[Cathaway was always there, even with her relative respect for the distance he preferred, so he feels her interest go keen first at a distance, enough to serve as some kind f a warning for her address. His walk slows, head tipping slightly towards her, despite the distance.
He is quiet, his slight confusion muffled but not hidden. He hand't felt anything of note, despite being relatively open to the new Hosts (for him, at least), and Cathaway did not tend to speak vaguely at times of urgency. Still, he has no doubt there is something important in her direction, that she would send him.]
( Perhaps. We are... ) [A rolling, twisting gap - frustration and curiosity and interest like copper tang in the mouth, like a gauzy curtain drawn back by the curve of a wrist, something wet and warm pulsing out across stone.] ( Uncertain. )
[He makes a low sound, a serious, thoughtful hum impossible to hear but very easy to sense. And then he tips his face up, gaze settling again on the present as he turns himself subtly in the girl's direction. The connection narrowed.]
I see. I will let you know what has transpired.
[And with that he pulls his attention fully away from her and back to his task. Ilde, then.]
[And then, some time later, the connection widens again, he settles into her mind, words and emotions he fails to rein in in any significant way, slipping too far into the connection. Attentions split. Unusually careless but typically guilty.]
She has killed someone.
[The picture is incomplete and ill-formed. She seemed so quiet. The brood would be ruinous. He had failed to properly assess the danger found in it. Tension blossoming open and being pulled back in petal by petal as, in less than a second, he finds control of his emotions again. Aware he had opened the connection too soon. More folly, where was his patience?]
[The wash of it is sharp, as sweet as it is bitter. What follows it in response is drier, brittler, more vague - something that is at once dismissive and it is attentive. Ah. So she has. Fascinating - that the reverberation of it hadn't been immediately evident to Cathaway's mind. It makes Ilde more callous than expected. Good. Sometimes that is necessary.
A complication here, though. The world is very small and they have many days left on it. Will someone come for retribution? What use will the girl be in the civilized parts of this world? The muddled stray thoughts coalesce into:]
I do not believe she sees issue in her actions. I believe she would do the same again without compunction.
[Despite the careful way he contains his thoughts they are not nearly so sterile as Cathaway's. Her mind was too vast now, and he didn't want do know whether she saw any value in any individual life outside of the Nest now. If she could care about a single death when weighed against the greater good. So he doesn't look. If you do not look, you will not see.]
I am still looking into the matter to see if retaliation is likely. If she was recognized it is likely she will be connected to the rest of the Hosts.
[There was a chance that it would have minimum significance even to wherever friends, allies, and family he had. The evacuation was most people's primary concern. But that was no guarantee.] I have barred her from this area for now.
[And they may be forced to bar the rest if necessary. There was a logical, rational reason to avoid killing that went beyond even the simple (vital) moral objections.]
[A humming, considering vibration, thoughts like the crackle of electricity spreading across a metal plate: flicking here, then out-- farther, farther, farther--]
( You were good to send her away. ) [A visceral pause. A calculation.] ( Say nothing of this to the younger hosts. We will do our part to minimize the damage, but if this makes things more difficult it's important that they come to know of it on their own. )
[A training exercise; they could be shielded, but not protected. Better to let them taste the sting of what trouble another's mistake could make for the rest.]
[Her praise, if you could call it that, fails to land. He knew he had been right to send her away. Her presence there had been a liability.
He doesn't like the rest. Not at all. He would rather deliver a lecture, to tell then of the danger their actions could bring upon their fellows, and upon them again. He would rather learning for themselves not be a necessity. But it likely was. He could not insulate them forever, and while Cathaway had no control over him she had his ear.]
Very well. But if she harms another without due cause I will take action.
[There is a hum of attention on him, momentarily acute as if to underline her agreement - to give some weight to the value she places on his decision - and then it begins to slip accordingly: water resolutely streaming between fingers stubbornly pressed together. Inevitable.
She turns her attention elsewhere, the matter having been sufficiently resolved for the time being.]
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no subject
He is quiet, his slight confusion muffled but not hidden. He hand't felt anything of note, despite being relatively open to the new Hosts (for him, at least), and Cathaway did not tend to speak vaguely at times of urgency. Still, he has no doubt there is something important in her direction, that she would send him.]
Very well. You anticipate trouble?
no subject
no subject
I see. I will let you know what has transpired.
[And with that he pulls his attention fully away from her and back to his task. Ilde, then.]
no subject
She has killed someone.
[The picture is incomplete and ill-formed. She seemed so quiet. The brood would be ruinous. He had failed to properly assess the danger found in it. Tension blossoming open and being pulled back in petal by petal as, in less than a second, he finds control of his emotions again. Aware he had opened the connection too soon. More folly, where was his patience?]
no subject
A complication here, though. The world is very small and they have many days left on it. Will someone come for retribution? What use will the girl be in the civilized parts of this world? The muddled stray thoughts coalesce into:]
( Do you believe there is any further danger? )
no subject
[Despite the careful way he contains his thoughts they are not nearly so sterile as Cathaway's. Her mind was too vast now, and he didn't want do know whether she saw any value in any individual life outside of the Nest now. If she could care about a single death when weighed against the greater good. So he doesn't look. If you do not look, you will not see.]
I am still looking into the matter to see if retaliation is likely. If she was recognized it is likely she will be connected to the rest of the Hosts.
[There was a chance that it would have minimum significance even to wherever friends, allies, and family he had. The evacuation was most people's primary concern. But that was no guarantee.] I have barred her from this area for now.
[And they may be forced to bar the rest if necessary. There was a logical, rational reason to avoid killing that went beyond even the simple (vital) moral objections.]
no subject
( You were good to send her away. ) [A visceral pause. A calculation.] ( Say nothing of this to the younger hosts. We will do our part to minimize the damage, but if this makes things more difficult it's important that they come to know of it on their own. )
[A training exercise; they could be shielded, but not protected. Better to let them taste the sting of what trouble another's mistake could make for the rest.]
no subject
He doesn't like the rest. Not at all. He would rather deliver a lecture, to tell then of the danger their actions could bring upon their fellows, and upon them again. He would rather learning for themselves not be a necessity. But it likely was. He could not insulate them forever, and while Cathaway had no control over him she had his ear.]
Very well. But if she harms another without due cause I will take action.
no subject
[There is a hum of attention on him, momentarily acute as if to underline her agreement - to give some weight to the value she places on his decision - and then it begins to slip accordingly: water resolutely streaming between fingers stubbornly pressed together. Inevitable.
She turns her attention elsewhere, the matter having been sufficiently resolved for the time being.]