Prefect

What would you do if your inmate vanished tomorrow?

[This comes pretty much out of the blue, after a LONG PERIOD OF RADIO SILENCE from Prefect. Yep, truth flood forced him out.]

Last time Barron was in a coma, I just... I thought if I behaved as if he was definitely going to wake up then he definitely would. This time-- It's been months, and I don't know why I'm even here if I can't help him. If I can't help him, if after everything we've done, he just vanishes now, then every second I've spent here has been worthless. Because really, one person turning from bad to good at the end of their life doesn't actually bring any objective improvement to the universe. I'm already dead. I've already done my damage.

If I don't help someone to graduate, then I don't earn my deal with the Admiral, and I can't change anything. [There's a long intake of breath, then he lets it out.] But if he disappears-- Comrades, I can't even imagine being able to care this much about anyone else again. I'm a graduate, so I have the choice to ask the Admiral to send me anywhere in the universe to start over. Right now... I'm afraid that Barron is going to disappear, and all I can think to do when he's gone is ask the Admiral to send me after him. Wherever that takes me.

Comrades!

[Pause]

I mean, post-graduate Comrades... or... long term resident institutionalized Comrades, or really just anyone who thinks this makes sense to them. Do you ever feel like... I mean, did anyone else start out disliking it here and thinking that it was entirely wrong, then eventually came around to thinking that even though they weren't happy here, maybe what was happening and what the wardens were doing was something that needed to happen, and then eventually, if you started to think that it was entirely right, what was happening here, did thinking that you were doing the right thing by being here make you begin to like it?

[That probably didn't make sense, did it? Let's try again.]

I mean, what I meant to say was that... [Fffff, let's try for some context on why he's worrying here:]

Back home in the Factory I didn't really have friends. Or books, or alcohol, or hobbies, or free will. And I didn't technically get paid for my work, and everything I did was evil, but I was happy and I felt fulfilled because I believed that what I was doing was right. So, I guess what I'm saying, Comrades, is that it has come to my attention that I have a tendency to look for validation through my work and that I'm afraid I might have accidentally slipped into being blindly subservient to the Admiral because that is exactly the kind of thing that I could imagine myself doing.

I mean, it could be that I actually like it here and that I really do think that being a warden is a good thing, I'm not sure how you're supposed to tell the difference in these circumstances, Comrades.

[Private to O'Brien]

Comrade, did you know you can put alcohol in coffee?

[Video clicks on, and OH MY GOODNESS! It's Prefect! Hi Prefect! And he looks... well, he looks like he just got out of the shower. His hair is tousled, and hanging loosely across his forehead, and his shirt is damp enough that it's plastered down to his chest like a second skin. It'd be kinda sexy if he didn't look so completely and utterly miserable about the whole affair.

He's leaning against a door, and the room he's in seems cramped and a little dark, and once the light from the journal illuminates the area around him, you might just be able to catch a glimpse of a broom handle just about invading the shot. He gives the most frustrated sigh ever.]

Comrades, this flood is not romantic, it's terrible, and it's confusing, and this is the third time it's locked me in a closet! [He lets out an irritated sigh, and gives the door behind him an unhappy shove.]

The Barge is always like this. I don't know how people can be so... so comfortable with it. So settled. I don't know how I got so settled with it.

[Then he pauses, his mind obviously wandering.]

The Borg Queen was always calm, back when she was here. Always. It was just as though, everything was temporary for her. All the things she didn't like here didn't really matter, because she knew that they wouldn't be forever.

[Stares into space dreamily]

I wonder where she is now...

[PREFECT HAS AWFUL TASTE IN THE PEOPLE WHO HE FANCIES. If anyone feels any burning desire to help him out of the closet, deliberately or accidentally, feel free to SPAM!]