IC Contact Post [Hadriel]

[mismanagement]

This is Maketh Tua. State your business.

Comments

[lifetothefullest]

[He does follow, closing the door behind him as requested, and he nods at her comment about coffee while taking note of her appearance and the kitchen table. No surprise, but still not great.

He sets the coffee on the counter and empties his overshirt's pockets of creamer pods and sugar packets, then turns toward her and fixes her with a serious look.]

You absolutely cannot go after Sato.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh snorts, making a note on one of her schematics. She needs the proper bullet to make this thing work.] You honestly think I'm going to let him get away with that. Don't be foolish.

[lifetothefullest]

What I think you're doing is giving him exactly what he wants, and then letting him get away with it when you fail to get justice or revenge or whatever it is that you want.

[He's not bothering to choose his words carefully at the moment, because he doubts Maketh would listen if he did. This situation is much better served by directness.]

[mismanagement]

I'm going to teach him a lesson, [Maketh says vaguely, not looking up. She's focused on other things. She's forgotten the coffee already. Earlier she was manic, pacing and jittery with all the ideas bursting through her skull. Now she's calm and oddly tired. Everything seems simple.] I'm not going to fail.

[lifetothefullest]

No, you won't. Slow down and think about this logically.

[It's not less intent or serious, but it's quieter.]

Do you really think this isn't what he wants you to do? And so he's expecting it?

[mismanagement]

[Maketh shakes her head slowly, still not looking at him. She wishes he would go, suddenly. She shouldn't have responded to the message. It's an inconvenience. And he's loud. She doesn't remember him being loud before.] He expects me to kill him. I'm not going to.

[She huffs, making another note. Her eyes hurt.]

I'm just going to hurt him.

[lifetothefullest]

I highly doubt that he expects you to try to kill him. What you told me of your actions last time means it would be obvious to him that you know killing him outright wouldn't work.

[He's just ignoring the moral issues of all of this for the moment, focusing on the practical ones, because they're the only part he thinks Maketh might respond to.]

He wants the attention and the challenge, and you'd be giving him exactly that. Do you really want to reward him for what he did?

[mismanagement]

It's not a reward.

[If she says it clearly enough, patiently enough, then he'll leave.]

What do you want, Doctor Sweets?

[lifetothefullest]

What else do you call it when you give someone what they want for their behavior?

[He's still being shorter and blunter than usual, but he's also started to get distracted paying attention to her shift in mood even while he answers the question.]

I want you not to return to patterns you're trying to break, and get yourself killed in the process.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh shakes her head. She's tired, doesn't want to do this anymore.]

I've died already. A lot. It doesn't matter. Go away.

[lifetothefullest]

I find that difficult to believe.

[In other words, he doesn't believe her at all. Sure, repeated exposure to a traumatic event can dull one's emotional response to it, but it doesn't actually make it less traumatic.

Also just casually ignoring that whole 'go away' part.]

Is this really want you want? To jump on the first solution that seems rewarding to you and completely ignore any and all reasons against it?

[mismanagement]

I'm going to teach him a lesson.

[Something painful, something lasting, something he'll have to sit with for a while. Knock his teeth out, cut off his hands. Make him think about what he'd done. Suffer through it.

Simple. Yes.

Maketh shakes her head again. Her head hurts. A lot of things hurt, a dull building ache.]

There has to be a--reckoning. I won't allow this to be for nothing.

[lifetothefullest]

I'm not saying you should just let him get away with it.

[He lowers his voice further, sensitive to her reactions--and beginning to form an idea of what's causing them--but not about to give up just yet.]

I'm saying don't jump immediately in the trap. Think about this; come up with something as part of a team with your other Guard members.

[mismanagement]

Hux is helping me. He's bored.

[In a better moment, she wouldn't say that. It's not going to help - Hux will do a great many things when he's bored and not many of them are good. But it's true and here they are.

Maketh keeps her eyes down, not looking at him. She wants him to go.]

[lifetothefullest]

Seriously?

[It's a good thing Lance doesn't really make it a habit to raise his voice or it would've gone way up at that. As it is he just sounds a cross between incredulous and exasperated.]

And you don't think maybe he's exactly the opposite of who you should be consulting with on something like this? What about Henry? Or Nick; he seemed reasonable.

[mismanagement]

They're not engineers. This is an engineering problem.

[Hux is easy, he only asks the questions that need to be asked. Everything else is planning and details.

Maketh pauses.]

You're being loud. Go away.

[He's not. But her head hurts.]

[lifetothefullest]

It's only an engineering problem when you've already decided on what you're going to do and just need to know how to do it.

[He can't tell if she's being purposefully difficult or just not listening, although he's thinking it might be the latter. As far as going away, he crosses his arms and fixes her with a determined look.]

No. I can't, in good conscience, let you do something this stupid and detrimental to both your physical and mental health.

[mismanagement]

It is perfectly logical to consult an engineer.

[Even more so to consult Hux, who very well might be a sadist and has no compunctions about ruining someone's day.

This time Maketh does look at Lance. Her face is carefully empty.]

Don't get in my way.

[lifetothefullest]

[He stares back, looking for any hints he can get from her expression--or more accurately from her lack of one--and decides what he's going to ask next. It's not directly in response to either of the things she said, and it's leading up to taking a risk, but...]

Have you told Henry what you're planning?

[mismanagement]

[Maketh doesn't flinch. She just turns away and goes back to her notes. Henry doesn't need to know. Henry won't like what she has planned, will like it even less when he discovers who she consulted in order to get it done.]

[lifetothefullest]

That's a no, then.

[Doesn't take much effort to figure that out and he'd already guessed anyway.]

And you're not telling him because you know he won't agree, so you're already aware that this is a bad choice to be making.

[mismanagement]

Go away, Doctor Sweets.

[He's not offering to help, so he has no place being here. Vaguely, Maketh realizes she might have to hurt him if he keeps talking. She has a knife up her sleeve, various gun components on the table. And a mug full of coffee. Hit him with any of those and he'll be out the door if he has any brains at all.]

[lifetothefullest]

[He'd been hoping she would just listen to what he was saying and logically follow the reasoning, take a moment, and realize she's acting rashly; it's perfectly normal to be angry and do--or plan to do--something stupid and have to be talked out of it, but she's not really... Listening to any talking, which makes things difficult.

Lance watches her for a moment, arms still crossed, tense as he decides whether to resort to the last tactic he had in mind. It's definitely a risk, but he doesn't have a lot of other options at the moment; she's obviously not listening, and he absolutely can't just step back and let her do something horrible or get herself killed.

So he takes a deep breath, straightens to his full height, and lifts his chin slightly before making a simple statement.]

Either tell your Guard members what you're doing, or I will.

[mismanagement]

[Maketh goes very still then. If he tells--

No. She can't let him do that.

Then, quite calmly, she draws the knife from her wrist sheath. It's a small hunting blade, well balanced, not the sort of thing she can properly throw. But she can fight with it if she needs to.]

You will not.

[She doesn't blink.]

Leave. Right now.

[lifetothefullest]

[The reaction isn't entirely unexpected--there's only a few ways she could've responded--but it's still distressing. His gaze flickers to the weapon, heartrate picking up; he only outwardly remains calm because he'd prepared for this possibility.

He does uncross his arms though, raising his hands slightly in a cross between a surrender and a defensive gesture, but he makes eye contact with her once again and his voice is steady when he responds.]

Put it away, Maketh. Threatening me is not going to change the situation.

[He's not that easily intimidated--not anymore, anyway--and what is she expecting him to do if he does leave? Because making a call is first thing on that list, so if she wants that not to happen then it's a lot better to keep working on coming to a solution through talking.]