trans_9 | Sleuthing

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Sleuthing

Marco had given Satori a physical description of Tom, but it wasn't particularly necessary. As far as she knew, there was only one person on this ship who would have two distinct, separate minds at odds with each other. He wouldn't be hard to spot, whatever he looked like.

And before long, during her usual semi-aimless drifting of the halls, she noticed such a pair of minds not far away. Being as discreet as a floating girl with pink hair can realistically be, she looked over the owner of the conflicting minds. Excellent, he even matched Marco's vague decsription.

Wasting no further time, Satori decided it would be best to get a closer look at the captive mind. She drifted towards him, clearing her throat politely. "You are Jake's brother, are you not?"

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Iniss hadn't been doing anything, really. He had the hood of the sweatshirt pulled around around his face, lips pressed into a thin line as he made his way back to the safety of his bedroom.

He froze, tensing to run when he was addressed. "Who's asking?"

< He's not Jake's brother. > The words were soft, an old denial compulsively given. The host had been lurking at the back of his mind, depressed and mostly silent.

"Satori Komeiji." Satori dropped the usual title that follows her name. She wanted to get as much out of the real Tom as she could before he cut the conversation short. "They've been saying some unsettling things about you on the Omnicomm; I certainly hope that it isn't true."

"I'm not certain what you mean, and if you intend to harm me..." His hand found the wall. Here he was under protection of the ship.

< So you know and you just don't care. > The host wanted to go back to the room too, but Iniss wasn't quite prepared to turn tail and run.

"If you've read the message Jake posted, then you know my name is Iniss." He kept his voice level, unhappy with being identified in the hallway with no allies.

"So it's at least somewhat true, then." Satori was a little thrown off by the introduction; she would have assumed he would be trying to pass as Tom. "How's Tom doing?"

Iniss didn't see the reason to bother. Jake had already posted his name for all to see and this Satori had said she read the post. Why bother keeping up the charade?

"Is that why you're here?" He watched her warily, expecting another emotional appeal.

Tom was watching her, almost curious but holding himself back a little. < I'm alive. That's about all I've got. >

"He says he's fine. Now will you please go away?"

"I'm just trying to understand all sides of the issue." Stall, keep him talking, keep Tom thinking. Get as much as she can out of the conversation. "If he's fine, then why are his friends so perturbed? Why, in fact, are you using his body in the first place?"

"Because they're highly moral and have issues with my species way of survival. And they're not his friends, they're just busybodies."

< Because they're parasitic space slugs. > The quiet regret in his voice was very apparent, Tom was still frustrated and depressed.

His freedom had been there just moments from happening. And Dani had saved him.

And he couldn't even get mad at her. Because she hadn't known, she'd been trying to help.

And enough playing around. Time for one last test. Satori smiled innocently.

"'Parasitic space slugs', are they, Tom?"

There was a moment of complete shock and silence from both the yeerk and the host.

"You read minds." He might as well just have said Andalite. The disgust was present on his face.

< You can hear me? > Tom, on the other hand, was more shocked than horrified. < How can you hear me? >

"I do, and I can." Satori's eyes didn't shift at all, but it was immediately apparent that she was making eye contact with Tom now, not Iniss. "The Third Eye lets me see into hearts and minds as easily as looking through a window."

Iniss scowled. "I'm leaving now, get out of my head."

Tom paused, for a moment at a loss over how to deal with the sudden ability to communicate. There were a thousand things he wanted to say. A million things he needed to fix. But the most important was... < Tell my brother I'm sorry and I love him. Just tell Jake I'm sorry, and I know he tried his best, and I don't blame him at all. Please, can you just tell him that? >

"Yes, I think I will." Satori turned to float back away, letting the Third Eye's gaze linger a little longer to catch Tom's parting thoughts. "I've learned about all I wanted to know."

< Thank you, if I can ever repay you... >

Iniss scowled, moving as quickly as he could away. He wanted nothing to do with mind readers.

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Sleuthing

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