people like us, we don't need that much

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 )

( 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 )

[audio]

[After Mason leaves, Tiffany is sorting through a lot of feelings, but is calm and composed as she addresses the network. Her voice sounds a little bit more rough and hoarse than usual, but that's it. She has some stuff to say - both about Mason, and (belatedly) about her warden.]

I'm glad we picked Paris. Thank you. I'm sad Merlin missed it, but I got to spend a lot of time with Mason before he left, and that was a real good place to do it in.

[Indeed, Mason had been one of the people she'd spent the most time with - Barge residents could easily have spotted the two of them running around the city like idiots, holding hands in the streets and stealing kisses in quiet corners.

They could also have seen Tiffany sitting alone, looking melancholy and keenly feeling the absence of Merlin's company.]

You know, they were good guys, Merlin and Mason. I got a lot of warden friends who I love very much, but I think Merlin was the best one to have been my own warden, and I would never have wanted to trade him away. We were real perfect together; we were two peas in a pod. I know my graduating's got a lot to do with me, but I never would've done it so fast without him. And Mason... Mason was like no guy I have ever been with before. Guys from where I'm from don't treat me bad, but Mason was sweet and charming and romantic and I might never have that again, so I'm glad I got to have that experience here. He was a good experience. Both of 'em were good experiences. And I don't regret either of 'em; not for a single second. It's real easy for me to love people, when they treat me right - and they did. They did.

[She clears her throat abruptly, like she's trying to get rid of a cough; she's starting to get teary and it shows in her voice, so she decides to just end it there.]

Okay, I'm done; that's all I got to say.

[Click. She won't completely fall apart or try to isolate herself, but she'll be walking around in a fog for a little bit, and will spend more time than usual holed up in her room. And later some filters are added, one after the other, with a few hours separating them.]

( filtered to Dillon, Iris, and Simon )

( filtered to Allison, Barbara, Bucky, Elena, Iris, Letty, Morgana, and Tig )

( filtered to Crowley )

( telepathic message to Jean )

[spam]

[Tiffany will continue to show up to everything she's supposed to, including meals in the dining hall (sometimes she sits alone, other times she spots a friendly face and joins them) and her work in the infirmary (where - unless someone is hurt or needs attention - she can mostly be found sorting through supplies and keeping the clinic area neat). She heads out onto the deck most evenings, where she breaks her habit of hugging the side of the Barge and sitting on the safe, solid floor - she stands right at the railing, looking out at the stars.

She starts out taking all this about as well as can be expected - she's down in the dumps, but she knows life will go on. Then she begins to find herself wandering through the hallways on levels 4 and 7, hesitating in front of 4-19 and and 7-11 - Mason and Merlin's old rooms, respectively. Their doors are blank now, of course, but that doesn't stop her from standing in front of them for minutes at a time, like she's waiting for someone to come out. As the days go on, this becomes more and more common, and her stops become longer and longer. Eventually, they'll start lasting for hours. She won't connect it to her use of the Admiral powers or any other outside influences right away, but for anyone else that does, she's clearly very, very affected. Her loss of her friends and the Barge's loss of its inmates have become inexorably linked in her mind, and it's quickly turning into an obsessive fixation.]

[video]

[Tiffany Doggett appears to be moving up in the world. Horatio, Venus, and Tig's posts had sparked the beginnings of "I wonder..." feelings in her; when Venus had asked if anyone had magic powers, she'd experimentally wished for a couple new songs to appear on her iPod - and lo and behold, it had worked.

Two hours later, she's lounging like a queen on one of the poolside chaises, looking cool in a bikini and a pair of designer sunglasses, margarita glass in hand. The clothes folded on the chair beside her look new, too. Behind her, the pool room is noticeably expanded - the ceiling is taller, the pool itself is much bigger, and there's a twenty-foot water slide that empties out into the deep end.

There's also a hot tub.]

Y'all got any requests? I'm feeling generous today.

[Merlin is still in a coma, and she's seriously hating that, spending a good deal of her time hanging around him and fretting. But this? This is a good distraction.]

[spam]

[Every good thing has its downside, though, and non-stop wish-granting is no exception. Every so often, the built-up exhaustion will reach a boiling point and Tiffany will quietly vanish, retreating to her room and crawling into bed for days on end. Calls and texts will go unanswered, as will knocks on her door; however, she won't bother locking it, so anyone who tries can wander in. Eventually, she'll start to perk back up, and the process will begin anew.]

( filtered to Dillon, Iris, Mason, and Simon; dated to after Arthas's post )