Eighteenth

[mercurialize]

[Public Voice]

I've talked to a few of you about this, but all right. Question. People come here because they have to fix themselves, right? That's rhetorical. My real question is, do they actually deserve it or is it just because they can be changed?

We don't actually have that answer, do we?

[Inmate Filter]

Then, for you guys, is that change even helpful or would you call it harmful to your way of life? Whatever it was before. People make enemies, I know how it is.


[Open Action Spam: Gym]

[Kylar's around every early morning that the Barge isn't on fire or trying to rhyme and sing with itself. With the ka'kari back at his disposal he has a ton of practicing to do. Today's stunt, he tries to coat a training dummy with the ka'kari. Giving it a thick black metalic armor. He knows better than to attack it with Retribution, actually, the ka'kari warned him of that. There will be questions of Why later.

So he tears at it with a dagger attempting every move he can think of. But the dagger is taking far more damage than the ka'kari, in fact, the metal hasn't even dented. When he's done, he wills the ka'kari back into his skin. There's just one problem.]

You ate the dummy!

~Devourer.~

Stop it! I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on this stuff from people destroying it. Not destroying it myself.

~You never learn, do you? First, you complain when I don't obey, now you complain when I do. Which will it be next time?~

You weren't supposed to eat-

[Wait. Is someone else in here?]

Comments

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

Hypothetically, there's not a lot of that going around anyway. Not here.

Seems like there should be something deeper, though, don't it?

inmate filter

[mercurialize]

Probably does go deeper. But then it turns back to the original question, right?

Easy for the hypothetical not to kill here, maybe even forsake the idea. But back where their from? It would get complicated.

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

I don't think killing's the problem, anyway. Plenty of wardens who did that.

inmate filter

[mercurialize]

Yeah, so clearly there's a right way and a wrong way to go about it, I guess.

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

You guess, huh?

inmate filter

[mercurialize]

No way to really confirm it, is there? Unless you have an idea..?

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

Maybe stop talking in hypotheticals? We're here for a reason, no use denying it.

inmate filter

[mercurialize]

It's not denial. Hypotheticals are easier to work with for most people. The files are bad enough without the entire boat knowing your life story.

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

...Right. [He wouldn't mind admitting to some of the stuff he's done- the killing, mostly, had not been something he minded admitting to to most people. But if Kyle's so resistant to talking about it, well, he won't force him.]

inmate filter

[mercurialize]

[You're officially weird, James. Wanting to be all open and honest and stuff. What's up with that.]

And you think otherwise.

inmate filter

[thelastbullet]

[There's still plenty to be dishonest about! Not to worry.]

Think it's easier to get a straight answer without the hypotheticals.

inmate filter -> Private

[mercurialize]

Not for everyone, but all right.

[A sigh before he switches it to private.]

That apothecary I used to run? Got in with the wrong kind of people, I tried to get out of the business before and now I'm dead. But it's the only thing I know how to do and I'm good at it. It's not all bad, some good comes out it. But if I open another shop, they'll probably find me again and we're back to where we started. They don't take refusals.

[Liar liar pants on fire.]

At least the hypothetical was generic.

private

[thelastbullet]

[Something's not right here, he knows it- Kyle's hypothetical had been just a little too specific, before, and he hadn't expected this story at all. He knows something's not right, but he has no idea what, and no idea how to weasel it out of Kyle. He's not really sure he's interested enough to try yet, either.]

Sounds like they were harmful for your 'way of life'. Not whatever change that'd get you out of here.

private

[mercurialize]

[He honestly hates lying, but he knows better than tell sporadic truths to different people. Lies always have holes, just a matter of making those holes look smaller than they are.]

Almost.

Let me put it another way. People pay more for antidotes when there's a poison going around. Other times, it's a contact poison quick and usually painless, but more importantly silent. Easy to coat on a doorknob or wine glass during important parties.

I may have not been holding a dagger to their throat, but the specifics hardly change the outcome. Dead is dead. And that's also part of my point, I could try another profession, but once they found me, the demands would return. Being the better person this place wants me to be to put that coin aside or outright refuse won't matter much when the time comes.

[Kyle is a bit of a coward that Kylar would never admit to. Somehow it fits though, alongside the friendliness and smiles.]

private

[thelastbullet]

[It's enough to settle his doubts for now, and his question finally makes sense.]

Then another name and another place seem like the best option you have. Maybe- learning to stay away is a step in the right direction.

private

[mercurialize]

See? Same answer. The hypothetical could've worked.

private

[thelastbullet]

[He snorts a little] Yeah, only now the answer actually makes a lick of sense.

private

[mercurialize]

Oh, c'mon. What part didn't make sense?

private

[thelastbullet]

Didn't add up.

private

[mercurialize]

[Because the hypothetical was kind of more close to the truth. Oops.]

Okay. But how?

private

[thelastbullet]

[He's going to be very confused if he ever learns the truth-- or even part of it, really.]

Because it didn't say why changing would be so difficult. If the change is somethin' deeper than 'not wasting people' it should be more complicated than that.

private

[mercurialize]

But if a hypothetical is too complicated then it sounds like the truth, that's not much of a hypothetical then, is it?

Never mind. Guess I'll just have to work on it for next time.

private

[thelastbullet]

[He snorts a little] Maybe I just shoulda finished college, who knows.

private

[mercurialize]

[There is unfortunately only one college in Kylar's mind. He doesn't like it. He's suddenly suspicious.]

College?

private

[thelastbullet]

Uh, yeah. Princeton. ...The university?