[IC Inbox -- Snowblind]

[heavensreader]

Is it worki - oh. Ahem. This is Kesara Freamon. Please leave your message here and I will call back on you as soon as I can.







Wait, is it still - argh, how do I ma-

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[heavensreader]

I'll talk to him first. I'll - I'll try to understand. But... [she's silent for a moment, chewing on her lower lip. She suspects that she knows at least one outcome of that conversation already.]

... but maybe it's Dr. House that I'll have to do something about.

[devoutish]

Dr. House needs to do something about himself.

[heavensreader]

He does. And he knows it, but that's just why he won't. He's angry that he needs to do anything.

[devoutish]

Are you planning to talk to him, too?

[heavensreader]

Not... yet. [She speaks slowly now, thinking it through as she does.] I told you. Nothing's really changed. I don't have any - any - what's the word, Mr. Solomons, for something you use to make something move that's too big for you?

[devoutish]

Leverage?

[heavensreader]

Leverage. [What an excellent word.] I need time. I'm not that good at this yet. But I'll learn by doing.

[devoutish]

And that you are good at. Yeah.

Are you good at compromise and negotiation?

[heavensreader]

[Compromise is a word she likes a little less. A rather childish sigh escapes her.] I've had to be good at compromise, you know.

[But of course this is not truly what he's asking, and the question is a serious one. Negotiation means...] I think... you can only negotiate with people who'd agree to it. Who'll compromise with you. Other people, you have to trick.

[devoutish]

Yeah, that's true.

[He considers tricking a part of negotiation - not always necessary, but sometimes, they're two sides of the same coin.]

But there's compromise in tricks too, yeah? Both tricks and negotiations, right - they can fail. Even for people like me.

[And he is very curious about what she thinks of that.]

[heavensreader]

[Even for people like him. Kesara is not so young anymore as to think anyone is infallible - with one or two notable exceptions, perhaps. But Alfie is neither, for all that she looks up to him. And she is seasoned to failure, herself. For her it means waiting, biding her time, trying another angle, changing her goals... perhaps that's what he means by compromise.

But for people like him...]

Is that when it's time for the the knives and the guns?

[devoutish]

Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. Not in every situation, but in some.

[heavensreader]

I don't have those.

[That, she realises, is what she thinks of that. If she had those, she doesn't know what she might do. She's young. She's only ever held a gun once in her life. What does she really know about this power? Who would she be if she did hold it?]

So it doesn't matter to me. I'll do what I can with what I have. Lao Dian says - [always what Lao Dian says lately. Not what Dame Ariel says. She wonders what that means.] Lao Dian says, a hand never shot a gun without a head to aim it.

[devoutish]

Lao Dian is a smart man.

[Seriously, he sounds like Alfie's kind of guy.]

And you're a smart girl, which is often more important than having a weapon, right.