[b]Aevum:[/b]

Crystal takes it in stride, skipping a few steps to be at Yellow’s side, now. “This is merely a concession in approach. For what it’s worth, I happen to agree with Blue on it. The idea is that they see your terms on bended knee. Shooting off a kneecap is a perfectly good way to go about it. Point blank with a large calibre, preferably.”

Fiona chokes on her first try at words, and manages a second. “Crystal?!”

“Hush, darling, I am [i]monologuing[/i].” The unicorn preens. “We can take it for granted these are bad people. Yes? But what greater justice that the master’s tools [i]will[/i] dismantle the master’s house? I have used terms like co-operation, but if you prefer subjugation then the only thing that matters is the [i]illusion [/i]of voluntary co-operation. Let them some semblance of pride. But if it is necessary for you to sleep at night, then yes…” Crystal steps beside Blue, now, and trails a finger up her spine, from the small of her back all the way up to her scalp. “Let’s see how [i]flimsy [/i]we can make the pretext.” 

Fiona catches up to Yellow, falls in alongside her, and sighs. The opposition is now checkerboxed, a chess board. Crystal to Blue’s right, Fiona to Yellow’s left. “This is after blowing off their kneecap… how?” 

“They can be grateful it was only the one kneecap.” Crystal does a twirl en-point, and leaps to catch her step in time again. Giddy as a schoolgirl. “And if it were all to go to shit, then where better to shoot the heart than from the guts? Which should be the plan anyway, once you have what you need.” 

“Why not just take a kill shot now?” Fiona protests, looking to Blue. “Play the full hand, hang the conspiracy out to dry from anonymity, and then chase up the Zodiac after? Or extort them for everything they have on them, and then just ice them? Why give the chance for retaliation?” 

“Because knowing we have that option means knowing they need you more than you need them. Turn on the lights too fast, and they might scatter like roaches. How many BlackSun executives went to prison? Not enough. Besides, I abhor waste.” Crystal licks her lips. She enjoyed saying ‘we’. “So how about it? You have access to a complicit journalistic organization, hard evidence, burned operatives and two deviant little things waiting in the wings. I can’t say it would be the rational choice, or the practical one. But it does sound like the most poetic, and the most fun, doesn’t it?”

Normally Fiona’s the more radical one, Crystal more conservative. Move past principles into risk, though, and the roles reverse. 

Which is to say, all of this [i]sounds[/i] good to a romantic’s ear, but it’s not a real plan, not a real assessment. It’s no substitution for actually knowing the real resources of the conspiracy you’re up against, and how you stack up against them - you don’t even know if Goat was their whole operation, or just one head of a hydra. How they’d actually react to a kneecapping, whether they’d come to the table afterwards. Whether you actually have enough to take a shot, or if you’re throwing rocks at a tank. 

Still, smouldering in the high distance, is the reminder you took Goat with less. 


[b]Thrones:[/b]

And Nepenthe listens. 

That’s most of it. When Black hesitates, there’s a gentle ‘Go on?’, sometimes with different words. Only ever once, she never pushes twice. And she asks clarification, too, on all sorts of things, keeping her interruptions for the natural pauses so she never speaks over Black. Nepenthe hasn’t heard ‘molls’ used as a verb before, wants to make sure she’s understanding correctly. When Black says ‘shaky foundations’ in reasserting control, does she mean her internal foundations, or her external ones - does she mean there was ‘shakiness’ in herself in some way, or does she mean in the relationships she was trying to assert herself in?

Nepenthe rarely gives her opinion. It makes the few times she gives one stand out more. 

“Why did you emphasize that you don’t want to hurt anyone? I think it would be fair, after everything you’ve told me, that there are people you would want to hurt. It seems important to you that you don’t?” 

“You’ve told me what you think weakness is, when you described White. And you’ve told me what you think power is. But you haven’t said anything about what you think strength is?” What made it stand out; “I think it’s interesting that you put those ideas together, but you avoided using the most direct antonym.”

And one question she asks, not in apparent response to anything. 

“What does trust mean to you?”