01 - Video

[unduly_pitiless]

[The video feed cuts in on Alice sobbing softly. Her eyes are red, her cheeks are wet - she's been crying for a while. She opens her mouth and tries to speak, but the words stutter out before she can say anything coherent.]

I'm sorry - I'm sorry, I just -

[The video goes black. Alice reappears ten seconds later, marginally more composed but still

Comments

[video] - dean ended up talking a lot, srry. :|

[possemagnet]

[Crying kind of makes him awkward. Okay... kind of? Big, big understatement- but he can tell she's pretty jacked up and might need the comfort of an actual person face to face type of deal. He's seen people freak out about voice and written responses.

So, after some rifling with his journal thing, because Dean is all sorts of fail with technology. He points the fuzzy and gradually attaining clarity camera in the direction of his face.

There's some pseudo-indifferent pausing while he thinks of somehow to put it tactfully and then realizes he sucks at that and goes with the flow. His eyebrows shoot up.] Uh, hi. [Hand raise.] To answer you're first question... you're on the barge. To answer the second? It's a goddamn prison ship. It defies logic, so I'm not gonna get started on explaining it.

[His face hardens a little:] There somethin' you need?

[video] - lol it's all good

[unduly_pitiless]

[Alice just stares at Dean's face on the screen for a moment, then bites her lip and looks down.]

I don't know. This is...too much to take in. [She laughs humourlessly.] Someone to pinch me, maybe. I keep thinking I'm going to...I don't know, wake up.

[video] - <333

[possemagnet]

[Dean raises a hand to somehow punctuate that he understands and then he drops it.] Wish I could say different, but you're right. 65% of the folk that end up sucked into this place feel the same way you do starting out, but you are awake. Making excuses like you're in a coma, or something like that? It's only gonna make this place suck that much more for you. [Yeah, tact is something he doesn't have but at the very least it shows in his tone that he's TRYING to be kind.]

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

[She swipes her fingers underneath her eyes, wiping away a few tears, although they're still falling while she talks.]

I just don't understand how - how this place could exist, if it is real. All that darkness, it's just....terrifying. Where are we...?

[video]

[possemagnet]

[Dean rolls his eyes and pulls something of a frustrated face before glancing back to the screen at her.] Hell if I know. The only one who does is the Admiral.

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

[She cringes a bit at the rolleyes and looks away.]

I'm sorry. I know everyone must ask these things.

[video]

[possemagnet]

[Dean reaches back to scratch at the side of his neck with one finger before replying and trying to adopt a more considerate tone.] It's actually not that. There's just not much that can be explained... not in the detail that new people wanna hear it in.

[A beat.] The gist of it is that the barge is a big huge boat that drifts in and out of times and worlds and all that bullshit. Yeah, I know, hard to believe. People get dragged here to redeem themselves for whatever screwed up things they did in their lives, and the guys that come here by choice are here to help you with that.

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

I think I...I understand. It is very hard to believe.

[Alice smiles shakily.] But it's...it's not as if there's any other explanation, is there?

[video]

[possemagnet]

[Dean smiled back to be polite.] As stupid as it sounds, yeah, it's the one that makes the most sense... and thinkin' anything else is going to give you more trouble than it's worth. You might as well take this one by the balls and roll with it.

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

Mm.

You're...very kind. What's your name?

[video]

[possemagnet]

Dean.

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

Alice. Alice Morgan.

[She acquires a tissue from somewhere offscreen and dabs her cheeks slowly. She still looks upset, but reining it in.]

Have you been here for a long time, Dean?

[video]

[possemagnet]

[Dean leaned back a little on camera, obviously getting more comfortable.] It'll be a year in two months.

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

[Alice also rests back in her chair a little, clasping her hands together in her lap.]

Are you a...'warden'?

[video]

[possemagnet]

[Dean smiled a little bit at that, mostly because of the irony.] Nope. ...Sorry for the let down. [It's clear he's teasing in his tone.]

[video]

[unduly_pitiless]

[She smiles very slightly, but genuinely, at that.]

I'm not let down. I'm sort of...relieved, actually.