[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]when the secretary returns to usher her in, she takes her time.

the approach is slow, deliberate, with steps that wish to command more than just the room.

and only when she's satisfied, does she stop. there's a distance between them, kept purposely with every intention of keeping a guarded front. she wears cold indifference as war paint because he's a titan and she's not walking into his lair unprepared. he's different than MATIAS SILPH. colder, untouchable.

she won't be able to lower his guard. not here, not like this.

"councilman," she murmurs with a dip of her head. "thank you for seeing me."

the guise of this meeting relates to "rocket intel", something she supposed could tickle his fancy enough to actually see her.

and now that she's here, she has no intentions of giving information of her own.

no, she'll take his until he's bled dry. and all that will remain is a husk abandoned on the floor.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]the incessant click of keys echoes in her ears like a heartbeat. steady until it's frantic and she's swallowing down irritation.

the inner child wants to scream, beg, fight. look at me. notice me. please.

she swallows that, too.

settling on a new tactic, she approaches with the sharp click of heels until all that's between them is his desk. golden skulls shimmer against black fabric, bright beneath florescent lights. and without much hesitation, she's tapping a manicured nail against wood.

"very welcoming."

it's frigid, flat, with toes dipped into cold waters and left shivering. and yet, something about it drifts into a territory she doesn't typically enjoy. desperate, perhaps. and behind her desperation lies a hungry wolf, left out in the cold to feed off scraps while his kind eat with golden cutlery.

"that's no way to greet family."

a lie, really, but maybe it's enough.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]ah, so that gets his attention.

the name is foreign to what she knows. and briefly, she wonders if that's stormy's given name. back before she was a silph, back when she was still lydia's and there wasn't this void instead.

she jots it down on a sticky note and sticks it to the board in her mind, red strings connecting things left unsolved. unfortunately, the whole board is bloody.

and while she wants to demand that he look up, she doesn't stoop to that level quite yet.

no, she doesn't need to. her encounter with another silph has given her enough insight to dig claws in, to pry into tense relationships that she has no business in.

"MATIAS SILPH was more helpful than you're being," she backs off, then, and wanders away from the desk to inspect the walls.

and without much thought behind it, she's calling to him over her shoulder.

"and it's lydia."

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]so much for any possible plans she had.

he effectively scraps all of them with a single keystroke. irritating, really. and while she doesn't want to let it get to her, she's still bitter and angry and being ignored is something that burrows beneath her skin.

"he already was," she retorts.

matias had given her insight, sure, but there's things he couldn't provide. and now, she's knocking on the golden child's door like a beggar searching for spare change.

her parents would kill her on the spot.

"unfortunately, there was only so much he could answer and i was sent here." and maybe it would have been easier to just say she's stormy's sister.

or maybe he'd scoff and turn her away at the door. either way, she's here and one second away from breaking that keyboard.

control, lydia, control.

"now will you answer my questions or should i try a different method?"

with matias, she didn't need to get her hands dirty. with fernando? she just might.

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]true... he did ask what she wanted.

it was the wrong girl, however, and she brushed it aside.

now, the other girl is merely at a crossroads: simply ask or pry. it's difficult to decide which one to choose but... perhaps the choice has already been made for her.

a soft sigh escapes beneath her breath and she's turning away from his walls before she can think otherwise. the cat's already out of the bag, right?

"busy is endlessly typing away at a computer?" her nose wrinkles at the thought.

and when she drifts closer, whatever frustration she has is shoved down. it's snuffed out, left to die in simmering ashes beneath her skin. indifference rises instead, clamoring onto pale skin with sharp nails.

"information," she murmurs. her stare is a mixture between expectant and bored, as if he should know this. why else would she be here?

"a little birdie told me your parents are gone," a pause, a consideration, and then the slight narrowing of honey. "so unfortunately for both of us, you're my only hope."

FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","lydia"]

[attr="class","lydia b"]

[attr="class","lydia i"]in the end... she's nothing more than a petulant child.

her investigation -- if you could even call it that -- is founded in selfish desires, festering a deep-seated need that she hadn't received during development.

it shows in the way she holds herself, in the way her face morphs into something irritated. denied attention settles in her skin like an open wound.

"no," comes quickly, hotly. it's breathed out with a frown, arms settling across her chest in open protest. she's a child throwing a tantrum in the face of denial and unfortunately, fernando silph is not one to bend to a display like this.

ah, but speaking in riddles is the obstacle he presented, right? maybe if she just... adjusts the approach?

he is, after all, a straight forward man.

"i want to know why your family picked my sister." beneath the syllables, another statement lingers.

why not me? looms in shadows across his office. it claws, begging for life, begging for attention just as she does from him.

FERNANDO SILPH