maisondeportes, but speaking generally

[the_earths_salt]

Mundane. A word, if I may? I notice that you seem to have AUs on your mind a fair bit lately. Please don't think I'm here simply to complain; on the contrary, I'm honored to see you find me interesting enough to want to explore how different I might be in lives that could have been.

However, I also realize how your mind wanders these days. I appreciate your potential interest in such a project--so please, for your sake and mine, don't do this halfheartedly. I would far rather one life lived and explored in full than a dozen only briefly touched; to offer only a glimpse seems cruel.

In short: if you act, do so purposefully and mindfully. I don't intend to stand in your way--but Number VIII asked me to pass on his request to still be able to "blow shit up" in some capacity, to use his own wording, whatever else you intend to do with him. I'm not sure if honoring his request is wise by any definition..... But in the interest of solidarity, I ask that you take both of our wishes to heart as you move forward.

Comments

[self_replication]

It's never wise to honour his requests.

[the_earths_salt]

So I've noticed.

[self_replication]

I would suggest locking him in a closet or some such, but that only makes his attention seeking stupidity all the more apparent.

[illicitresearch]

I would hope that you take the concerns of your closer allies into consideration as well, at least before Axel.

[the_earths_salt]

As I'm forced to live with Axel, maintaining some courtesy and peace is necessary; I don't mind playing messenger. Still, you can rest assured that your opinions will always carry more weight than his. Might I ask just what concerns you?

[the_earths_salt]

I'd rather not lose a perfectly decent closet, given that he'd no doubt burn the door down--and quite possibly take the rest of the area with it. So far, a light touch has seemed to be the best approach.

[self_replication]

A metal coffin tossed in the ocean would do nicely then. [:|]

Lexaeus, a light touch never works with him. One simply has to be...forceful.

[illicitresearch]

A pitiful conundrum indeed. You're very good, to bother keeping peace at all.

Why dawdle around in What-Ifs and Could-Bes in the first place?

[the_earths_salt]

On the contrary--I've found that using force with someone like Axel only motivates him to defy you out of sheer spite. Carefully picking my battles and selectively ignoring and acknowledging him seems to at least keep him somewhat less destructive than he might otherwise be.

[the_earths_salt]

I rather prefer a quieter living situation, myself--and when Axel isn't focused on you, his antics can be entertaining.

As for What-Ifs and Could-Bes..... well, why indulge in any sort of fiction at all? There seems to be place enough in the worlds for such contrivances, whether literature or drama alike.

[asparkofsilence]

Axel's requests? Nothing good can come of those.

[the_earths_salt]

Of that, there's little doubt. But there's no harm in passing them along to the right hands, and it satisfies him to be heard.

[when_turks_fly]

If Number VIII is who I've gathered he is from my writer's snorting and giggling, I'm in agreement insofar as it not being wise to honor his request. "To 'blow shit up' in some capacity"...

[ She shakes her head a moment, then pauses, looking at the stranger again. ] Lexaeus, right?

[asparkofsilence]

I must admit, I'm rather surprised he'd request to "blow things up" but I suppose you do have a point, apart from that.

[the_earths_salt]

Number VIII, The Flurry of Dancing Flames. If you know him, then it would probably be by the name Axel. That's right, though--it seems you have the advantage of me, Miss.....?

[the_earths_salt]

As near as I can tell, it seems to be his favorite pastime, ice cream aside. Is a request like that really so strange?

[asparkofsilence]

In this case? Yes. Very much so.

[the_earths_salt]

Pray tell? I don't suppose it could be any stranger than meeting your own self like this.....

[asparkofsilence]

He tends to prefer ice, rather than anything that would be conducive to explosions.

[the_earths_salt]

Is that so?

[All the interested eyebrow raising.]

I've heard little but complaints concerning any missions he's undertaken in cold climates. Are we really thinking of the same Axel?

[when_turks_fly]

Valeria. Just Valeria. It's a pleasure I'm sure, Mr. Lexaeus.

[ And she offers him a genuine, easy smile with that. He doesn't need to know how she came across his name and she's not particularly inclined to share unless he should ask. It's simply her good fortune that her writer likes to run her mouth is all. ]

That's him alright. Have you two known each other along?

[the_earths_salt]

Valeria, then; the pleasure is mine.

[Have a mild smile and nod at that; he's polite and friendly, certainly, but not nearly so inclined to such readily and broadly displayed warmth.]

We have known each other for quite some time, yes. Not always on anything resembling a personal basis, but the fact remains.

[when_turks_fly]

How much time is quite some time, if you don't mind my asking?

[ She is genuinely curious and it's hard to gauge with an answer as vague as that. And she is gauging. Quite a bit, in fact. ]

[the_earths_salt]

Axel and I have worked as colleagues for ten, going on eleven years, now. Our acquaintanceship was considerably more distant before then--we both lived in the same town.

[To be frightfully honest, Lexaeus thinks he might have actually been closer to Axel when he had been Lea--or at least had known him better, understood him more readily, tolerated him more easily. For all the years they've worked together, Axel has been an unpredictable wild card, a loose cannon the Organization would be foolish to blindly trust. But as a child? Lea had made sense. A curious, energetic, restless, rambunctious young man, eager for fun and adventure..... What little boy of his disposition wouldn't act as he did? Isa was a bit of an odder case, given how disinclined he seemed to be to such mischief..... But then, Saix now is just as inscrutable as Axel.]

[asparkofsilence]

There's not many to bear that number. VIII of XIII, The Flurry of Dancing Snows.