yngai - Tumblr blog

[yngai]

BEEF (2023-) - 1x04 “Just not all at the same time”

[yngai]

actually hate the ressie wiki for adding ada's falsified backstory from the umbrella chronicles novelization to her wiki page because it claims 'the validity of this account is questionable', leaving people who are otherwise unfamiliar with the franchise's lore who naturally peruse the wiki to assume there's a possibility ada isn't lying through her teeth in the novel, or that there's a nugget of truth hidden in her account, despite it being clearly stated otherwise pretty early on. after ada is done reciting facts about the reunification of vietnam & the treatment of the hoa people to leon the narration states succinctly that 'it had nothing to do with ada or her family in the slightest', without even mentioning the amount of times ada is surprised by how gullible leon is

i'm not even sure why they're treating the novel as a source, other than the absnece of a concrete backstory for ada, but it's like adding the dick valentine master thief background to jill's page. it isn't canon owing to the fact that it contradicts the events of the game, given there is no rendition of RE2, not even the darkside chronicles' own retelling, where ada gives her backstory upon first meeting leon in the parking garage. while the wiki does make note of two pieces of information which are true to the novel's version of ada, as they are told through ada's own thoughts about her mission in raccoon city & her work with wesker, that being the migrant workers who died because of her spreading pesticide on a sweet potato farm + her rising through the ranks of a chinese-american criminal syndicate who was crushed by the FBI, ada almost getting caught but being noticed by wesker & given the job to spy on umbrella right after, i feel like whoever's editing her wiki page didn't read the novel all the way through because they don't mention the most insane part of the whole thing, which is that ada was present for the khmer rouge in cambodia & the rwandan genocide

these aren't things i consider in my portrayal both because there's only so much real world suffering in relation to resident evil i wanna discuss on this blog, the war on terror is already so horrible that i am tiptoeing around it sometimes for the sake of not just going on about how much i hate the united states of america, & that these are narrative elements meant to show us how prepared & ready ada was for the outbreak in raccoon city which contradicts my own portrayal & both versions of RE2 where she is very much flying by the skin of her teeth clinging to desperate manipulations & leon's gullibility to make it through alive & finish her mission. it doesn't make any sense for ada to go into raccoon city having been witnesses to this amount of cruelty already, but its also a little strange to equate a fictional zombie outbreak to horrible things that have happened throughout history

[yngai]

every assignment is partially pure business carried out with the cold mask of a seasoned criminal, gruff men with wandering eyes who so often bore her to death with their insecurity & overcompensation, who know to keep their hands off the merchandise unless they want them cut off like thieves of old. smuggling guns across italy is child's play but if it garners her trust with sicily's black market its worth debasing herself with an easy job, as long as she can ensure these idiots shoot themselves in the foot afterwards.

the other part of her work is, well, ada making her own fun wherever possible & it just so happens that a far too curios straggler has been tailing her since she foot in the country. a private endeavor & a coincidence rolled into one, rumors allowed to flow freely to entice the woman in a game of cat & mouse. terrasave wouldn't bother with preventative work & arms trafficking doesn't leave behind as many innocent victims as bioterrorism. no need of a helping hand & no good publicity in the act, but their golden girl couldn't resist going off script & ada could never deny herself a chance to embarrass claire redfield.

her earpiece encryption is easily cracked & ada waits in full view of a sniper scope for the perfect moment to make her entrance, adorned in a black pant suit & pencil skirt highlighted in her signature red. as her contact leaves their meeting ada finally makes her move & with her radio out, her & claire have a chance to chat. “ you're welcome, girlscout. weren't just gonna splatter some poor man's brains all over the terrace, were you? ” for as high a body count as miss redfield has accumulated over the years, a bullet phasing through a skull is too clean a kill, it's not her style.

“ how about you take his place, the weather's too nice to be holed up inside a dingy safe house, you know, & i've already ordered you an irish stout. ”

there have been rumors of a woman in red walking around the streets of the half desolate town claire is currently staying at, just the way she had heard through the grapevine that the same woman in red was seen talking to questionable people who were said to be affiliated to the black market just a few cities previously. now, claire might be naive from time to time - no denying about that especially after the latest fiasco she's been involved with... but this? this is definitely not a coincidence.

gunsight adjusted to see the scene unfolding a few feet from the safe house window she's aiming from, finger on the trigger falters for a moment - a turn of the second target in her direction is all it takes for claire to figure out ada wong once again followed along on endeavours that seem to align with hers. claire waits, watches despite knowing she shouldn't trust so lightly; when the other turns again to smile, a static noise is emitted from her earpiece.

@yngai : i’m sorry, you don’t enjoy being teased?

and here it is, communications jammed and hacked - her instincts right and still claire did nothing to prevent it. "not when it's about buying and selling shit that doesn't belong to the distribution chain." she counters, sniper rifle secured and put aside as they both know claire won't try an impromptu assassination of the spy in the middle of fucking nowhere, southern europe. "you just killed my chance at getting that guy, by the way."

she doesn't expect ada to care, but then again if she's also here then claire must be following a good lead - something to finally rejoice after so many dead end street clues. "you could be kind enough to tell me in person what you're doing here, you know? it's the least you could do, actually."

[yngai]

"Come a little closer. I'll have these claws sunk into your belly before you have the chance to reckon with your terror." She'd take a brief break from the endless circles of rage and lust and bitter torment to spare a condescending croon for the other: your birthday? My, my. Aren't you a little young to court death as you do? And, to her credit, she would remember that date, filed away in the bear-trap of her mind, in infinitum. But, irritatingly, this information has not been shared with her. And so, she plays her part, all things as usual. "A crow cannot escape the Dragon's claws!"

(ada crowley wong i used my cringest canon lines on u please call me back.)

it was an enticing proposition, a warmth of blood shed by the only claws deserving to tear the crow limb from limb, make of their flesh red ribbons dancing in the dust. a monster slicing muscle & sinew from bone that has inscribed the crow into the iconography of this village, a trickster & a thief in equal measure that plays along to the chants of a cult that sits beneath them. no one else could ever end their sophistry with one clean cut. a mask without meaning if not for the lady's torment at their hands, a creature of the night with ample wealth & malice to entice a woman that has spent decades playing the rich for fools. alcina provides her a necessary rush, a break from the monotony of a mission that burns her tongue with a familiar dullness. it's funny how her instincts & habits carry over through each character & how, even knowing there is a little star in the blackened sky waiting for her return, an ache in longing for something she never thought she wanted, she dances with death because the thrill of survival what makes her feel alive.

the crow perches itself up on the windowsill, in full view & yet frustratingly out of reach even for someone as tall as alcina. an ornate bottle weaved in golden thread held by the neck between their fingers, the specialty of house dimitrescu stolen right from under its matriach's nose. its refined taste unappreciated by the coarse lips of a scoundrel that thinks only of its value to a travelling merchant & how it must frustrate the lady so, that a ruffian like them could covet the last of the castle's wine to sell off for far less than its worth. it amuses her that alcina cannot see the smile beneath their beak, cannot hear the faint laughter at her threats. how many must have passed their ears that lay unfulfilled & how fitting would it be for lady dimitrecu to be the sole exception, not for the woman hiding under black leather but for the crow themselves. their hubris must be answered for, their feathers must be plucked off their corpse for daring to trifle with a belief older & more convoluted than they bother to understand.

but their fate isn't sealed yet, the game the crow & the lady play is still going, the chase is on & they must leave the lady wanting for one more night. make the kill a worthy satisfaction for her teeth & so they pick & prod & frustrate, a signature cockiness underlining their tone, “ the occasion to turn me into a birthday cake is a few months away, much as you'd like to serve me on a platter. but i will take my present now, ” the bottle is a prop waved at its owner. “ if you don't mind. ”

[yngai]

dinner with the boss is a cliché of corporate espionage, of the timid subordinate act put forward. dressing your best for prying eyes across an ornate table, nervous glances exchanged knowing you're being looked at like you're prey for a salivating hunter. ada finds a woman's gaze a little more inviting, but she should never underestimate. there is something hawkish about how miss dimitrescu sizes her up, a stake piercing through her chest to search inside her ribcage for any sings of weakness, an errant beating heart. ada isn't about to let alcina in on all her little secrets & there's steel hidden in how she plays the wallflower, the new recruit wanting to impress,

“ computer science ! well, cybersecurity to be specific... ” jinyu trails off, far too excited to impart her profession for her own good. eager to please & equally terrified, finding her foothold in a simple question with a straightforward answer she will overcomplicate, “ you know, modern times, big company, attacks coming from all sides. can never be too safe, especially with your finances, your data. what got me interested in working here was your website. ” ada never bothered with religion, america's megachurches launder belief in exchange for tax payer dollars. get people hooked on christ & the promise of a better future & watch them pull the money out of their own pockets, it's so easy a grift she always looked away.

something beneath the confidence scams of a seasoned veteran. but there's a deeper story here that compels her to interfere, a mysterious prophet & CEO that's known only to the inner circle, a vague belief structure meant as a one-size-fits-all scripture that allows collaboration with other churches. there's a mystery that goes beyond one woman's ego & the power of worship & ada thinks she's be able to solve it. for that purpose she created the persona of han jinyu, nobody ever suspects the harmless computer nerd.

“ found a backdoor & a big list of users' personal information. didn't think to go public & make a huge mess so i brought it to your IT people &, well, got the job ! ”

-- "And what, prey tell, would you say is your 'specialty.' " Dinner with a business associate is often illuminating. So it frustrates her - though she hides it well, she thinks - when @yngai becomes instead, harder to pin down. She swirls her wine, one eye narrowing slightly while her smile grows that little bit colder.

[yngai]

❯  GET TO KNOW ME BETTER.

ALIAS / NAME:  nadiya BIRTHDAY:  may 24th ZODIAC SIGN:  gemini HEIGHT:  6’3 HOBBIES:  gaming primarily, obviously roleplay, looking to get back into digital art soon. i wish i had something more to offer outside media consumption but i'm basically what happens when you take a gamer bro & put them on estrogen FAVOURITE COLOUR:  blue & black, i basically wear nothing but black CURRENT BOOK:  the witcher novels currently eyeing me from my shelf LAST SONG:  replayed demon's souls (original release, i don't own a ps5 or the remake tragically) recently so i've had the soundtrack on in the background because it's one of a kind, like the game itself it has its own unique atmosphere that differs from later souls entries. they all moved onto epic orchestrated scores that are definitely great in their own right, but it is a little sad that the remake's ost also followed this trend (still really wanna play it) LAST FILM / SHOW:  for movies, me & the lads just watched banned from broadcast: saiko! the large family. as for TV, we watched the newest smiling friends episode today! i don't really watch as much stuff on my own as i do with a group of buds if you couldn't tell INSPIRATION:  for this blog some of it is listed on my dossier page. i tend to find a lot of inspiration for ada in all sorts of weird places mostly because i am thinking about her character all the time & i tend to listen & relisten to her character playlist constantly (because my music taste is great & my song choices are very good, smile). if you're wondering why i never write i don't know either BEHIND URL:  yangai without the first a, a word with a double meaning depending on the spelling between concealing & flooding. the necessity a spy has for stealth & how their identity is submerged behind falsehood. it's too iconic to change now i suppose FUN FACT ABOUT ME:  i'm really mad that romania has a popeyes in bucharest & denmark doesn't, how does that happen? why has denmark failed me? it's like i moved for nothing...

TAGGED: let's pretend it was @buriedabove TAGGING: you, yes, you, the person reading this

[yngai]

happy 1 year anniversary RE4R! this is my new favorite official drawing of ada (cropped from this official artwork), look at her, she's a silly goofy cat waving at the camera, the only character to acknowledge the fourth wall

[yngai]

i've given ada several (related) professions to corporate espionage, both because her job is often muddled between an intelligence operative, a private investigator & sometimes an assassin/mercenary depending on which source you are using (it's important to note here that annette's description of her in RE2R as a mercenary looking to sell golgotha to the highest bidder is pure guesswork, not ada's reasoning for seeking out g nor her profession. much like krauser describing her as the bitch in the red dress it's a case of other characters' interpretation of ada being retrofitted onto her character by the fandom) & i don't wanna hyperfocus on espionage as a driving force behind ada's role in a thread

i wanna explore more possibilities with her character & as i've mentioned a few times the most spy work she performs after RE2 is intelligence gathering (paging luis for info on the plaga through their exchanged e-mails & asking for dominant parasite as evidence) her work otherwise resembling that of a gentleman thief (sneaking into the cult to secure the sample itself while zipping about in her trademark hook-shot) &, well, i do love my lupin the third

but i also am very much led by humor & when it comes to ada spying on wesker & javier hidalgo by proxy the best way to describe her role is as, essentially, a mystery shopper for criminal organizations/pharmaceutical companies interested in bioterror. somebody sent over by the federation of pharmaceutical companies (the true identity of the organization from OG RE4, which is my own speculation to be justified eventually) to figure out the innerworkings of an organization sometimes posing as a broker, a potential buyer or infiltrating under a falsified identity & gathering information from within to be sent back to her real employers. she begins freelancing after 2004, both in the criminal underworld & working with 'reputable', publicly traded pharmaceutical companies where the illegal side of her business is more of an open secret & irrelevant because of her experience/skillset, but the nature of her profession never changes. ada likes her options & while her draw to espionage came from her early days pursuing an acting career but dreading the potential of a public reputation, she has picked up several talents on the side that not only aid her with her primary job but allow her to seek out different work if she's ever bored

[yngai]

see the fun part about writing ada is that her prose is very introspective, heavy on metaphor & allusion & always showcasing how she fictionalizes the events & relationships of her life through the lens of the stage & acting as a profession, how she makes of what is real into fiction as a primary coping mechanism that helps distance herself emotionally & physically from her own actions & then, if she is in character, she opens her mouth & says ' pissing all by yourself, handsome? '

[yngai]

he tries, weighed down as he is by the rubble of a fallen city & the shackles of his service to his government, leon tries. to see, to understand, to peer past polyester velvets & witness how she plans the next act from backstage. it's more effort than any other man has ever shown her, gawking at her with mocking smiles & thinking she could ever fall prey to assumption. as if there wasn't an instinct burrowed deep within her to play against expectation at every turn, even at the cost of her mission, of her life. ada wong is whoever she her needs to be, nobody else has a say in her story.

but there are limits imposed by the fiction of a forbidden romance that add a predictable rhythm to their meetings, a longing wounded by resentment & betrayal for a woman that chose death over love, a mystery in the very feeling that unites them across the years they have spent apart & the destruction that brings them together. there are so many things leon desires of ada, of the corpse she has left behind for him to mourn, an answer for the pain she inflicted on him on the worst night of their lives. to know that wound hasn't healed does amuse her, curving her lips as she indulges the rim of a wine glass. for whoever longer he bleeds ada's reds he remains useful to her & she can dangle the promise of truth before him, watch as he follows her until all there is left is ash & dust.

“ you're finally catching on. ” a reply equal in its satisfaction & judgement. today there is no greater threat that ada serves & leon fights, stagging conflict to excuse cooperation. all that separates them is a table & their choice of drink, some greater conspiracy they each seek to expose standing just out of reach, both waiting for its unveiling. the perfect time to reconnect. “ not that you'd know any better, but i'm not a bad girl & if we're keeping score, you still owe me for spain. ”

This poor mockery of method acting is starting to get draining;  he might need to turn to Meisner instead.  Work with what lies ahead of him right on the table.  If there was anything,  for starters.  All that he has are torn notes scattered around the old floorboards weeping under the timeworn boots.  The ink has mostly faded and he clutches the scribbled clues  &  deceit in his hands,  filing through them again and again while making little to no progress and little to no sense out of them.  One foot on the stage,  the other slipping off the maple stairs.  As he debates retracting and meandering back into the dim corridors,  sharp strobe of light follows him and further accentuates the lines distorting the vacillated stoicism  (  more like its corner shop knock-off  )  draped over his face as the words insist on leaving her mouth.

Why can’t they talk about the weather or the socio-economic state of the world,  or whatever else the mundane crowd discusses over half-empty glasses?  Had the agent been smarter,  he would not have let her blade anywhere near the gnarly gash,  where it stings the most.  Leon likes to think that.  Just as much as he likes to think someday he will figure Ada out.  Fool’s paradise.

“  Right,  ”  reticent…  surrender?  Must’ve been crammed into the script.  Between the lines.  Even if he could decipher what she wants to hear,  he still wouldn’t win.  “  They taught me things far more practical,  ”  he throws in murmuring after a few seconds pass,  the brittle defence building in front of his chest as his arms fold.  Gin swirls at the cup’s bottom and the thawing ice cubes silently clink before he downs the remaining sips.  Here’s hoping it will soothe the upcoming headache.  “  What’s next?  Turns out I misinterpret your ulterior motives,  too?  ”

[yngai]

ada without the suave, classy & semi-flirtatious filter of her persona is such a vile, vulgar, cynical & petty person it makes me wish we got to hear more of her dropping the act to insult & belittle people who aren't simmons (even as she taunts leon openly the filter is still applied). she keeps the mask on tightly, even when she is alone. she never drops the act but there is a fire within her that is suppressed begging for blister & burn with all the rage she harbors for anyone that's dared underestimate her

[yngai]

I know it hurts. No one asks to be left behind. But in a hundred years, when you and I are both long gone, any time someone threads a frame of yours through a sprocket, you will be alive again.

BABYLON (2022) dir. Damien Chazelle

[yngai]

she shouldn't blame him, it's by the nature of this cat & mouse game they're playing that ada always sits out of reach, a red blur that could very well be a banderillero's cloak waved in his direction. muddying her leather boots in spain made her think she'd be an excellent matador, if they'd let her pick her own costume. leon has the smarts to survive, he's more than proven himself as a tool built by the united states for a single purpose, but the sharpness of a blade cannot cut through smoke. she is an intelligence operative first & foremost & he is a bullish, predictable thing that huffs & puffs when he's off target. the trade of words are where she shines & she'll make any attempt at conversation a minefield for him to navigate, feed into his frustration as a tension shared between them & entertain herself in the process. ada wants to show leon how she will always triumph over him.

her chin rests on the palm of her hand, her fingers brushing against her face, nodding into them as he stumbles over his words. amusement bleeding through her grin with a hint of indignation, there was an error made that struck a cord, “ i don't speak in riddles, leon. ” a clarification that serves to tease as much as everything else about her demeanor, a humored woman playing games. emotions engraved onto the mask she wears so perfectly, hiding the dagger she has held for him ever since he watched her stumble & fall in the final act. “ you just can't read between the lines. ” she has mastered the performance now, ada wong is the role she was born to play & she shines with the joy of being on stage again, leon as both audience & co-star.

“ it's not your fault— this wasn't part of your training. ”

@yngai TO CONDOR ONE. MORBID CURIOSITY PROMPTS.

shows what you know , doesn’t it ?

Having stepped right on the very same beartrap set up by wishful thinking more than a dozen times,  he should’ve learned by now  (  if he only paid enough attention and therefore saved himself the headache ).  Instead,  battered fingers clutch the spiked jaws again to pull them open  &  swear he will not fall in once more.  But shortly,  he feels the rusty teeth dig deep in his flesh when another dire mistake is made  —  tossing a seemingly transparent and straightforward how are you in her direction.  No method to this insanity;  the boulder rolls down the hill and demolishes remnants of composure resting at its foot.

“  I suppose it does,  hypothetically,  ”  an averse accord escapes him in a disconcerted grumble and his head gradually cants off to the side,  vowels drawn out into infinity,  as though to gain a moment for additional forethought and estimation.  Probably all it’s doing for him is betray the utter state of turmoil she pushed him to with merely a jab.  He has to give it to her,  she knows how to keep him guessing in the worst way possible.  Regardless of what he says and how he tries to redirect the bolting train away from the wreck,  he’s on a hiding to nothing.  Slanting forward ever so slightly,  contorted eyebrows are jolted by a rapid shudder and they jump before dropping back into a puzzled grimace.  “  Otherwise I wouldn’t have asked.  If,  you know,  I knew.  Fuck—  I don’t know.  That’s what you want to hear? Never mind, spare me your riddles. ”

[yngai]

her eyes paint dull grays into his figure, the malaise of a man adorned in shadow. even the hiss is a muted note of amusement played quietly on the piano keys of her ribcage. wesker has a habit of absorbing all the light around him, siphoning out the oxygen from the air she struggles to breathe, everything living capsizing in a pool of tar. would his contagion be airborne she is sure flowers would wilt around him & she does, very slightly, lean to the side & check the fern he's been watering with his champagne, just in case. she finds a sense of kinship with the indoor plant, an unassuming piece of decor bringing a necessary pop of color to the scenery. something easily overlooked by any passers by & yet an object of abuse for a man that thinks far too much of himself.

“ i am working, ” she retorts, fully expecting wesker's eye to twitch beneath his shades. “ playing my part, just another drugged up executive in a room full of 'em. ” the champagne flute in her hand motions towards the other attendees, her elbow resting on the other arm as it wraps around her middle. the casual motion a stress upon her levelheadedness. this is all a part of her method, a consistent set of protocols she follows thoroughly that has made ada wong a spy unlike any other. always find the trait shared by every member of the cast, the narrative thread that runs through the stories she makes of her missions. tonight it just so happens to be substance abuse & who is she to deny mixing work & pleasure? it's another core tenet of her philosophy, always indulge wherever possible, you never know how long you'll be on assignment — or who you'll be saddled with.

someone that constrains her, doesn't allow her to run free on the stage & make fools of tonight's audience, lest she draw his ire. the man who imagines himself in the director's chair. every second spent at wesker's side means maintaining an act of self-denial she cannot abide. he strangles around her extremities like the serpent that he is because he knows, as do their mutual benefactors, that ada wong does as she pleases & she'll place in a knife in the back of anyone who would ensure otherwise.

it's a notion she entertains, the wound she'll leave him with once the organization is done playing second fiddle to his ambitions. bringing a musicality to the bemused hum the underlines every word thrown in her direction like steel daggers. before the song breaks on a missed note, a sharp inhale as an offense taken, “ i'm sorry— are you scolding me? ” the fingers that hold the flute release to point towards her neckline, her lips twisted in the displeasure she hides from his presence. “ do you even know how cocaine works? ” dopamine hasn't yet ceased flooding her brain, it was the lighting followed by the thunder of her tone, kept low enough to only pierce him. she is restrained by the need to keep their cover.

“ most of these idiots are popping downers, i'm ahead of the curve. you're the only piece out of place right now, albert. ” his first name said like a precision strike from an overconfident shot, hopeful that the bullet doesn't miss & strike her arteries instead. “ why not unclench? or at least let me do my job. ”

" because you are supposed to be working. " albert hisses through his teeth, the muscle in his jaw twitching with how tight it's clenched— then he catches himself. bothersome as she is, ada isn’t worth his ire. he clears his throat. releases a sharp exhale through his nose. " clear-headedness, miss li, " he continues in an even, almost mechanical tone, conceding the correction, " is an indispensable resource in our profession, wouldn’t you agree? “

the urge to grip ada’s arm and drag her outside like an unruly toddler springs to mind, though; she can’t be trusted to behave appropriately, professionally. were it up to albert he would see to it that she was escorted away. preferably as a jane doe discarded in a ditch somewhere. wishful thinking, of course, to rid himself of this rather inconvenient thorn in his side. whatever value their respective employers see in her that couldn’t be found elsewhere, albert will never truly understand.

he smiles with all the cordiality of a crocodile, the shape and wideness of it creasing his face in ways unnatural to him. “ perhaps you should sit this one out. “ albert states as if it’s a most generous offer. “ clearly you aren’t in best form, if you need to be reliant on substances to be effective. “ unlike himself, apex predator that he is. it isn’t ada’s fault she doesn’t measure up. no one— certainly no one in this grotesquely decadent ballroom, gleefully pissing away what little brains they have on the flow of alcohol and much more illicit things— could ever hope to be. that is his value. ever-prepared, sharp, the most powerful man in any room he enters. albert takes pride in what he’s made of himself, an ascendant arbiter of change. there are leagues between himself and this little girl playing dress up. “ i’d prefer to not resort to babysitting you all night. “

[yngai]

BALLERINA 2023, dir. Lee Chung Hyeon

[yngai]

“There’s no such thing as a perfect person”.

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE

            — 친절한 금자씨 · PARK CHAN-WOOK · 2005 —

[yngai]

with her speculations confirmed & a very personal chord struck with a maestro's precision, she does curve her lips behind her mask . a rather sick smile that needn't be hid, knowing she can play claire redfield as well as anyone else, even with the limitations imposed by the veil of the crow . all it takes is an exposed organ & their hand around it, fingers applying pressure with the knowledge she has inferred already & the crow learns for the first time . no betrayal hurts greater than the one from your own family & chris is too bullish a man nut to cut the ties that bind him to his sister . she doesn't know the reason, nor the specifics, but like her crossbow the interpersonal relationships of the people around her are tools in her arsenal .

the crow won't stress, no, for now they will absorb & consider what claire said, nodding along & stretching out their fingers, raising their free hand in some mockery of comfort, “ i apologize, i suppose it is rude to assume . ” even they could easily picture the emotional distance between a small squadron of soldiers, the life they live together on the field as one unit & the separate lives spent apart, away from smoke & fire . she could do with some rest & relaxation right now, but all she has to indulge herself is the power she holds over this conversation . with claire so vulnerable the crow looks at her like a tree whose fruits are ripe & ready for picking .

the hand is retraced, pretending like claire's counter is a small set-black, a humble laughter emanating from beneath their ribcage, the beak aimed low in a semblance of humility . “ i have been keeping an ear to your private communications . ” observing from afar, hijacking the radio signal, their encryption is always so easy to crack & the hound wolves haven't thought to use codewords, except for, “ sköll & canine, alpha & tundra . somehow i doubt those are your real names . ” even in this village . “ but they seem to suit you &, well, i'm no one to speak on naming conventions . ” claire doesn't even know there is a punchline waiting to be delivered, as long as she asks .

“ & seeing as we haven't stumbled over each other beyond our little tiff, you have my full cooperation . i don't need to be convinced . ”

supposition leaves claire with a bitter aftertaste at the thought of what it's supposed to imply. there was a time where she had nothing if not her brother - took care of her, sacrificed everything just to ensure her well being first. even after all this time claire is not sure what was the last nail in the coffin when it comes to her relationship with chris, but one thing she knows for sure; if their parents' death had brought them close, the destruction that followed them after that did nothing but draw them apart so far from each other she sometimes can't help but wonder who the man is to begin with.

"can't really cry on someone's shoulder if they're never actually there, i guess." she counters, and it's so ironic how despite everything there is still so much love for the people in her life, another fatal flaw of claire's - these men who keep stabbing her back while acting like they care. a lesson she never learned, really. "either way you made it this far, so." now she's just trying to provoke a reaction, perhaps find out who hides behind the mask if she's lucky enough to see another day. blue hues stare down at the branches with a certain mix of curiosity and disgust, a soft hum as response to the other.

"i think you do." light hearted tone gets more somber, even without the identity element claire is sure that the crow has heard more about her and hound wold squad than they let on. "but that's beside the point," voice trails as she kneels toward the branch - a sample of it could come handy, yet the voice at the back of her mind reminding how someone else's doomed fate started with this curiosity too makes claire refrain. "one thing i learned all these years is that as long as one person listens and decides to live by those words, then it's still worth."