(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 tapped a single finger against his lips, offering an odd glassy smile. "And do you take pride in having served this Factory, Prefect?"

[buywithme]

Prefect nodded and closed his eyes, expression reverent, "More than anything in the world."

[laws_of_nature]

Remarkable. He had never before encountered a man so unashamed of his place in the cogs of a machine, a device so unfeeling as to strip him of the individuality afforded by a name.

"Has this one year, five months and seventeen days done nothing to cloud your view of the Factory?" D asked, neutrally.

[buywithme]

Prefect paused for a minute, contemplating his answer. When he did reply, he spoke carefully, "I understand, that if someone wasn't born there... if they were used to things being different, I can understand how they wouldn't function the way people are expected to function. I understand that's not always a bad thing, it's just how things are, and I can see why those people would think that it was a bad thing to be part of the Factory. I still believe in it though. I believe in what it did."

Admittedly, Prefect's belief in what it did is a bit on the abstract side, but it's still very sincere.

[laws_of_nature]

"How very diplomatic." The dry edge to his voice was almost unnoticeable. "Although it seems to place you and your Warden at something of an impasse, if your loyalty is what is keeping you here."

[buywithme]

Prefect shrugged. The comment made him feel ever so slightly ill at ease. It wasn't a question exactly, so he couldn't exactly answer it, but it sent a little chord of guilt through him. His devotion to the Factory was sort of a burden on Sam. He'd never worked out entirely what it was his warden would get if he graduated, and the prospect of doing so was so completely impossible to him that it was difficult to speculate on the matter.

"Sam goes home a lot. My warden, that is. He works for the police somewhere, and sometimes they need him to go back there, and he gets a break from this place. So I guess he doesn't mind so much that I can be difficult in some areas."

[laws_of_nature]

D almost twitched at the mention of the police, because honestly, it would have been nice if he had been able to escape that particular line of business altogether.

"Is it not a little unfair on you for him to constantly flaunt his freedom to come and go as he pleases?"

[buywithme]

Prefect shook his head, "He doesn't flaunt. He just goes and works and comes back. Besides, he needs the breaks from this, I think. He can be a little highly strung."

[laws_of_nature]

"I understand."

So. The Barge could be as temporary an accommodation for Wardens as they pleased, but Inmates were trapped for months or years on end. For all its pretensions to being something more, it did not sound so dissimilar from a prison on Earth.

He smiled, and gave a shallow bow. "But I should be moving on, Prefect. It seems that there is much more to see. Thank you, for indulging my curiosities."

[buywithme]

Prefect nodded, smiled, and returned the bow a little awkwardly. "Have a good day, Brother. Be seeing you."