tucky | ♻ 022

♻ 022 | audio

Hey, y'all. I been thinking about some stuff lately - about powers. I don't have any and I never did, except for Admiral powers and except for one time when I thought I had some of my own - but that's another story.

They're just kinda all over the place here, I noticed. Arthas had his, and he tried to kill the whole Barge. And I know wardens hurt people with their powers sometimes. I've seen it. And we got inmates who don't have any powers at all, but still hurt and kill people. It's like I was telling someone earlier - it ain't like the Barge is safe when inmates have powers, and dangerous when they don't. It's a lot more complicated than that.

I got two inmates I been talking to, Lourdes and Pietro - and they want their powers back 'cause they don't feel right and whole without 'em. And I don't blame 'em, if I'm gonna be real honest. I maybe would have, before I was a warden, but now I got a different perspective. We're letting parts of people be locked away, and how's anyone supposed to trust us if we do that and don't care?

But maybe it ain't right to just give 'em back without thinking about it, neither - 'cause some of the powers are dangerous, and all of us'd be affected if something happened. So we decided that since they don't got wardens of their own, we're gonna talk to the whole Barge about it and see if any of y'all got objections. Or-- or questions or concerns. Stuff like that.

Pietro's got super speed, and super senses so he can see things okay when he's using his super speed. Lourdes can control people's bodies, and their minds, and even the chemicals inside 'em. Now, that's a whole fucking lot - so she's mostly what I wanna talk about today, I guess. We got Iris and Jean and all those guys who can protect people from stuff like that, but it can still be dangerous. So we're asking you.

Everybody gets a say.

[filtered to Lourdes]

if you get em back i want to talk about how your gonna use em ok

[filtered to Barbara, Cain, Dillon, Eggsy, Iris, Jean, Letty, Lloyd, Lydia, Ricki, Roderick, Simon, Tig; dated to after the post has been up for a while]

I'm giving Lourdes her powers back - but only when she's in the Enclosure with me. Now, I don't think she's gonna hurt me - but if she does, I don't want any of y'all hurting her back, okay? I ain't saying no punishment, or no being mad. Just no torturing or murdering or nothing. Thanks.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She lets out a sigh of relief - she'd believed the Admiral when he'd agreed to return the powers, but having confirmation is nice.]

Yeah. So it's okay? They're not... they're like they always are? They're not different?

They're the same as always.

[She smiles faintly, tears in her eyes.]

I wish there were birds here. I could make one come sit on your shoulder.

Wait a sec.

[She runs back to the intercom and says something into it; suddenly, there are some forest animals around. Not so many that it's unnatural, but there's some birdsong off to their left, and a squirrel perched on a nearby tree branch. They'll probably see more as time goes on.]

[Now she's really smiling, wide and bright through her tears. There's a chattering behind them, and the squirrel is suddenly skittering down the trunk, its bushy tail twitching. It scoots up behind Tiffany and sniffs her foot.]

[Meanwhile, a bluebird flutters down to perch on Lourdes's outstretched finger. Much better.]

[As a newly-certified Genuine Pet Owner, Tiffany should probably be a little more concerned about the moral ethics of this exercise, but they’re fake Enclosure animals and she’s never been a PETA member anyway. She laughs, reaching down to see if the squirrel will let her pet its head.]

[Not only does it let her pet its head, but it crawls up her arm, its little claws digging into her arm for traction. Once it hits her shoulder, it perches, nuzzles into her hair with its nose.]

[The bluebird cheeps and hops onto Lourdes's shoulder, so they match.]

This is fucking wild.

You think if we found a big deer, we could ride it? Or a bear?

I think a deer might be too small for both of us. A bear, maybe. A grizzly.

[Her smile goes a little tentative.]

You're still not scared?

Not of you.

[Of a bear? Maybe a little bit. But she still wants to try it.]

[She wavers, the bluebird wobbling on her shoulder. Then, very carefully so as not to disturb either of their passengers, she folds Tiffany into her arms in a hug.]

[Lourdes. Lourdes, honey. Tiffany doesn't cling as hard as she would normally, with somebody else, but she hugs back firmly and won't let go until Lourdes does.]

[It's not a particularly long hug, but it's a good one. She hugs tight, a bear hug, and she's surprisingly strong for a girl her size.]

[When she lets go, the bluebird flies away, and the squirrel begins making a nest in Tiffany's hair. Lourdes sniffs and wipes at her eyes roughly.]

So. You want to find a bear?

We can just ask for one, so we don't have to look.

[Back to the intercom! And then back to Lourdes. A big Pennsylvania black bear should be lumbering its way towards them soon.]

[True story: Lourdes has never been this close to a bear before. She's kind of freaked out for half a second, and then she remembers: oh. And the bear sits down on its butt and waves with one paw.]

. . . It's bigger than I expected.

[Seeing a bear do that is so ridiculous that she can't hold back a stream of giggles; it takes her a moment or two to respond.]

Yeah, they're-- they're pretty big. Me and my brothers shot one once. We used to go hunting a lot.

[It's. Nice, making Tiffany laugh. She smiles again, just a little.]

Well, you can't shoot this one. He's our ride.

Yeah.

How the fuck are we gonna get up on it? Can it, like... kneel?

[She looks at the bear, narrows her eyes. It kneels.]

Apparently.

[Fearless, Tiffany charges over and grabs onto the bear's fur at the scruff of its neck, hanging on as she vaults herself up. She has a pretty healthy respect for the danger that wild animals can pose, but this is different. She completely trusts Lourdes not to let (or make) the bear maul her.]

[To Lourdes's credit? The thought never occurred to her. In fact, the idea of harming Tiffany is anathema to everything that she is right now. Instead, she just watches Tiffany climb up onto the bear and then makes her way over.]

Let's see if I can do this.

[With a quick motion, she vaults herself up behind Tiffany and grabs onto her waist.]

Okay.

So I learned how to make horses walk from Boyd, but I don't know how to make a bear walk.

Um. I could do it, but would that be cheating?

Nah. I bet we couldn't get it to do it in any other way. It ain't gonna be used to having people on its back.

Okay.

[She touches the bear's limbs with her mind, and slowly but surely it begins to walk forward. Its gait is odd and rolling, and it takes a moment for Lourdes to get used to.]

Whoa.

[Tiffany leans forward a little, holding tighter to the bear's fur with one hand and reaching back to grab Lourdes's sleeve with the other. This is definitely different from riding a horse.]

You doing okay?

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