Gnud puffed up as Jin left, her hair bristling and her body trying to cover as much space possible, a common intimidation tactic to try and look as big and as deadly as possible. And while Adam didn't necessarily get intimidated by her increase in size, he was intimidated by what it meant.
"What do you want with us Sir? You keep talking about helping us, making us improve yet you talk nothing about yourself." Great. Not only did Adam fail in getting the Shu to even listen to him half the time without it being a direct order, but he got who he expected to be the easiest to convince suspicious against him because of his weirdness.
"Do you know why I came on this fleet as an officer Gnud?" Adam had to ask. He usually did better if he worked people through his own thought process.
"I can think of only two reasons why you would be here. Either you have a distorted sense of pride and entitlement and came here because you were deluded into thinking you're great." Well, that was the normal response. but what about the other one?
"The only other reason why I think you applied for this is that you were placed here. you were brought here by someone else to fulfill their aims." That... huh, that actually is one that Adam would think of being possible in another situation. but for that to happen, one would need to be good at lying.
"Well, you hadn't thought of the third obvious answer which is the truth." Adam almost absentmindedly confessed
"And what would that be?" Gnud stepped forward, now pressed against the bench between them, eerily close to Adam.
"Abject stupidity. Misunderstanding situations and making probably the mistake that will kill me." Adam said, trying to stay straight-faced, but he was sure that the Hron was extremely close to hitting him. He was still sore from the bully that had attacked him before, and he really didn't need broken bones.
"That's why I don't trust you." gnud admitted, the anger in her face even deeper at the mention of Adam dying, which he didn't get. "You talk about death with such a straight face that I just can't trust you. I don't know what you're doing. but no one should be that uncaring about their own death.
"Do you think I'm not? the edge in Adam's voice came back despite being in a threatening situation. I have looked at almost every angle I can to try and survive. I can't do anything personally because the Vanid will be up my ass if I try anything." not knowing the confused face on his subordinate was the fact that his figure of speech was quite hard to translate.
"So the only way that I could possibly have a chance at surviving is through you four. because no matter how good you become it'll be a benefit to whoever takes over. And with it almost guaranteed to be the Vanid, they will accept the gift they give me as they dine off my corpse!"
Though she took a while to understand the figure of speech, Gnud was confused at Adam's thought process in just how... unafraid of death he was. She could agree that Adam couldn't gain any personal glory without being suppressed, and the only other way of glory is secondhand through his subordinates.
"Gah, Why are you so weird!" gnud's voice raised enough that even Jin could hear it in the kitchen, the sound of him moving different objects out of the way to find the information or get the food together halted. "Your words make sense yet you don't at all! How can you think like this!"
"Is anything wrong Gnud? what were you talking about?" Jin would ask.stomping up to them with the grace of a square wheel, lacking any of the nuances his motherly companion gave off.
"Nothing. We just had a dispute about what food he would be giving his slave. He is buying the cheapest option. have you finished preparing it?"
"Almost," Jin said with a complex tone to his voice. it was easy to see that he found it hard to believe that Adam could get so irritating that the woman would yell at him over how he fed his slave.
"Excuse me, I would-"
"I've explained this to you many times already Sir. The cheapest option is the only one you should pick." Adam could hear the forceful undertone in Gnud's voice, so he relented. hoping he wouldn't disappoint Charles, though the slave didn't expect him to ask for better.
"Yes Gnud, thank you for your suggestion. I'm sorry for being so difficult." what Adam said now got Jin to annoyedly comment on Adam's behavior as well.
"Why are you being so polite?" Jin cut straight to the point, not even letting Gnud reply to Adam's statement.
"Jin, don't purposefully antagonize your superior!" Gnud berated her younger companion, poking the man in the large elbow which he... huh... definitely reacted to.
"Could you stop doing that? All I wanted to-"
Before Gnud could cut Jin off, Adam cut in to stop them from arguing amongst themselves. "Gnud, let him state his problems. it's better if I'm transparent with you guys. As you said, I'm weird. so the more you get to know me the better."
"W-well... We're your underlings, aren't we? We do what you say. Why are you treating us like we have a say in things?" Jin\s comments brought to light something Adam had tried to ignore for a good while, which he should get used to.
"Because Jin, you're my subordinates, not my underlings." Adam said simply, but this caused the two to frown and Gnud to speak up.
"Sir? Our translators are poor. it just re-translated your new word to underlings." Adam's eyes widened in understanding and he chuckled.
"You see, underlings are my servants. you obey me as far as betraying me is more detrimental than following me. It's like you're paid servants."
"Right" Jin spoke up. "But how is... the other word different from underlings?"
"Simple. It's because you have power in this relationship. you not only do what I say; but as your leader, I have a duty of care for you. I need to ensure your prosperity to continue my own prosperity and inspire loyalty within you."
This caught the two off guard. it was hard to think of anyone who felt like they had a duty to those below them, it was almost always the other way around. And for someone to believe they needed to care for those below them to get loyalty instead of allowing their underlings to do as they wished with their funds and prosper on their own was... interesting.
"I need to think about that. let me finish getting your meal Sir." Jin said, leaving, and while Adam noted that it was the first time Jin had ever called him Sir; Adam knew it was more from being flustered than respect.
"I..." Gnud tried to begin the conversation again, though it was hard to get back to what she was talking about and think about what Adam said before. "I still can't trust what you say." She defaulted to that, trying to get herself back into the mood of talking.
"That's fine. it's hard for someone detested to develop loyalty with others without a good amount of time passing. I don't expect my progress to be easy, but I do hope to claw my way to CEO."
"So that's why you made us undertake the nearly impossible task of becoming grade 2 pilots in two months?"
"Exactly. It's a very difficult path, but I need to do the equation of a miracle to be able to actually have a chance at survival. and this is the best way for you all to survive if I don't." Okay, Adam had learned that Gnud didn't like him talking about his plans to avoid death. Because his words got her annoyed again.
"Is this your duty of care statement? you feel like you need to help us as well as yourself. if so why do you always talk like this is your only option? that you're only doing this because we're your only way to the top?"
"Would you believe some bleeding heart statement of I care about you?" Adam's question struck at Gnud again. It was hard to believe that a patriarch and some upstart at this level would care about people.
Adam would continue before she could reply. "When I'm talking to people about things they may find difficult to believe me on, I find that giving the most selfish explanation will be more believable. As if I appeal to my sympathy I need them to trust that I am sympathetic. but if I can convince them it's a smart callous move; the need for them to trust my personality is generally skipped."
Gnud's brain was a bunch of jumbled thoughts of trying to understand this confusing mess of an alien species. Which all culminated into one sentence. 'Why is it so hard to understand someone?'
"Fine, I'll try and understand that at a later time. but why would you need to hide yourself to try and get people to understand your true intentions?"
Adam just gave her a look that screamed incredulity and retorted a single word as a counter. "Patriarch?" Which Gnud thought was a good point. Patriarchs were always classified as selfish, prideful, destructive, and restrictive of their women, so to convince someone that you care about others would be a tall order for the human.
"This is too much for me." Gnud said after that, trying to end the conversation. "Could we end it here so I can think about it?"
"Sure. I just need my food and I'll be on my way."
Glad to be away from this confusing mess of an alien, Gnud would turn around and yell at her companion. "Are you done yet?"
"Almost!" Jin called, leaving the two in awkward silence as they waited. Adam made a notion that they didn't need to talk and just waited for Jin to return
It took less than a minute for him to do so. And as Adam took the container of food he said one last thing to the two. "Goodbye, I'll try and give your schedules more physical activity." he said, getting back on his mount and leaving for his quarters.