[Open] Contemplation and Concentration

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

 After the near-disaster the mission had turned out to be, Ildraniath needed time to think. She needed to unwind - everyone needed that, even Eldar. She had entered the media library and to her surprise, had found a large collection of Eldar music. Some of the more famous works ever created were there - haunting, ethereal, beautiful music that the mon-keigh could never hope to match in their lifetimes. Mozart, Bach, Weber? Children bashing at the keyboard in comparison to this.

Well, at least those were her thoughts on it. 

She had settled into one of the seats in one of the media rooms and despite the urge to curl up, she did not. Instead, she sat straight, arms and legs folded, eyes closed as she listened and remembered her real home, now gone. Possibly never to return. She let the music wash over her and through her (and remembered, vaguely, a time when she had aspired to create such beauty with her own hands and mind). She let out the frustrations and the exhaustion.

For now, she could relax. 

Comments

going out for the weekend but-

[quick_strike]

Alend has been walking past the area herself until her sharp ears faintly picked up the unmistakeable mix of superior sound. It stopped her in her tracks long enough to force her to concentrate more and feel. And there it was, a faint sense of emotions not her own. She wasn't a seer so she wasn't attuned but at least it was a familiar feeling of almost home.

Following the sound was an easy enough trick until Alendian had gotten to the door she wished to be at. If she thought it were any human inside, she would have burst in but this was certainly different. Very lightly, her hand rapped at the door, just loud enough to intrude in on the music inside.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath sat up and for a moment, she felt a flash of irritation. Who could possibly want to interrupt her? She settled herself, got a faint sense of something familiar on the other side of the door and finally replied, "You may enter."

[quick_strike]

She opened the door smoothly and was greeted with exactly what she wanted. Someone of her own kind. ALend couldn't hold back the smile growing on her face, something that hadn't happened her entire time here. The awful food and residents of this ship was an easy target of blame for that.

"...Greetings."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath blinked and tried to hide her surprise for a moment. Then she smoothly stood up and dipped her head in a slight nod, trying to control the smile on her face.

"Greetings."

Another Eldar; no one she recognized, but at least she wasn't alone anymore.

"When did you come aboard?"

[quick_strike]

"A...short while ago." She inwardly cursed herself for not watching the time at all. The thought that she'd need to know never crossed her mind. It wasn't enough to ruin her current mood, however.

"How about yourself? Surely for a longer while, yes?"

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath folded her hands and nodded, "Yes. A month or two, at least. Or so I think. It is difficult to track the passage of time here..."

She frowned slightly and then waved a hand dismissively. It didn't matter.

"In any case, I believe introductions are in order. I am Farseer Ildraniath of Craftworld Ulthwe."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi stopped mid-stride in his walk through the Library as he caught the strains of music; he suspected he knew who the listener might be. He slipped quietly into the room, listening near the door instead of interrupting the current song.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath finally opened her eyes as the song finished. Without looking towards the door she murmured, "I trust you've recovered from our little expedition?"

There were advantages to being a psyker.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

How dramatic. Zouichi wondered whether it was a specific pattern of thought that gave him away, or if it was just an educated guess. He didn't think many people were in the habit of interrupting Ildraniath.

"I guess it depends on what you mean by 'recovered'." Zouichi was quick to anger, especially on certain topics. But he was also quick to forget that anger. Perfect for dealing with imminent threats, and then adjusting back to baseline readiness afterward.

"I still have a lot of questions about why we were sent in there blind. Even if everything had gone according to plan and we'd negotiated successfully for that technology, the government still would have gotten hold of our DNA, and been able to use it to successfully create a fighting force using that information."

He shook his head. "Maybe it would make more sense if that's what the GIA was planning all along. Creating a cloned army using the DNA of the people on board this ship, regardless of whether we agreed beforehand or not. Or if they were so desperate for that technology that they just didn't care about what it might do to any power balances."

A pause. "I didn't know they had any Eldar music stored here."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"Rested. Relaxed. Prepared for the field. Refit. Shall I go on?" Ildraniath replied, just a hint of sarcasm creeping into her tone. It wasn't meant to be cruel teasing, but then again mon-keigh did tend to think differently. Of course, Zouichi wasn't strictly mon-keigh either.

As he went on, she fell silent and listened, finally turning to look at him. "It sounds plausible. Or perhaps they wanted both - the medical technology and a clone army to fight their war. Sending us would get them both - and it would explain the lack of explanation beforehand. It might've worked if they'd briefed us and not had our crew abducted - that turned our attitude against our prospective allies."

She raised a brow, "I was rather surprised myself. I haven't looked, but I wonder if they have some of my older work..."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

If he noticed the sarcasm, he was polite enough not to comment on it. "I'm always prepared for the field." Even when he was suffering from multiple stab wounds. "But I don't think I'll forget what happened down there any time soon. I never really had to worry about people trying to clone me before."

"Sounds like there were a lot of issues that could have been smoothed out if they'd bothered to brief us beforehand. Warning us so we could send a contingent of noncloned humans to the planet, for instance -- that might have helped." He shrugged. "Although on the other hand, I ended up learning a lot more about the crew than I would have otherwise. That might be useful later."

He looked curious. "I wasn't aware that you were a composer of some stature, or I would have looked up your pieces. Is this what Eldar music really sounds like? I assumed it couldn't be properly recorded and played by mon-keigh computer systems."

Zouichi was only half-joking.

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

"Hmn."

Cargn didn't seem entirely pleased with the choice of music as he entered the media library otherwise silently. Too frilly for his tastes.

"Eventful mission, I take it?" he asked simply as he moved to one of the other terminals and began typing quick commands in it, searching for something apparently.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Quite frankly, Ildraniath didn't give a damn what Cargn liked or didn't like in his music. Uncultured swine.

"Very. Although it provided an interesting look at the crew under pressure."

She paused, "Looking for something?"

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

Yeah well your music's stupid, so nyah.

"Such situations tend to be rather educational," he replied before answering her question. "Just looking for some things I left in Stacy's care."

As he continued to tap out commands, Ildraniath could see a slowly growing pile of books, ancient tomes, and datapads being placed near Cargn by Stacy.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"A great many things, I see. What is it you've been studying?"

And now her curiosity was piqued.

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

"A number of things," he replied. "Now that the Tapestry has been retrieved, I have other projects to work on."

Having retrieved a rather substantial pile of materials, he began sifting through them, thumbing through tomes and scrolling through datapads as he jots down notes in a datapad off to the side.

"I would have assumed to find you at the Tapestry first, but I suppose even the high and mighty Eldar would find this crew taxing enough to require a break."

[shotyoutwice.livejournal.com]

Joshua had taken it upon himself to do as much of an investigation he could around here. His wandering around brought him to the Media Library where he heard the Eldar music. How interesting. It reminded him of how bustling Shibuya was with its' music and people.

He didn't say anything lest he disturbed the enchanting music. Well, maybe things on this... spaceship weren't going to be so bad after all, if music like this was a part of it.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath slowly craned her head around to eye Joshua.

"May I help you?"

[shotyoutwice.livejournal.com]

"What piece is this?" Joshua asked, glancing at Ildraniath. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the composer."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"I doubt you would be. He wasn't human," Ildraniath replied with a slight shrug.

[imperious_lex]

"Interesting taste in music," Lex stated, in between songs. How long he had been looming standing there was a bit of a mystery... or probably would be, if he hadn't been seemingly trying to sneak up on a psycher. But he'd only been there about a minute or two. "Can't say its to my personal tastes, though." He tended to lean more towards classical music, actually.

He didn't wait to be invited in, because Lex is a dick, and took a seat near her. If anything, she had been both interesting and intelligent conversation before, hopefully she would continue to be such.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"Well, you are human," Ildraniath replied without missing a beat, "I doubt many of you would enjoy it. Well, at least not fully. There is quite a lot of history and nuance involved."

And with that subtle insult, she turned her full attetion to him, lowering the volume on the music. He'd been an interesting one to watch. Very good at playing his game - and that made him both dangerous and useful.

"May I help you?"

[imperious_lex]

"Perhaps," he responded in answer to her question. "Though with nothing I care to discuss here." What with Stacy's always listening ear.

"Though I am curious as to your opinion of the recent mission."

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

"Nearly a travesty and things became far too complicated near the end - but we succeeded in benefiting the ship rather than the planet or our overseers. A victory, I believe. A messy one, but still a victory. Although the moral discussions were painful to listen to or read..."

She shook her head.

"I fail to understand the need for so much emphasis on doing the 'right' thing."

[imperious_lex]

Pragmatic.

"Most of them fancy themselves superheroes, independent arbiters of all that is right or wrong. They don't operate by any laws or rules, except for whatever they make up on the spot.

"They're a real pain the ass."