((GM: it is a scythe, the retraction process has the blade, sharp end pointed at her, going through Marie, not just the handle. did the rift expand/contract to allow for the blade or not? "the area where it intersects with Marie's body, and only there." is not clear.))
"If what you said is true, then how do you benefit from upsetting me?"
Yeah... no - Stellar node, whisker-laser power to Cent I node, Cent I node, recieve power from Stellar node and burn any algae it can acquire as targets. Cent II node, burn any algae it can acquire as targets.
"How have you failed at thinking this through? You are forcing me to take whatever action I am most certain will work against you, simply to make sure that my following actions are free from your influence. It's not complicated - your declaration of the ability to predict - and from that control others within your sphere of influence is a hostile act, and I'm treating it as such. I have no option but to remain hostile to you and all that you desire until I can be certain that your research into mind reading and control has been utterly annihilated."
"Alternately, you've got other information sources and are just an arrogant prick. which honestly seems more likely, but in that case you've been actively spying on me and intend to manipulate me, which again, is hostile."
"So I'm just going to split the difference and start breaking things, which I'm pretty sure neither of us really want."
she's got a large rift network in the area, and she's going to use it to play teleporter games with me if I don't do something about it.
so I will - I've been learning about her rift network while she's been getting her mind-reading data. I'm going to use that information to disrupt her network in the area around me. I don't need to make a working network of my own, I just need to break hers.
I should expect a large power-dump to get dropped on me from doing this. She's had quite a lot longer than I have to harvest energy from the star.
Chains - autodefend. She's going to flank me and there's nothing I can do about that until her rifts are down, especially with the star's background heat making it hard to see. Just be ready to block whatever she comes at me with. She isn't going to be able to remain passive-aggressive once I get the ball rolling.