Do you realize how nonsensical you sound to ask if I was sure it was the Enemy? What other question could you be asking other than if it was the Enemy in their true form? [He is exasperated- Prince was not prone to conversation but Parker seemed incapable of it.] Surely you could not have been wondering whether I was sure the alien force that attacked my people was not simply a coincidence?
[It was ridiculous. He may have, at one point in time, believed that could be possible, if he had not spoken to the Hosts that had first joined him when he had been brought to the station. Their stories were all the same. They were attacked- by something or someone beyond their own capability to survive. It took many forms, but the story always ended the same- because they were here, on the Station, and not dead in their homes. This was simple. She has been here too long, in Prince's opinion, to be questioning these simple facts.]
The enemy has many agents, as I am sure you have been told. We know that they hunt us. They know that we attempt to save potential hosts from their assassinations, and they must surely know that we interfere in their plots. With so many strong beings capable of doing their bidding what possible incentive would there be to let us know anything about them? To put themselves at risk? So I assume we have never seen their true form, and if we have, we did not recognize it as such.
[ She looks at him with an incredulous stare. Of course she is still questioning the simple facts, because she hasn't been presented any proof of either side. All she has heard is the expectancy of believing and trusting without question and there is nothing that makes her do the opposite faster. There has to be more than words, especially when they have been provided by people she does not trust. Expecting her to offer her trust is expecting her to offer her loyalty, and that is something that she does not give lightly. She isn't seeing any reason to do so so far. ]
Yeah, I've been told a lot of things, and none of them make sense. I've asked what does the enemy want, and all you can answer is "hunt you down". I've asked what do you want, and you say "to save the hosts". So, what makes you better? Neither you or them care about the people you call hosts. [ There's a pause, she leans back, shaking her head. ]
You're just running desperate to find a brain to shove these things in to.
[ In that moment, when she was picked up, there were four more people better than her in arm's reach. There has to be a reason for it, right? It has to be because they are desperate. They couldn't have picked her up knowing the difficult person she is. How, fundamentally, she isn't good nor strong, even if she tries. Maxine was better and Jonny was stronger. The only reason she had said yes had been out of fear and guilt, one that has been pushing her down more and more every time. ]
It means we do not know who is pulling the strings.
[He says the words slow and heavy, as if Parker may be short of hearing. Clearly she was not taking in anything that they had told her. Her next words, however, bring a flash of hot anger that is strong enough that it overcomes even his tightly controlled barriers, sizzling down the line that connects him to Cathaway. It is possible, even, that other hosts, those that may be listening sense it as well.]
We are the people we call Hosts, you foolish child- [he is just short of yelling, deep voice louder than it usually is, but hissing at the edges for the control it takes to be no louder. The fact that his voice doesn't echo is only because the station itself seems to eat the sound from the air around them-] The same thing that happened to you happened to us all. What makes you think we want you? What do you give us- you and your simple false equivalencies- what benefit is there to you? You are a burden, and that does not seem likely to change.
[There are things he has struggled his whole life to learn. To be steady, to strike a balance between the flows. To be as a stone, to weather any storm. Patience was chief among the virtues. These were the things he had been taught his entire life, that his father and his aunts had tried to instill into him. But his core had been impatient, his flows imbalanced, and strive as he might, as often as he managed to come to some equilibrium, he could not always maintain it. His emotions, distasteful as they were, vulgar in their display, could be seen.
Certainly now, although with the last thoughtless words that escape his mouth he is already beginning to regret allowing this display. Thoughts and emotions were acceptable. Acting upon them-
He bites down the next words he would say, takes a breath and a step back, chin raising slightly. There is tension in the control he exerts over himself, still simmering beneath.]
[ Parker stares at him, unchanged in her stance or demeanour. Eyes locked with his and all she does as he lets his tirade go on. Until he says the last words that clearly leave his mouth without him wanting. That strikes something and Parker's lips twitch-- into almost a smile. With no humour, but like something familiar. His outburst has more realness to it than the measured steps he keeps taking - he and everyone else.
A burden, unwanted-- those are things she is used to being since she was old enough to understand the world around them. There are reasons for her to be distrustful and guarded and difficult, after all. Taking that role has always felt more natural than anything else because of it. It is by being a burden back home that she has taken down lies and masks. Not that she is always this extreme, but her loved ones aren't here to pull her out of her hole. It's a disease you can't really see. And considering she keeps herself distant, it's no wonder anyone would take it as something you could just get over. Stubbornness or unwillingness. It is not that, but the festering wound that she had once started to heal which is slowly tearing her bit by bit.
Some things are just better hidden by presenting yourself as a burden than others.
Parker looks at him one last time, from head to toe, and gives him a shrug. ]
Sure.
[ She takes two steps back, staring at him in challenge of nothing, before turning around to leave. ]
[Prince's cool mask has returned by the time Parker turns away, as if it had never gone, were it not for the slight flush barely visible on his cheeks and the added tension in his shoulders. When she leaves he sighs- another thing he is not supposed to do, a tell that could be dangerous- if he were still a boy on a planet with the weight of a nation across his shoulders. As it is now, there is no one to notice such a weakness- not the sigh and not the hand that raises to press his fingers against his brow, a firm even pressure.
Perhaps not no one, but no one who would be surprised by the fact that he was capable of such things.]
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no subject
Do you realize how nonsensical you sound to ask if I was sure it was the Enemy? What other question could you be asking other than if it was the Enemy in their true form? [He is exasperated- Prince was not prone to conversation but Parker seemed incapable of it.] Surely you could not have been wondering whether I was sure the alien force that attacked my people was not simply a coincidence?
[It was ridiculous. He may have, at one point in time, believed that could be possible, if he had not spoken to the Hosts that had first joined him when he had been brought to the station. Their stories were all the same. They were attacked- by something or someone beyond their own capability to survive. It took many forms, but the story always ended the same- because they were here, on the Station, and not dead in their homes. This was simple. She has been here too long, in Prince's opinion, to be questioning these simple facts.]
The enemy has many agents, as I am sure you have been told. We know that they hunt us. They know that we attempt to save potential hosts from their assassinations, and they must surely know that we interfere in their plots. With so many strong beings capable of doing their bidding what possible incentive would there be to let us know anything about them? To put themselves at risk? So I assume we have never seen their true form, and if we have, we did not recognize it as such.
no subject
[ She looks at him with an incredulous stare. Of course she is still questioning the simple facts, because she hasn't been presented any proof of either side. All she has heard is the expectancy of believing and trusting without question and there is nothing that makes her do the opposite faster. There has to be more than words, especially when they have been provided by people she does not trust. Expecting her to offer her trust is expecting her to offer her loyalty, and that is something that she does not give lightly. She isn't seeing any reason to do so so far. ]
Yeah, I've been told a lot of things, and none of them make sense. I've asked what does the enemy want, and all you can answer is "hunt you down". I've asked what do you want, and you say "to save the hosts". So, what makes you better? Neither you or them care about the people you call hosts. [ There's a pause, she leans back, shaking her head. ]
You're just running desperate to find a brain to shove these things in to.
[ In that moment, when she was picked up, there were four more people better than her in arm's reach. There has to be a reason for it, right? It has to be because they are desperate. They couldn't have picked her up knowing the difficult person she is. How, fundamentally, she isn't good nor strong, even if she tries. Maxine was better and Jonny was stronger. The only reason she had said yes had been out of fear and guilt, one that has been pushing her down more and more every time. ]
no subject
[He says the words slow and heavy, as if Parker may be short of hearing. Clearly she was not taking in anything that they had told her. Her next words, however, bring a flash of hot anger that is strong enough that it overcomes even his tightly controlled barriers, sizzling down the line that connects him to Cathaway. It is possible, even, that other hosts, those that may be listening sense it as well.]
We are the people we call Hosts, you foolish child- [he is just short of yelling, deep voice louder than it usually is, but hissing at the edges for the control it takes to be no louder. The fact that his voice doesn't echo is only because the station itself seems to eat the sound from the air around them-] The same thing that happened to you happened to us all. What makes you think we want you? What do you give us- you and your simple false equivalencies- what benefit is there to you? You are a burden, and that does not seem likely to change.
[There are things he has struggled his whole life to learn. To be steady, to strike a balance between the flows. To be as a stone, to weather any storm. Patience was chief among the virtues. These were the things he had been taught his entire life, that his father and his aunts had tried to instill into him. But his core had been impatient, his flows imbalanced, and strive as he might, as often as he managed to come to some equilibrium, he could not always maintain it. His emotions, distasteful as they were, vulgar in their display, could be seen.
Certainly now, although with the last thoughtless words that escape his mouth he is already beginning to regret allowing this display. Thoughts and emotions were acceptable. Acting upon them-
He bites down the next words he would say, takes a breath and a step back, chin raising slightly. There is tension in the control he exerts over himself, still simmering beneath.]
You have your paper. Leave.
no subject
A burden, unwanted-- those are things she is used to being since she was old enough to understand the world around them. There are reasons for her to be distrustful and guarded and difficult, after all. Taking that role has always felt more natural than anything else because of it. It is by being a burden back home that she has taken down lies and masks. Not that she is always this extreme, but her loved ones aren't here to pull her out of her hole. It's a disease you can't really see. And considering she keeps herself distant, it's no wonder anyone would take it as something you could just get over. Stubbornness or unwillingness. It is not that, but the festering wound that she had once started to heal which is slowly tearing her bit by bit.
Some things are just better hidden by presenting yourself as a burden than others.
Parker looks at him one last time, from head to toe, and gives him a shrug. ]
Sure.
[ She takes two steps back, staring at him in challenge of nothing, before turning around to leave. ]
no subject
Perhaps not no one, but no one who would be surprised by the fact that he was capable of such things.]