[Action] Complaint #3, Referendum A1

[brothersboots]

Who: Edna and others
Broadcast: No
Action: The Blameless and the Iskaulit
When: 9/3-9/7

The Blameless, 9/3

[After so many months on the ship with her brother and the humans that seemed to come and go as they pleased, Edna's gotten used to people who can see her. She knows that she still doesn't show up well on the communicators because they just don't have any resonance, but that doesn't matter to her one bit. It's much more interesting to be the disembodied voice over the little machines in her opinion.

Since Calibrations, the fact that she's so far from Rayfalke after spending nearly her entire life on the mountainside has left her feeling listless. The last system didn't help with its distinct lack of anything truly natural on the planet's surface. Jobs on the farms with Sorey helped, but she's just not that easily satisfied. She never has been, if you ask Eizen or Zaveid.

Her slow-building irritation isn't helped by the disruption being put off by the newer system they approach. If anything, it's worsened. And where she would normally walk around silently, moving between her room with her small collection of things from her friends and the Atroma, the personnel office that makes up her "duties",and the ship's kitchen. As the days drag on, her footsteps grow heavier, shaking the ship's floor for yards around her.]

Move. You're in the way. [Manners are overrated. Sorry, shipmates.]

The Iskaulit, 9/4

[She can't stand the ships and the confinement and the lack of fresh air. And so she's taken a shuttle to the Iskaulit to find an area to stretch her legs. She'd offered to help that Hawke woman with her strange sage-like herb, but she hasn't started yet with the irritation in the air as of late.

She stops when she reaches an area that's open and bare. It's big enough for her to let out all of her frustration on. Honestly, it's perfect. She removes her communicator from the pouch she's taken to carrying and sends out two identical texts to Mikleo and Eizen. "I'm on the Iskaulit. Come to the big open area on the other side of the ship from Malum." Then she prepares to wait.]

The Iskaulit, 9/7

[Anyone visiting the large ship over the last three days will not have missed all of the noise coming from this previously abandoned area and should they arrive, they'll find the small Earth Seraph staring at the scene of chaos with a sort of half-pleased smile on her face.

Until she's interrupted by someone she doesn't immediately know.]

Do you need help with something?

Comments

[monolike]

[Stands up, STILL KINDA WANTS TO ARGUE...] Okay, okay, just...just give me a minute. Please?

[brothersboots]

[She folds up her parasol and holds it at her side, waiting patiently and quietly.

Of course, her face is really intense because she wants this to be taken care of right away, but she'll wait for him to be ready.]

[monolike]

[There's still that reflexive fear, though he's armatized with three out of five of them several times now with no problems. It's stupid and it's frustrating, and Sorey's eternally grateful that Edna's willing to just wait patiently until he works himself through it.

He thought he would be fine since she hadn't been here to see him like that, but he can still remember the coiling, curling possessiveness whispering their true names into the empty echo chamber of his heart, on and on, obsessively. It takes a couple breaths for him to forget how that felt, and how it sounded, and to focus on all the other times they'd armatized and been just fine.]

...Hephsin Yulind.

[There's nothing but light, nothing but the flood of power and the sense of weight, strong and unmoved, anchoring their feet to the ground...and still Sorey falls into that bad habit of shoving every shred of control into the hands of his seraphim, surrendering full control of their shared body in favor of curling up, unassuming and unthreatening as possible, in the back of their mind. He can still hear the ferocious bite in Eizen's voice when he'd said, Edna told me.]

[brothersboots]

[Armatizing is sort of comforting, but it also has a great drawback of making it so they understand each other a little too well. When he tries to force her to pull their collective weight in the bond, she gives him a mental kick.]

Stop that. We're supposed to be a team. If you can't trust yourself, neither can I.

And forget about my stupid brother. You should be more worried about what I do if you mess this up.

[monolike]

[Yeah it's really difficult to stop thinking about Eizen (and there's that echo of Clay as well, if you ever hurt him again, but he shoves that away before he can dwell on it too long) but he makes an honest effort. Edna's right in that this is just between them, and that he should only be concerned with what she's feeling here.

In fact, she's- they're usually not this mixed, not he and Edna. With Mikleo and sometimes even Lailah it felt sort of like becoming a new person, the lines between their identities blended so evenly that he sometimes lost a little of himself, but that hadn't often been the case with Edna. Sorey always figured it was because she wanted her privacy, or because her personality was so distinct from his, but maybe that's not true either.

Maybe that had been his fault, too.

Sheepishly he takes back his fair share of control, though they're still swaying a little awkwardly, fingers twitching at the lack of parasol in their hands. He concentrates on the mountain instead, the thrum of it, muted from the usual booming song of the grander, truer earth of a planet but still better than the empty echo of steel floors.] Sorry...

[brothersboots]

[Edna was part of the problem, but he's seen a lot of her private memories so it's pointless to hold back now. And, well, then there's Sorey as well. He's always held back with her because she's so unlike the others.

It's strange to have this connection to him, to feel what he feels for more than a brief second during armatization.]

Don't apologize.

[She does want her parasol, something awful, but then there's the strange sensation of wanting to reach for a sword to that she does and doesn't understand at the same time.]

Let's move around a bit. That should make this easier.

[monolike]

['If you can't trust yourself then neither can I' is a bit different from Lailah's, 'if you can't trust yourself then trust in me,' but it serves the same purpose. Sorey can't allow the fear of tainting her to influence this, or he'll have already lost the battle.

So instead of withdrawing from her to hide himself away, he opens up his whole heart for her to peer into and judge. Trusting himself is a taller order than trusting her, and he knows if she sees even the smallest blemish, she'll tell him and have him fix it. That's the best he can do for now.

The suggestion to move is a good one, and Sorey reaches into her satisfaction at the feeling of earth beneath them as they head right for the miniature mountain, finding the crags and footholds to climb up onto with the barest amount of movement. As he listens to the sound of it under their feet, the way it rings all the way down to the deck Sorey pauses. Something...]

...Edna, it wasn't just you who made this mountain, was it?

[brothersboots]

[Touching the earth and feeling the satisfaction that she always gets from the solidity of dirt and life under her boots is a balm. A balm she's needed as much as she needs to keep a steady connection with Sorey as well.]

No, I had Eizen and Mikleo help.

[Where is her parasol? Where are the hellions to punch?]

And Dezel came over to whine that he wasn't invited either.

[monolike]

[Sorey cracks their knuckles when he feels their fingers twitch again. There's not enough to do around here, and he doesn't know if that antsy energy is coming from him or from her.]

I figured Mikleo was behind the stream. [He couldn't tell who'd helped her with the mountain though; he just knew there was a touch in here that wasn't hers.] ...no Zaveid though?

[brothersboots]

Gross.

[And she gets annoyed at the thought of the blind Wind Seraph, the feeling of wanting to punch something coursing through their arms.]

Grampveid was probably sleeping.

[monolike]

Zaveid doesn't sleep much these days, [Sorey murmurs worriedly, fingers flexing and curling into fists as he finds a boulder for them to plop down onto, peering out over Edna and Eizen's work.]

[brothersboots]

[When he sits them down, the feeling of the combined Earth Seraphic Artes actually calms her down like a balm.]

He's not the only one who has trouble sleeping. But he's been avoiding me a lot since I've arrived. And I haven't sought him out.

Yet.

[monolike]

Why are you being so gentle with him? [Sorey really doesn't have room to talk; all he does is coddle Zaveid, even when he gets frustrated. But with Edna's earth coursing through his veins and strengthening his heart, he kind of wants to go hunt Zaveid down and drag him here by the ankle and force him to talk.]

[brothersboots]

Because he's old and stupid. You're young and still have time to learn.

[Besides, the topic they need to face together isn't comfortable and has everything to do with Eizen. Which means no one is talking about it.

But, heh, it's funny to see that Sorey isn't immune to her low-burning anger. If he isn't, no one is safe.]

There's always the option that I ignore you all.

[monolike]

Yeah, you could, [Sorey agrees, drawing up their legs and wrapping their arms around them, their chin on their knees.] You don't want to, though.

[brothersboots]

[Are you hugging them? Stop that. It's a gross invasion of privacy! She didn't agree to this.]

You're annoying, but not overly so.

[Besides, she's used to you guys now. Even Eleanor, but that doesn't mean she likes the Exorcist. At all.]

[monolike]

[No he's just hugging himself! And her, by proxy. IT'S COINCIDENCE, don't pull away please it's so rare]

I feel really honored to get 'not overly so,' y'know. I'm serious!

[brothersboots]

[Ugh, she forced this armatization, so she has to live with the fact that Sorey is hugging her. It won't last forever. Even Lailah gets bored.]

Yes, well, keep that in mind on the next planet we reach. I'm not always going to be around to watch after you, you know.

[monolike]

[His grip loosens a little so they can sit more casually, but he doesn't completely let go.] I know. I'll remember how much you like me next planet we get to.

[brothersboots]

[Okay, so now that it's not like an actual hug, it's okay. She can deal with that. Maybe. Ugh.]

How about you remember how much you don't want me to pick fights while I'm resting inside you instead. Because I can do that easily.

[monolike]

[gah] Oh, please don't! Not when we're armatized, you could hurt yourself too. [Obviously the most concerning thing]