The smile doesn't fade from her face, even as she turns the empty wineglass over in her hand. But any sense of amusement dies instantly, crushed by a monster named Anger that prowls inside her eye. But she is quiet for a long moment, watching the Captain struggle with and then finally drink his tea. She sets her new memento down on the table with the sort of precision that implied she thought the ship would instantly burst into flames if she so much as scratched it. 

And she snorts.

"And how many of them have swung by since to apologize? None of them, obviously. Because it's easy to say whatever the fuck you want, especially when the call isn't yours to make. It's even easier for bleeding hearts like your lot's to try and argue that all life is precious or... whatever the fuck. I don't care. They can say it. They took none of the consequences. You did. Stand up and fight me if you disagree."

She grins, full of teeth. The gesture doesn't even reach the rest of her face. Her hands busy themselves with twisting her golden jewelry up and down the length of her forearms, letting it bite into her wrists. Her eye betrays her once again. Not anger this time, but unease. Not about what she's said, but that she's the only one who's come to say it. She glances at the wine glass one more time, and the lipstick pressed along the rim.

"...Would you really like to know what should be done with the Tides? You seem reluctant to kill the monsters you keep bringing on this ship. You might have to anyway, before long. You can leave the Assistant Secretary in charge to run his little pod as he sees fit. And his craven little ass will stay in line, because he knows just like I do that if he's ever not on your leash then the smartest thing you could do is kill him and his on the spot. So you can leave things exactly like they are and have your little collection of claws and tentacles to handle all the jobs you'd ask a slave to do, and all you'll pay in cost is knowing what they're doing to each other every day to fit inside your pocket."

Bella licks her lips, and it's comical how fast a Coherent springs up to refill her teacup, already halfway to sweetening it before that tongue is finished playing over her teeth. Another zips up with the bottle of wine, but Bella waves her off. It's her turn to stare at the surface of a liquid and not touch it. She doesn't need two glasses for that. She doesn't want to risk her prize so soon.

"Ask your little council, then. I bet they'll argue in favor of freeing the Tides, instead. And then what? You can argue with each other whose fault it is that you're all clogging up Elysium after they overrun your ship and eat the fucking thing in half. They're monsters, remember? The only thing that's kept you all alive the whole time they've been on your ship is the torture rack they've been stuck in. And if you undo that? well.

"These aren't your pirate buddies. None of them chose a life of songs and adventure. They are [i]monsters[/i]. The Assistant Secretary, Eyes of Coral... each one of them is just a piece of a brain from something so huge and dangerous it cost Odoacer an entire flagship just to put it down in the first place. They live with the memory of that death every second of every day. And if the meditation training I'm putting them through doesn't take, the kindest thing that you could do is slaughter the lot of them. As they are, I could just manage it on my own. Might cost me an arm, but what's a limb or two between friends?"

She chuckles and lifts the cup to her lips, where she contents herself with sniffing it. Her Auspex flickers across Dolce's frame, and one more time crushes him under its oppressive weight. 

"Then again, maybe a miracle will happen. Maybe one monster is enough to teach another how to be something else. But you're the one in charge of this ship. You'll be the one who has to administrate the consequences of whatever happens. And I'm the only one you'll ever be able to talk to about any of it. Lonely at the top, isn't it?"