"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)

[cityship]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

Comments

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

He'd been more easygoing back when she'd known him, laid back, go with the flow, roll with the punches. The only time he'd really been furious was when he found out Knockout had played him for a fool, used him, manipulated him, groomed him to be her little pet.

When Tana'd died, that's when the anger had reared its head, when he realized just how angry he could get, and it'd scared him every time he got that angry since.

"You shouldn't be here," was the first thing out of his mouth, but even he thought it sounded pretty weak when he was the one with the day-glo sticker stamped to his forehead.

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

Tana watched him for a moment, and didn't answer. "That's not your decision to make, Kon." She might've loved him, but there was a point where the overprotective tendencies would rub.

She joined him at the railing of the balcony, and sighed.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Okay, we both shouldn't be here."

There was a sly sideways glance.

"You, because it's dangerous, me because I'm really not sure if I can stop myself from doing something stupid."

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

She laughed a little, and shook her head. "It's no different than standing next to a volcano. Just replace 'lava' with 'people' and you have the same mix." He was right, though.

It was dangerous, enough to upset this whole mission, because some assholes decided that their crew was less than chattel. None of the stories she'd covered in Hawaii had ever been like that. Tana's eyes drew up to the ugly mark on his forehead, and she frowned.

"Gold really isn't your color, Kid, are they going to be able to get rid of that thing?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"I damn well hope so or else I'm going to have to find a way to eyebeam the damn thing off myself," Kon said with a frown, rubbing at it.

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

"Don't rub at it," she chastised and closed her hand over his. "That's not going to make it go away any faster, as much as you want it to."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"It's already healed over." He frowned, giving her a pitiable looking expression, one that probably hit some nostalgia bells for her. It was the "woe, pity me" face, the one he turned on when he wanted attention or was irritated by something or that beautiful mix of both.

"It still kinda itches, though."

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

She could resist it! She could! LOOK AT HER RESISTING THAT FACE. "That's probably in your head, though. Since you know it's there, and you don't want it to be there." Tana let her hand drop down to the balcony and looked out at the city.

Galilee was pretty, even if it was run by assholes and on slave labor. "I'd tell you to try not thinking about it, to see if that helps, but I know better."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"I can't stop thinking about everything," he said, leaning against the balcony. "I'm giving myself a head-ache."

He shook his head.

"It's like the Agenda all over again. Except a million times worse."

[stupidnecklace.livejournal.com]

"That's true," Tana agreed. "But remember, you're not the only one getting a headache from all of this. It's not all on your shoulders, Kid, as impressive as those shoulders have gotten."

She pushed her hair out of her face with a sigh. "We'll figure it out. There are some smart people down here, after all."