[attr="class","icon"]

"sometimes, peace can only be achieved by sacrificing what little we have."[break][break]

he lifts his own mug to sip, enjoying the bitter taste of his coffee. it helps keeps him awake after long, restless nights.[break][break]

"but, honestly, team rocket values profit first and foremost. so we take what we can."

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

Blue paused, eyes shifting sideways to look across the table at him, though she didn’t fully turn her head.[break][break]

“Sure, that’s true. In the case that it would be this fisherman’s choice. Do you like to play god, then, sir?” Her fingers curl tighter around the mug. The heat is harsh against her fingers but she ignores it.[break][break]

“Making choices of sacrifice on behalf of someone else?”[break][break]

It’s the closest she comes to losing her temper with a superior for the first time in years. She knows better, but the flawed logic makes her blood warm furiously.[break][break]

It feels like a lie to save face.[break][break]

So when the secondary answer comes, she ignores it. Instead, she shifts toward him, a slight lean across the table like she’s daring him. Trying to see if there are any buttons to push under that stoic demeanor.

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

"if that's what it takes."[break][break]

he offers as he meets blue's gaze, his expression not really changing despite the attempts at pushing his buttons.[break][break]

"but don't be mistaken, murtagh. it isn't me who likes to play god."[break][break]

it's the organization they find themselves indebted to.

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

"If not you, then who?" Some of the heat under her skin extinguishes as she eyes him. She sips at her mug, then forces her hands to curl around the table edge, rather than ball up into small fists at her sides.[break][break]

Blue sits back, removing herself from the pulse of her temper as something flits across her face. Not quite confusion, but not exactly fascination either. Morbid curiosity, maybe?[break][break]

"I do not understand you."[break][break] A pause. "Not what you're saying. You."[break][break]

He is the one who told her that peace is his motive as they stood over the unconscious athlete in the weaving, rocky paths of Mt. Pyre. Yet it is not his personal driving force that fuels him to enact it?[break][break]

"Look. That must be him." her attention fixates on a man standing outside of the door to the small house, clearly fumbling for his keys.

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

he leaves her question unanswered if only so she can figure it out for herself. he only hopes that she does so sooner rather than later.[break][break]

the last thing he wants is another defector.[break][break]

"good."[break][break]

the less people know about him the better.[break][break]

he eyes the man as well.[break][break]

"hm. our intel was right. the man lives alone."[break][break]

not surprising.[break][break]

"we'll continue watching to see if he stays through the evening. if so, we'll act later tonight."

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

He ignores her questions and remarks. Which is probably par for the course. It should leave her angry and restless. Does she not deserve acknowledgement? Is she not worthy of it?[break][break]

But life has taught her that she is not. And so the subject dies before it can ever fully take off.[break][break]

No matter her effort to debate—[break][break]

No matter the strange, uneasy churning in her gut—[break][break]

“ For the better. Cleaner job, less strings to cut.”[break][break]

She nods, but she’s looking out the window again. She pushes the white-hot, all consuming burn in her mind. The part that feels and reacts. She shoves and pushes and compartmentalizes it intel there’s nothing else to feel. Eyes glazing with something placid and removed.[break][break]

“Okay.”[break][break]

As a good hound should.

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

as a good hound should.[break][break]

and so, they continue their watch, ordering more drinks and eventually food to not seem too conspicuous, but it's not like anyone there actually cares. they keep mostly to themselves.[break][break]

eventually, night descends, and the two of them make their way out onto the quaint streets of mossdeep.[break][break]

"how would you approach this?"

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

By the time they’ve eaten, and made sure that the civilian was going nowhere fast, the fact of the matter has sunk in and she’s come to grips with it. The staticky curtain has dropped over her mind until the only emotion she processes is the blank nothingness that comes with the task at hand.[break][break]

She stops in her tracks, staring at the nondescript building. “I’ve never really been known for being discreet,” she remarks simply.
So her input is probably not the most useful in this situation.[break][break]

“But that’s probably beneficial, yeah? Not so messy.”[break][break]

Also a bit of a challenge for her considering the fact that she’s violent and punch-happy, and probably the further possible thing from neat.[break][break]

Her crobat is sent out for the time being, a HAZE seeping from it, mingling with the foggy dark to further obscure them from view. She isn’t good at lowkey, but she wants to be impressive enough to figure out how he ticks.

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout + elimination[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

"it would certainly make our jobs easier."[break][break]

he's glad she's able to come to that conclusion by herself, at least.[break][break]

as a heavy layer of HAZE starts to spread out around them, he slows down, allowing her the scene.[break][break]

"do it cleanly."

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

“Does he need to be questioned?”[break][break]

Better to ask questions first than make the mistake.[break][break]

“How clean?” her eyes slip to his through the spreading fog.[break][break]

Rather than approach the front door, she slips around the side of the house. Looking for a back door, or a basement window, seam even with the ground.[break][break]

If she’s lucky.

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout + elimination[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

"not really. i don't believe he has any information that is of use to us."[break][break]

he's just a fisherman, after all, who lives a simple and easy life that should have gone undisturbed. it's a shame it will soon come to an end.[break][break]

all in the name of peace.[break][break]

"clean," is all he says in response.

[attr="class","bottom"]blue murtagh[break]
lockbox: scout[break]

[attr="class","icon"]

“Makes things easier, I guess.”

It eliminates what would probably be several steps on a multi-process list. She’s more than fine with that.[break][break]

In the time that has passed since her initial line of questioning, she’s managed to tune out the part of her mind that contested the fact that this man–this fisherman shouldn’t be sacrificed for a cause he has no part in.[break][break]

All that remains are the pieces of Blue that she’d shown evidence of on Mt. Pyre.[break][break]

The version of her that was unable to be quelled. The one who’d only wanted to push the limit to its furthest edge. To tilt off the side and accept the end result for whatever it was. Free fall.[break][break]

The antithesis of peace.[break][break]

“So vague.” she grumbles as she skulks around the side of the house until she finds a basement window flush with the ground. Wrapping her jacket around her hand and arm, Blue wastes no time putting her fist through the glass. “Coming?”

[attr="class","bottom"]THEO BECKETT [break]
lockbox: scout + elimination[break]