15782/JLD: Future Talk

JLD: Future Talk
Date of Scene:	03 September 2023
Location:	Fourth Floor: Lounge and Sitting Room
Synopsis:	Gabby speaks to Lydia about the future of the JLD leadership. Lydia accepts the position as the fourth JLD leader.
Cast of Characters:	Lydia Dietrich, Gabby Kinney

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Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Sometimes you just have to get out of the house, and Lydia has found that coming to the Candle, Booke and Belle is a good palate cleanser from being shut in your apartment all day long, like she did last evening. Tonight, she'll get some work done here.

    So she can be found in the Sitting Room... well... sitting. Crosslegged in the air, using the myriad of stars that is her mutant power to hold her and her laptop aloft. Off to the side she's got one of her ubiquitous journals open and a pen floating next to it.

    She's been staring at the screen for over a half hour, waiting for the inspiration to hit. But it just hasn't. She heaves a huge sigh, and leans back with a frustrated groan. "It's going to be one of those nights," she complains.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney was spending far too much of her time here lately. Not that she felt bad about it. It just explains why she's here. Again. She'd almost gone past the sitting room going somewhere else when the familiar light from Lydia's powers catch her eye as well as a good whiff informs her that her friend is in here. Her path veers in to greet her.

"Hey Lyds," she offers at first, gaze flitting down to the laptop that the woman has curiously. "Bad time? I was hoping I could speak to you about some stuff that's kind of important. Been putting it off more than I ought to," she admits as she comes to stop nearby looking thoughtful with arms crossed over her chest.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Naw, it's okay." Lydia says, closing the lid on the laptop and floating down to settle on some of the throw cushions that are on the floor. "I wasn't getting anywhere anyway. What's up?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney reaches up to hook a hand behind her neck digging her fingers in a bit so she can stretch. It earns a little pop that might not be audible to most. A quick release of tense shoulders as she tries to gather her thoughts.

"It's about your position the JLD," she begins, only for her nose to crinkle. "That's a shitty way to start. Sorry. Sounds like I'm a boss about to give someone more wo--Shit I am." Sighing she clears her throat to fix her gaze on Lydia more seriously.

"You know how we try to have three of us as leaders? Technically I'd pulled Nettie out of retirement so that we could build things up again after the others left, and she ... may retire again in the future. What do you think about taking up a spot? It might be four of us for quite awhile still," she hastens to add. "Just trying to get things set up so that we're not left like we were last time, either."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    Lydia slow blinks at Gabby's proposal, and she scowls a bit in thought. "Are you sure?" she asks. "I'm not exactly known for my sound judgement. I //did// do a psychic lobotomy to myself which ended up me being corrupted by an Old One. That's..." she shakes her head, sounding pained. "That's not something you can easily put into your past."

    "Why me?" she asks, sounding curious. "Beyond seniority, I mean. I think I'm the last surviving member of the original crew." She scowls. "Well, not 'surviving' per se. Everybody's still alive. Just... moved on."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney takes a step forward only to sink down sitting in front of Lydia with legs crossed. Her hands grasp her ankles to brace herself as she sits to speak more seriously with her. "You felt like you were alone when you made those decisions though, right? Like you and you alone had to deal with what was going on. They wanted to isolate anyone who might have been affected and ... I think that was the wrong call on *their* part, too. So yeah," she has to admit with a nod. "You didn't make the best call, but I'd say it was due to a huge failure on the part of those who were running things at the time, too."

Here she allows herself a faint smile, trying to be reassuring. "You also know what it's like TO be in that position, and make those bad choices. From what I've seen there are a lot of magic users out there that find themselves in positions like that. Maybe not entirely like it... but close enough."

"You know what it's like from that perspective, and know what it's like coming back from it too. I think your insight would be invaluable to help keep others from going down similar paths in the future. Plus," she adds with a hand lifting to tap against the top of the laptop lightly. "You care about people a great deal. You want to look out for them. I think you'd do great in a position where you could do that with a bit more authority."

"The main thing to remember is none of us are in this alone, and we all need to look out for one another."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Alone..." Lydia says with a scowl touching her lips. "I don't think that's quite how it went down. I mean, they made the mistake of seeing how I lobotomized myself and didn't actually //do// anything about it. They admitted that much to me. And I hid how I accepted Viscera's power pretty well, and by the time they //did// decide to do something it was already too late. It was less about being alone and more about... hrm." Lydia scowls deeper. "It was more about not recognizing something was off and confronting me about it."

    Her expression turns more contemplative as she thinks about that. She ends up chuckling and shaking her head. "This isn't the first time the JLD has tried to make me part of the leadership, you know. The first time around I reluctantly agreed, and then was shot down since I was still new dealing with my vampiric instincts. Ever since Chas burned the beast away, I've had that under control, now. It's come back, some, bit by bit but that just made it easier to deal with than being thrust in the deep end."

    She chews her lip as she contemplates the offer, rolling the idea over and over in her head to see how it feels. "I think I'm okay with it," she concludes. "I act like a senior member anyway, so might as well make it official."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Okay." Gabby draws the word out while Lydia explains the situation a bit more from her end of things. It only causes her scowl to deepen quite a bit looking more and more annoyed--but not at Lydia. "You reaize this is just kind of making my point about how they fucked up. All the more reason to see about making sure crap like that doesn't happen again."

As the thoughts are mulled over she grins again. Reaching out she pats Lydia's shoulder a single time giving a squeeze. "Well you've been doing great at that since then from what I see. Thanks for considering it... and accepting it. It'll help out a ton."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
    "Yeah, I... really wasn't trying to make things sound better," Lydia explains. "Just that..." she grins and shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I was just nitpicking. The author in me always wants to make sure the right words are used, you know?"

    "So, who wants to send out the magical memo?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney gives a little shrug at that. "I figure we just slip Corvax some rum and let him proclaim to all," she jokes. Her hands dust off over her knees only to push back up to her feet. "I'll get it sorted. Welcome aboard, again I guess?" She grins a bit in amusement. "Thanks."