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[littletonoidea]

"This is the audio log of Communications Officer Doug Eiffel of the-- previously of the U.S.S Hephaestus, leave a message and I'll see if I can bear to drag myself away from whatever utterly engaging task I must be doing to not notice my comms--"

BZZZZZZZ

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[conning]

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadon'tpanic--]

Because you called him a heartless evil nepobaby T1000 in front of a room full of his peers.

[littletonoidea]

I'd put money on half of them not knowing who the T1000 even is.

[That's a fair reason, though. And Eiffel's offence is already gone, dropped to just grumpy.]

Look, it's just-- I don't like the way he talks about people, you know? That people having feelings in front of him gives him the right to make fun of them to people's faces instead of working with them on it.

[conning]

Context made it pretty clear that it wasn't good.

[Neal sighs, his heart still pounding a little but at least Eiffel hasn't hung up on him or reamed him for demanding an apology.]

He also was there because Lestat cut him open, Eiffel. Restrained or not, an improvement on murder or not, the guy that hurt him had more people on his side in that room than Malcolm did. He has feelings too.

[littletonoidea]

Yeah, and they were patronising. Speaking as a communications officer, if you want someone to take your feelings into consideration you talk about them. Doesn't sound like Bright's a fan unless it's someone else giving him all the dirty deets.

[A lighter clicks in the background.]

Look, whatever you two have going on, clearly it works or you guys wouldn't be in your happy little Valjean-Javert pairing. But I'm allowed to be upset at him being a jerk about things too.

[conning]

[He exhales quietly, resisting the urge to address that particular reference with indignation.]

Yes you are. And if you'd said that to him in private, I wouldn't have as much of an issue. But you reamed him in front of the whole room.

[littletonoidea]

Well, maybe he shouldn't have been a jerk about counselling to everyone just 'cos he's mad everyone quit his counselling.

Look. I'm sorry to you. That I lost my cool when you were already freaked out and made all that worse for you. But I'm not sorry about Bright.

[conning]

[LOOOONG SILENCE.]

Okay.

I still want you to apologize for doing it in front of everyone.

Even if you think he was being a jerk, which--yeah, he was, really--that doesn't mean you were any better in that moment.

[littletonoidea]

[The dead air is filled briefly with the faint sizzle of his cigarette.]

So what, you're mostly just mad because I yelled about it? Even you know the way he was treating the whole thing wasn't okay.

[conning]

The way we treat each other here matters, Eiffel.

[littletonoidea]

Have you given Bright the third degree over this?

[conning]

Not yet, because like I said, he was alone in that room. I didn’t expect him to be.

[He rubs his eyes.]

And because sometimes being kind is more important than being right.

[littletonoidea]

So the guy who set off your meltdown and walked out of the meeting because he was butthurt we didn't listen to him and still kept trying to be right about everything all the time forever?

He gets a pass.

'cos I raised my voice and hurt his feelings in public.

Like how he does to other people all the time because he doesn't know how to read a room and let people have feelings without pointing them out.

[He's not mad, or even defensive. He's just flat and tired.]

[conning]

No. He doesn’t get a pass. You don’t know him, Eiffel, but trust me, what you said is going to stick, and it’s going to hurt, and it’s going to do it for a while.

Sometimes being kind is more important than being right. Sometimes it’s the only way anyone actually listens to you.

And he wasn’t the one who set me off, I was. Speaking up in that room was.

[littletonoidea]

I've tried being nice to him, Neal, this wasn't me yelling at him out of freakin' nowhere.

[His voice doesn't raise but it intensifies, and he forces himself to stay calm for a moment and take another hard drag of his cigarette.]

Look, man, I just- I don't like Malcolm. That's the skinny of it. And I'm not going to apologise. I'm glad he's good for you, like, seriously. If whatever his weird anti-emotional stance is works for you? That's great. I'm happy for you. But it doesn't work for me, and I don't like the way he tries to lord it over people.

[conning]

[He almost laughs at that, though he manages not to. He's pretty sure it would be the opposite of helpful. He is at least gently teasing:]

I know you didn't yell at him from nowhere, Lebowski.

[A pause.]

You don't have to like him. He is not anti-emotional, and I'm not going to pretend that you're right about him. [A long, tired noise.] I'm also not going to try and force you into an apology.

I am going to ask you to talk to him again at some point. Not right now.

I'll come too. Be the mediator. Translator. Whatever.