(openish | prison log) lock our eyes on distant horizons

[boughtabookstore]

Date & Time: Nov. 19th - ??? at least several days, tbd
Location: Empty housing in the West Wing.
Characters: Arrested mutineers & visitors (potentially YOU)
Summary: Everyone locked up some mutineers so now they're slightly stuck in place.
Warnings: there will probably be discussion of violence and death, will add if necessary.

[ Mutineers have been put in some of the empty rooms in the West Wing, one guard at a time on the hallway and the doors only able to be opened from the outside for now. Roslyn and whoever else she can get to volunteer are rotating guard duty.

They have been set four to a room for the moment.

Cell 1: Charlie, Connor, Max, and very briefly Sev
Cell 2: Chloe, Marie, Tempest, Bond
Cell 3: Sev (after not long at all)
Cell 4: Jesse (after taking Tempest's powers)

Visitors are allowed, but please note that anyone who had at any point been advocating violence against the mutineers in a place where Roslyn is likely to have seen it will absolutely not be allowed near them. Visits will be supervised and in a separate room from the cells for the sake of privacy, with the door open and a guard within easy eyesight  and earshot of any raised voices. 

Mutineers will start without access to their tablets but will regain access within approximately a day to two days. However! These tablets will be temporarily unable to encrypt messages. Private messages to personal inboxes are still accessible but on the network itself all their interaction must be public.

Guards on Duty: Roslyn, Riku, Raiden, Wesley Mitchell, Travis Marks, Seras Victoria, Caspian. Working on 6 hour rotations, so each guard is on approximately once every 1 1/2 days.

If you have any questions about confinement etc just let me know! ]

Comments

[hyanaimne]

They can't.

[she shrugs a shoulder, still looking away] The only thing that will help is time.

[overclocking]

[ Chrono levels her a flat look—as well as he can, at least, when they're both stooped on the floor and she's doing her best turtle impression. It seems dubious that a run of the mill illness couldn't be treated with something; this is the future. Future enough that this dialogue is happening on the moon.

He sits back on his heels while he considers her for another long, pensive moment. Then he pushes himself to his feet, turns on his heel, and heads for the door without another word. ]

[hyanaimne]

[when he leaves, Tempest just reaches up to tug down her hood even further, assuming the worse, as she does. What was that, the third friendship? Fourth? She wasn't sure anymore]

[overclocking]

[ Tempest has a good fifteen minutes to assume the worst. After that fifteen minutes is up, she's once again interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps—and a metal thermos, warm to the touch, being placed in front of her. ]

I don't really know everything that's going on—some people might argue the point, but I'm not actually that dense.

[ He settles on the floor again—elbow to knee, chin to palm. ]

But... well, I can't really think of a time that warm tea didn't help, at least a little bit.

[hyanaimne]

[that startles the hell out of her, and instinct has her jerking away from the thermos at first - her hood falls back, and for a moment he'll see her eyes are redden than before - before she reaches up to scrub at them, quickly.

Someone isn't having a good day.

She tentatively reaches for it after another moment, though, cradling it in her hands and letting the thermos warm them up, first]

A-Ah . . . thank you?

[overclocking]

No problem.

[ He notices the red eyes, of course, but doesn't comment. Has time to note that she really isn't as old or wizened as she seems to carry herself.

That's never really a good sign. ]

You know... [ almost conversationally, though the quiet volume of his voice suggests there's still a bit more to it than that ] Rosette told me about the things you did for her. When I was taken, I mean. In all the time we've known each other, that was the first time we'd been separated, so I'm sure it was hard on her. But having someone there to help...

I know she probably never said it, but she appreciated it. I do too.

... And I think... it takes a certain kind of person, to go out of their way to help someone like that.

[hyanaimne]

[without the hood up, the stony expression, she really does look much younger than she actually is.

She's polite enough to listen, instead of interrupting. But she lifts her head to look at him, a long look that's nothing but bitterness - aimed at herself, not him]

Don't.

[overclocking]

Ah.

[ Ever the seasoned veteran at self-hatred and its every colorful iteration, Chrono doesn't misattribute the bitterness there. He meets her gaze steadily, mouth quirking into a small—humorless—smile. ]

Found it.

[hyanaimne]

[she lowers her head again, a humorless sound slipping out. She has no idea what he "found", and she doesn't want to know. Not if it goes down the same conversational pathway he was taking just before]

[overclocking]

[ That's fine; he can just as easily do the talking for both of them. He sighs and leans back, resting the back of his head against the wall, eyes on the ceiling. ]

Let me guess... you broke away because you thought it was the right course of action for yourself, or for the people you care about, or maybe because you just thought it was the right thing to do. [ His voice gains a flat edge the more he speaks, like he's reciting an ancient proverb of some kind. His own experiences might as well be, for how often as he repeats them to himself. ] But it didn't go well.

Now you're hated, hunted, or- [ falters for a moment on the word, before he resigns himself to using it ] demonized, because you broke away from the 'system'. And that's 'wrong', no matter how good the motivation.

So now you're wondering whether they were correct the whole time, whether you really have done something unforgivable no matter the intention. And no one will let you forget it.

Am I close?

[hyanaimne]

[she surprises herself by laughing. She can't help it. She lifts a hand to cover her face, but even as she stops laughing, her shoulders start shaking - like she's trying to hold the urge to cry back, but failing miserably. It's made clear how hard she's failing when she starts talking]

My kind has been hated, hunted, and demonized for as long as I can remember. I worked outside of it for most of my adult life. That is nothing new to me. In my world, I am a criminal, regardless of my crime, because I exist. That is what "Tempest" is, you know - a criminal hiding another criminal.

But no, you are not close. If anyone is breaking away, it is those I thought were friends. Why wouldn't they? I betrayed them, I am a traitor, I am whatever else I have been called since I made my participation known—but even if—even if they feel that way, I have not changed how I feel about this. Even if I lose everything again.

[overclocking]

[ Something about all this strikes a chord, entirely unwelcome, and this is the last place and the last situation to be commiserating. And yet his chest aches defiantly, oblivious to rationality and quiet mental mutterings like "it probably isn't the same at all."

Watches her struggle, silent as her voice warbles, and realizes he never actually thought he'd see someone like her cry. He's used to strong people always being that way. ]

Tempest... If you need to be sad, be sad. If you need to be angry, be angry. And if you need to cry, cry.

It's okay.

[hyanaimne]

[she shakes her head quickly, scrubbing at her face with the heel of her hand. She's done enough crying today, and she's worn out - far more than she already was. She doesn't want to cry anymore. Because if she does, she feels like she'll never stop]

[overclocking]

[ He really should just walk away. Leave her with the privacy he's sure she would prefer, pretend the intrusion never happened. She at least got tea out of it.

But it's a lot harder to do that, after what she just said.

He picks himself up, wordless, and crosses the room to sit down next to her, shoulder-to-shoulder. He doesn't know what else to do, but if he thinks about it, this is what Rosette would do. That might be reason enough. ]

[hyanaimne]

[she has no idea how to handle any of these people coming in, being nice to her, offering her various kinds of comfort. She feels utterly terrible in so many ways that she isn't sure how much longer she can stand being here.

She presses the heel of her hand into her temple and keeps her head down. That close, Chrono can feel her trembling - a mixture of being cold and being full of emotions]

[overclocking]

[ Chrono is reacquainted, once again, with the feeling of being terribly ineffectual. It's practically his natural state.

Leans in slightly, almost unconsciously. ]

What can I do for you?

[hyanaimne]

Everyone keeps asking that . . . and I've not idea how to answer them.

[because no one usually does ask what they can do for her. Before here, no one was close enough to even consider it - not even Maias]

[overclocking]

I understand. [ And he really does, he thinks. What would he say, were their situations reversed? ]

But it doesn't have to be anything large or grand. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. If you want me to stay, I'll stay.

Or even if it's just tea.

[hyanaimne]

[she glances down at the thermos in her hands and shrugs]

It is up to you whether or not you want to stay or leave . . . I would not ask that of anyone. [a little quieter] The tea is a nice gesture . . .

[overclocking]

It's not like it's asking a lot.

[ He sighs and tilts his head back to scrutinize the ceiling tiles, drawing his knees up to his chest. He doesn't seem to be going anywhere, at any rate. ]

Why did you assume I'd yell at you?

[hyanaimne]

Because to many, I have done something rather stupid.

[but with the way she says it, she thinks what she did is anything but]

[overclocking]

[ Can't help snorting a bit, because wow what an understatement. ]

Yeah, well... stupid is a word. Reckless and unwise are others. [ Notably absent from his list, though, 'immoral', 'wrong', 'traitorous'. ]

But you're already locked up, and I doubt yelling is going to change your opinion. It's certainly not going to fix what's already been done.

[hyanaimne]

Good.

[not said harshly, at least. She shrugs a shoulder] If people are thinking about it, then we have done what we set out to do.