [ then: ] ( We would have come. )
[ To help her. Any of them. Maybe there wasn't time but - ]
[ That rings as something he would say himself, under different circumstances. But he remains firm in his stance even as misgivings flutter in the background. ]
( - not the only way. )
[ Killing first. ]
( - not the only way. )
[ Killing first. ]
Edited 2016-04-20 03:20 (UTC)
[ She doesn't entirely understand. She doesn't understand why it matters, death is everywhere, burned into the palm of every hand. It was human to kill. To fight it was futile, as futile as denying the flames of her lord. His voice winds around her thoughts like a serpent, rhythmic, almost poetry. It lulls senses already dim from sweltering heat and dehydration, yes and fear...
When everyone you have ever loved is finally gone, when everything you have ever wanted is finally done with, when all of your nightmares are for a time obscured as by a shining brainless beacon or a blinding eclipse of the many terrible shapes of this world, when you are calm and joyful and finally entirely alone... ]
( It has always been this way. )
[ Not an excuse. A statement, a plea, shuddering beneath the weight of the Godking's hold on her. Poisoned deep, irradiated from long years in the world of his making. ]
When everyone you have ever loved is finally gone, when everything you have ever wanted is finally done with, when all of your nightmares are for a time obscured as by a shining brainless beacon or a blinding eclipse of the many terrible shapes of this world, when you are calm and joyful and finally entirely alone... ]
( It has always been this way. )
[ Not an excuse. A statement, a plea, shuddering beneath the weight of the Godking's hold on her. Poisoned deep, irradiated from long years in the world of his making. ]
[After this.]
Go to her. [Petulance keeps him from stating her name outright, but it comes through in the thought itself alongside the location she'd given him: Ilde.]
Go to her. [Petulance keeps him from stating her name outright, but it comes through in the thought itself alongside the location she'd given him: Ilde.]
[ There's a pause in the argument from his end, a sense of someone tilting their head to get a better angle on whatever it is they're looking at behind the bubbling of self-righteous anger. ]
( Not anymore - no going back. )
[ That's what she said to him. This isn't her dead world, the same rules don't apply anymore. ]
( Not anymore - no going back. )
[ That's what she said to him. This isn't her dead world, the same rules don't apply anymore. ]
[ He bristles against the mental contact. ]
Why? [ She's just spoken to (argued with) him. There's concern now that something else has happened: ] Is she OK?
Why? [ She's just spoken to (argued with) him. There's concern now that something else has happened: ] Is she OK?
[ She had given the dagger to Prince when he had asked for it, but in a way it is always with her. A relic of her fear, a piece of steel embedded into her heart the very first time she understood kill or be killed. She does not know how to be rid of it, nor does she wish to be. Her instincts were what kept her alive. ]
( Perhaps we will learn from each other. )
[ There is no perhaps, the bleed will come. The question is how will he weather the viciousness of his brood when he is alone in temperance? In that way... Ilde feels that perhaps she is the one to listen. It won't be Ren nor Anakin. ]
( Perhaps we will learn from each other. )
[ There is no perhaps, the bleed will come. The question is how will he weather the viciousness of his brood when he is alone in temperance? In that way... Ilde feels that perhaps she is the one to listen. It won't be Ren nor Anakin. ]
Edited (htmllll) 2016-04-20 04:16 (UTC)
Because the unrest will grow. How long do you think we'll be permitted to stay? How much hostility could you imagine rising up to meet us? [This isn't concern on his part, but it is a necessary protection: they'll fare better in a pack.] Go. I do not want your company.
I'm weary of catering to your frailty.
I'm weary of catering to your frailty.
[ Bristles become spikes. Somewhere his jaw is clenched tight enough to crack his teeth. ]
Don't blame me that you don't think before you lash out.
[ Ignoring that Ren's actions saved him. He still went too far, Steve's not budging on that.
He doesn't disagree about them needing to not be in each other's company, though. ]
Don't blame me that you don't think before you lash out.
[ Ignoring that Ren's actions saved him. He still went too far, Steve's not budging on that.
He doesn't disagree about them needing to not be in each other's company, though. ]
Edited (words) 2016-04-20 04:52 (UTC)
[ Maybe. He doesn't know what they have to teach him. Fighting, he'd thought before. He didn't think he was so sheltered from violence. Their brutality seems beyond what he knows, senseless. It's against his nature.
His response is a wordless hum, prickling with anger over the incident with Ren. The connection begins to wane. ]
His response is a wordless hum, prickling with anger over the incident with Ren. The connection begins to wane. ]
I -was- thinking.
[Idealistic fool. Flawed, stubborn, short-sighted beyond reason. Were their lives not bound together he would let the universe itself cull him as it so often did to the unworthy.] Or would you prefer I let the next pack of baser criminals tear you limb from limb?
[Idealistic fool. Flawed, stubborn, short-sighted beyond reason. Were their lives not bound together he would let the universe itself cull him as it so often did to the unworthy.] Or would you prefer I let the next pack of baser criminals tear you limb from limb?
[ He gathers himself up. In this headspace he's a larger presence than in person. ]
Your way isn't the only way. [ It's like what he spoke to Ilde, only there's no attempt to see it from Ren's point of view. ] I don't need your help.
[ At that he tries to close the connection as much as he can. The effect is like trying to close a door with a stopper in the way. ]
Your way isn't the only way. [ It's like what he spoke to Ilde, only there's no attempt to see it from Ren's point of view. ] I don't need your help.
[ At that he tries to close the connection as much as he can. The effect is like trying to close a door with a stopper in the way. ]
[ He argues with Ren first. That's why he takes his time coming to find her again, he's not following that man's orders. By the time he reaches for her again he's still radiating muted aggravation. ]
( What are you doing? ) [ If she gives him a location, he'll go to it. It might be best for him to get out of town, but even he's not stubborn enough to wander off on his own for too long in the climate they've left in their wake. ]
( What are you doing? ) [ If she gives him a location, he'll go to it. It might be best for him to get out of town, but even he's not stubborn enough to wander off on his own for too long in the climate they've left in their wake. ]
Edited (found a pronoun typo an hour later ) 2016-04-20 07:19 (UTC)
[Suck it, Steve. Have a digging pang of projected pain right in the side of your left temple before Ren finally relinquishes the bond between them.]
[ A faint pang of guilt (they'd all be laying low now). She'll be able to sense his approach if she looks for it, picking his way across the muddy grass long before he comes into sight. ]
Hey. [ A tension runs along his shoulders. He pulls his hood down as he gets closer, eyebrows knitting together. ] What're you doing out here?
Hey. [ A tension runs along his shoulders. He pulls his hood down as he gets closer, eyebrows knitting together. ] What're you doing out here?
Why not stay at the hotels? [ He frowns, glancing over his shoulder in the direction of the port town. ]
If you're worried someone's gonna bother you... [ - because of what happened. He turns to look at her again. She shouldn't have to be out here, it's no safer. They can look out for each other. ]
If you're worried someone's gonna bother you... [ - because of what happened. He turns to look at her again. She shouldn't have to be out here, it's no safer. They can look out for each other. ]
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