[color=39b54a][i]“Well, I suppose confidence is an attractive trait...  just as long as you know where your limits lay.  As long as you avoid overreaching your expectations, I shall gladly look forward to seeing you live up to that advertisement of yours~.”[/i][/color]  The words echoed in Callie’s mind even as Qingshe continued to speak.

Callie knew a lot about Lei Qingshe intellectually, of course – she’d been briefed on her fairly extensively.  Her defection and presence in the theatre wasn’t a secret to those who knew how to look.  She held in her head what information had been made public about her past, her powers and her [i]modus operandi[/i] and what little could be dredged up by US intelligence from that which hadn’t.  She knew, rationally – and had seen firsthand – that this was a canny Arms Master who, like most AMs on their level, had enough power behind her to wipe out everyone in this room with a thought.

Rationally.  Now, for the first time in the meeting, a part of her came to the fore to viscerally identify that the woman before her was intelligent, wilful, terrifyingly strong and, yes, [i]extremely[/i] beautiful.  Unnervingly so, in fact.

She half-remembered a story told by one of the AMCs – an upper-class boy who’d been obsessed with Greek mythology.  It was about a master sculptor who’d carved a statue of a woman so flawless that he’d fallen in love with it, and so prayed to the goddess of love to make it come to life.  She’d laughed at the time.  Now, though, her sight drawn to that hair of immaculate jade and those cold, fire opal eyes…

[color=f7941d][i]Oh, God, I was flirting with her before, wasn’t I?  Barely even realised it – and now she’s…  Nope.  Bad!  Bad Callie![/i][/color]  She blinked again, firmly, to tear her gaze away, hoping beyond hope that she was imagining the warmth in her cheeks as she gave a nod to the two Arms Masters he had mentioned.  [color=f7941d]“We’ll be up to the task, I’m sure, Lieutenant.”[/color]  Forcing herself to retain her newfound focus, she inclined an eye back towards Qingshe.  [color=f7941d]“We should talk afterwards, in any case.”  [i]No, NO, that’s not what I meant to – ![/i]  “The three of us with you – important to familiarise ourselves with what information you have, as well as each of us with the others’ capabilities.”[/color]

[color=f7941d][i]Saved it.[/i][/color]

[color=f7941d][i]Yep.  Definitely.[/i][/color]

She shook her head, the tiniest of motions, desperately searching for something productive to do to realign her thoughts…  She scanned the upper windows again.  Still nothing.  Then her potential teammates…  Nico was familiar to her, of course; she still didn’t entirely know what to do about Turing but he certainly seemed to have made his mind up on the subject.  She could respect that decisiveness, as well as the clarity and focus she’d observed out of the corner of her eye in the past few days.  Perhaps this mission would allow her to familiarise herself a little better.

As for one Sergeant Dorn…  [color=f7941d][i]God, she’s a[/i] tall [i]one now that I look at her, isn’t she?  And with the build to match…[/i][/color]  Quickly pushing back down the part of her she was deliberately distracting herself from, the one wanting to [i]appreciate[/i] those aspects, she instead turned to the part that had filed her under ‘powerhouse close combatant’.  [color=f7941d][i]Hope she’s got some sort of area control to augment it.  If she has – between that and Nico’s capabilities…[/i][/color]  She took a moment to re-evaluate her view of Noel.  Sure, the poor boy was obviously out of his depth but he possibly did have some budding skill for the tactical side of command, if only it could be nurtured.

[color=f7941d][i]Though I question his judgement in bringing on…  Huh.[/i][/color]

Myron hadn’t been of significant interest to her up to now – reformed AM terrorists weren’t [i]so[/i] uncommon these days and the stereotype he’d seemingly built his personality around didn’t exactly make him any more endearing.  She’d dismissed him as one to watch carefully, for obvious reasons, and interact with as little as possible otherwise.

If the [i]horror[/i] that had appeared on his face for a split second as she’d begun to turn towards him was any indication, he felt much the same way.

Callie’s mind went into overdrive.  [color=f7941d][i]He knows me or something about me – not necessarily – possibly associated with the mission – can’t take the risk.  Don’t have time to deal with it today.  Keep him quiet until I can confront him.  Use his fear – make him think I know more than I do.  Can tease out what it is after.[/i][/color]

And so, with another check to make sure that nobody was paying particular attention to her, she looked away again, pretending to be looking at nothing.  She summoned Charter, rolling it in her fingers to feign idleness.  In her peripheral vision, she watched as Myron hesitated, then let his gaze creep back towards her.

Whereupon she immediately swivelled her eyes to fix him with a stare and a cold smile.  She formed a tiny portal inside her mouth and inside his ear.  [color=f7941d]“Shhh…”[/color]

(As she dismissed it, she ignored the impulse that it would have been kinder just to ask.)