Heroes, Great and Mighty (Exalted x World of Darkness)

[x] Let Naomi handle this.

Malcom went silent when the commander had approached the two of them. As much as he would dearly like to put the man in his place and tell him to fuck off, he didn't want to make things worse for Naomi by acting confrontational. So he bit his tongue and held his silence while Naomi and the commander continued to argue back and forth about operational security and who had proper clearance or not.

He still had his second sight up, so he could see the effects of the magic she had put on her mind. The spell she had placed was working overtime, flickering back and forth across her consciousness to manage her emotional state and keep her calm. He couldn't actually read her mind, but he could get a general impression of what she was thinking and feeling by how the spell was doing and reading between the lines.

Naomi was angry, that much was obvious. The spell was constantly blunting any strong feelings of anger or frustration she was experiencing, replacing them with an icy calm that made her look utterly unflappable as she debating info-sec protocols. Most of the spell was directed forwards, towards the commander, but every so often it would flicker back and point itself at him, muting whatever emotion she was feeling about him at the moment.

Which was odd, because as far as Malcom was aware he didn't warrant any special attention at the moment. It was hard to imagine that she was worried about him. While she hadn't seen his encounter with the Huntsman, she had repeatedly expressed confidence in his abilities. Was she worried that this encounter would reflect poorly on Valkyrie as a whole?

...no, that wasn't it either. Malcom couldn't hear what people were thinking, but every so often his natural ability to read people would get supercharged, and he would gain insight in to their character. It had happened once before with Abigail when she had confronted him over his attempts at getting in contact with her. He had seen that, at the time, the reason behind her aggression was a strong dislike of him due to some kind of disparity between the two of them.

With Naomi he could tell that there was something more going on beneath the surface of the cool and professional exterior she projected. The signs were subtle, micro expressions that were invisible to the normal human eye. Little twitches in the face that normally went unrecognized, minute adjustments in posture or breathing, the way she unconsciously stressed different words that were imperceptible to anyone else. There were dozens of little details that al cumulated in to a second set of expressions that Malcom could read.

The closer he looked the more he could see that there were strong feelings of... isolation? Loneliness? It was difficult to say, but there were signs that she felt cut off from everyone and was looking for a lifeline in Malcom. This conflict with the commander was only furthering to drive home that sense of exclusion, and the fact that Malcom hand't even offered a word of support had disappointed her.

By the time he came to that realization, it was too late for him to do anything about it. The commander had stormed off in a huff, declaring that he would be reporting her insubordination to his superiors as he shouted for everyone on his team to clear out and report to base. The spell Naomi had placed to keep her emotions remained, however.

She took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose, the only outward sign of her frustration that Malcom had seen all evening, and turned to her attention to him, the mask of pure professionalism back in place.

"You're right, that guy is an asshole." Malcom said, trying to offer what support he could now that he had missed his chance. "You doing okay?" He asked, which caused her to hesitate slightly, the spell's power flaring up as it muted her surprise at the question.

"Jackson is one of the old guard, before the vampire purge." Naomi said, slipping in to her 'explanation" voice. "When they were still exerting influence, they actively cultivated a hostility towards other members of the supernatural community in the Valkyrie ranks to prevent any kind of cross cooperation. He's simply a product of his environment."

"Still an asshole." Malcom said, noting that she had ignored the question in to her wellbeing. The mask was still up, and didn't look like it was coming down any time soon. A pang of guilt and regret shot through him at the notion. He had thought that they had been getting along rather well down in the mall, commiserating over how unhelpful the angel had been, discussing plans for the future, making small talk while they worked.

He had actually been enjoying himself despite the circumstances. He loved his sister dearly, but she was still a kid, and he couldn't really connect with her as a peer. Abigail was far to abrasive, even with their newly forged pseudo friendship, and Bart had a boyfriend and couldn't spare much time for Malcom. He emphasized with her loneliness, and wished he had seen it sooner.

"Indeed." Naomi said, breaking him from his thoughts. "The culture of Valkyrie is changing, but it will take time. I imagine in a few more years people will be more tolerant and accepting of people like us."

Despite the fact that he had been empowered beyond human ability with magics that he was still coming to terms with, Malcom still considered himself fundamentally human. The phrase Naomi had used, ''people like us,' caused him to question that assumption. Was he still human? Did he truly belong among their number? Was he, as Naomi assumed, a wholly supernatural being, set apart from the rest of humanity?

Naomi obviously believed so, she considered him one of her people, or at least a member of her crowd, which made the guilt at not supporting her all the stronger. He needed to do something to make up for his negligence, something to demonstrate that he valued her friendship, even if he sucked at showing it. Maybe he could invite her out to a post-mission drink? It had been a while since he had the opportunity to ask anyone, but he was pretty sure coworkers hung out after work as friends all the time, right?

As soon as the thought entered his mind, he hesitated. He hadn't explicitly promised Maggie that he would come home immediately after the mission, and indeed the assumption had been that he might be gone for a few days before he returned.He and Maggie had made a significant breakthrough in their relationship before he left, and he didn't want to dismiss that by immediately ignoring the option of going right home and asking a coworker out for drinks instead.

[] Go home to Maggie.
[] Invite Naomi out for a drink.