Station 72 >> Mental Link

[otrazhenie]

COMPASSION never lose it	GRIEF
BLOOD	KATHERINE i look like her

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

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[otrazhenie]

[ Elena can't imagine what it would have been like to grow up without a sibling around. Jeremy was so close to her own age, she couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been frustrating her with his crazy antics, or making her immeasurably proud with his artistic abilities. Watching him grow up has been one of the best parts of her life, and she's been trying her best to keep him on the right path since their parents died -- though her best hasn't always been good enough. ]

( Eighteen. I was in my last year of high school. )

[ She'd been looking at colleges to apply to, trying to dream of a life that didn't include having someone try to kill her every other month or centuries-old curses coming back to haunt her. Those dreams seem so far away now. ]

( And you're wrong, by the way. I do care. About you, about your life before all this. What makes you think I wouldn't? )

[extradite]

( Why should you? We're strangers. All of us. )

[ Strangers with an uncanny ability to pretend otherwise, but strangers all the same. ]

( If it weren't for this... situation, someone like you and someone like me... if we were walking down the street, we wouldn't even nod hello at each other. )

[ Children and (fresh) adults are residents of different worlds. What use are they to each other? ]

[otrazhenie]

( I care about you because you're a person and you're stuck in this mess just like me. It doesn't matter that we're strangers right now, we're in this together and I'd like to get to know you. )

[ It's so odd for her to think that anyone wouldn't want to get to know the people around them, especially in a situation like they'd all been forced into. ]

( And actually, yes, I would have said hello if we'd passed on the street, and probably smiled at you too. That's who I am. )

[extradite]

( You're kind to say so. )


[ That's what she wants to hear, isn't it? 'You're kind. You're brave. You're better than me'. In the end, this is who she is here, deprived of other people to interact with. Of course she'll want a friend of the likes of him here. ]

( Do you think the other two in our unit are like you? )

[otrazhenie]

[ That's not at all what she's aiming for with this conversation, and if she knew that's what he was thinking, she might tell him off for assuming so. Luckily, she oblivious, and just writes it off as a pleasantry - what also isn't what she wants. ]

( We're all very different people, but I think they'll care about you too, if that's what you mean. )

[ Shinji's lucky that way; Lakshmi certainly doesn't give a damn about Elena, and would much rather see the young vampire dead than anything else. ]

[extradite]

( I meant, if you think they're the kind of people who'd have said hello to you or me as strangers on the street before this. )

[ Specifics define optics. And, somehow, he has his doubts. ]

[otrazhenie]

( Gildor would have, I'm sure. I honestly can't say about Lakshmi; she tried to kill me the first time we met. )

[ There's no sugarcoating that statement. If it weren't for the symbiotes, Elena has no doubt that her broodmate would have continued that effort. ]

[extradite]

[ Lakshmi. Tall, dark, pretty. Violent. Mercenary.

He thinks, in this succession of flashbacks, there isn't one vague descriptor he'd think above a person who might ever be tempted to kill. Even if he liked her, and he doesn't. Even if he knew her, and he doesn't. Even if he rooted for her, and he doesn't. ]


( ...kill you. Why...? Why? )

[otrazhenie]

[ Okay, now he's confused. Does he really not know? Has this very important piece of information passed him by? The confusion should come through loud and clear for Shinji as she answers his question. ]

( Because I'm a vampire and she's spent her life killing vampires. It doesn't seem to matter to her that my kind are different from the ones she's known, or that I'm still a person despite the fangs. )

[ It's progress for Elena herself to think such, though. She's a little proud of herself for it. ]

[extradite]

[ Ah. That suddenly old story. For the sake of her shame, he'll let her have this moment of silence, so she might review and reconsider her position before he has to once again point out the obvious: ]

( Vampires don't exist. )

[ It wasn't just Misato in sore need of the reminder, after all. ]

[otrazhenie]

[ Uhm. Okay. That... isn't what she expected. ]

( You seriously haven't felt my cravings? For blood? Gildor was almost sick from them earlier. )

[extradite]

( Anyone can have a strange diet from time to time. Especially in stressful situations. )

[ Isn't this like Misato's choice to devour two, three small packs of crisps after a terrible briefing? Misplaced anger, overwhelming nerves The stomach is a tricky thing. ]

[otrazhenie]

( This isn't because of a 'stressful situation', Shinji. I died. Two weeks ago. I'm dead and the only way I can survive now is to drink blood. )

[ She could understand someone not believing when they first found out if they couldn't feel the blood cravings, but shouldn't that be enough? That's not exactly a normal thing! ]

[extradite]

[ He should help himself, he should, he should, he should — ]

( ...right. You're dead. That's why you're talking to me right now. Because you're dead. Honestly... )

[ — he doesn't. ]

[otrazhenie]

[ She is so incredibly tempted to track him down and just show him how much of a vampire she is. But that would be a bad thing, right? ]

( We've all been implanted with aliens in our heads and you're seriously doubting that vampires could possibly exist? )

[extradite]

( It's not an alien. It's probably a neural sync path. I don't know the... biophysics of it, but. It's just science. )

[ Trust him, it's his second go at it. There are men and women armoured in pristine lab coats who'll tell you so: this is normal. ]

( Vampires are make-believe. Why would it be blood a normal body needs to stay alive? Are you bleeding out from anywhere? )

[ ...oh. Oh, no. Oh, wait. ]

( More than... girls... )

[otrazhenie]

[ Elena is legitimately having trouble processing this conversation. He can't be serious. There's no way someone can deny something like this. Vampires, sure, but aliens? Come on. ]

( Shinji, we're surrounded by aliens. Why is it so hard to believe that they've put one in our heads? )

[ Yes, she's sidestepping that second part right now, for both their sakes. ]

[extradite]

( I just know how systems like these work. )

[ A horrible, most trying moment, when Ikari Shinji knows better than the average man. ]

[otrazhenie]

[ She doesn't say anything for a moment, just contemplates the various options available, and finally settles on perhaps not the best one, but hopefully the one that will get the job done. ]

( Can you meet me in the morning? In one of our tents, so we can go without costumes for a bit? I'd like to show you something. )

[extradite]

( Will you be hurting yourself? )

[ It's out before he can refrain himself, vicious and ironic and disruptive. Quaint, by adult standard. Lakshmi's heritage of vitriol. ]

( I've already been shown that lesson, thank you. )

[otrazhenie]

( No, neither of us enjoyed that demonstration, trust me. What was Lakshmi trying to prove with that, anyway? )

[ That she's some sort of badass? Message received, let's move along now. ]

[extradite]

( That she can hurt me until I agree with her. )


[ A lesson for adults to teach and children to partake of. He knows the rites. ]

[otrazhenie]

( Well, that's a shitty lesson. )

[ There's no love lost between her and Lakshmi at this point, so she's not going to sugarcoat her feelings toward their broodmate when she's talking with Shinji. ]

[extradite]

( That's not for me to say. )

[ But yes. Yes, it was. Wretched and abrupt and inefficient. Something none of them would want to relive, given the choice.

But you don't criticise an adult's choices so easily. ]

[otrazhenie]

( Yes it is. You're not just some kid here, Shinji. You're part of this brood and we might not have chosen each other, but we are stuck with each other. If you have something to say, to any of us, then don't hold back. )

[ Lakshmi's a bully, plain and simply. If Elena has anything to say about it, she won't be letting her push Shinji around again. At least, not until he's confident enough to push back. ]