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
[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.]