001. she puts the "jet" in jetsetter. // open post

[fastenough]

Take a prompt, take your time, post whatever you like.

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[fastenough]

As well as we could, really. We had a lot to keep ourselves occupied with.

[A light shrug.]

I don't think there was ever any time to consider the rammifcations until Selene got back, and she's the type to keep her cards close to her chest. So.

[larue]

[ He nods slow. ]

I guess it was just that it was so sudden.

[ Even if he'd had the awful knot in his stomach as soon as he'd seen the little ways that Bri was different. ]

[fastenough]

[A thoughtful noise from this one, before she's taking another drag from her cigarette.]

Was it, though?

[Asking that, as she's looking once more in your direction.]

[larue]

[ Hi gaze slides askance. That's a pretty good question. Bri had been out a while before the news came. They're heard very little word as well, from the Changeling, while she was over in Arcadia.

Correction: They'd heard next to none with the exception of maybe... one text. He can't really recall too well anymore. ]

I guess... [ he wets his lips absently. ] Guess I just figured she'd let us know if she needed us.

[fastenough]

[Another thoughtful noise, this time as she's looking back down to her hands. Then she's taking another drag.]

I can't speak for her, and she does seem to be different from Selene, but...

[Maybe that's what is catching her attention. That Brianna Lopez is different from Selene.]

Maybe she had Baby of the Blade angst.

[larue]

[ He winces before he can actually think of stopping it. Then again, why bother hiding it? He respects and admires you, you've been a really awesome boss so far ( even if he really needs to start pulling his weight for the corporation and he will ) and... surprising as it is to him, you're kind of pretty easy to open up to.

( He hopes this is a good thing. ) ]

I'd like to say that she didn't but... [ He can't really speak for Brianna in that respect. They had grown close, but she always struck him as the type to keep her cards close to her chest. ]

If she thinks this is for the best though, I can't fault her. Not really.

[ It just sucks. ]

[fastenough]

There's the rub. If it's Baby of the Blade Angst, then she wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

[Looking over with a quirk of her lip. A sympathy tell.]

Ops like her have a lot more pride than they let on. They don't like screwing up, and they don't like betraying any sort of weakness. So when you put somebody like her in a blade full of goal-oriented overachievers...

[C'mon, LaRue. Put two and two together here.]

[larue]

[ He's putting it together and that is probably why he's sinking a little further into his chair—

—and then promptly scrubbing his palm over his face. ]

[fastenough]

[Watching all of that.

Drag, exhale.]

So. Warmer, colder, really far out there, really close...?

[You gotta give her something to work with, man.]

[larue]

[ That's a sigh. A heavy one. ]

Right in the frying pan, I think.

[ He's going to light up another cigarette now. ]

[fastenough]

[As expected. Not that she had wanted it that way. It kind of sucks, this heavy talk.

But it also needs to get done.]

If you're thinking that there could have been something that you or any of your blade mates could have done, don't.

[She's been exposed to a lot of blades, and done her fair share of mentorship. You might want to take her word for it.]

[larue]

[ He knows better than to challenge you, Mrs. Young. There is a reason, after all, that he was floored nervous, excited when Gabriel told him that he was going to be sent to mentor under you. ]

Working on it, ma'am. [ Forgive him, if the smile he tries to send your way is a little wan. His chest's feeling a little tight again. ]

I guess I'm just scared. [ A beat. ] For her.

[fastenough]

I'm not going to tell you not to be. [It's Arcadia. Everyone loses something by going there and staying too long.] But I will tell you that for the moment? It's out of your hands, and she's in much better company there than what was possible for Changeling Keepers just fifty years ago.

[Brighter sides, and pragmatic ones. Two things Mica Torillo-Young is great at focusing on.]

[larue]

[ There's a quiet, wan smile tugging at the corner of his mouth now. ]

Thanks, Mica.

[ Some people might not say that that's not much by way of reassurance. But it's kind of a lot for him. ]

[fastenough]

No problem. Can't have the handsome, young head of Human Resources looking like his world is ending.

[ ...That's a joke, by the way.

Mostly. ]

[larue]

[ That's prompting a laugh from his end. It's soft, but it's an indicator of how his mood's improved, even a little. ]

Thanks, boss.

[ He's only ever called Gabriel Marlowe that, apparently it now also applies to you. ]