[He's not in the office for long before gnomish Nigel Thornberry enters to point out the sign, and...oh, okay. She probably doesn't want to be bothered, and the last thing Wash wants to do is start the conversation on the wrong foot.]
[Except Davenport follows him out of the office and...tries to herd him, as far as Wash can tell. He certainly seems happier when Wash follows him.]
[Well, he's done crazier things. He falls in step with Davenport, heading into the greenhouse and approaching Lucretia when she beckons.]
[That's...certainly a question. He shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets.]
I never really had the time.
[Or the inclination, or the skill, or the stable living situation.]
[Oh, heavens no. There's no lessons to be learned, they're just pretty, simple bright red flowers. If there was any meaning attached behind them, or any sort of wise words of wisdom to be shared, she'd be in her official Director clothing. It's all just rather meaningless. But that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy gardening.]
I find that when times are particularly rough, it's nice to have a good hobby, Wash. May I call you Wash?
[She sits up from her rather undignified position, and motions to the ground next to her.]
Flowers like these are particularly useless. On a base, hidden away in the moon, it'd make a lot more practical sense to grow something like potatoes or maybe spring onions. I'm sure we could all do with a little less of Bender's antics, I'm sure you feel that sentiment- or maybe, not? The collateral damage reports are enough to make even my grey hairs get... greyer. Anyway, they are nice to look at from time to time, so I suppose that purpose, that underlying meaning is that they exist simply to make others happy. I can't fault flowers for that.
[She turns to him, a wry sort of expression on her face as always.]
Anyway, is there something that I can help you with, something in an official capacity? I'm sure you didn't come down here to watch me prune dead leaves.
[It's how he's been introducing himself to people; no reason she shouldn't call him Wash like everyone else.]
[He takes the invitation and sits next to her. Yeah, he's pretty sure the flower thing is a metaphor or a lesson of some kind, but he's not about to sort through it right now - not when she gets down to business.]
I was going to set up an appointment, but Davenport insisted.
[Gnomish Nigel Thornberry is a force to be reckoned with.]
[But he has questions; with any luck, he'll actually get some answers.]
Why didn't you keep tabs on Lucas after Maureen died? He's smart, he had intelligence on the Bureau, and he'd just lost the most important person in his life - that's a dangerous combination, especially when there's a possibility he blamed the Bureau for the whole thing. Why would you just let him go?
[Intelligent, grieving scientist uses his resources for selfish purposes and causes massive destruction for everyone around him. Its almost like Wash is intimately familiar with that sequence of events.]
And why didn't you just bring Maureen back in the first place?
[Davenport, who was always brimming with a little bit of excitement when it was warranted, she's rather glad that he had taken the charge to bring Wash to her when he was seeking her out. Of course, these are questions he has the right to know, and letting them sit by after a particularly rough mission would've probably made the Reclaimer stew on them more than he already has.
She doesn't smile or give indication away that there's much of anything when he mentions Maureen's name, but nonetheless, it's still a wound for her, too. One that hasn't quite healed, but she's not allowed to let that sort of thing out. Not in front of someone who needs her to be a leader. A trustworthy source of information. Someone who has everything together and can execute on plans.
As always, she rises in the face of conflict.]
I did, actually. Lucas ran from the Moon Base after his mother's death. I sent out a team that attempted to search for him. But as the designer of the Bureau's top technological systems and machinations, he knew how to keep himself hidden. It's been... well, it's been well over a year since I last saw him. Reports came back to me with the assumption that he was dead. I couldn't accept that, so I kept Carey and Killian to keep searching.
The fact of the matter is... he didn't want to be found. I imagine Lucas hates me, this organization, everything that it stands for. [That much isn't very revealing, but she's being asked directly, and she won't hide it from Wash.]
And he has every right to. I was the reason Maureen died.
[One answer and one evasion; it's about what Wash expected out of this conversation.]
[And Lucas disappearing tracks. He remembers just how difficult it was to track down the Director after Freelancer fell, and Lucas looked to be slightly more self-sufficient than Leonard Church.]
What happened?
[On one hand, this can't be easy for her to talk about; on the other hand, she brought it up. She can't expect him not to ask after that.]
[It's fair, Wash has every right to ask. That doesn't make the situation any less easier for the Director, who has been dealing with this pain quietly since the moment it happened. She looks down at the flowers, and sighs slightly. Realizes she's getting emotional for a moment, and pulls back on that lever.]
I explained to her what the situation was. An unknown entity, eating entire realities. That it was coming, that it'd be here eventually. She... she understood what that meant. She also understood that there would be nothing to save the world if we destroyed ourselves through the use of the Grand Relics.
Wash, those items. They're not meant to be used. But there's a certain need to be needed about them. When someone gets their hands on them, it whispers into their ears the power it could grant them. The Space Mittens that we've recovered? It turned a little girl's cat into a giant monster and destroyed the town of Armas. The Architect's Pen fell into the hands of a dictator, who replicated an entire army and sent it out to reclaim all of Eastern Faerun.
Maureen had seen the promise of disaster written into the wind. While I worked out a plan to obtain the Relics, she worked on a plan to watch the unknown enemy. But planar magic, Wash, planar magic is not something to be toyed with. It's dangerous shit, and I'm not. I'm not being light about that. Maureen's research got her far, but an experiment went... it went farther than you could imagine.
And when there's no trace left of a body, it's simply... [Plucking a dead leaf from the flowers below her, she realizes that she's become quite impassioned about all of this. Too much so, in fact.] It's impossible to bring them back from that point.
[There's a lot there that Wash files away for his research later: a ruined city; a dictator; what sets planar magic apart from normal magic; the fact that a body is necessary for revival. At its heart, though, the story is a tragedy, one that's still affecting Lucretia.]
[The suspicious, paranoid part of Wash still can't help but wonder if it's a show for his benefit, though to what end, he's not sure. He files that away for later too.]
[Still:]
I'm sorry.
[She is still talking about the death of a friend. Wash knows that feeling far too well, even before the Hunger took everything.]
[Speaking of the Hunger...]
What's our game plan? We know that the Hunger exists, and that it'll eventually come here, so- what are we doing?
[They can't just be spinning their wheels. There has to be some sort of plan.]
[She knows that he doesn't necessarily trust her. He's seen the file, knows the type of person that he is. And yet she brought him here anyway. It was her hand that was reached down and pulled him through. She knew what she was getting into when she did it.]
Our game plan is to continue searching for and destroying these Grand Relics. As long as they are out there, the Hunger will know how to find us. It locks onto items of immense power, and- well, there is a reason we call it the Hunger, you know.
And then, we take the fight to it.
[She reaches over and takes a few stems of the flowers, cutting them off from their life source, as she holds out a small sample of her prized begonias to Wash.]
I know you don't trust me or my intentions, Wash. And that's okay, too. I just... need you to continue what you're doing. You've done an amazing job this last mission, and it's by no stretch when I say you deserve congratulations for the hard work you've put in. Which... may be difficult to hear, considering the outcome of Vista Virs. We cannot let that happen again. What we fight for, what you're fighting for, is the safety of billions of billions of lives. Every single one matters.
[She nods at him, hoping that he takes it to heart.]
And when we've destroyed the Grand Relics, we will continue forward. We're not there yet, not by a long shot. Continue to grow, to expand your skills. We're going to need it.
[That's about as good of encouragement as she can give.]
But... do me a favor? A small one. Can you take some of these down to the Brig? Lucas has always loved begonias, and you can imagine... it would be awkward for me to be there.
[That creates so many more questions than it answers. For starters, what could possibly have been powerful enough in his world for the Hunger to take notice of it? How the hell does she know he doesn't trust her? What isn't she telling him, or all of them?]
[But he recognizes a conversational close when he hears one. Pushing now might mean she won't talk with him in the future, and he doesn't want to cut off this avenue of communication.]
[A valid question under any other circumstance. Valid, but uncomfortable for Lucretia as it stands- most of the Reclaimers have a very strong sense of survivor's guilt wrapped as to why and how they got here.
It's not enough to just tell him that it's random, but there is some validity to that statement. Still, it's not the whole truth, and she looks up at him as he asks.]
Why even ask that question, Wash? In the grand scheme of things, you're simply here. And you've done an amazing job up to this point. Look at you, look at how you handled the Grand Relic in the last mission.
[That's probably not entirely satisfactory, and she knows that.]
Faults, shortcomings, thoughts of who else should be here rather than you... you, Wash. You're here. And you may not trust me, and that's- well, it's unfortunate, but I understand it. But I trust you. And I know you're going to do great things. Either for the people who I couldn't save, or for the you who still needs saving.
[Lucretia's reply is heartfelt, and poetic, and on some deep level that he tries to ignore on his worst days, it's exactly some part of him wants to hear.]
[It is also not in any capacity an answer to what he asked.]
[And she thinks it's unfortunate that he doesn't trust her.]
[But he's learned to make his peace with good enough, and right now, that's what this will have to be.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[Except Davenport follows him out of the office and...tries to herd him, as far as Wash can tell. He certainly seems happier when Wash follows him.]
[Well, he's done crazier things. He falls in step with Davenport, heading into the greenhouse and approaching Lucretia when she beckons.]
[That's...certainly a question. He shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets.]
I never really had the time.
[Or the inclination, or the skill, or the stable living situation.]
[She's going somewhere with this, right?]
no subject
I find that when times are particularly rough, it's nice to have a good hobby, Wash. May I call you Wash?
[She sits up from her rather undignified position, and motions to the ground next to her.]
Flowers like these are particularly useless. On a base, hidden away in the moon, it'd make a lot more practical sense to grow something like potatoes or maybe spring onions. I'm sure we could all do with a little less of Bender's antics, I'm sure you feel that sentiment- or maybe, not? The collateral damage reports are enough to make even my grey hairs get... greyer. Anyway, they are nice to look at from time to time, so I suppose that purpose, that underlying meaning is that they exist simply to make others happy. I can't fault flowers for that.
[She turns to him, a wry sort of expression on her face as always.]
Anyway, is there something that I can help you with, something in an official capacity? I'm sure you didn't come down here to watch me prune dead leaves.
no subject
[It's how he's been introducing himself to people; no reason she shouldn't call him Wash like everyone else.]
[He takes the invitation and sits next to her. Yeah, he's pretty sure the flower thing is a metaphor or a lesson of some kind, but he's not about to sort through it right now - not when she gets down to business.]
I was going to set up an appointment, but Davenport insisted.
[Gnomish Nigel Thornberry is a force to be reckoned with.]
[But he has questions; with any luck, he'll actually get some answers.]
Why didn't you keep tabs on Lucas after Maureen died? He's smart, he had intelligence on the Bureau, and he'd just lost the most important person in his life - that's a dangerous combination, especially when there's a possibility he blamed the Bureau for the whole thing. Why would you just let him go?
[Intelligent, grieving scientist uses his resources for selfish purposes and causes massive destruction for everyone around him. Its almost like Wash is intimately familiar with that sequence of events.]
And why didn't you just bring Maureen back in the first place?
no subject
[Davenport, who was always brimming with a little bit of excitement when it was warranted, she's rather glad that he had taken the charge to bring Wash to her when he was seeking her out. Of course, these are questions he has the right to know, and letting them sit by after a particularly rough mission would've probably made the Reclaimer stew on them more than he already has.
She doesn't smile or give indication away that there's much of anything when he mentions Maureen's name, but nonetheless, it's still a wound for her, too. One that hasn't quite healed, but she's not allowed to let that sort of thing out. Not in front of someone who needs her to be a leader. A trustworthy source of information. Someone who has everything together and can execute on plans.
As always, she rises in the face of conflict.]
I did, actually. Lucas ran from the Moon Base after his mother's death. I sent out a team that attempted to search for him. But as the designer of the Bureau's top technological systems and machinations, he knew how to keep himself hidden. It's been... well, it's been well over a year since I last saw him. Reports came back to me with the assumption that he was dead. I couldn't accept that, so I kept Carey and Killian to keep searching.
The fact of the matter is... he didn't want to be found. I imagine Lucas hates me, this organization, everything that it stands for. [That much isn't very revealing, but she's being asked directly, and she won't hide it from Wash.]
And he has every right to. I was the reason Maureen died.
no subject
[And Lucas disappearing tracks. He remembers just how difficult it was to track down the Director after Freelancer fell, and Lucas looked to be slightly more self-sufficient than Leonard Church.]
What happened?
[On one hand, this can't be easy for her to talk about; on the other hand, she brought it up. She can't expect him not to ask after that.]
no subject
I explained to her what the situation was. An unknown entity, eating entire realities. That it was coming, that it'd be here eventually. She... she understood what that meant. She also understood that there would be nothing to save the world if we destroyed ourselves through the use of the Grand Relics.
Wash, those items. They're not meant to be used. But there's a certain need to be needed about them. When someone gets their hands on them, it whispers into their ears the power it could grant them. The Space Mittens that we've recovered? It turned a little girl's cat into a giant monster and destroyed the town of Armas. The Architect's Pen fell into the hands of a dictator, who replicated an entire army and sent it out to reclaim all of Eastern Faerun.
Maureen had seen the promise of disaster written into the wind. While I worked out a plan to obtain the Relics, she worked on a plan to watch the unknown enemy. But planar magic, Wash, planar magic is not something to be toyed with. It's dangerous shit, and I'm not. I'm not being light about that. Maureen's research got her far, but an experiment went... it went farther than you could imagine.
And when there's no trace left of a body, it's simply... [Plucking a dead leaf from the flowers below her, she realizes that she's become quite impassioned about all of this. Too much so, in fact.] It's impossible to bring them back from that point.
no subject
[The suspicious, paranoid part of Wash still can't help but wonder if it's a show for his benefit, though to what end, he's not sure. He files that away for later too.]
[Still:]
I'm sorry.
[She is still talking about the death of a friend. Wash knows that feeling far too well, even before the Hunger took everything.]
[Speaking of the Hunger...]
What's our game plan? We know that the Hunger exists, and that it'll eventually come here, so- what are we doing?
[They can't just be spinning their wheels. There has to be some sort of plan.]
[Right?]
no subject
[She knows that he doesn't necessarily trust her. He's seen the file, knows the type of person that he is. And yet she brought him here anyway. It was her hand that was reached down and pulled him through. She knew what she was getting into when she did it.]
Our game plan is to continue searching for and destroying these Grand Relics. As long as they are out there, the Hunger will know how to find us. It locks onto items of immense power, and- well, there is a reason we call it the Hunger, you know.
And then, we take the fight to it.
[She reaches over and takes a few stems of the flowers, cutting them off from their life source, as she holds out a small sample of her prized begonias to Wash.]
I know you don't trust me or my intentions, Wash. And that's okay, too. I just... need you to continue what you're doing. You've done an amazing job this last mission, and it's by no stretch when I say you deserve congratulations for the hard work you've put in. Which... may be difficult to hear, considering the outcome of Vista Virs. We cannot let that happen again. What we fight for, what you're fighting for, is the safety of billions of billions of lives. Every single one matters.
[She nods at him, hoping that he takes it to heart.]
And when we've destroyed the Grand Relics, we will continue forward. We're not there yet, not by a long shot. Continue to grow, to expand your skills. We're going to need it.
[That's about as good of encouragement as she can give.]
But... do me a favor? A small one. Can you take some of these down to the Brig? Lucas has always loved begonias, and you can imagine... it would be awkward for me to be there.
no subject
[But he recognizes a conversational close when he hears one. Pushing now might mean she won't talk with him in the future, and he doesn't want to cut off this avenue of communication.]
Sure.
[So he takes the begonias and he turns to leave.]
[And...stops.]
[He has to know.]
Why me? Why did you save me?
no subject
It's not enough to just tell him that it's random, but there is some validity to that statement. Still, it's not the whole truth, and she looks up at him as he asks.]
Why even ask that question, Wash? In the grand scheme of things, you're simply here. And you've done an amazing job up to this point. Look at you, look at how you handled the Grand Relic in the last mission.
[That's probably not entirely satisfactory, and she knows that.]
Faults, shortcomings, thoughts of who else should be here rather than you... you, Wash. You're here. And you may not trust me, and that's- well, it's unfortunate, but I understand it. But I trust you. And I know you're going to do great things. Either for the people who I couldn't save, or for the you who still needs saving.
no subject
[It is also not in any capacity an answer to what he asked.]
[And she thinks it's unfortunate that he doesn't trust her.]
[But he's learned to make his peace with good enough, and right now, that's what this will have to be.]
Okay.
...thank you.
[And he's off to deliver begonias to Lucas.]