(Untitled)

[laws_of_nature]

Who: Count D; absolutely open!
Where: The deck, elsewhere
When: Today, mid-afternoon onwards
What: Gettin' acquainted with the Barge.
Note: Multiple threads encouraged! D's going to be wandering so feel free to bump into him in pretty much any of the public areas.

Comments

[villageson]

11-12 was just making his way to the deck. He looked happy until he spotted a figure there and for an instant he was worried it might be Judas, trying to jump off the Barge again. He was relieved when he saw that it wasn't.

"Um. Hello," he greeted a litle cautiously but gave a smile. "Are you new here?"

[laws_of_nature]

D inclined his head. The boy was young, but he had no judgement to pass on the fact; he knew full well that age had no relevance to character. Not really. Still, he mustered the friendly smile he used for his more youthful customers.

"A recent arrival, yes."

[villageson]

"I'm 11-12," he held out a hand politely. He pronounced his name indeed just like the numbers: Eleven-Twelve. "What's your name?"

[laws_of_nature]

He took the offered hand and shook gingerly, wondering idly at the sort of home environment that would give numbers instead of names to its children. "I am Count D. It's a pleasure, 11-12."

[villageson]

"Nice to meet you. So are you here... willingly?" 11-12 asked, thinking that was probably a better way to ask then flat out questions about inmates and wardens.

[laws_of_nature]

11-12's phrasing might have been the most polite way of asking which side of the fence he stood on, but it also gave D the opportunity to dissemble.

"I was a little short of alternatives when I came here," he said. "Nonetheless, I'm sure this place has benefits enough. And you, were you...willing?"

[villageson]

11-12 looked a little confused by the answer. He replied simply. "I'm an inmate... but I'm trying to get better."

[laws_of_nature]

"A noble intent," D murmured, not commenting on the fact that humans were ridiculously short-sighted in defining what was 'better'. "Might I assume, then, that some Inmates are not so ambitious?"

[villageson]

"I think some people don't believe I'm sincere because it seems most inmates here are... difficult. They like being bad or something. Or they don't think they are so they don't want to be cured," 11-12 explained. "I know what I did was wrong and I never want to do it again..."

[laws_of_nature]

D found that extremely unlikely. He had only a delicate understanding of the Barge's peculiar mechanics, but he suspected that if this boy truly had no wish to repeat his crimes then there would be little point in him being here. Desire could be repressed, it could be denied, but if whatever darkness had brought the boy here had truly gone then he would not be here. Not as an Inmate.

"And who is assisting you in this enterprise? You do have a Warden?"

[villageson]

While he didn't want to murder anybody else - and felt he didn't really want to even kill the people he already had - he was unstable and it could easily happen again given the right (or wrong) set of circumstances. So that instability and impulse needed to be addressed.

But there was little sign of him being murderous right now, not in the innocent way he was smiling, even though his eyes now looked a little troubled.

"Yes... I have a warden. He's my second warden. Sometimes they disappear."

[laws_of_nature]

Of course they did. Most of the Barge's number seemed human, and to say that they were as impulsive and as easily distracted as magpies was an insult to magpies.

"Do you get on well with him?"

[villageson]

"Yes, he's really nice. His name is Jed," 11-12 enthused. "I just hope he doesn't vanish," he looked worried again. It had affected him badly when Miss Vida had left, especially as he'd almost gotten himself killed searching for her.

[laws_of_nature]

"Inconsistency is part of human nature," D said, folding his hands over the railing. "You should not grow too attached to him; to any of them. Do not put yourself in a position where you would be hurt by another loss."

[villageson]

"How can you not grow attached?" He sighed. "I don't understand why people disappear and all the other weird things that go on around here."

He may have come from an unusual place in theory but to him it had seemed much more normal than all the supernatural goings-on that happened on the Barge. For most accounts and purposes he was just a normal human being.

[laws_of_nature]

"How can you not grow attached?" D echoed. "Surely you do not give completely of yourself to everyone you know."