April is in one of the lounge-type rooms on the third floor of the Kashtta Tower very pointedly not pacing. She's trying very hard not to let any emotions slip out into the area, so that she won't be influencing anyone else, but it's difficult. Someone downstairs is calm, and she's trying to pick that up as much as possible, but it's not working
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Actually, what she really really wants to do is slit his throat. Well. That's what Kali wants, at any rate. "Believe me when I say, Mr. Bristow, that I have been played with and manipulated enough for five lifetimes, and I am quite adept at realising when someone is even considering doing so. It comes with the territory, you see. There is nothing Julian can do that I could not match or surpass, and I would not let some random passer-by manipulate me into deep caring." Just keep not killing him. That's the key. "He has never asked for my affection. Despite the fact that he has grown accustomed to it, he has only recently begun actively desiring that affection. This is nothing of his doing and everything of my own."
Her eyes narrow a bit. She is ice. No, more than that, she is stone. You would have to exert significant effort to move her now. "He is my family, Mr. Bristow. Surely you can comprehend why your threats and insinuations and assumptions would upset me."
So easy. God, she hasn't felt rage this focused and fierce since Kostya died, and that was years back. And then, she didn't have to restrain herself.
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Sark didn't manipulate her. Okay, he can accept that. What's inconceivable is how much this woman would go to defend him, not when all he's ever known of Sark before he had him collared and leashed in that other universe was tainted with bloodshed and an inability to care about anything other himself and given what he heard from Lang, it seems caring only about himself is still a great factor here.
"And this affection, this familial bond you have with him... How far does that extend? You're willing to defend him, but how far would he go to do the same? People might have died because of his selfishness and are you willing to defend that?" And oh, he hears those insinuations and he has to take a step back, holding his own anger back, but he can't actually bring himself to say anything else, mostly because he's almost vaguely made a hypocrite of himself.
He'd do a hell of a lot for Sydney, kill for her, die for her, and if he really thought about it, it's not completely wrong to assume that if someone had the same problems with his daughter that he has with Sark, he'd be right there in her shoes, but actually admitting that, when the person April's defending isn't worth protecting in his eyes... Well, it's rather difficult.
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Deep breaths. Deep breaths. "It was not, perhaps, the right thing to do, but he is young and he was frightened, for his sake and mine." Deep breaths. "And it was only for the love of me that he involved himself at all. So yes, I am willing to defend it." Her eyes flash a bit. "As for being worth protecting, I know how you feel. I would feel the same if someone were pleading for you. A father who manipulates and programs his own daughter, a young, trusting child... that is a person not worth protecting, Mr. Bristow."
Keep talking, keep going, we don't like him here, he smells purple. Make him into pies for us.
She shuts her eyes briefly, trying to force her mind to keep its stability, willing it not to slip a bit. She can't afford to be hearing voices during this conversation.
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It's so hard to get his head around that concept- that Sark would willingly put himself in harm's way for another person. Even the one who was on his team didn't strike him as the self-sacrificing type and he avoided any scenario where Sark might have had to prove himself one.
And then she has to hit on Sydney and oh that's a nerve he doesn't want poked at. Psychics. They cause problems. "Let's not insinuate that you know anything about my motivations behind what I did to my daughter. I had only the best of intentions- I was protecting her from being used the same way I was. Maybe this wasn't the most sound of choices, and I have often regretted bringing her into this life, but that doesn't change the fact that I was looking out for her benefit. When has Julian Sark ever done anything that wasn't for his own benefit? He may have decided that coming to your rescue was a brave move, but if he had even a shred of humanity, he wouldn't have let fear motivate him and had someone else sacrificed in his place. I would die for my daughter- would he die for you?"
Jack is rapidly starting to wonder if he's getting into a situation that's going to get him killed and he's paying far too much attention to April's movements, like he's just waiting for an attack.
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"I... I don't..." Keep a hold on it, don't falter. He has a point, and so does she, if she can just... "I've killed more people than you have, Mr. Bristow, for my own enjoyment, no profit involved, simply because I was told to. And... And you can't..."
Shit. No. No ghosts in the walls, not now not now not now. I'm busy.
She doesn't feel her mouth moving, while she's squeezing her eyes shut, trying to ward out the faint voices she can hear, pushing at the edge of her perception. She doesn't realise she's actually said that out loud.
Why is it always so sudden, this descent?
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And oh if he keeps thinking about this, he's going to be a hedgehog all over this girl and he doesn't want to be in a weak position with someone who looked, prior to this moment, like she might want to kill him. He really doesn't want to be that vulnerable period, but getting into an argument and turning into a hedgehog in the middle of it... Is not recommended in any circumstance.
"I'm not going to kill him," he says finally. It's... The best assurance he can make right now and it's true anyway. "If he can prove that he's less of a worthless wretch than what I know him as, then I'll even consider letting up on him." What precisely that means is anyone's guess. "But I'm not going to be fooled by this... Act of contrition he seems to be pervading. What he did was inexcusable and he will pay for it one way or another."
And... That's really all he can say to that.
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