"Let's just say I'm a sympathiser to your cause. But if you don't want such power...well. I believe you'll come around."
Red had given his mysterious contact as much respect and thought as they had given him, which was to say - not much. Coming to him with a promise of mysterious power, saying Axl's talents were wasted and promising that only they could make it happen? It was almost insulting, thinking he was that stupid. Did they think people had never tried to bargain with him before?
And even if it was true - it didn't sit right with him, giving Axl that burden to shoulder. Axl, in these dark times, was still a rookie, no matter how much of a prodigy he was. (A child, if Red had really thought of it that way. Maybe he did still think of it that way, deep down inside.) Protecting him, raising him right - that was a priority.
But still, he had a feeling of foreboding. Things were a little off, and he wasn't sure what was wrong - if he was human, he'd say it might be something in the air. As a reploid...he had deeper suspicions, but they weren't exactly things he could find out easily.
Things were changing. The comrades he'd known so well and worked with for so many years were changing, too, and not in a good way. They'd been evasive, dismissive, even aggressive by turns - and Axl was changing, too. He seemed distracted and unfocused, no longer his friendly and cheerful self, and that bothered Red more than he cared to admit to anyone.
(It was nice to have Axl around. The others liked it, too, having someone who wasn't so jaded. To lose that felt like something vital was missing.)
It feels more and more like he has to hunt Axl down, these days. Once, he might have enjoyed the exercise, and treated it like a game - they'd done it before. Now, though, he's worried and on edge; still keeping the Professor's ominous words in the back of his processor as he patrols here and there throughout the palace, looking for his protege.
"Hey, kid. Is now the time to play hide and seek?" He tries to keep his voice light, in his own way, but there's still an undercurrent of tension. "Making it pretty hard for me to find you right now."
no subject
Red had given his mysterious contact as much respect and thought as they had given him, which was to say - not much. Coming to him with a promise of mysterious power, saying Axl's talents were wasted and promising that only they could make it happen? It was almost insulting, thinking he was that stupid. Did they think people had never tried to bargain with him before?
And even if it was true - it didn't sit right with him, giving Axl that burden to shoulder. Axl, in these dark times, was still a rookie, no matter how much of a prodigy he was. (A child, if Red had really thought of it that way. Maybe he did still think of it that way, deep down inside.) Protecting him, raising him right - that was a priority.
But still, he had a feeling of foreboding. Things were a little off, and he wasn't sure what was wrong - if he was human, he'd say it might be something in the air. As a reploid...he had deeper suspicions, but they weren't exactly things he could find out easily.
Things were changing. The comrades he'd known so well and worked with for so many years were changing, too, and not in a good way. They'd been evasive, dismissive, even aggressive by turns - and Axl was changing, too. He seemed distracted and unfocused, no longer his friendly and cheerful self, and that bothered Red more than he cared to admit to anyone.
(It was nice to have Axl around. The others liked it, too, having someone who wasn't so jaded. To lose that felt like something vital was missing.)
It feels more and more like he has to hunt Axl down, these days. Once, he might have enjoyed the exercise, and treated it like a game - they'd done it before. Now, though, he's worried and on edge; still keeping the Professor's ominous words in the back of his processor as he patrols here and there throughout the palace, looking for his protege.
"Hey, kid. Is now the time to play hide and seek?" He tries to keep his voice light, in his own way, but there's still an undercurrent of tension. "Making it pretty hard for me to find you right now."