synopsychic | psychic/action

Entry tags:

psychic/action

[Hope you're all enjoying your sudden, Liminal Space-filled existences, Travelers. Either way, there's suddenly going to be a very tentative, very timid psychic broadcast.]

Um... excuse me...

[For anyone who met Mai during the Jaunt, she's certainly entirely different now--but then again, that's why she's doing this in the first place, despite being terrified of bothering people in this way. So after a brief pause, she rallies her courage.]

...My name is Mai--um, for the people I didn't know, and I... I was really different in that Jaunt b-but... I just wanted to say that I'm really really sorry!

[There's no visual here--she doesn't have the capability--but even so, it's pretty obvious to anyone who knows her that she's bowing her head here in her shame and apology.]

I did some truly terrible things to everyone, and I...I was really-- [A pause.] Just... I'm very sorry. That's... that's all.

Oh-- um. Near-san... [...what does she even say to him? She's really not sure. After a moment, a really awkward pause, she manages a fumbled thought--] Can we...talk?

[For those who would rather go the action route, Mai is not hard to find; she's tucked against a penny slots machine, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting on them and eyes downcast. Seems this Jaunt took quite a lot out of her as well, but then again, dying isn't fun for anyone.

There are people she knows she needs to find and check on, but... well, she needs just a moment longer.]

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Mai.

[After everything that'd gone wrong over there, it's good to know that some of them were only temporary- Levi'd been expecting this.

But although he's relieved to hear her voice (and the slightly wavering tone that signals her full control over her actions), he can't help being at least a little bit concerned he hadn't seen or heard of her since she and her partner had interrogated him weeks ago.]

Are you alright?

[She's been tough back there, but still... Armin had been tough too.]

[Nah, nothing happened at all, of course. Nothing at all.

But she squeaks at the familiar voice, because this is... this is one of the people most important to her here, and still one of the people she had wronged the most.

She hates that that happened.]

Levi-san, I...! I'm so sorry, I was so terrible to you...!

[~~Absolutely in no way was there any dying or being dead here. NOPE.~~

As for the matter at hand- Mai's apology:]

That person only did what she was programmed to do.

[...But if it'll make Mai feel better:]

...But I'll accept your apology on her behalf. It's fine.

[This infiltrating shit is more complicated than Levi can wrap his head around, really, and so that's the best he can do.

In any case, as far as he's concerned they're fine- he's just glad she's here and in one piece, honestly.]

[~~of course not.....~~

He accepts her apology, though....and she nods quietly to herself. That'll have to be good enough--though she does add in the softest of mental tones--]

I'll make it up to you...someday...

[But she'll at least be aware enough to move on for the moment, knowing Levi won't even want her to.]

Were... were you okay? Other than what Near-san and I did...

[Levi has no doubt that Mai will try to make up for someone else's offenses- she's just that type. It's comforting, in a way, to know that this experience doesn't seem to be changing that... Even if it means he'll have to fight off her kindness further down the road.

But he lets it go, for now.]

I managed. After the two of you left Erwin broke me out of the Partition so we could take care of that thing attacking the Firewall. [A vague impression of amusement filters through, psychically.] I wasn't lying.

[...He managed.

The relief is clear in her mental tone, and her shoulders slump where she is.]

Thank goodness... I'm so relieved.

[She rubs at an eye, knowing that he can't see her, and tries for something a little more light-hearted.]

You were really brave, Levi-san... like a real life hero.

[One way or another, Levi always manages. He isn't about to just drop dead, and so that leaves him with little choice other than to keep on keepin' on.

Still, he can't help but frown at her assessment of him.]

Don't call me that, [he says, a little more harshly than intended. He doesn't believe in heroes, and even if he did he sure as hell wouldn't make the cut. Not after the things he's done. ...It's something he feels strongly about, though, and so he'll continue albeit a little more softly:] ...Those Programs just needed someone looking out for them, since their own institutions were doing such a piss-poor job of it.

[Never mind that the final results had been skewed 70-30 in favor of the Recognizer as far as effectiveness was concerned. He'd helped, and in the end being forced to the rebel base had been a good enough outcome that he's not even mad about almost dying.]

[But it's true!!! She'll always think he's a hero...but for now, she just focuses on the rest. She actually has a pretty good idea of how things were going down back there--thanks, infiltrator status--but even so, it's blowing her mind a little now.

And even so, she feels a lingering desire.

Protect the Grid.]

Did...did we win, Levi-san...? Did we help everyone there?

[Levi frowns, and though Mai can't see it there's an impression of it in his voice. He won't lie to her, or sugarcoat what he understands of the situation:]

I don't know. We left in the middle of things, and there's still some question as to what triggered our return here.

[...Which is little, admittedly. Par for the course, really.]

But... With us gone, the Trumps don't have much of a reason to keep terrorizing the place with their game, not with most of their pieces missing. Let's hope that world will be left alone after this.

[... she doesn't like to think of it that way, but in the end, isn't Levi right? They're meddling, pure and simple.

When they leave, the meddling stops.

Slowly, her tone falls further, quiet and morose.]

...Are we just... are we just hurting everyone like this...?

No. [It comes out firm, almost stubborn.] They can put us there, wipe some of us away temporarily and make them play their game... But the rest of us can make sure that what we're doing leaves them better off, or keeps the Trumps from shitting all over their lives.

[He feels even more strongly about it after this last visit, not least because of the outright confirmation that the Trumps don't actually give a fuck. He was invested in the Grid, and had felt that way even before his rewiring- it'd been so similar to home that he hadn't been able to get past how he'd feel if the Trumps brought the Travelers to his home just to drag their asses all over things, stir up trouble and leave humanity to clean up another mess...

No. As often as he's able, he'll do what he can to see to it that the mark they leave is a good one.] We can make that choice, at least.

[...except when they're Infiltrating, at which point they don't have a choice at all. But she doesn't bring that up, because it's obvious. Instead, slowly, she responds, as if working through the thoughts as she goes.]

So...that just means...um, when we're Investigating...we have to work even harder. To make up for--when we're not.

Right...?

Yeah.

[It's what he'd been doing before... Though now he realizes his heart might not have been in it as much as it could or should have. He'd let himself be distracted with other things- things that aren't an option anymore, he doesn't think.

Maybe... That's for the best.]

Anyway... I'm glad you're all right. Come and find me later- I have something for you.

[...In a manner of speaking, anyway.]

I'm by the bar, sort of. Door's open.

Eh...? For me?

[That's enough to knock her out of her funk completely. Something for her...? She can't imagine why, but...

Even so, she nods to herself. Going to see Levi is hardly a hardship anyway; she'll feel safer there.]

Okay... then--I'll come find you. Um... in a little bit.

[She's a little chained up at the moment.]

[Funnily enough, Levi isn't even considering that- he'd sprung Erwin and himself free pretty quickly, all things considered...

In any case, he figures she has her own check-ins to do, and he won't rush her. There will be some time, he thinks.]

Sure. In the meantime... Be careful.

[Always worth the reminder...]

[...She wants to say that Liminal Space is supposed to be a safe space, so of course she'll be fine. But she just died, and that memory is fresh in her head, and right now, nothing feels safe.

Instead, her eyes slide shut.]

I will.

[It's the best she can do, right? Until she finds him--so she'll leave off with one more last thing to say.]

Levi-san too--be careful...please.

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