lastvoyages Inbox

[forensicks]

[Walter has recorded a video message from the point of view of someone who has just come through the door into his cabin and sees Walter at his desk in the chair turned around to face the viewer. He gives a little salute-wave.]

Didn't get me. But nice try.

Comments

[forensicks]

Oh, because his sensitivity around me is probably gonna hurt him. A lot. You're sure you don't mind?

[abrightboy]

Will doesn't have a problem with you. He has a problem with people weaponizing what he tells them about me in an attempt to smooth the road to hurt me so they can keep me at arms' length while they bake a man into a pie for the girl they like. As one hypothetical. You're fine. Please drop by. We have sugar cookies with icing.

[forensicks]

[Walter puts his hand to his temple. Headache!!!] It's 5 AM, Malcolm, I am officially worried about how your benzos aren't keeping you down right now. What is going on with the cookies, did Wu Xin graduate in the middle of all this? Was he roofied?

[abrightboy]

Well, I just took them; give them time to work. It's, like, 5am.

....Wu Xin? He wasn't roofied. He's... around. The cookies are from Maggie.

[forensicks]

I mean when you took pills to get to bed. Whatever. Good for the kid, just... I have a problem with, quote, "shaking loose" dozens of people to get lost in the void of space except for a handful that conveniently almost all agreed to work for the magnanimous Big Guy. I have a smidge or two of empathy for them. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'll be over soon.

[abrightboy]

I don't take pills before bed. And Wu Xin isn't here, though I don't know what you're quoting. Anyway, don't start shit with Will. I won't have that. Not tonight. This morning. Whatever time it is.

[forensicks]

The freaking... Boat I can't pronounce. Pirate ship. Look, I have been keeping my feelings bottled up inside, where they belong, but that might not be good enough. I don't want to hurt him!

[abrightboy]

What did Will do? He was looking after me.

[forensicks]

Yes, but he doesn't—care. Not that it's particularly unique or directly violent to not care, but your fiancé is in the unique position of being psycho-physically hurt by perceptions, so I've been keeping him at a distance for a month or so now.

[abrightboy]

You... think he doesn't care about the people on the Narrenschiff? That is so not the truth. Where did you get that impression?

[forensicks]

[SIGH.]

Maybe his unwavering loyalty to the big guy who told us to treat their ship like a piñata?

[abrightboy]

Will's... unwavering... loyalty.... to the Admiral? ......Will Graham? Will didn't piñata a single thing. We were actually protecting the Narrenschiff's infirmary and its personnel until we couldn't anymore. You know. The opposite of what the Admiral suggested we do.

[forensicks]

I know that—Are you telling me you've been anti piñata this whole time?! That you admit for all intents and purposes our shipmates permanently murdered dozens of people?

[abrightboy]

We've both said so to people who've actually talked to either of us about it.

CW mention of suicide

[forensicks]

So what was with all the "thank you admiral sir, I'm so glad you're gonna unkidnap us because you're the good kidnapper who tortures us with loopholes as opposed to the bad kidnapper who commits the evil crime of pirates who don't do anything"? What was that supposed to mean?

Re: CW mention of suicide

[abrightboy]

Uh... you just made it up so you tell me. Because that isn't what anyone here said. Maybe that's what you heard through your This Is A Cult And I Can Prove It Filter.

[forensicks]

I would love it if I heard he cared about what inmates get forced into.

[Grateful? When my choice is taken away from me...? Those are the words that come back to Walter.]

...so just to make a hundred percent sure we're in agreement. The superbeings running barges have this power called a hold, and if you have an unfortunate case of being dead in your homeworld, then the loss of the hold means you die. So weakening the hold on purpose, which is what several people did, basically means murder. Unless you're one of the lucky few picked up. We are actually on the same page here? For realsies?

I know I'm being a complete asshat right now, but as a big fan of the sanctity of human life, I'm sure you'll understand.

[abrightboy]

That’s what some people did and we didn’t agree with it. Will came here as an inmate, you know.

[forensicks]

He came by choice. Like me. And unlike some people.

[Who he cares about more and more.]

... So on the topic of people who have taken away the choices of others, our favorite French witch has struck again, huh?

[abrightboy]

I don’t even know what you’re mad at Will about anymore, Walter. Stuff he didn’t actually do or say? Graduating like a sucker? Having curly hair? Walking his dogs on deck? Reading you a bit for filth when you were literally plotting to cook a fellow passenger? Yes, Justine pulled some shit and I told Jedao what I think about it in no uncertain terms. What do you think about what you’ve heard of it?

[forensicks]

[SIGH!!!]

Forgive me for tiptoeing around Will's feelings, I had somehow, surely delusionally, gotten the impression that was a major part of "your dream life" that makes our intermittent suffering worth it.

[Hardly smaller sigh.]

I told Jedao that Justine was being a perfect inmate in that regard by stabbing me, and I guess she said "challenge accepted".

[abrightboy]

I think you’re the one that just brought up that unlike some people, you chose to be here. Will can take care of himself, but I’m not going to ask him to muzzle himself. Not this week. Engage at your own peril, to be honest. And I’m not going to apologize to you for being happy about some things that have happened to me here, so imply that makes me an instrument of your suffering if you want. I’ve been blamed for stupider stuff by people who knew less better, but whatever gives you someplace that feels productive to focus your rage.

I will tell you this, though:Justine didn’t get her sense of impunity from your opinion of her…. Inmateness. Her sense of entitlement and her level of pure selfishness were baked into her long before she got here. This isn’t your fault.

[forensicks]

...Noise cancelling headphones. Noise. Cancelling! Headphones.

[WALTER IS ON TASK THOUGH!!! HE IS NOT SHAKING WITH RAGE!!! REALLY IT'S A WONDER HE DOESN'T TELL MALCOLM THINGS MORE OFTEN. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS GREAT. He's like stretched out his hand on the mattress or something. Yeah. Everything is fine. Look how grounded he is.]

An inmate in Zero. For something she actually did of her own free will. I thought I might never see the day myself. Don't take that personally. Jedao in particular thought locking her up was beyond the pale before, he was dead serious.

[abrightboy]

You’re so funny. It’s not a prison sentence. He’s in there with her. He’s protecting her from the people she violated while he thinks of the actual consequences. She may not like it, but that’s just a bonus.

[forensicks]

The... actual consequences.

You mean there's going to be some kind of silly little curse that, as we literally just found out, has nothing to do with prevention?