You already are.

[ no mincing words. not here. not when she's frustrated and hurt. it's a simmering kind of pain, one where she can't deal with it in any traditional manner. tell Riko? out of the question. say anything else? difficult.

and Riko not knowing she's Morningstar? that's another part of someone not seeing what's right in front of them. ]

All of Morningstar's IT guys are like El. I've met one or two who've gone off the grid, who've had to be moved. It fits, and they all like short aliases like that.

[ come to think of it – that fits. El would know how to fit in, but would've had to think on the fly. it wasn't as if ze was an active participant in tech support before that night. ]

Don't hang that in front of me like a mistake. Your group likes to pretend to know everything. All the inner workings – partly because your objectivity grants you some clarity. It doesn't work that way. You may not be here for a reason, but you're here. So we're talking, but don't chastise me.

[ long road to get to that final statement. but they got to it. ]