tucky | ♻ 022

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

[It's not a flinch, because he doesn't turn away; it's just a bit of sane fear, flickering in his open face like a lit candle. He hasn't met them; he doesn't know.]

So tell me.

[This is not an order. This is unmistakably a plea.]

[Tears in her eyes, now. She feels like she did the moment they ripped open her belief and dragged her to a world of their own making. Like she's living it all over again. She would be the last person to say she owes Dillon anything, but part of her wants him to know. So he can hurt with her.]

[So he can help her.]

There is no God. Human beings were created to feed them. They are the angels of this world and the next world and they are going to destroy us, Dillon.

There's no choice in the face of what they are. Not any kind of choice that matters.

What about that.

[Quiet, slow, grave. Each word considered. He is not equanimous, he is not unmoved. It is a horrifying thing to hear, worse to feel the sincerity of her despair. Acedia is among his sins, and he feels the heavy pull of it. But he has been learning not to succumb.]

Makes you think you should believe them?

Because I saw what they can do.

[Her words come high in her throat, desperate, whining.]

There is no hope. They're going to win. They've already won. It doesn't matter what you or I or anyone does.

There's no already when you're in a separate set of time.

I don't know what they can do. But the stuff about god, the purpose of humans? I can't believe that. We wouldn't exist if that were true. They wouldn't have ignored us for thousands of years if it were true.

If we can't stop them on our own, then we'll cheat. I promise you.

[She's silent for a moment; she can tell he doesn't really understand the depths of despair, what it's like for her right now, how frightened she was, is, will continue to be. But she doesn't want to argue with him. Not really. She's too exhausted.]

Your promises are dangerous things.

[He could get there, maybe; but he refuses to, because every time he's given up so far, it's been a disastrously wrong decision. He won't join her there, and he can't drag her out, and he respects that, at least. But he can stand at the door, he can hold out his hand as long as he has to.]

I know.

[But he's making it anyway. Come hell or high water or old and terrible gods. If she's right, if everyone he loves and the planet he fights for and the other chambers of his heart are doomed then - why not, why not be dangerous, why not go down opposing it with all his strength and damn the consequences, because it can only get so much worse than that. So he promises. Whatever it takes.]

♻ 022 | audio

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