Fiat Justicia 0: The Lonliest Telepath Part 4

[13:07]	Arkalest	Sabina: "That is a nice piece of, ah, "The CHief makes a circular gesture. "Neo-lithic art, firmed by half a dozen artists.Was gifted to us as a thank-you for saving their collective from a...What was it?"
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[13:11]	Arkalest	Natah's ears twitch. "A psionic infovore plague."
[13:11]	Sabina	"That sounds profoundly unpleasant."
[13:14]	Arkalest	"It was. Natah was not yet with us, but I have, mmh, let's say the older Constables remember the event quite well. Now.."
[13:15]	Arkalest	The Chief crosses her arms, cane in one hand. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the Instrumental?"
[13:18]	Arkalest	"Madam? If I may, I believe miss sabrina may want to rest first. " THe Delphian lowers their head respectfully, hands overlapped.
[13:18]	Sabina	"It's quite fine Natah, I rested on the way here." She nods to the Chief "I will attempt to answer your questions as I am best able ma'am."
[13:19]	Arkalest	"MMh, very well. FIrst of all." She tilts her head slightly forward, green eyes pleasantly fixed on you. "When was the Instrumental entrusted to your care?"
[13:21]	Sabina	"About 2 UD years ago, when the previous Keeper passed. It was unexpected at the time, but I had been preparing for my duties for since I was 6."
[13:21]	Arkalest	You see Natah's eyes narrow for a split second, and-
[13:22]	Arkalest	"I feel like you are perhaps not trusting Sabina's ability, Natah." The Chief doesn't shift posture- Merely glancing slightly at the Delphian. "And I think honestly that is...Quite hypocritical."
[13:23]	Arkalest	"Were not we both made for a purpose?"
[13:23]	Arkalest	They remain silent for a few seconds, only to slightly nod- Slowly, ponderously.
[13:24]	Arkalest	Tuissant raises her cane. "Were you ever involved in combat or action with your Instrumental?"
[13:25]	Sabina	She shakes her head "No. Nothing beyond sparing, and even then I never used the Instrument's full potential."
[13:36]	Arkalest	She raises an eyebrow. "So you never drew blood. That is something I shall have to kepe in mind.  Another thing-"
[13:36]	Arkalest	"Has the Instrumental ever attempted to force you to do something you didn't want? Has it eve mislead you?"
[13:38]	Sabina	"No, never. Our Ancestors advise us through it, and I speak for them, in return I pay them respect, but never have they mislead us or the like."
[13:46]	Arkalest	Tuissant slowly closes her eyes, exhaling.
[13:46]	Arkalest	Then.
[13:46]	Arkalest	"You are strong, my child. "
[13:47]	IcePickLobotomy	"I am as I was needed ma'am."
[13:47]	Arkalest	"But I can make you stronger."
[13:47]	Arkalest	She opens her eyes, smiling quietly- Baring white, sharp teeth.
[13:50]	Arkalest	Her grey cloak of thoughts distend, slowly unraveling into tendrils of self-assurance and truthiness. She really believes what she has just said.
[13:50]	Sabina	"Is that strength what I need? Power without wisdom or reason is a fools path."
[13:50]	Arkalest	TUissant raises a hand, palm upwards and fingers curled.  "I am talking about the strength to withstand the Instrumental's murmurs. "
[13:51]	Arkalest	"And wisdom is strength in and by itself. I can teach you how to tease the Instrumental's essence in ways that will not scare these who are weak-minded."
[13:52]	Arkalest	Sabina: You see Natah uncharcteristically roll her eyes at the Chief- Ears twitching.
[14:00]	Sabina	"You promise a great deal." She closes her eyes, concintrating on the fleeting emotions and sensations that have began to trickle from the Instrament.
[14:01]	Arkalest	Sabina: A soft push behind your eyelids- Your stomach churming. Worry.
[14:02]	Arkalest	BBut there's also a pull at your limbs,- The sensation of your fingers itching, as if they have been still for far, far too long.
[14:03]	Arkalest	Sabina: And you can almost hear something if you strain your ears- At the edge of your mind, of your ears. Melodies, soft and...Foreign. The notes are different, incomplete. Ghost of melodies, half-picked up. Regret that makes you grit your teeth.
[14:08]	Arkalest	Sabina: And yet- Caution, under the form of your shoulders tensing.
[14:14]	Sabina	"Do you play too then?: She asks, still running over her options.
[14:17]	Arkalest	"I had experience with them."
[14:18]	Arkalest	Natah slinks backwards a bit, eyes narrowing.
[14:22]	Sabina	"I am not sure if I should accept. This strikes me as a devil's bargain, but if you are honest. . Why offer this?"
[14:23]	Arkalest	"Because I've had experience both as a player, and as a target of the Instrumentals' powers. " She taps her cane once. "I've seen what they can do to people, both as the result of intentional malice and as a result of their own nature..."
[14:24]	Arkalest	Tuissant lowers her head, tone lower and eyes half-lidded. "And I've seen wha thappens when the Constables are put on a collision path with an Instrumentalist. The kind of...Conflict that ensues. The resources needed to subdue them, the lack of accurate knowledge."
[14:25]	Arkalest	"So I had figured that I had nothing to lose in helping you refine your control and your strength- Both as a way of minimzing risks for us, and as way of preparing ourselves when we face another Instrumentalist."
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[15:03]	Sabina	"I will consider your offer, but I will need to think on it further and confer with the clan. This edges on our laws and I am unwilling to risk crossing that line without speaking with others."
[15:03]	Arkalest	She nods, smiling. "No problem. Take your time."
[15:06]	Sabina	"Thank you."
[15:07]	Arkalest	"And now- Do you wish to continue the tour?"
[15:08]	Sabina	She nods.
[15:09]	Arkalest	"Now- The offices. These are the beating heart of the Precinct, with our six investigation teams and six kill-teams."
[15:11]	Arkalest	She gestures at the rock. "I personally oversee the Investigation Department as well, while the Kill-Teams are under the direction of Dr. Popjoy, who's also in charge of the Science Division."
[15:11]	Sabina	"I see."
[15:13]	Arkalest	"As an aside- Do you have any experience with driving?"
[15:14]	Sabina	"I do not I'm afraid."
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[15:23]	Arkalest	-----
[15:24]	Arkalest	"And that about rounds it up. " The three of you are in the hangar of the Preinct- A small, oval-shaped areocar with tuning-fork shaped drives neatly attached to its white shell. Tuissant claps her hands. "So! You have the next two days off."
[15:24]	Arkalest	"And then we're beginning your training
[15:25]	Arkalest	"So, any questions?"
[15:26]	Sabina	"No, I think that covers everything."
[15:27]	Arkalest	"Mmh- Very well then! Have a nice day." She lowers her head. "You too, Natah."
[15:28]	Arkalest	The Delphian merely nods, waving at the hovercar to open up its back doors. They watch as the Chief disappears into a bulkhead- Wait for a few seconds, then gestures at the hovercar.
[15:28]	Arkalest	"You first."
[15:28]	Sabina	takes a seat inside.
[15:29]	Arkalest	Natah slips inside, and then remains silent as the hovercar lifts through the same tunnel you came through. Eventually she sighs softly, his fingers on their helmet. "...Do you mind if I take this off?"
[15:31]	Sabina	"No, go ahead." She pulls the hood down as well, brushing some of her hair behind her head.
[15:31]	Arkalest	Sabina: You hear a soft click and-
[15:33]	Arkalest	Wafting tendrils of self-doubt- Count the raindrops 45020^12 and there is a spherical deviation o- The chief is really a handful, soft ebbing flow of disrespect for the rules- Rigid angles should I talk to her about the statue and the decision split in a dozen forks-White light and there are 120 more hours before she takes office- I see that the weather hasn't changed, going to swap to-...
[15:33]	Arkalest	...Another gear clicks in- Thinking about what fore lunch maybe-
[15:34]	Sabina	closes her eyes, not quite focusing on the thoughts, but not ignoring them either. She lets them slip away like the sound of rain behind a conversation.
[15:35]	Arkalest	Sabina: Natah's muzzle is a sharp thing- Their nostrils barely slits, their mouth a thin drawn line with no lips. Grey blue hair on yellowish...Skin, you think, smooth-looking, eyebrows that are barely shadows.
[15:38]	Arkalest	"Sorry for, ah." They tap their temples as their plethora of thoughts drift away.
[15:39]	Arkalest	"Mind of a Delphian. That's not unusual for us."
[15:39]	Sabina	"It's not that bad really. It's like dealing with a large group of people, you need to let it settle into the background."
[15:39]	Arkalest	Sabina: Yet...You can see them.
[15:40]	Arkalest	The angles, interlocking with wheels and triangles and sphere and reshaping themselves like an eternal puzzle. A light grey, clinging to the fabric, shimmering in the air.
[15:41]	Arkalest	You can hear them- Clicks and hisses and sharp tugs and turns- The musings of a mind that is many yet one.
[15:41]	Arkalest	The mind of an oracle
[15:42]	Sabina	"It's. . " She tilts her head "I'm not sure how to phrase it but it's elegant, in it's own way. There's a beauty to it."
[15:43]	Arkalest	"Heh." Their chuckle is short and amused. "It was designed to be"
[15:43]	Sabina	"That doesn't detract from the elegance."
[15:45]	Arkalest	They nod. "Many say that." WIth a hum, the hovercar dips back into the rain, a light turquoise field of sparkles surrounding it. "And many feel there is deeper meaning within their turns and clicks."
[15:46]	Sabina	"They say a great deal of things, but what do you say?"
[15:50]	Arkalest	Natah closes their eyes.
[15:50]	Arkalest	"Seeing the future is a bigger burden than you can imagine."
[15:51]	Arkalest	"To see a world constantly a step behind and a step after you is......I don't think you would understand."
[15:52]	Sabina	"I wouldn't presume to say I would either. It's much the same with telepathy, unless you can do it yourself you wouldn't understand what it's like. No matter how well formed the metaphor is."
[16:00]	Arkalest	A slow nod. "Yes...."
[16:00]	Arkalest	"Still- How did you feel about Tuissant?" He closes her eyes. "And...You don't need to hide things."
[16:03]	Sabina	"She is driven. She made the offer, as far as I can tell, in good faith and earnestly believes it to be the right path." Her hand drifts to her wrist "But I am deeply wary of her offer. There is a reason that the knowledge of the Instrument is passed down on a solitary basis. This is not something to meddle in lightly."
[16:03]	Sabina	lets herself sink further into the seat.
[16:03]	Sabina	"I need to speak with the clan head, and get a better idea of how far how knowledge extends."
[16:05]	Arkalest	"She's not normal, both in her mind and in her capacities. A meridianoi, but far more gifted for psionics than I have seen."
[16:06]	Arkalest	Natah's claws are drawing circles on the cold glass- A faint smell of vanilla clinging to them. "She strikes me as one of these who can do much damage in the name of something right, and whohas the intellect to justify it in the aftermath.
[16:07]	Sabina	"She would not have gotten to where she is if she wasn't that sort of person."
[16:11]	Arkalest	"There are many ways of becoming a Constable Chief, and not all of them are centered around being someone with the necessary skills." THey take in a breath.
[16:12]	Arkalest	"And I apologize for Sorkis as well."
[16:12]	Sabina	"No offense was taken, but I accept your apology all the same."
[16:14]	Arkalest	Her ears lower- Sharp things, tapering to a point. "And is there anything you want to ask of me?"
[16:16]	Sabina	"You were telling me about the flower before Sorkis arrived?"
[16:17]	Arkalest	"Yes. "
[16:21]	Arkalest	"It will mark you out as a strong telepath, and it will mark you as someone to cozy up to for these interested in the Phedrians.."
[16:22]	Sabina	nods
[16:28]	Sabina	"Are there a lot of those? People wanting to get closer to the Phedrians?"
[16:30]	Arkalest	"Yes, incredibly so. Here in New Meridian you will find the kind of people who are afraid of the Phedrians and want to know what some of their seedclans think."
[16:33]	Arkalest	"Yes, especially here in New Meridian. There is a Phedrian greengate not far from their frontier, and the constant flow of seedclans has given some of the local politicians ideas.."
[16:34]	Sabina	"What sort of ideas? Not good ones I take it."
[16:35]	Arkalest	"Some good, some foolish, some misguided. We will probably meet them in equal measure, I think."
[16:36]	Sabina	"Ah."
[16:36]	Arkalest	"Thankfully, you seem to be the type that is hard to corrupt with material promises."
[16:37]	Arkalest	Natah's tone is pleasantly mocking, and they then shift at looking outside the window. "And I think we are coming nearby the apartments."