buywithme | (no subject)

Comrades! Consumers! Haven't we had a flood of unfamiliar faces lately? Well allow me to personally greet each and every one of you to the Barge. My name is Prefect, and I am the sole operator of the Factories single outlet here.

Comrades, I know this may be difficult for you, I know that you've awoken in a strange new place, far from home, I know you feel pressured and dominated and confused, but brothers, sisters, do not let your hearts be troubled. This place will tear at your minds and your hearts, destroy your body and each time allow you to rise from the ashes of that flesh like a scalding phoenix from the flames, it is a place forever in flux, forever changing. It is impermanent. The only way now to anchor ourselves is to build our own physical empires, Comrades, you are no longer your body or your mind or your primitive notions of soul, you are only what you surround yourself with! That is what abides, that is what remains.

So Comrades, Consumers, Brothers and Sisters, do not dwell in the realm of ever fleeting consciousness, but rather buy with me, the building blocks of who or what you are so that when your mind is torn away from you your foundations are still firm! Bicycles, balaclavas, ballet shoes, blue-ray players, boxer shorts, bottles, berets, baskets, basketballs, just a small number of the things we currently have in stock, and Comrades if we are unable to find what you require in our existing stores then rest assured, our staff will do literally whatever is possible to acquire what you need elsewhere, and all of this for the lowest prices possible.

Comrades, in the hours of your discontent, in the moments when this place at the end of time and space and history tries to drag you apart, ask yourself this:

Will I be lost? Will I be the one who falls first with no solid hold to grip onto? Will my mind be the first not to return?

Comrades, do not let it be so. Buy with me today, and we shall chain ourselves to this reality with the endless glory of commerce and products, in this ever fluctuating reality, we shall build our own, buy with me now, and make it so.

[Private to Jayne]

Comrade? I've been asked to contact you on behalf of someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If I can get back to who I used to be then I won't regret it.

[Prefect clutches the wool for a moment, closing his eyes tightly, before walking over to Sam quickly and thrusting out the scarf towards his warden and saying carefully.]

I want you to have this please.

[he says it out of the blue, still holding the bundle of scarf out in front of him.]

[Sam shakes his head]

You have no idea-- none-- of how wrong you are. No matter how much 'help' he gives you, you've still got your memories. [He taps his temple] Of this place, of everybody, and no amount of brainwashing is gonna get rid of it.

[He looks down at the scarf and takes a breath, then shakes his head again]

No, I'm not gonna... take part in any of this. [He looks at Prefect a little sadly] You tell me, right now, what're you so afraid of? Why is the thought of being free, being your own man, so horrible to you?

[Prefect looks down for a moment, then back up, holding out the scarf once again.]

Please. You don't have to take part in anything, just... I don't want it any more. Just take it? Please?

[He blinks, reaching up to wipe his eyes, before taking a deep breath.]

It's not like that, I just can't. I have... I have a job, I have a function... I don't have a choice.

[Sam stares at Prefect for a while, then grudgingly accepts the scarf]

You're gonna want this back one day, you know. I'm only taking it to make sure you get it back.

[He bunches it in his fist, then brings it down by his side.]

You're wrong. You can. And you told me yourself he made you choose, so don't try to turn around and claim didn't have a choice. [A pause, as he tries to gather the right words] You always have a choice, Prefect. And you chose to be a coward. I know this place is terrible, but I thought if we worked together...

[He shakes his head]

If you think I'm gonna give up and let this man destroy you, you're wrong.

Edited 2009-03-29 05:05 (UTC)

I know. I didn't mean that like I said it, he gave me a choice, and I chose the Factory. I'll always choose the Factory.

[Prefect answers this, with a careful, forced calm, the last part added with a hint of what might have been despair, but is too brief to give any real indication. He fixes his eyes on the floor and keeps them there, shaking his head.]

He's not destroying me, he's helping me. I asked him to do it for me.

[That's not exactly true, but Prefect's not consciously lying about it. It's just easier to make it clear that he's fully compliant in this if he makes it sound like it was his idea.]

Who's he to lay out the choices for you? No, this is just another way for you to hide. You can't stand to even choose the Factory on your own; you've gotta have somebody push you to it!

[He sighs, running a hand through his hair. Last chance, he's got one more course to take with Prefect before he's out of ideas for the day]

Prefect, look at me. I've been in your situation, you know. I had a home, I had a world I loved, that I fit into, and one day, just like that [He snaps his fingers] it was taken away from me. And I woke up somewhere strange, somewhere like another planet. And all I wanted... [He swallows] All I wanted was to go home. Be that man I was.

[He hesitates]

And... you know what? I did. [Nodding a little] I did make it back home, but nothing was right. I felt nothing. I was wrong, the whole of me just... didn't belong there anymore.

So...

I went to the roof, and I took a leap. I let go of... everything, and I jumped. I woke up, back in that strange place that felt like another bloody planet, and I felt alive again.

Sometimes, you... outgrow what you think is home. You spend so much time wanting it, but when you get back, it's not the same, doesn't even feel real. It's like a... dream.

[He looks down, mulling over what he'd just said, hoping some of it was getting through to Prefect. After a pause]

A barman once told me that... you know when you're alive, because you can feel. And you know when you're not, because you can't feel anything.

You're trying to make it so you can't feel anything, and he's pushing you down that path. So yeah, he is destroying you. You both are.

Edited 2009-03-29 05:40 (UTC)

[Prefect has fallen quiet by now, his eyes squeezed shut as if he was trying to block out what Sam is saying. He shakes his head violently, trying with everything he has in him to reject the fact that everything Sam is saying resonates with him.]

I'm not like you Comrade!

[The words come out too fast, too sharp, half accusation and half self defense. He swallows hard, looking down.]

He's not pushing me to it, and it's not... I'm not... I didn't have to be like this, I didn't just magically become real when I got here, I was real before and I didn't have to feel then! This place is what's destroying me. You just don't understand.

I didn't, either! When I woke up in that place for the first time, I hated every second of it! I did exactly what you're trying to do now, and it didn't work, and I'm trying to spare you the--

[He takes a deep, obviously agitated breath]

Don't you ever try to tell me that I don't understand, when I've already been through the same situation as you and experienced all of the heartbreak that comes with it.

[And he gives up, throwing his arms up in frustration]

Forget it. You'll see how cracked this whole idea is on your own.

[And now, Sam's heading for the exit. He has plans to pay somebody a visit]

[Prefect stands there for a minute, waiting for Sam to leave. He doesn't try to correct or stop the other man, just waits for him to go. Then carefully goes back over to his desk, sits down, and gets back to work.]

(no subject)

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