(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

[buywithme]

Prefect had been in the kitchen for the last hour and a half going over the inventory. The repetitive, mechanical recording process was familiar enough to relax him somewhat without reminding him how far he still was from home. He was just tucking what he considered a reasonable payment for his work (three packets of instant chicken noodle soup) into his suit pocket, as he stepped out of the dining room and came face to face with D.

Prefect took a very quick step back, and cleared his throat, tucking the dried soup packets a little deeper into his pocket to conceal them.

"Excuse me, Miss."

[laws_of_nature]

D considered the somewhat furtive manner of the man he'd encountered, and the movement of a hand in a pocket. His eyes narrowed minutely although his expression was cool.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken. I am a Mister."

[buywithme]

It'd be pretty easy to assume that his theft of Chicken noodle soup was related in some manner to Prefect's apparent unease, but the truth was a little less interesting. Prefect had been stealing soup for over a year now with a complete lack of guilt. However, he'd also been living on the barge for almost a year, and his default response towards sudden encounters with new people was to put just a little more distance between himself and them than was necessary. At the revelation of the strangers gender, Prefect looked surprised,

"Oh, I apologise, Comrade." He gave D a surrepticious once over, confirming that yes, the man had no boobs before clearing his throat a little uncomfortably, "You're dressed very elegantly, Brother."

[laws_of_nature]

He allowed the compliment to placate him and smiled sedately, stepping back from the doorway silently. "How very kind of you to say so. May I ask your name, sir?"

D didn't particularly want to know - he didn't want to know any of these humans, or share in their company, or so much as breathe the same air - but he was aware that he could do nothing but succumb to the inevitable. He was aware that he had been stripped of most of his power. And the more information he had about these people, the better a position it placed him in.

[buywithme]

Prefect extended his hand carefully towards the other man, "Prefect. I'm very pleased to meet you." He smiled, a nice, big, fake smile.

He wasn't sure why, but his first instinct was that this person was probably a warden, there was just something about the formality in the way he spoke that made the Alpha plus suspect. he wasn't talking to someone dangerous.

[laws_of_nature]

D was not a fan of handshakes, and inch-long nails didn't help to that end, but he took the accepted hand and shook carefully.

"And you as well, Prefect. It was not my intent to detain you, I'm simply...finding my way around. I arrived here only yesterday."

[buywithme]

"Oh, you're not detaining me." Prefect said, quickly taking his hand back and leaning his head to the side slightly to get a better look at the other mans nails. "Welcome to the barge, uh--" He trailed off, glancing back up towards D's eyes, "I'm sorry Comrade, would you mind telling me your name?"

[laws_of_nature]

"Of course not. How rude of me not to introduce myself; I am called Count D." Technically it was true. People called him that. Maybe he could more legitimately lay claim to the title, now that his father had...

Hmm.

[buywithme]

Prefect visibly brightened, "You're a Count? That's very impressive. We have a Marquis here as well." He paused very briefly, before venturing: "You seem like a warden?"

[laws_of_nature]

"Do I?" D said, smiling implacably. "I suppose that I would. I made a career of...helping people to understand their true potential."

Even if that potential was for truly foul things, even if they paid dearly for it - but he would not accept liability. He'd never offered a contract to anyone illiterate.

"But you must forgive me, I have not spent long enough here to know what the typical warden is like. What is your place here, Prefect?"

[buywithme]

Prefect brightened even more at D's comments, "I used to help people understand their true potential!" Then he paused and frowned, "Well, admittedly, it was always their potential to fulfill a valuable role within a certain context, but... still, I was very good at making people good at their jobs."

Among other things.

Prefect smiled again, "I'm an inmate."

[laws_of_nature]

"I see," D said, and made a note to later untangle what a valuable role within a certain context actually meant. "How long have you been here?"

[buywithme]

"One year, five months and seventeen days." Prefect responded, enunciating the words carefully and methodically, before smiling again.

[laws_of_nature]

D raised his eyebrows in apparent sympathy. It probably seemed like a long time to him. "You've a great deal of experience of this place, then. Perhaps you might be so good as to tell me what I might expect? I know little of the Barge besides my own purpose here."

[buywithme]

Prefect folded his arms and knitted his brow slightly, considering the matter. It was a little hard to articulate exactly how bad the Barge could be when it tried, "The Barge... well, the barge isn't so bad. Some of the inmates are violent, but a lot of them aren't so bad. The real problem is the floods, Sist--" He cut himself off, and was quiet for a moment, "Brother."

He coughed a little uncomfortably, before smiling again, "The floodwaters... we're not sure what causes them, but they change things. Everything is suddenly... different. Your sex, your memories, your personality. The floods are the worst part."

[laws_of_nature]

"Oh my," he intoned. Hadn't he done the very same, on more than one occasion, to his customers - to the detective? The unpleasant ironies of this place were stinging more by the moment.

"That is quite alarming. Thank you for the forewarning - tell me, how often do these 'floods' occur?"