Station 72 >> Mental Link

[otrazhenie]

COMPASSION never lose it	GRIEF
BLOOD	KATHERINE i look like her

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

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MISSION: HYRYPIA | DAY: 011

[perroquet]

[ He waited for Lakshmi, crouching like a predator in the back of his mind, to come to him. Went to Shinji when he needed someone to lean on during the long and dusty march. He goes now to the third new member of his mind - the one for whom he still has no name despite the time they've had.

She will see him coming, a figure in dark robes carrying a long and pale wooden staff. It drags along the ground in front of him as he approaches, kicking up dirt and knocking small pebbles aside. Gildor does not know what Elena is like - her smell, her voice - he can't yet pick out what makes her footsteps distinct from the rest of them. So for the first time, he relies solely on his symbiote to guide him to wherever she may be. ]

Hello.

[ When he finds her, he doesn't stand on ceremony. Just draws his cane in and holds a hand out. ]

Gildor Helyanwe.

[ If anything, his end of the mental connection is warmer and more welcoming than the greeting. Dark, with a melody he had looping to he sound of his own walk still playing, but still - he is open to her. ]

[otrazhenie]

[ It's not that Elena has been avoiding the newest members of her brood, the minds so close to her own that she would know them in her sleep. But between her constant hunger, that aching craving for the blood of those around her that she can smell flowing beneath their skin, and the memory of her first meeting Lakshmi...

Okay, yes, she's been avoiding them. But there's no doing so now, so when she feels his approach, she stays where she is, off to the side and out of the way, set apart but not so much so that she might draw attention. She holds her breath and listens to those footsteps, catches the sound of each and every pebble that moves, and waits -- just not for long.

It's strange to meet so many new people for the first time and not be able to see their faces. She doesn't know the details of the expression Gildor wears, the lines that make up his face, but she knows the emotions behind that expression. The river of his mind flows through the ocean of her own and if she's not careful, she might lose track of where she ends and he begins. ]

Elena Gilbert.

[ She reaches out and puts her gloved hand in his, trying to keep her hunger hidden at the back of her mind, burying it under the sand at the bottom of that lake she'd drowned in, but she can practically taste his blood on her tongue. Before all of that, though, above it and in front, he'll find a polite friendliness intertwined with hesitation. She's a monster, Lakshmi things so, will he share that opinion? ]

[perroquet]

[ With the avoidance he expected as much hesitancy, but the amount of herself she has walled off already is as much tragic as it is impressive. On the surface of their freshly established connection she's all apprehension. It's a bit sad. ]

Pleasure, Miss Gilbert.

[ He keeps his voice flat, steady. The handshake is stiff and overly formal. As a musician he's well acquainted with nervousness. As a bard, it's his duty to help ease it. ]

Pardon my forwardness, but you seem anxious. First impressions should be joyful, shouldn't they? Is there anything I can do to help you feel more at ease?

[ Anything at all, because her anxiousness is becoming his, Shinji's, even Lakshmi's. With it spreading he wonders if it's him, if it's- ]

Is it that I'm... am I making you uncomfortable?

[ He twists the thin wooden staff in his hands, grinding the end into dry dirt. It wouldn't be the first time his blindness has made someone so uncomfortable. ]

also to Damon as well;

[shri]

[ and out of nowhere. Flat, bored, in tone, comes this goddamn tool. ]

( I apologize for seeking your death and to ride the hive of your presence and from this brood. )

[otrazhenie]

[ ...what. To say that Elena is confused might be the understatement of the century. ]

( Where's this suddenly coming from? )

[shri]

[ Erg. ]

( I required Damon's help. He stipulated that I apologise to you to obtain it. I believe he thinks that my lying to you will humble me or humiliate me in some way. )

[ She puts a good effort in sounding shockingly bored with the whole notion, even if it's a twitch of ire in it too. ]

why were you making out with damon 159 minutes 31 seconds ago, elena, why

[extradite]

[ In the grand scheme of things, Shinji would go as far as daring to think he's been a good mental neighbour: no unscheduled freak-outs, no unseemly meltdowns over weirdly-shaped kitchenware, no vague existential crisis at the state of alien stationery (or lack thereof).

So he'd like it put on the record as his first (and hopefully last) infraction when he gently... nudges... Elena's peripheral awareness with the vast imposition of his awkwardness, a few strategic hours after. A certain. Incident. That the brood has been made privy to. ]


( Ahhhh... hello. Thanks for... not invading me. Or stabbing yourself. Either of these things. Both of them. But... if you could also stop being — inappropriate. You'd be the best. You already are the best. But you'd be even better. Somehow. In any case — please stop. Thank you. )

[ And the awkwardest of five seconds later, when basic social skills dawn: ]

( Sorry. This is Shinji. How do you do. )

oh shinji, it's so cute you think that's making out

[otrazhenie]

[ Elena has been meaning to reach out to Shinji, to meet the fourth member of their brood who seems to be having a rather difficult time of accepting their present circumstances, but with the emotional drain of the day, she hadn't gotten to it just yet. She's a bit relieved when he makes that first contact, though everything she's heard and felt from him makes it all the more surprising.

Then he makes his request and she's nothing short of stunned, confused, and completely taken aback. ]

( Hi. I'm Elena. Which you knew already. So... I'm sorry, I don't understand. What do you mean, inappropriate? )

[extradite]

[ Ah, how to explain this. Possibly through bouts of interminable silence. That'll do it. Excellent trick, Ikari. Try it again. ]

( It's just... the. Wet sounds. And the happiness. Earlier. That's — private. Please keep it private. It's appreciated. )

large cat spits up dead thing at a people ( post hunting, pre funeral )

[shri]

There is nothing, nothing Lakshmi loathes quite so much as being in someone's debt. Even if for a slight thing. Especially not to a vampire.

And she remembers too well, in that perfectly clear state of emptiness, what Elena had asked - she had come out of concern for the woman who would kill her in a heartbeat. Would still, and there will never be a mistake of that. But she had come and she had asked, and that - deserved something. Even if it was just a simple exchange back, a worked something in her jaw that ticks tense and loose.

She lets her own mind be an announcement enough when she goes to find Elena, that humming connection between brood that could not be ignored. Says nothing, as she holds the plate of food in front of her. The food she has cooked herself. It is neatly arranged, vegetables cut to form flowers, stacked in rows by color to compliment and taste. Meticulously presented with every bit of meaning. She does not do this for nothing and no one or ever halfway. A carved ceremony in the plate of food that is beyond perhaps even the biting commentary she might want to give - does your kind even need this? That she for once, doesn't let out. Instead, she pauses, balances the plate to pull back her veil to expose herself as herself. Letting it drape from crown where the gold tikka sits at her brow, the red painted dot of the bindi worn so long it might just be her own skin. Herself and nothing else.

With that as word or explanation, she comes closer to Elena, her hands openly occupied to her mind, a mind of a battled thing, presents no threat. She sets the plate down nearest clear space to Elena. "For the grief," and steps back.

Clear that she has done what she came to do, she makes to leave. It's not like there is love lost between them, after all, for a need to exchange pleasantries.

d22, before sauna

[gunlock]

[is there anything really more exciting than getting a mental notification akin to a text message, getting invited to go to a sauna? for someone who hasn't had the pleasure of reacquainting himself with long, warm baths in ten years and suffered through freezing cold showers every other odd day between hunts, prompto feels godsdamned electrified.]

( Oh. I wanna go. )

[would be what he thinks and connects to immediately with elena. prompto feels a special connection with her--like she understands. found family, real family--it's all one and the same. he's the glue to his brothers, the heart, the baby of the bunch, and it oozes out of him as his brood is bound to have noticed; he's noticed the same about elena, how she loves relentlessly, and in her he's found a kindred spirit, in which he can rest because she gets it.]

( Where you at, girrrl? Don't tell me you're gonna miss out on quality bondin' time. ) [yet he feels it, some friction between some in the brood. just like in a family, though.] ( Or do we wanna go find somethin' to eat? )

[otrazhenie]

[ Elena would be a bit more excited if said mental text message had come from anyone else. That she has Lakshmi to be grateful to for this opportunity... It just doesn't sit well with her. Perhaps because, despite the fact that the open antagonism between them has mostly stopped, she still knows that her broodmate would kill her without hesitation if given the chance. That sort of thing doesn't exactly make for a friendly, hug-filled relationship.

Prompto, on the other hand. It's like it was with Shiro, just clicking with someone instantly, except it's so much stronger because of their brood connection. He's like an older brother that she'd never had before, though sometimes his joking manner reminds her of Jeremy, back before their lives had been upended by their parents' deaths. Just being around him puts her at ease, and she feels lighter and... happier because of his influence. Everything in her brightens a bit when she feels him across their mental connection, and she responds immediately with a laugh in her thoughts. ]

( You should eat something first, we don't want the heat making you sick. My definition of bonding time doesn't include taking care of you when you pass out from an empty stomach. )

[ She'd still do it, of course. ]

[gunlock]

( A girl after m'heart. I'll never say no to some grub. )

[she reminds him of iris at times, with her (big) sister demeanor, looking after a lot of dumb, dumb boys.]

( Not that you wouldn't do it, I bet. Hmm... Meet you at the cabin? I'd rather walk with you to the food. )

[contact, familiarity; all important to prompto]

day 21

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ It's not long after they'd boarded the airship and are settling in to their temporary quarters when Sam reaches out to Elena. She's one of the handful of people that Sam has a near constant awareness of, their connection always humming somewhere in the back of his mind, so it's easy to pull it more into focus.

He brushes over her mind like a playful breeze, the sensation of feathers and beaks tugging at her hair.

Less how are you doing, although that's part of it, and more come hang out with me? ]

[otrazhenie]

[ That brush against her mind is welcomed, her demeanor brightening like someone just opened the curtains in a dark room to let in sunlight. Sam is one of her best friends here, and she's always happy to spend time with him. She even finds that birdlike sensation in her mind to be kind of charming and cute.

Following that thread of connection between them is easy thanks to how often they've communicated, and not too long after she's approaching him with a smile and a little wave. ]

Hey, Sam.

day 37.

[detestable]

[ In the midst of all this shit, some idiot choking on blood, panic and grief rising to blinding levels, Seth becomes aware of exactly how involved Elena is. And she might be fine to do her thing, except— ]

( What the fuck are you doing out there? )

[ The logic of this situation doesn't register first. What comes through is that they're one down and Elena's out at a crime scene rather than hanging back somewhere safe. Seth's concern is like a whipcrack, breaking between them before he can stop himself. ]

[otrazhenie]

[ Of all the times for Seth to effectively yell at her, he's perhaps chosen the worst of all. Sam's just run off, she's covered in his blood, Shiro is in a state, she's pretty sure Gil is about to be sick from it all—

And now her broodmate is pulling this crap. That concern that rockets across their connection grates on her, shaking up nerves that were already on edge, and her thoughts are sharp in response. ]

( I'm saving Sam's life. Do you have a problem with that, Seth? )

backdated to the Keya Fallout

[shiro2hero]

[It's been a day or so since it all blew up. He meant to do this... earlier. But he'd been trying to sort out his own head. Trying to figure out what happened and who was alive and well, versus out of their minds. Untangle a lot of threads.]

[But this is Important. Elena is Important.]

[Still, he doesn't barge in to her head. It's more of a quiet knock. Gently, hesitantly. Completely unlike the literal roar he'd called out for her with, earlier.]

(Hey. Can I talk to you?)

[otrazhenie]

[ He could have barged right in and Elena wouldn't have been the least bit bothered by it. Shiro is family, and family has the right to do all the barging they need. Still, she appreciates the 'knock' and immediately responds with warm affection. ]

( Always. What's on your mind? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam listens to the option presented to them by those that've been on this mission the longest, listens to everyone's questions and responses, and then reaches out to those closest to him.

He knows what he wants to do, but he also knows that being back on the Station with Damon and Elena planetside would be... difficult, to say the least. Sam cares about Elena, a whole hell of a fucking lot, and he can't actually picture his life without her anymore.

But he also knows her, knows that where they both tend to look after everyone else more than themselves - she takes it to the extreme. That even if she wants to go back, to take some time to adjust to the symbiote and being a vampire and give her and Damon a chance to love each other away from this mission like they deserve - she won't.

Not as long as she might be needed here.

So he reaches out, mind curling around hers. ]

( You don't have to stay. )

an eternity late

[otrazhenie]

( If anyone I care about is staying, then I can't go. )

[ She doesn't avoid the subject or dance around the truth of the matter like she does with some of the others. Like with Caroline, who she doesn't want to hurt. This is Sam, someone she trusts, someone who saw that dark early days. Someone who has helped her and been on her side.

So she tells him the truth, the sadness in those words stretching across their link, and she waits to see if he'll try to talk her out of it. Damon certainly will. ]

[persevere]

[Caroline's mind reaches out to Elena not long after their all presented with a big decision. She sensed something in her mind clicking into place just beforehand, several somethings actually, and it has her feeling more hopeful for the first time since she arrived.

She's still a little unsettled by it, but it's hard not to want to feel better.

Caroline wants to go back. She doesn't want to stay here where they might get left for dead. She wants to be wherever these other people are that made her start to feel whole for the first time in awhile.]

( So...what do you think? )

forever late oops

[otrazhenie]

[ Elena doesn't have to guess what Caroline's decision will be; even without a mental connection, she knows her best friend. There's no one here to really tie Care to Hyrypia, not the way there is for Elena now, and if any of Care's broodmates have woken up...

She's quiet for a few moments, her attention noticeably on their conversation, just not participating yet. But there's only so long she can mull over the same two possibilities without having to say something. ]

( I... don't know. )

[ Correction: She does know, she just knows that no one is going to like her decision. ]

piles on the opinions train

[blooded]

❰ Are you going to make me convince you we should go back to the station?

there's... a little bit of mirth in damon's tone. just a little. there is also the overwhelming feeling that he is d o n e with hyrypia, and he very much wants to go back to the station... but no matter what, he will stay with her. no matter what she chooses, where she goes, he goes. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ Elena is aching inside, torn in a half dozen different directions because of this single choice. Stay, or go. It should be so simple, but she can't separate what she wants from everything else that matters more. That desire to go back and finally be away from all of this is tangled up in the need to protect, to keep everyone she cares about safe, and unless all of those people are also leaving... ]

( You might have to try. ) [ She only sounds half as miserable as she feels, some of that emotion pulled back under watery shields, hidden even from Damon. ]