dragonwarder | (no subject)

( It's the most dramatic he can sound and while a part of him misses the drama of being on Team Arrow, he doesn't miss the real danger they were in every day. He misses Zoe. He has to believe they could've changed her fate. The scientists who met theirs are gone - as far as he knows - he will need to see if anybody survived - but, their findings can still matter. The government deliberately suppressed what they'd found.

William stands in front of one of the benches. From afar he looks as if he's looking down below, but if she looks closely as she approaches, his eyes will make it clear he's on the network. )

[Daenerys isn't a subtle woman, even when she isn’t trying particularly hard to be subtle or not. She still wears her labcoat, and there are marks around her bright eyes from the eye protection she had needed to wear. Her silver hair had been pulled from its braided bun, now hanging over her shoulder.

She doesn’t bother to wait until he is done browsing.]

What is it?

[Right to business. The trip is on the forefront of her mind, and she cannot help but assume something else had gone wrong somewhere.]

( No. Hi. I'm here. No indication. Sliding the neural window aside out of his eye line.

Turning, he plays off being startled, even for a minute. )

Everything I found on Antarctica, everything unpublished? I still have it. All. And I want to release it.

[She has to make up for being so short somehow.

Daenerys’ brows furrow lightly, considering. She understands, of course. Some of her even thinks she may support the idea. But with the memory so fresh in her mind, she is forced to pause.]

You will attract a great amount of ire.

[There is disapproval in her voice, but it isn’t a hard no.]

You don't know me - nobody here knows me, but I'm used to being the center of controversy. Also innovation. This information was suppressed. Deliberately. What we found up there - what's in these findings. The world should know, Daenerys.

( The scientists can't do it themselves. )

Precisely. I do not know you. But I do know you are not the one who will reap the worst of the consequences of your actions.

[And saying that forces her to confront the fact that many of the people involved in this are likely dead, and may not face any direct consequences at all. For a moment, she looks furious — like she might reach for a knife. If William has particularly good eyes, he mighty spot some shifting skin under the arms of her labcoat.

But a slow exhale, followed by the drifting of her eyelids, prevents further change from taking hold. It isn’t his fault, after all — and there is nothing to be done for it.

When her eyes slide open again, she looks more tired, and there is a redness to her eyes that was not there before.]

Do not misunderstand me — I agree that the findings should be shared, but the work is not your’s to share. They deserve their credit, and you should seek their blessing to proceed. [But — he did not know them. She was at least better connected.] Or perhaps I should be the one to do so.

( He tenses up. He's screwed over people who deserved it and saved countless others before. But, he still feels the weight of her sudden anger. )

If they survived. I'll do my part and see if there's a trace of any survivors. If there are, then you should reach out, seek their blessings, but Dany. If they ask me to stand down, I don't know if I can. I'll wait. But, not long.

[She will not entertain the thought that there were no survivors.]

You witnessed the conditions that they were working under. They are stronger than you give them credit for.

[There is a moment of tense silence following. Truthfully, she had wondered if it was wise to allow so many Displaced along for the ride — and now, perhaps this was a consequence of that.

But she would go back for them, before too long. She did not leave her people behind.]

You always have a choice, William. It is not a matter of can or cannot. It is whether or not you will stand down.

You're right.

( Hopefully, there are survivors. And hopefully, they see the merits of releasing - with their names and findings attached. )

They'll see what I see. ( He spoke to them, he saw their conditions. He heard from them firsthand. )

Let us hope so.

[But truthfully, she doubts, just as she doubts that William will take her words to heart. Not because he was a particularly nefarious individual, but because she trusted little and left even less up to chance.

She reaches to adjust one of her gloves, pulling it so that it smoothes down the receding scales beneath them.]

I will reach out to them once I return home. I do not know if they will receive my messages in a timely manner, but I plan to return for them regardless.

There might not be anything to return to.

( He doesn't say the word, anyone. )

Be in touch, okay?

( He's reachable if she needs anything. He liked Dany, a lot in Antarctica. She's intense and regal. Overly serious. She's warned him. Whether he heeds her warning or not. That will remain to be seen. )