genessia | [Audio] Filtered to everyone but Weiss

Entry tags:

[Audio] Filtered to everyone but Weiss

WHO: Bridget
WHAT: Taunting crime bosses
WHEN: March 1
WHERE: Genessia
WARNINGS: Nyah nyah nyah!

[The background starts with the deliberate clink of teacup on saucer. And then after a slight pause... Bridget is going to actually laugh.]

Roman Torchwick, was it? I've been doing a bit of research into your antics and I must say I am amused! There's absolutely nothing to dispute the possibility of you being thwarted or caught at least three times by teenage girls. I have yet to find such an embarrassing display by someone working under the law and I must admit I've had a lot of years to consider.

I am just a bit curious as to how you actually manage to stay in business.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Honestly, that would not be a bad idea. Armin's never even heard of a spa before.]

Oh, all right. [He's not sure if learning that Bridget can track anyone she comes into contact with is troubling or comforting. Probably both, at the moment.]

Jean? Yeah, he's a friend of mine - we're from the same trainee squad.

[Poor Armin, he might end up with painted toenails some morning...]

Armin, I really do hope you and those new to the idea of telepathy would let me know what you're thinking someday. Weiss gave me a similar non-answer.

[A bit of a reluctant pause.]

Jean is being an idiot, questioning every possible chance he gets. I could understand that for some things but he has no idea how to lock his channel.

[...He'd be so confused. There's a pregnant pause at her words as Armin considers whether or how to respond, examining his initial reaction. When he speaks, he sounds hesitant and pensive.]

I... I was thinking that I'm not sure whether your ability to do that is comforting or troubling. I'd like to trust you, Bridget - but I don't trust easily. And I've had too many people mess around with my mind to be entirely comfortable with people who can do the same.

[At the mention of Jean, Armin gets, if possible, even more troubled and uncertain.]

...I'd say I'd talk to him about it, but I don't think he wants to hear from me right now. He definitely wouldn't listen.

[It's subtle, but his soft voice has a note of genuine hurt in it at that.]

Thank you, Armin. [Her voice has softened a bit and she's certainly smiling ruefully.] Outside of my squad there aren't many who can admit that so directly. It is both a comfort and a discomfort to everyone, including myself. I seem to have misunderstood your questions about telepathic networks as a desire to be connected to one, and reacted too strongly. I suppose my best advice would be... don't trust me. I have my own priorities, my own interests. However, I did dearly love a man who taught me to respect the minds of others. Also, I can't connect to anyone outside the same gate or city as myself and I tend to wait out the daylight in either Everglade or Genessia.

[A bit of a sigh.]

He's a bull in a glassworks is what he is. Maybe I should hire him...

[Armin shakes his head, even though it's an audio post and she can't see.] You didn't misunderstand, exactly - I don't mind being connected to a psychic network like the one I'm used to. Not if it serves a purpose - and you said you'd have an easier time forming an opinion on the titans if you could take a look at my memories. Given your experience, your perspective on them would likely be very valuable if I ever make it back home. I could share memories in the network I'm used to too, though I rarely did - but I had very good psychic defenses, and so was entirely in control of the transfer.

Your network... your network sounds different. You can do things we couldn't, and it reminds me more of the Trumps, and the things they did to us. It's harder to be comfortable around things I'm not sure I can defend against, especially given... my experience.

Yeah, you... you told me that the first time we spoke. [Before he'd even known what a gate was - but he'd remembered and later found out what she meant.]

...Depends on what you're looking for in an employee. You work with... jewelry, right?

[She listened intently and took her time considering it all. It really would be so easy to justify some little bend in the 'rules' in a world of non-telepaths. And one bend could lead to another, and then a question as to the logic behind that rule. Absolute power and all that.]

At the beginning... Twelve hundred years ago, it was just a way to communicate with my squad. Like having mental radios linked to a central person, namely myself. I was the second youngest grand general in remembered history and I worked out a way to make more stable and permanent telepathic links that used places rather than people. Then the Corrosion happened. [There's a slight catch and a pause, even now it's difficult to fully pass off that event with a shrug.] I spent a thousand years trying to capture and execute a madman with every advantage over me. That's why my network is different, it had to change or face another Corrosion. Buuuuuut...

[A moment to shake off the weight of the past.] There is a way we can work around full mental contact that would probably make us both more comfortable. It's more like that word game councilors play, where they say a word and the other person says whatever comes to mind first. You could write down a list of words with significance in your world and I would read them off and just watch what comes to the front of your mind.

[And she's totally forgotten his last question, sorry Armin!]

[Not for the first time, he's struck by how useful such a link would be. The whole formation for the Survey Squad is based on maximizing visibility and communication, but they're limited to using signal flares and messengers.]

That... I think I would be okay with that. [He sounds a bit tentative. As long as she kept it to that - but if she really wanted to invade his head, he's not sure what he could do to stop her anyway. And in this case, the possible gain - a perspective like hers on the matter of the titans - outweighs any risk to himself.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Audio] Filtered to everyone but Weiss

[Audio]// locked

Re: [Audio]// locked

[Audio]// locked

Re: [Audio]// locked

[Audio]// locked

Re: [Audio]// locked

[Audio]// locked