buywithme | FLOOD!

[Video clicks on, and it's... Barron? Probably? He's standing in one of the corridors in the Barge and looking sort of bemused.]

Comrades, I realise this probably seems like a strange thing to need help with, but I'm just...

[He turns around, staring off down the corridor, with an expression of increasingly dismayed puzzlement on his face.]

All of these corridors look the same, and I don't... I don't remember which direction I was coming from. Or where... any of the things that I know are here are...

[Prefect and Barron had a FULL BODYSWAP, which means Prefect gets Barron's body, and his tragically swiss cheesed version of a memory. He doesn't actually remember that he's not supposed to look like this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

umgekehrt

-Prefect?

From:

buywithme

Stildyne?

Hey. Yes, Comrade. I'm feeling a little lost right now...

From:

umgekehrt

You're, ah, not looking yourself. The flood. You shouldn't be far from the lift-- I can step away from the gym a moment if you need... Help?

From:

buywithme

That would be extremely helpful, Comrade.

So there's a flood happening right now? An amnesia one?

From:

umgekehrt

...you look like your inmate. It's a bit more than amnesia. Just-- stay put while I lock up.

From:

buywithme

Are... Comrade, are you certain? Because Barron contacted me already, and he doesn't look like this.

From:

umgekehrt

[Palm. Face. Facepalm.]

Does he look like you generally look? [Locking the gym. Heading out. Let's find a Prefect.]

From:

buywithme

No, he doesn't look anything like I do.

[Assuming that Prefect always looks like this.]

He looks like... do you remember Jim Profit, Comrade? He looks like him.

From:

umgekehrt

I remember Jim. He looked nearly exactly-- nevermind. What's the nearest door to you?

From:

buywithme

Ah, this one... [The Comm twists around to point at... a door. Level 8, Room 4, to be exact.] Have you noticed anything different about yourself, Comrade?

From:

umgekehrt

Not as yet. I seem to be myself. Myself is hard to mistake. I'm just up the stairs, do you hear me coming down?

[->Spam??]

From:

buywithme

I... I might? I hear someone upstairs, at least.

[Then in person, yelled up the stairs:]

Comrade? Is that you?

From:

umgekehrt

[Sigh]

Yes, Prefect. Doing all right there?

[Stildyne emerges from the stairs and puts his comm away in a pocket.] You've been in touch with Barron-- he behaving himself?

From:

buywithme

Comrade!

[Prefect flashes Stildyne a big smile, showing all of Barron's pearly white teeth.]

Barron seems fine. He gave me these.

[Prefect lifts a hand, and flexes his fingers. He's wearing Barron's leather gloves.]

From:

umgekehrt

Good. That's very good. Have you got your warden item on you? We should get you to your room.

From:

buywithme

Ah, I don't have it on me right at this moment, Comrade? I probably just left it in my cabin.

[He totally doesn't remember what it is right now.]

From:

umgekehrt

[Stildyne... Just hopes he still has it.]

So. To your room, then? It might be a good idea to stay there for the duration. Barring meals, but someone could get those for you if need be.

From:

buywithme

[He... totally doesn't. Barron has it. Barron has it and Prefect doesn't remember what it even is.]

Right, Comrade! I don't think I have anywhere else to be, at least... [He pauses slightly, then frowns] Ah, why should I have to stay there though? I guess this is a flood, but it doesn't seem so bad?

From:

umgekehrt

Aah.

Prefect. You haven't got your memory and I'm getting fairly worried. It's not so good, even as floods go. Follow me, please?

From:

buywithme

Comrade, I remember enough to know that the Barge would still be dangerous, even if I knew my way around perfectly.

[He shoots Stildyne a reassuring little attempt at a smile, but he takes a step towards him, none the less, prepared to follow as needed.]

From:

umgekehrt

After what that jackass did to you earlier I don't like the idea of you walking around vulnerable. [Stildyne's jaw sets.]

There's risks and there's risks. And then there's people better off put out of eveyone's misery. [under his breath.]

From:

buywithme

He's not so bad, Comrade. And I don't think he was planning on targeting me again too soon. [Sadly, this is something Prefect does remember. Ladd killed him. And then complimented him. Actually killed him while complimenting him.

Prefect is very susceptible to compliments.] I do try not to be vulnerable, Brother.

From:

umgekehrt

Nobody does. But I'm tired of giving every mad dog the benefit of the doubt, telling the poor bastards who're decent inmates that there's hope, of dealing with jackasses among the wardenry who think their behavior is charming and their friends are intrinsically better folk.

No: the only difference between them and myself is that I'll admit that I'm without any special virtue. Every man for himself: devil take the hindmost.

To hell with this place, Prefect. If I knew how to say goodbye I'd already be gone.

[He's not sure why this is coming up now, but better Prefect hear it when he forgets that Stildyne's insulted his friends. He knows how far down on the ladder he sits, and he likes Prefect's company.]

Your room. Do you need something to eat?

From:

buywithme

Comrade... Do you think that the wardening here has taken a downward plunge in quality, since I graduated?

[Prefect's tone is slightly distant. The further back he thinks, the more blotches there are in his memory, but there are some things that don't go. Some things that are deeply rooted enough to weather this flood.]

When I was an inmate... one of the wardens shot an unarmed man in the leg, then attacked another inmate who was trying to administer medical care to him. There was no level zero, so inmates would be confined to their rooms indefinitely. I knew of one girl whose warden decided she was too dangerous to ever be let out. At one point, my own warden took away all of my belongings, my bed, my communicator, and then the electricity to my cabin.

[He's quiet for a moment, letting this sink in before he continues:]

So, Comrade, while I agree that there are people on this boat who are arrogant, and who are flawed, and who can't accept that they aren't better than the rest of us? I... can not accept that they are as big a problem as you think they are. Those people, whose actions and personalities grate on you, would still exist if they quit the barge and went to do some other job tomorrow, and you would stand as much chance of running into them out there as you do in here.

You can't only be here for the decent inmates, Brother. You've got to be here for the mad dogs, and the hotshots, and the ones who want the world to know how terrible they are, and all the wardens who come here, trying desperately to convince themselves and anyone else who's paying attention that they have any more of an idea than anyone else about how to save the soul of mass murderer from a world on the far side of the galaxy while trying to deal with having their identity picked apart over months and years. You've got to be here for the whole damn mess, Comrade. You've got too, because if you can't, then you really do have to find some way to say goodbye.

[This speech done, he pauses very briefly, then folds his arms over his chest, looking slightly insecure.]

And Comrade, I really, really hope that you can. Because I really don't want you to leave.

From:

umgekehrt

Prefect, I'll admit to you without a moment's hesitation that every Kirk, Xavier-- hell, each TX and Nygma-- is more deserving to be here than I am. That things are as good as they could be. I just think the whole damn thing is pointless. I oughtn't be here.

[He grinds his teeth a moment, shakes his head.

Then he takes Prefect by Baron's collar, tugs him in, and kisses him decisively.

And a bit more.

And lets him loose.]

Did you want something to eat?