quackery | ic contact for exsilium

"Hi..." she says as she turns around to face Ahiru, since humans generally consider that kind of thing polite. (What if: Ahiru is lying, and this has been an elaborate gambit to gain trust. More far-fetched betrayals have happened on Earth. She does not, even now, completely dismiss this thought, only determines its irrelevance.)

"Stephanie and I are going to make a post about Department reforms," she explains. They had spent a long time planning it too. She hoped this was going to help people now that they'd finally gotten their act together. (With their luck, however, another drastic change was probably on the horizon.)

And then Ahiru asks about the necklace - which Kanaya takes between her first two fingers and tugs up, just enough that the entire chain is visible but not the pendant. The question is written all over her face: This???

"Oh, that sounds cool!" She props her chin in her hand, interested, before she continues on. "What kind of changes are you guys working on? It seems like a good idea to switch things up, with how different everything is.

When Kanaya begins to raise the necklace up, she nods, equally interested. "Is there anything on the chain?"

She does not immediately answer the second question; her expression sours a little, like a maligned magpie, and her arm slowly rocks up and down compulsively, while her elbow is braced on the armrest as she tried to take a conversational stance. Her glow fluctuates in the same way, subtle in a way that suggests the possibility for change to gradually growing. At the crest of the necklace's trajectory, a hint of the charm is visible: Two protruding little pieces, like white rosethorns.

Kanaya opts to focus on the first question: "The liaisons used to focus on informing the population at large of the Initiative's mandatory missions, which are a thing of the past, unfortunately. The greeters need to re-evaluate their strategy altogether with Jesse Pinkman out of the picture."

She may not know the reasoning behind that expression, but she can understand how even something like a piece of jewelry could hold profound emotional significance for someone. It could be something close to Kanaya's heart, and at the very least it's obviously something she doesn't want to talk about, so Ahiru follows her lead and only responds to what Kanaya says, not what she's clearly omitting.

"Oh, those are good points! So what are you thinking of using the Department for now?"

"The AI has recently committed itself to generating a wide variety of extremely productive mission possibilities." Her tone tastes like oversteeped tea that is getting cold, which is what happens to a drink when only a few people take little sips out of the kettle after it first boils.

"With luck we'll be able to devote staff, for delegating missions and raising awareness of our resources. It's all about information and mobilization. That used to be our primary strength, in this war, but now it's become our main weakness." Soldier Blue hasn't announced his intentions for information-gathering missions yet, leaving them almost completely in the dark about the United Earth's current capabilities and conspiracies.

"There's also some work on winter supply distribution," she adds as an afterthought. That's the kind of thing you'd be interested in.

"Oh! I bet they're okay if the AI thought them up itself..." She looks thoughtful for a moment.

"And if it's for information that sounds even more useful. I mean, we still don't know much about the changes that were made to this world. Maybe we could find out about it somehow."

A pause. "We have winter supplies here, don't we? Or is there not enough for everyone?"

"Proliferation continues to pose a logistical problem." Kanaya's expression turns resentful, though that ire isn't directed at Ahiru but the new transports. "You always get a few transports wandering out on their own in the middle of a snowfield grumbling about how cruel the Initiative has been to him for lack of supplies, walking right past the aliens offering them whatever they want in sweet albeit shrill voices."

"I don't know, I think that's sort of to be expected."

A moment ago, her posture had been one of fascination and interest, fixated on what Kanaya had to say. Now, she leans back slightly on the couch, resting against its back as she thinks.

"I mean, the first time someone gets transported to a new world, that's gotta be super jarring. I doubt the first thing they'd be able to focus on was someone giving out clothing and other supplies. I mean, I guess they should double check first, but it's pretty understandable."

"Yeah, yeah..." Her elbow sinks into the couch a little harder. "I really miss having Initiative officials to whom we could report. I work with Vennett, of course, but it's just not the same. They're not administration, you know? There's no chain of command anymore."

She sighs a little. "Even though other people probably found that restrictive. I liked the structure."

ic contact for exsilium

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