mental link

[adamance]

WISDOM passing on her legacy, her knowledge, and showing a willingness for more	COMPASSION looking upon her people with care, with hope, and understanding a different layer of strength
STRENGTH strength is more than just mere words or mere actions—it is everything	PURPOSE being born for this

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

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[adamance]

[It's abrupt. But she had been waiting.]

( The garden. )

[narcissithstic]

[Admittedly, abrupt is how he feels at the moment, still reeling from the bitterness of Cathaway's decisive withdrawal. This, at least, is a distraction: he finds her in short order, cloaked in the heavy protection of his recently repaired robes-- and the mask that accompanies it.

There's little point in burying his discomfort; it takes the edge off regardless.]

What is it you need?

[adamance]

[The same uncomfortable sentiment from before makes its way through her mind now. It feels foreign and unwanted, like an outside source trying to inject itself into her mind. Though she's come here to discuss Station politics (of a sort), she finds herself unsettled.

She decides to deal with that first.]

We'll get to that. [She considers what he wears carefully, recalling that it had been destroyed. Now that she knows that he's human from their gathering for their trip, she at least feels somewhat less ... uncomfortable around him.]

Why do I feel as if you're my enemy now? Those sentiments don't lie with me.

[narcissithstic]

Your feelings are misplaced.

[As are his own, perhaps. A poorer opportunity for this conversation hardly seems capable of existing, and yet the distraction is welcome— better than pacing the confines of his own room, struggling with an obsessive train of thought that refuses to die.]

If I considered you my enemy, there would be no mistaking it.

[adamance]

Then I feel this way because of a brood member. Are you the enemy of someone close to me?

[It's not that Lexa considers herself emotionally close to anyone (at least in terms of sentiment). But there's a pragmatic edge here: she doesn't want her strength diminished because someone in her brood is in trouble. She doesn't want to be crippled by this inconvenient bond.

If she's meant to work with this man, to hold an alliance, then it is all the better for them to clear this up.]

[narcissithstic]

Perhaps. [Aoba, Nathaniel - he can think of more than a few souls aboard the station both within and without his brood that he despises with a bitter passion, though only the latter is relevant in the moment.]

Name them.

[Or think of them and let him read your thoughts. Either works, Lexa.]

[adamance]

[Though her comfort with the telepathy increases because of use, she sees no reason to think thoughts at him now. It might be easier, but she likes being able to utilize her voice. Trained as a leader, it comes naturally to her.]

Ahsoka. General Hux. Nathaniel. Rhys. Anduin, though he sleeps. [She pauses.] Those are the members of my brood. [There are some outside, but she doubts that her fondness for Ilde or Angel would lead to this.]

[narcissithstic]

[He knows she dislikes the mask; even withdrawn he can feel her discomfort, a muddied tangle from across the room that sticks to his skin. Call it courtesy, then, that he lifts his hands to release the seal of his helmet with a snapping hiss.]

Ahsoka and I have come to a...mutual agreement. General Hux is from my own world, and I know nothing of Anduin. [As for the rest, his silence speaks volumes.]

[adamance]

[Lexa's attention falters for a moment, seeing both the mask and man at the same time. She has seen him without this uniform before, but she has never seen the transition between them. It seems to give her a fuller picture in her mind.]

You will not bring harm to any of them. [Because the silence did speak volumes. She finds some of them annoying (namely: Rhys), but that doesn't mean she will hurt them.] Because to hurt them is to hurt me.

I am not an ally you want to spurn, Kylo Ren.

[narcissithstic]

[Embers fanned with a single breath, Ren can feel the heated surge of anger that threatens to rise in his chest at her warning. Under better circumstances he might think to remind himself that he'd be no kinder were she a threat to his own brood, and yet as he is now, every drawn breath stings with the ache of prior failures. Confrontations he still carries on broad shoulders, incapable of letting go.]

I don't fear you.

[It's a barbed announcement, chin held that much higher for it.] If I wanted them dead, they would be— but I serve the Nest.

So long as she wills it, they're in no danger from me.

[adamance]

[The only acknowledgement of his initial statement comes in the form of her eyebrows raising high along her forehead. This expression is one part consternation and one part her simply being unimpressed with him. He may be stronger than her (she's learned that this is likely here), but she has a feeling that she can run circles around him in other arenas.

Her face relaxes after a moment, and it's clear that she's puzzled.]

Who are you referring to?

[narcissithstic]

Cathaway. [His guiding hand as much as the Station itself - but the mention of her name comes with a brief pang of longing. Of need. The wound that was her livid rejection still bleeds fresh with each passing second; Snoke was never so cruel as to entirely abandon his apprentice (or perhaps the Supreme Leader felt the bond between them too necessary to release), and Ren still nurses a pale glimmer of hope that any moment now she'll return the connection she cut.

He should know better.]

[adamance]

[A sense of discomfort washes over her in response to this admission. Lexa doesn't know what to make of it, but there is the sense that her reason for speaking with him has suddenly been nullified. She had hoped to come to an understanding, and his desperate need for one of the other Host's attentions sets her on edge. Cathaway is worthy of respect because she offers answers and knows that they come with obedience, but Lexa cannot fathom anyone feeling that way toward her.

Ever.

Or yet.

Or so soon.

All of these things are the same in her mind.]

What did she do in order to earn your loyalty? [It's where this conversation has strayed. Her original desire for an alliance is now dashed. He is too weak to work with, and will serve the Nest wholly and completely. Perhaps it's unfair, but that desperation ...

It's exactly what she fears for Angel. For herself. For others who might find themselves here.]

[narcissithstic]

Everything. [Breathed out with an unflinching devotion, the way that the reverent whisper prayers in the dark. How could he possibly put to words what it was she showed him? The span of a million universes compressed, condensed like woven thread - he could dip his fingers into it and never once fully grasp every faceted fragment.

Somehow he imagines she does.

And not once has he proven an asset to Cathaway in the weeks that followed her sparing him for his attack. His fingers were wrapped around her throat, and as someone swats down an insect she'd brought him to his knees. A flood of information so potent the Supreme Leader's ability paled in contrast.]

She showed me more than you could possibly understand.

[Blunt an instrument as Lexa is, firmly rooted in tangible reality, he imagines the strain of it might break her— or fracture the foundation of her world at best.]

[adamance]

She showed me a great deal, too. [Perhaps not the same amount, but that leaves her curious. Is his devotion based upon Cathaway's power? If so, that might be reason to worship her as he seems to (which he most certainly does). But she is not much of a leader, playing the impartial party when it might benefit everyone involved for her to grant them her voice.]

But I don't treat her as you do. It wouldn't benefit me. I don't understand why it benefits you, but that is where we differ.