trans_9 | [Open] Contemplation and Concentration

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[Open] Contemplation and Concentration

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.

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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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

"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.

"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..."

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?"

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.

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.

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.

"And what did you learn?" She sounds genuinely curious. Although how much of that curiosity is because she wants to expand her own knowledge and how much of it is because she's genuinely interested is anyone's guess.

She paused and shrugged, "It was a long time ago, in another life, so to speak. I walked that path until I learned all that I could and then I moved on..."

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

And now her curiosity was piqued.

"Hmm? Oh. Well, to start with, I didn't suspect so many of the crew members to be clones. Or genetically engineered, since the Galileeans were apparently playing pretty fast and loose with their classifications." Like they had been with himself.

"But beyond that? Who has a soft spot for children, and who doesn't. Who has an idealistic streak, and who tends toward pragmatism. Who stands up for the rights of others, and who only cares if they themselves are affected by inequities in treatment. That sort of thing. There appear to be some strong splits along multiple fault lines."

He smiled a little. "Maybe it was a long time ago, but I still think it would be interesting to listen. They say you can tell a lot about a person from the way they play. Or compose."

Ildraniath slowly craned her head around to eye Joshua.

"May I help you?"

"Then they missed me. The Eldar are a construct race. Or perhaps we're too far gone from those roots..." Ildraniath mused, mostly to herself, before she continued. "Useful information. I hope you find it useful."

She shrugged at his comment. "Perhaps you can - it does tend to show mindset, attitude, the way the composer thinks. But I am not sure it would tell you much about Ildraniath the Seer."

"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."

"Such as...?"

What projects would he consider worthy of his attention? Very curious.

Her reply was cool, but even-toned. "I will investigate it in due time. The mission was... stressful. Even Eldar tire."

"I think you might have mentioned something about that before. But if you were born normally, I don't see how they'd be able to determine an outside force influenced your development."

Zouichi shrugged in turn. "It's more out of curiosity than anything else. Anyway, if I want to know what Ildraniath the Seer thinks about something, I can just ask her."

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something." He crossed his arms, leaning lightly against the nearby wall. "Generally, when I'm dealing with a psychic, I've dealt with them in one way: by killing them before they can try anything on me. And it's always worked, at least so far. But this crew puts so much emphasis on not killing opponents. Is there any way I could learn to defend against psychic attack?"

"Research, mostly. There are some things in my recent visions that I would like to verify."

Whether or not that was the entire story was difficult to tell, as was much with Cargn.

"Besides, given the Tapestry's recent revelations, everyone will require a good deal of preparation in the coming weeks."

"You could just ignore their moralistic and ethical objections. Which are really rather petty and unimportant, but I will leave the decision up to you," She replied dryly. After a moment of thought she added, "Although it would serve if you ever needed one alive..."

She shrugged, "I am afraid there is little I can impart to you - you are not psychically gifted, I am afraid and in any case, training you would be... difficult, I think. I can give you simple exercises, but I doubt you would be able to establish a decent blocking ability. Still worth an effort though. Our children learn how to block out unwanted thoughts and emotions, after all..."

Not that she meant to insult him, of course. It was all idle musing.

"And what are we preparing for...? Or would I be better served asking the tapestry myself?"

Ildraniath made a mental note to find out whatever it was Cargn was looking into.

"Honestly, I'm really not sure why there's so much emphasis on keeping combatants alive -- particularly if they don't possess any useful information. A live enemy can regroup and become a threat again. A dead one can't. ...generally, anyway." He paused. "It's been a judgment call, on the last mission or two."

"Difficult?" He thought that over for a moment. "But I'd agree with you. My brain waves are designed to help provide the necessary firing impetus for the 4000XL. But I've never been able to predict the future or anything similar. If you wouldn't mind, though, I'd still like to try those exercises. Some familiarity with psychic abilities is better than none."

Ildraniath considered him for a long moment. Teaching him a few techniques couldn't hurt and she wouldn't be giving away secrets. Well, not important ones anyway.

"Very well. When would be convenient?"

"How does tomorrow afternoon sound? I think it'll be a little while before I have to pick up anything major."

Honestly, Ildy, it wasn't like he was going to try and use this stuff against you or anything.

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[Open] Contemplation and Concentration

going out for the weekend but-

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