Affinity Soulchain

It's not that Elma doesn't intimately respect the chain of command present in the intricately laid American military which she had come to work so closely alongside, via its emerging (or just surviving, which meant the same thing) best and brightest. Toward Commander Vandham and Secretary Nagi, she was always dutifully exact in reference and in posture. Now, occasionally those two in specific did relax protocols, but Elma was never the one to spring directly for it, out of hand.

She doesn't need Irina's insistence upon salutes the way Irina seems to need it, though. Being the Colonel, forever, even when that's not what she really is, at all...

Lieutenant Akulov. Now, that's not her trusted colleague and partner - friend - at all, is it? That's a rigid, precarious role that, in her time on Earth, Elma had seen far too many a brilliant soldier fall captive to. Man or woman, it didn't matter. There was always another rank waiting, another subordinate to stand over.

Feeling that one's life and actions doesn't and don't matter because you're merely one virtually nameless cog in a machine is something Elma is sure those same fallen soldiers would never admit (have admitted) to, up until the very end. That's why recognition and proper rest earned are so critical to Elma's personal leadership strategy. And of course, Irina Akulov has crucially inspired that.

Irina pays her dear, dear homage by never letting anyone forget that Elma's the one in charge, with the solid rank to match. Elma pays it back by reminding Irina that she is a person, a woman, first, and a soldier second.

Not that Irina isn't an absolutely incredible soldier. Everyone claims that Elma is the highest paragon any military or paramilitary organization birthed from humanity had ever seen, but Elma...well, she happens to think that that unsilent honor belongs to Irina.

How dutiful she is. How exacting and unerring she is. How wise and demanding of the quickest solution, even if she sometimes needs a little gentle correction to understand where that hastiness could compromise morality or forget a minor-major nuance.

The premier Psycorruptor, in Elma's unhumble opinion. The ideal mentor for Gwin, and Marcus as well. The very model of an upright BLADE. It goes without saying that Elma would have loved to have Irina on her team, were Irina not infinitely better qualified to lead her own.

Distance might rule them, molding a stiff infrequency to the circuit of their crossing paths, but whenever there is time for the colonel and the lieutenant to spend together, they make the most of it, and not just by disciplining upstarts at large.

Fancy titles won't save anyone, here. It's true. It's beyond true. Elma won't begrudge Irina her beloved address, however. As far as she can tell, it does no immediate disservice, so long as Elma can repay the favor by jumping in with that white-hot spirit.

And maybe that makes Elma weak, that she won't say no to what, in any other scenario based on a base in the Mojave, would be outright forbidden? Does Vandham avert his bushy-browed eyes? Does Nagi close his?

Elma wouldn't want them to. Elma would never wanted to be granted any special favors. It's just not her way - and it's not Irina's, either.

But she'll take what she can get, certainly. She's not that above basic human wants and needs.