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[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

[PLACEHOLDER: SO STUFF HAS BEEN HAPPENING ON PYLEA OKAY???? HERE IS WHERE IT CAN GO!]

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[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary is sitting on the edge of their camp, very straight and at attention.

It is night, and she is Keeping Watch, for her allotted time of two hours. (As if she was going to be sent to sleep for the full night while everyone else had to stay up for longer! She is just as capable of pulling a shift on watch as anyone else is.)

[3nanashi]

Of course she is. Mary was very, very vehement on the subject of her own adult competence.






Trowa is awake anyway. Discreetly.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

And it's hardly as if anyone is going to -

- what's that rustling noise?




Mary sits very, very still, staring into the darkness, until that rustling noise resolves itself into a bird settling itself on the branch.

All right then.

[3nanashi]

The bird's small. Probably safe.

The campfire is banked low, but it's still a welcome heat against the night's creeping chill. Early autumn here, maybe. It's hard to be sure on an alien planet, or dimension or whatever. Trowa, after a minute, shifts a little closer to the fire, though his eyes are still trained on the darkness beyond.

(Trowa doesn't really like being cold.)

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary's listening carefully enough that the noise of Trowa shifting behind her causes her to whirl around and look.

(Yes, she's also been whirling around every time Wellard tossed over in his sleep. It's good exercise?)

[3nanashi]

If she can see well in the dark, she'll see that he's looking at her.



On the other hand . . . he's backlit by the fire.

So maybe not.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Either way, he's clearly awake.

"You're meant to be sleeping," Mary says. Her voice is pitched low - which is a real effort, for Mary - but it's not a whisper.

"So you can be well-rested for your turn."

[3nanashi]

"I'll be fine."

One benefit of being a Gundam pilot is that you know exactly how hard you can push yourself. A few nights of shorter sleep are nothing.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"You say that," Mary says, "but I think it is hardly for you to decide - when we are all relying on you to be alert."

What if Trowa falls asleep during his shift, huh? WHAT THEN.

[3nanashi]

"I've been a soldier all my life." Calmly.

In situations like this, soldier is still present tense.

"I'm fine."

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary is not impressed by this logic

"Soldiers sleep, too. It is important for an army to be fed and rested. People who are exhausted perform at lower levels."

She's studied tactics!

[3nanashi]

Mary gets a few points for a sensible approach to the matter! Even though she's getting some key assumptions wrong.

Trowa nods slightly, but says, calmly, "I'm not exhausted."

"It's important to assess performance levels accurately and without assumptions. I'd be asleep if I needed to be."

Not with a civilian twelve-year-old on solo watch in hostile territory, he wouldn't be, or at least not so deeply he wouldn't wake at small noises. But Mary doesn't need to know that part.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"Most people are not very good at assessing their own performance levels accurately," Mary protests.

"Especially if they are tired, because then their judgment is impaired. It is like when people are drunk - and they say that they are not, because they are too drunk to understand that they are."

Also: she's thirteen, Trowa. Get with the picture!

[3nanashi]

"That's why it's important."

As he just said.

(Trowa's voice is a low murmur, just loud enough for Mary to hear, as it has been this whole conversation. Voices carry at night.)

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary can't really argue that point.

A little grudging: "Yes - but just because they ought to be able to, does not mean that people can."

[3nanashi]

Mary is very much a civilian. It shows.

Trowa doesn't say that.

He waits, instead. Pop quiz, Mary! Will you retrace this conversation and find the logical conclusion, or will you argue at him some more?

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"I do not know you," Mary says, scowling at him.

"I do not know what you can do - or how trustworthy you are at assessing your own performance levels."

Two can play at that game, Trowa!

[3nanashi]

This is true.

It's also a hazard of life. (Trowa's solution has been a delicate balance of paranoia, self-sufficiency, and learning to accurately assess other people without asking for their input in the matter.)

"You don't," he agrees, calmly and unhelpfully.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"Then why should I take your word for it?"

[3nanashi]

"You've got my assessment, and yours."

"Beyond that, it takes time for the data to accumulate."

In other words: you'll just have to wait and see if you can't already tell, won't you.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"If I have to," Mary says, haughtily, "I will stay up through your watch, to make certain you are alert. I have already had my turn; it will not matter if I am well-rested."

[3nanashi]

"You don't have to."

Do with this what you will, Mary.

But keep in mind that if you have to be steered sleepily along tomorrow, everybody will be grumpy.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"I have to."

Whether or not he thinks she has to is not the point!

[3nanashi]

Trowa shrugs slightly.

Suit yourself, Mary.