00 💎 IC inbox

[supposedtochange]

Video / Text / Voice / Spam

Comments

[takestime]

[Have an awkward, somber teenage boy with hair that's just a little too bright red.]

Did you really kill your maker?

[This isn't condemnation. It's some thin threadbare cousin to hope.]

[supposedtochange]

[Blink.]

I...

Yes, I did.

Is that something Jasper told you? What's your name?

[takestime]

I saw her yelling about it.

I'm Kahl.

Did they deserve it?

[supposedtochange]

She was destroying Earth's organic life. She and the other Diamonds wanted us destroyed. I didn't want to shatter her, but...

They didn't leave me a choice.

[takestime]

Organic life destroys itself anyway.

[He points this out dispassionately, casually. Life and death are the same goddess, where he comes from.]

Why did she want to destroy you?

[supposedtochange]

Organic life recreates itself. And they didn't like that I was defending it from them.

[takestime]

[Family squabbles, he thinks, with no idea of the irony. But it sounds like the sort of thing his family fights about.]

You're not a god. And you talk about life like something else. What are you?

[supposedtochange]

I'm a Gem. I'm conscious, but inorganic. I don't need any of the things a normal lifeform does.

[takestime]

What do you need?

Voice, immediately after pairings are announced

[tetractys]

ALRIGHT. SHOVEL TALK TIME! IF YOU HAD TIME TO PICK UP A GUY ON EARTH, I ASSUME YOU HAD TIME TO PICK UP SOME FUN PHRASES LIKE THAT ONE, TOO, BUT I CAN GO THROUGH THE BASICS IF WE'RE UNCLEAR BY THE END OF THIS!

I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE A WELL-BEHAVED INMATE! I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S GENUINE, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MUCH TO ME. SIXER'S A SMART GUY AND HE HAS YOUR FILE, HE'LL DEAL WITH THAT PART OF THINGS. HE'LL HANDLE WHATEVER THIS GIANT COLORFUL LADY WEB OF INTRIGUE AND ASSASSINATION IS ABOUT, THAT'S NOT MY JOB!

MY JOB IS A LOT EASIER! IF SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO YOUR NEW WARDEN, SOMETHING BAD WILL QUICKLY HAPPEN TO THE PERSON WHOSE FAULT IT WAS! IT'S A SIMPLE KIND OF CAUSE AND EFFECT PROCESS! FEEL FREE TO TELL ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN INVOLVING HIM IN THE CURRENT FEUD!

Re: Voice, immediately after pairings are announced

[supposedtochange]

[A short pause, then:]

I'm so glad he has someone who cares about him so much.

It can be hard to love a human when they're so fragile, can't it? Physically, I mean. No wonder you're so worried.

voice

[tetractys]

THE CONSTANT ANXIETY ABOUT FORD'S SOFT, SLOWLY-EXPIRING MEAT BODY IS A NIGHTMARE THAT I'M TRAPPED IN!

[yaaaaay]

Re: voice

[supposedtochange]

....I felt a bit like that about Greg, sometimes. But that's the way humans are meant to be, right? If they weren't finite, they wouldn't be capable of doing so many amazing things. Could you have loved Ford if he was just like you?

voice

[tetractys]

ACTUALLY, I'VE BEEN THINKING OF MAKING HIM SLIGHTLY MORE IMMORTAL!

DEATH MIGHT BE A GREAT MOTIVATOR, BUT NOT EXISTING SOUNDS LIKE THE PITS!

Re: voice

[supposedtochange]

Has he...volunteered for that?

voice

[tetractys]

I ASKED HIM ABOUT IT, HE SAID HE WAS THINKING IT OVER.

Re: voice

[supposedtochange]

I know he'll make the best choice for him. But you won't make it for him, will you?

Text, a bit after the public post

[mothmansplaining]

I'm sorry. It didn't work.

Re: Text, a bit after the public post

[supposedtochange]

Why are you apologizing, Ford?

[mothmansplaining]

Because I've let you down. I've let everyone down who's ever been or cared about an inmate. The watch project can't get information on disappeared inmates, which means I can't study it, which means I can't stop it.

I don't know what else to do.

I'd hoped that I'd be able to get you out of here using science. I want you to make it, Rose. I want you to get to meet your kid. But it looks like it's going to take graduation to do that after all, and I don't have the first idea how to get you there.

You deserve to know that most of what I try ends up in failure, or with terrible consequences I didn't expect. You'd have a better shot with a warden with a better track record. Someone who knows what they're doing, who can actually trust bring you back to life.

I'm just going to disappoint you.

[supposedtochange]

[The radio silence goes on for so long Ford could be forgiven for thinking she's left him on read. And then:]

No.

[That Will Be All.]

[mothmansplaining]

I'm sorry, I...don't know which part you're talking about.

[supposedtochange]

All of it. You don't just give up.

[mothmansplaining]

I'm not giving up Rose. I'm facing reality!

And the reality is that I was made to fail. My purpose was to complicate things, even when I thought I was working to solve them. And that hasn't changed on the Barge.

[supposedtochange]

Don't talk like that. You're a human being. You weren't made to do anything.