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[happinessboys]

I really see no difference in how you're behaving now and how you were behaving before. Aside from the smell. You simply have...claws. Or feathers. Fur. Scales. Something of that sort. And you also have an excuse, don't you?

You can say "I wasn't truly myself. I was simply flood affected. The animal instincts got the better of me." It's a

Comments

Private

[buywithme]

I'm myself, Comrade. What do you want to talk about?

Private

[happinessboys]

Our mutual acquaintance.

Private

[buywithme]

O'Brien. All right, Comrade. What about him?

Private

[happinessboys]

I'd prefer to speak in person. The deck?

Private

[buywithme]

All right Comrade. I'll be there shortly.

[And sure enough, Prefect is heading up to the deck to meet Beatty.]

Spam

[happinessboys]

Bring a lighter.

[Beatty paced the deck idly, his hands behind his back, fingers trembling slightly. He saw Prefect and walked over, quite calm.]

Spam

[buywithme]

[Prefect spotted Beatty and went to meet him half way across the deck. He fished the lighter out of his pocket and offered it to the inmate.]

I thought you had your own, Comrade.

Spam

[happinessboys]

[He looked up to Prefect and raised a shoulder in a shrug.]

Not at the moment. [Taking the lighter, he resisted the urge to play with it and simply flicked it on to light his cigarette. He held it, though, as he looked over the railing.]

When did you fall, comrade?

Spam

[buywithme]

[Prefect frowned, and leaned against the railing idly, thinking hard. It had been so long ago.]

The first time?

[Long, long pause as he thinks about it.]

Nearly four years ago. Three years and eight months.

Spam

[happinessboys]

[He shook his head.] No. The recent time. When you were here. When you became a warden.

Re: Spam

[buywithme]

[Oh! That was an easier question.]

Nine months ago. Just before Christmas.

Re: Spam

[happinessboys]

Why? [He blew smoke out towards the abyss, no longer affected by the view in the slightest. He remembered when it had been scary. But now...nothing.]

Spam

[buywithme]

I stopped O'Brien from going to the Borg Queen, to be... to have her erase his consciousness. I didn't think that losing his mind was worth it to be part of whatever collective would have him.

[Prefect shrugged.]

That was enough, I guess, Comrade.

Spam

[happinessboys]

Tell me about that. [He stared down at his lit cigarette, still holding the lighter with his other hand.]

Spam

[buywithme]

It's... it's sort of private, Comrade.

[He'd hugged O'Brien on the floor after having a long heart to heart about how they were friends and he cared about him. There was no way that he was telling Beatty that.]

Spam

[happinessboys]

Of course it is. [He linked his fingers together loosely.]

I'm not forcing you to explain anything. But we all have our breaking points, don't we? That's all I wanted to know.