lifetothefullest | [IC Inbox]

It only means you have rules. [Of course those rules change, but you must follow them. Otherwise you're nothing. Maketh lifts her chin, daring him to comment.] And that you will do what is required. I will always perform my duty.

[He stares back at her evenly, but wary as he responds.]

At its most basic level, yes, it means you have rules. But integrity and moral ideals are also part of honor, and those are what vary so wildly.

Morality is a useless gesture. [Maketh snorts. How naive can he possibly be?] An inconvenience your enemies will not share. If you cannot counter them with every possible means, then the people under your command will suffer for your abject failure to do what is necessary. You would have made a weak officer, Doctor Sweets. Your men would have killed you themselves.

[Lance can't even be insulted by that.]

Morality is what separates us from being the people whose crimes we're investigating.

[He could say more, but that's what it comes down to. They go into their jobs knowing they're adhering to a stricter code than the people they're dealing with and that puts them at a disadvantage, sometimes to a great extent. But that risk is necessary and worth it to not become the monsters they deal with.]

Then you are destined to fail.

[She says it quite simply.]

If your enemies have been gentle enough to allow this, then--then perhaps your world is---kinder than mine. You will not find it so in Hadriel. And if you intend to protect anyone, then you will step aside when the time comes and allow me to do what needs to be done. Someone must.

You're drawing a lot of conclusions with very little evidence.

[It's a mild way of saying 'you're wrong' without bothering to actually challenge her outright. He doesn't need--or want--to; the more she talks the more he learns.]

Nothing you've done has proven me wrong. [Maketh eyes him up and down, mouth set in a thin line.] I expected more from your FBI.

I'm not trying to prove you wrong. We're not in competition.

[And he's not going to bother with the FBI part; he's just one person and the FBI's been... Strange lately anyway, so he doesn't feel a great need to defend its integrity.]

But you disagree with my methods.

[That's been made perfectly clear. Maketh frowns at him.]

I do not display the proper conduct. Is that correct?

There are lines I don't think should be crossed for any reason, and we're in disagreement on where those lines are.

[So yes, he disagrees with her methods and thinks she doesn't display proper conduct. But he's also aware that this isn't the FBI--it probably isn't even Earth--and so 'proper conduct' is a more grey area. The morality, though, he finds universal.]

I see.

[Maketh tips her head to the side, watching him.]

Do you intend to challenge my position in the Guard?

Is that what you're concerned about?

[He doesn't answer the question, though not because he doesn't have an answer; no, he doesn't plan to challenge her for leadership, at least not to take the position. He hasn't learned enough about the situation to decide what--if anything--to do just yet.

Besides, he's a lot more interested in why that's the question she asked.]

You are fond of answers questions with questions, Doctor Sweets.

[The look she gives him is not especially gentle.]

But it is the reality of our situation. If you believe my conduct is unbecoming, therefore I am unfit to lead. In which case I would remind you that the guard operates under joint leadership. Henry Percy also holds command.

[It's a subtle warning as well. Challenge Maketh and in doing so, challenge Henry as well.]

[He ignores her first comment entirely, but at the second he raises his eyebrows slightly and sits back in his chair a bit.]

Good to know.

[It's mild but genuine, as the information is something he wasn't aware of and therefore useful. He'll have to find an opportunity to speak with Henry and see what he's like; if he tempers Maketh a bit then perhaps the situation is a little better than Lance thinks it might be.]

What was his opinion on how to handle the individual that attacked your headquarters?

You have been lax with your information gathering. I would think that rather important to know.

[She sees nothing wrong with pointing that out.]

Henry found the compromise acceptable. He would have preferred killing Sato outright, but that is not possible in this place. Thus he agreed that Sato would be allowed to move freely - so long as he didn't cause harm to anyone else. Given that Henry was one of those who met Sato in combat, I would consider it a generous allotment.

[So Henry seems at least a bit more reasonable, although the whole 'would've preferred to kill him' thing isn't great either. But he can't make many judgements just yet, especially not from only Maketh's word, so he'll definitely have to speak with Henry as soon as he can figure out the right approach.

And okay, the insults are finally getting a little irritating, and so he responds to this one. But it isn't entirely out of emotion; it also gives him a good excuse to see how she'll respond.]

This might surprise you, but you and the Guard aren't my highest priority right now.

[Maketh laughs just a little.]

Is that supposed to make a difference? It is your job to gather and analyze intelligence.

[She leans forward a little.]

Perhaps I was wrong to solicit your opinion. It seems your world has lower standards.

[He wants to say that she doesn't know what his job is, aside from what little he told her, but he'll just let her keep making assumptions on that. The last part, though, he can't refrain from offering a jab back at.]

Perhaps our standards are just unrecognizable to you.

How unfortunate for your world.

[Maketh stands abruptly, eyes narrowed.]

I know my world is different. All of our worlds are. And yet I have managed to collaborate with Henry and the other guardsmen without incident. His world hasn't even found gunpowder yet and he makes a far more efficient commander than I suspect you ever would. I think we are done here.

[He wants to say that he's not a commander, and he's only even an agent at all because he wanted to be able to protect his friend in an emergency instead of being a liability. He hadn't joined the FBI for heroics or to make hard calls in the field, and he certainly hadn't expected to be murdered; he had an office job, and that was to discover what made people do what they did, to help them, and to prevent anyone from being hurt.

So he knows he probably wouldn't be an effective commander, but he isn't trying to be. And even for all his insecurities he feels absolutely nothing to prove to Maketh.

So he watches her stand, briefly spreading his arms in a gesture of acceptance at her response.]

So we are.

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