Amalgam -- She's my daughter

[K. Geraint] The tension in Kaye Geraint's immaculately organized office is palpable, thick enough that you could cut it with a knife, and even though the assembled are her colleagues--friends, damn near family members--she cannot find a comfortable place to stand. Instead she paces before the window that looks out on a city celebrating the lunar New Year with cold, guarded eyes.

"She's my daughter," Kaye repeats, though she'd lodged this complaint already and she knows full well that's why she cannot spearhead Enid's recruitment. "My daughter." The words are ennuciated with crystalline clarity, and they are sharp enough to slide right through the tension and wound whatever comes between her and the younger Geraint.

She is clenching her jaw, Kaye realizes, and forces herself to release it. This eases her expression, but only slightly. The others rarely see her upset, off guard, and it must be unnerving in some way.

[Amalgam] There are four of them. Zeke, Dan, Pete and Steve - the former two are partners that go back all the way to college in Boston. Dan, the bad cop, is the one that's offered to handle everything, but he's not the one that's talking right now; that's Zeke, who has also been told to keep his interference to a minimum after an initial talk.

Pete (a woman) and Steve stand to the back of the office near the door. Silent, as they will likely remain.

"You know it's better if you don't, Kaye," he says, with a glance in her direction that hints at sympathy. "It's just about how reconditioning and reform are done. It's not a failing on your part, it's just professionalism."

And Dan nods, from where he is. Silent agreement.

[K. Geraint] It's not a failing on her part, he says, and Kaye's brow creases for a moment.

"I should have brought her over here. Enid could have taken an exchange program for her senior year and still been eligible for the best Universities." Kaye second-guessed herself openly. If her daughter hadn't remained in Chicago, supervised only by Kaye's ex-husband, then perhaps she wouldn't have fallen to the temptation of the Deviants.

"Hopefully she breaks quickly," she says, with more coldness than a mother should ever show when speaking of her own child. Kaye pinches the bridge of her nose. "And whatever happens, no matter how many times I ask, I really don't want to know what it takes."

[Amalgam] She says she should have brought Enid over here, and Steve shuffles for a moment; he and Pete (a woman who might as well not be there, so difficult is it to focus on her) exchange a look. In the end it's Steve who speaks. "She stopped in a few weeks ago to refuse the internship," Steve says, and the look on his face says we didn't tell you because...but she knows why.

And to the rest they are quiet. To her final pronouncement they are quiet - because they don't want to tell her any more than she wants to be told.

"We'll bring you in to talk with her once she's all right," Zeke finally says.

[K. Geraint] She nods. It's almost eerie how quickly the professionalism and implied calm come back once Kaye's made up her mind to be civil about this, to not push up the chain for an exceptions for Enid. It is better to be harsh on her daughter now, than to allow this Deviant dalliance to linger, fester, wound her any further. After all, she has faith in Enid, who is exceptionally bright. Kaye knows her daughter will make the right choices, or accept them when they're presented to her unequivocally.

"What about the young man she brought with her?" Kaye asks, all cool, calculatingly Syndicate once more. She leans against her desk, rests her hands on the glass top protecting the wooden surface. "I am not personally invested in him, but his association with Enid has no doubt harmed my daughter, and an additional reformation wouldn't exactly hurt our statistics."

This time, her gaze is directed at Dan. The bad cop. After a moment, she looks back to Zeke, waiting on some sort of reply.

[Amalgam] "I planned to bring him in too," Dan replies. He's very serious, this man. His expression rarely shifts at all - the stone cold Technocratic stereotype, in some ways. Or, at least, he can be. "There's no reason not to attempt reform on him. He's young."

Zeke just nods. He is clearly as uncomfortable with all of this as Kaye is; in fact, when it was initially brought up it was Zeke who protested the most. Asked how they could do this to Enid. It's why he's been asked to stand back.

[K. Geraint] There is a long silence, in which Kaye's thoughts are kept inscrutible behind a carefully composed demeanor and a deft mind shield. It is just long enough for someone to consider suggesting a change of topic, or that they adjourn, and then she speaks and it's all silk over steel: cold hard pragmatism.

"If he proves immoveable, I want him no where near my daughter."

"Enid needs no motivation to be obstinate and every encouragement to yield on this."

[Amalgam] Dan nods, taking a sip from his cup of coffee. "I'll be separating them for that reason, during the process. We don't need him filling Enid's head with lies."

This, at least, the full amalgam can be in agreement on: the things she has learned from Austin are harmful to Enid. She's been led astray and given false information that it's easy for a teenager to start believing in. "Honestly, Kaye," Dan says after a moment, "it might not be as difficult as all that. She could be doing this just to spite you. I think she'll come around."

[K. Geraint] "One can hope," she replies, with a wry note that is as cautionary as amused. Enid may have started down this path that way, but that didn't mean that it had stayed quite that innocent.

She pushes herself up from the desk and walks around to sit behind it. Kaye draws out a ledger, opens it, and looks up at Dan. "Okay, then. Tell me what you need to get started. I'll make sure it's at your disposal, and I won't ask too many questions."

This is something she can help with. Requisitions, finding a working space, giving them room to breathe without feeling like Mama Geraint is watching over their shoulders. It would also keep Kaye busy, which would make everyone a little less tense.

[Amalgam] "Well, we'll need to -get- her here, first off," Dan says, dropping a hand into the pocket of his slacks. "Enid might come with us willingly, but I'm not sure about the boy she's with."

"And it's probably going to hurt our case to blackbag them," Zeke says, with a look in Kaye's direction that is oh-so-slightly resentful.

[K. Geraint] "Zeke could collect them," she says, and it's reflexive. Kaye looks up without so much as an apology in her eyes. "You're her favorite, and she trusts you like family. She'll come with you if she thinks you just want to get to know her boyfriend a little better."

And it's here that she faulters, slightly. Kaye's eyes close, and she lays the pen down on her desk. She sighs gently. This is harder than she wants it to be, and she can't look at Zeke for long without feeling it all bubble up within her.

[Amalgam] The look Zeke gives her is a very unhappy one. He's the sort that smiles and jokes a lot, an excellent frontman for the amalgam if the truth be told. He's also aware that, even though Enid is going to feel betrayed, this is the best option for her.

"I can do that," he says.