04. mental link

[exhuxperation]

COMMAND over oneself and others	AMBITION nothing will stand in my way
ORDER chaos will not be tolerated	MANY over the individual

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

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[exhuxperation]

[ Communicating mind to mind is odd. Even with all of his time spent around Kylo Ren, he's not used to being able to be so direct. At least, not in the way that can betray his inner thoughts in the process. However, there are some in the nest that are more conscientious. Angel being one of them– he can tell it's her immediately, the presence of her mind is unmistakeable. ]

( Angel. What do you need assistance with? )

[circumspector]

[ There's a pause, the crackle of static and blue light and then she presses on. ]

( I was hoping you might know a thing or two about ship repairs. )

[exhuxperation]

[ The mild surprise he feels is hard to miss over a mental network. ]

( It depends on the ship, but I do have a decent knowledge. Is there something broken? )

[ IS SHE STRANDED SOMEWHERE..... ]

[circumspector]

( Yes, it's a little complicated to explain, but we're trying to help out some people here. Their ship is damaged.

If you're not opposed, of course. )

[exhuxperation]

[ He has to think about it for a moment but no, he supposes he isn't opposed. If they're trying to leave the planet, he really can't blame them.

Though, it does sort of beg the question where she garnered the inkling he'd be halfway decent at getting things done in this manner. ]

( I don't mind lending my service. Where are you? )

[circumspector]

[ She is about to chatter back that she'll upload the location to his HUD, but -- well. ]

( I'm just looking for the parts we'll need at the moment. I'm here -- )

[ And there's an image of a location where she is on a street in Minte Port. ]

[exhuxperation]

[ Her visualization is clear and crisp– he knows exactly where she is. Already, he's diverting his path, heading to her location. ]

( I'm not too far, do you need any help with parts? )

[ Well, he'll be there soon enough, so she could probably answer him in person if she needed to. ]

[circumspector]

[ She makes sure to stay put -- hard as it is not to wander. She wants to stay strict to her mission, to what she'd said she'd do, but her mind is in the habit of wandering and her feet now seem to follow with an eagerness of making up for lost time.

So she's found, head bent over a table of wares, poking and prodding at them, and one very unsure attendant that clearly knows the reputation that she keeps talking to like nothing is wrong. Something small and shining in her fingers that she keepings toying with. Fiddling happily with it.

She feel-sees him before she looks up. The connection she has left wide open picks of the shape of him at the back of her mind, and her hundred eyes show him moving through the crowd between screens, enough that she barely looks before gesturing him closer. ]

General, you made it.

[exhuxperation]

[ He finds her where she'd mentally projected she'd be before. It's a relief. Though he didn't expect she'd go running off (she seems more responsible than that), there was always an off-chance she could've moved along. Her presence nudges against his consciousness. Unobtrusive but still there.

The attendant looks up, a bit wild around the eyes when he sees there's now two of them occupying the same space. Hux ignores him. ]

Of course, I wasn't going to dally. [ She asked for help and he's anything but someone to keep another waiting. ] Found anything of interest?

[circumspector]

I was looking for some parts we might need and --

[ she gently uncurls her fingers from around what she found. Small and dusty, it needed a polish, but a broken piece of military insignia sits flat in her hand. From someone that had passed through here, at some point, maybe died, maybe just didn't have anything else left of value to trade. Didn't really matter. A set of wings, a scribble of alien language, a rank, a name, all gone now, just the impression of that position, left behind. ]

It caught my eye, I thought you might like it.

[exhuxperation]

[ Angel starts to explain, words filtering off as she motions instead. Taking a step closer, he glances over at her uncurling hand, unsure exactly what she's holding at first. But after a moment of looking, its clearly a pin. The straight lines and embossing are telling of a military persuasion. Perhaps something left behind in a war that no one remembers any longer.

His expression registers only surprise, eyebrows going up at the young woman. This is– well, it's odd. Hux can count the years he was given gifts on one hand. Everything else was earned (his own medals and accomplishments are in a case on the Finalizer, so probably no more). ]

I– yes, I do. Thank you. [ Contrary to how controlled his voice is, everything underneath is a haze of confusion. Why is he accepting this? It has no bearing. But strangely, it does. ]

Wings?

[circumspector]

[ The smile crinkles on the corner of her eyes and she turns it about in her hands as to offer it up to him to take.

He really needs to be less tall. ]

Really? [ Catches herself, teeth worrying over her bottom lip. ] ... Yeah, I think... I mean I hope I didn't overstep. When I spoke with Kylo Ren, he suggested I contact you, he said you'd both served together and that you knew about ships. I would have asked anyway, you seem to have a good grasp of more modern technology but - when I saw it... Wings, flying, ships. Most military Generals I've ever heard of or met, their service is their life, there isn't anything more important to them than the ones they protect.

[ She shrugs, connect-the-dots had followed. Hopes wasn't prying a little. Granted it gave her a little clearer an image of him. She'd been thinking Blake, but the tone Ren had used... struck more like Dahl, or the old days of Hyperion, during the corporate wars. ]

... I thought it might remind you a little of your home that way.

[exhuxperation]

[ Slightly discomfited, he reaches to take the offered pin. She really is shorter. He's somewhat used to people being under his eyeline, though not in such close quarters. Or in such a casual environment. ]

You didn't. [ Hux turns the pin over in his fingers, watching the glint of light off of it. She's right about a number of things, but most importantly– the Finalizer and its crew had been his life. Starkiller as well, when the projected completed under his watchful eye. Destroying the New Republic had meant everything. Not only to his own personal pride, but to all those he knew had suffered under their poor decisions. Something like protection of his own people. That extended to Ren, all the way to the end. It feels odd to have the thought that Ren even moderately spoke well of him to anyone, considering their relationship. ]

It reminds me of my time at the military academy. [ That much was true. Medals and accolades were still assigned when one was promoted up the ranks, but something about their presence reminded him of Arkanis most of all. Perhaps just being surrounded by so many old school Imperial mentors. ] Thank you.

[ And as if shaking off a daze, he curls his fingers loosely around the pin in his palm, his gaze turning back towards her. ]

What about those parts?

every time I see that icon I am like "oh look at Hux taking a walk a snowey forest"

[circumspector]

Hm? Oh, right.

[ Anxiously watching to make sure he didn't hate it, but he didn't seem to, and his questions snaps her gaze from where his fingers over the pin up to his face again. ]

Right - [ She turns her gaze to the table of wares. ] We're still compiling a list of every broken part on the ship, but I'm after some of the bigger, more obvious ones at the moment. Once they're replaced we can get a better idea of what we're looking at. I've already gone to see a shipwright about some of the parts we'll need to build from scratch and the parts of the hull that will need replacing.

[ Her hand gestures across the table of not exactly ordered items, but they were all set out clearly to see what each one was. Her fingers skim over something close to her, with no purpose it seems but the sake of touch. ]

I was looking for a compressor. This gentleman said that they might have the part, it'd take some looking around first and might cost more -- [ She's about to go on, but the man brings his hand up in a placating manner to interrupt her. Apparently she wasn't particularly intimidating by herself.

Hux on the hand, was already getting more of a reaction than she had. Which, she might have been relying on that but she knows better than to let that on, instead she gives the merchant a big smile when he seems to want to hastily to get rid of them both. Stuttering throughs the broken pauses of their translators that he'd get the part right away. ]

ASJFKLSAF no ren is the one who took a stroll through the snowy woods

[exhuxperation]

[ Idly, he runs a finger over the little emblem, taking a strange comfort in the weight of the medal. Maybe it is more reminiscent of his back home than he thought.

Still, his focus goes towards what Angel is describing. His eyebrows lift a little at the amount of information she's compiled in a seemingly short amount of time. And how orderly. It's easy to follow how the proceedings will likely go, though he is admittedly curious what they're going to have to build from scratch. Finding parts might be difficult, depending on whether they're going to be making hyperdrives.

However, a compressor shouldn't be too hard to track down. Hux glances up at the merchant, gaze neutral (and still unnerving), a sense of satisfaction rolling through his mind at the haste in which the man starts to go. Well then. ]

It seems we won't have to dally here too much longer. When we get back, I can take a look at that list, if you'd like.

[ Further sorting will probably be helpful. ]

he met all the woodland animals and befriended them, he and phasma held hands and skipped

[circumspector]

[ Direction and organisation are something of a forte for her at this point. More than that, it'd be bragging to say for how easy this in truth was for her. This compared to running and directly multiple AI suits, regulating and observing a whole planet? In comparison to that, this rattles out of her easy with a smooth familiarity. A surety to what she says that in other circumstances, she might be lacking, but she knows what to do here. As much as anything, someone who can firmly direct and delegate how much needs to be done is useful.

But to that end, she prefers Hux there with her. Yes, it's familiar, but harder face to face when she's so much shorter and less intimidating that way. Didn't look particularly of violence, but in places like this, that just made her easy to take advantage of, apparently. Made that's why Maya and Lilith wore their markings so openly. She looks all too gratefully up at Hux when the merchant scurries off to do what she'd asked. The faintest brush of a thank you she gives with her mind. Warmly give appreciation.

At least before she's distracted again, a surprised look crossing her face, shaking her head briefly. Forgotten that she wasn't just automatically uploaded to everything anyway. ]

Oh right - that, here can you hold up your datapad for me?

oh my god

[exhuxperation]

[ The small brush of thanks is acknowledged, momentarily appreciated– and then he moves on. They've got a lot of things to do, if he understands the scope of her project well enough. Even without the simple parameters, this involves ship travel. There are so many delicate parts and they all needed to be in the right places to run accordingly.

And without chance of death down the road.

At her request, Hux moves his datapad, halfway between offering it to her so she can see it.

(Their height difference is very apparent here). ]

writes sith children's novel

[circumspector]

[ She doesn't seem so bothered, after all she's not exactly typing anything. Has no concept of what it's like to be that slow with it, but that's her own arrogance. Instead she does as she's been doing on and off the whole time, she begins to glow, though its no more than the lines on her palm with their clothing being so covering, the light that builds up in the palm of her hand. It feels like if static was malleable, the buzz that rolls off her mind. Background radio chatter. The hum of engines. Her fingertips press flat to the screens, presses against it, presses herself into it. THe light sweeping down her fingers as she transfers the information.

It lasts no longer than a second, but her eyes shut, she sighs, like it took some effort out of her --

-- and then her eyes open, slower, dropping her fingers away. The white of the light dims to nothing. ] There, all done. You should have the updating listings for everything I've gathered so far, plus some other notes.

rock a bye sith baby....

[exhuxperation]

[ Hux isn't sure what to expect, even as much as their minds are technically linked. She's not in his brood, so he can't sense the subtle shifts as well as he might with someone closer. There are vague impressions, something to do with technology and the control over it. He's about to turn that over in his mind when her eyes shut, light blooming along her skin, her palms. It's bright, but he feels like there's the imprint of circuits.

And just as sudden as it came to life, the brightness cuts. Like a warp engine shut off.

Eyebrows raised fractionally, he turns the screen more towards himself, flicking through the new data messages that have shown up. ]

Impressive. Where did you learn that?

[ The merchant reappears, thunking a couple parts down on the table, looking at the both of them expectantly. ]

in the death star base top

[circumspector]

[ She opens her mouth to answer until the merchant distracts her, and then more immediately she goes to take those. It's not a good idea to linger much anymore, she knows that, they've well and truly worn out their welcome so far as this planet is concerned. Still --

She picks them up carefully, tucking them into the bag she'd brought to transport them. Takes the time whilst she's tucking them in safe against the rain that might pick up again. Hair over her face as she answers him a few minutes later. ]

I was born with abilities that allow me to... integrate myself with most forms of technology.