Zero

[sharpememory]

Who: Barron Sharpe and Prefect.
Where: Zero.
When: Today.
What: Prefect visits his inmate in zero. Barron does not enjoy not having his notes and having huge bits of his memory gone.
Warnings: Nothing in particular. Probably just some existential angst.

Comments

[buywithme]

Prefect wasn't sure what to do about Barron, sooner or later it seemed inevitable that he was going to have to take away his inmate's powers, but the idea made him uncomfortable. Despite everything he thought about the inmate's assorted behavior problems, he really did feel some concern for Barron. The man invested so much of himself in his work, that having it taken away would be intimidating at the very least.

Still, hopefully he wouldn't need to that away his inmate's powers. Not soon, at least. Hopefully he'd at least be able to give Barron enough time to adapt a little to the shock of the Barge, before he was forced to take any drastic measures regarding his powers.

This was the problem Prefect was turning over in his mind as he went down into level Zero to visit his inmate.

"Comrade?" He called out, as he approached Barron's cell, "I brought you a book to read, if you're bored?"

[sharpememory]

Barron walked over to the bar to get a closer look at who had arrived. Reflecting on the fact that whoever had put him in here had left him with his belt but not his shoes, which was strange. Barron did recognize Prefect though. He'd seen a lot of him. He remembered the drinking. Or more specifically, Prefect being very, very drunk.

"You're my cop." The one assigned to him personally. Although they called it something different here, but the word had escaped Barron. He'd have notes on that, somewhere. Barron paused before continuing.

"Yeah? What book?" He was bored. There was only so many times that you could poke holes in your memory that weren't even going to be filled again.

[buywithme]

"Your Warden, Comrade." Prefect corrected, shooting Barron a smile, before frowning slightly, "Do you need help remembering anything, Comrade?" It actually hadn't occurred to him that being in Zero, enough time would elapse for his inmate's memories to begin slipping away, although in retrospect it seemed obvious that would have to happen. It seemed a little unfair that zero negated the good part of Barron's power, without repairing any of the memory damage in return.

"Here, it's The Three Musketeers." Why yes, that was the same book Sam had given him years ago, when they were first assigned, "I don't know if you've read it before, but I figured..." he gave a little shrug, and extended the book towards Barron, pushing it through the bars, "Maybe you'd like to re-read it, if you had."

[sharpememory]

"Why would I need help remembering anything? The blowback isn't that bad." Barron snapped, crossing his arms. If his warden already knew about it, there wasn't a great deal of point in denying it. So, the best course of action would be to try and minimize the damage. As much as that was possible. Hopefully Barron's notes were still in his room. If they weren't, things were going to be very, very difficult.

Barron took the book through the bars, but also took the opportunity to grab Prefect's wrist. He still had the small holes cut in the end of his gloves from... something that he'd done before. Barron couldn't remember. He was ready to put the memory into Prefect's head. Prefect was coming down here to let him out, right?

[buywithme]

"Comrade, I have a file about your life, I know how bad it is. Besides, you changed eight people's memories this week, it's all got to add up eventually." Just stating the obvious there, because Prefect somehow suspected that Barron wouldn't actually remember why he was here, "So if you do have any questions, Comrade, then I don't mind answering them."

When Barron grabbed his wrist, Prefect's initial reaction was to jerk it back, hard. He'd been beaten up enough times to figure out that people could do it through the bars of a prison cell. It took him a moment to realize what his inmate was trying to do, but when it occurred to him, he felt a sudden jolt of outrage, "Comrade what the hell?"

[sharpememory]

Barron jerked back, surprise obvious on his face. Why wasn't it working? Prefect must have some kind of amulet on him. Of course. As if this man, with his file, would come down here unprepared. Barron stepped back from the bars, rubbing his hand. He'd still get the blowback from that, even if it hadn't worked.

"I wouldn't have had to do it if I wasn't stuck in here!" Barron shot back, gesturing at the cell. "And you're a liar. I wouldn't have changed the memories of that many people. That would be ridiculous. No one would do that. No one!"

Unless he had a good con going on, which had happened before. There must have been a really, really good plan behind this, even if it appeared to have failed spectacularly.

[buywithme]

"Comrade, you're stuck in here for a reason! And not believing me when I remind you of something you did within the last week does not convince me that the blowback isn't bad!" Prefect replied quickly, before leaning forward to peer through the bars.

"And It was ridiculous. All their stories contradicted each other, and none of them even did anything useful for you. It was a rubbish evil plan, Comrade."

Take that, Barron!

"You need to figure out a way of dealing with people that doesn't involve changing their memories."

[sharpememory]

"It was an amazing evil plan! It's not my fault if you don't understand the details of it." Barron was getting a bit loud there. And dammit, no one insults his evil plans. Even if he's not entirely sure what those evil plans are. Even if those evil plans were likely as ridiculous as Prefect stated. But surely Barron had had some sort of end game in mind.

"And I can deal with people without changing their memories." Barron snapped, crossing his arms. He has great with people. Even without the memory changing, which tended to smooth along most things.

[buywithme]

"Well, Comrade, it obviously wasn't amazing enough, was it?" Prefect responded snippily, because it was a ridiculous evil plan, and Barron should feel bad about it!

"Then why don't you do that? If you can deal people, without ruining your own mind in the process, then Comrade, why would you ever use your powers at all? I mean, especially here, where at the longest your powers will wear off after a week!" It was a little awkward putting this much exposition into his sentences... but sadly, Barron probably needed that exposition.

[sharpememory]

"The end game was amazing." Barron said, but sounded ever so slightly less sure. There had been an end game, right?

Barron ignored what was clearly insane rambling on Prefect's part. As if his powers could wear off in a week. That was like saying that there was no such thing as gravity. It was just impossible. You could never get back what you'd lost. Working 101.

"It's like walking. It's like breathing. Would you just stop doing it because it was bad for you? No. Of course not. You'd have to keep going." Barron decided just then that he was going to take this memory away from Prefect. As soon as possible. This was getting far too personal.

[buywithme]

"It's only amazing if it works." Prefect stated firmly.

He paused slightly when Barron compared the use of his power to breathing, because... unless he was mistaken, he'd made the exact same comparison himself about living in the Factory. Imagining life without it had been like imagining life without a limb, life without motor function, life without water, something impossible, unlivable, and stunted.

"It's not like those things, Comrade, because everyone walks around and breathes, and not everyone works people. And, even other people who do work people don't do it all the time." He explained this to Barron carefully, "But you don't have to run any cons here, Comrade. There's nothing to gain from using your power on people, and you'll still suffer from it, so you don't have to keep going here, and I don't understand why you would."

[sharpememory]

Barron sat down on the bed. Prefect might have had a point, but it still wasn't something that Barron expected a worker to say. He was pretty sure that Prefect was one. He wasn't sure where he knew that from, but he knew that he knew it. Used to that type of circular logic, Barron moved on to other things.

"Have you ever been in prison, Prefect? A real prison?" Barron hadn't either, but he wasn't about to let that ruin his point. "It's all about survival. If anything, cons are more important in here. And don't you want me to stay alive? Getting a replacement inmate you be a bit of a hassle, I think."

Barron shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "Unless you want another inmate? Someone different?"

[buywithme]

"Comrade, I was an inmate here for over two years before you arrived." Prefect replied blankly. Sooner or later he was going to have to talk to the Admiral about fixing Barron's memory a little, because having to repeat everything a million times was getting a bit tiring.

"I'm a graduate, and Comrade, I am telling you, people here know what you can do, and if they know that you are doing it? It just makes them more likely to target you! The majority of violent crimes here are committed to take revenge on people, or to try and preemptively stop people from hurting others! You've already got people watching you, and people angry with you, don't make it any worse!" He gave an irritable little sigh, and leaned against the bars, "I don't want another inmate, you're just fine. I just don't want you giving people reasons to hurt you!"

[sharpememory]

Barron stared at Prefect for a second. Prefect was probably right. And not knowing who these people were put Barron at a significant disadvantage. If anyone else knew about the memory loss, they might know that he wouldn't recognize them. He wouldn't be able to see the possibly inevitable shanking coming. And he did not intend to die on this boat.

"If you want to help me, you need to get me my journals." Barron was guessing that Prefect had already read them, but what could you do? "I'll make you a deal, too. I won't use my powers for a bit. Not unless I really have to. We're talking about to be stabbed type of have to."

[buywithme]

Prefect considered this offer for a moment, then nodded, "All right, Comrade. I'll bring your journals down, then while I'm down here, you make a note to only use your powers if there is an immediate danger of stabbing. Okay?"

He hesitated for a moment, then extended his hand through the bars, it wasn't as if Barron could change his memories down here after all, "Shake on it?"

[sharpememory]

"Yeah, fine. I'll do it." He would have written it down anyway. Just to be sure that everything was recorded. Partially out of force of habit, partially because he knew that he'd be actively using his power again at some point in the distant future.

Barron shook Prefect's hand, carefully making sure that none of their skin touched. He wasn't entirely convinced that Prefect wasn't going to try to work him at the last moment.

"There. We've got a deal." Barron said, grinning, once they'd finish their rather quick handshake.