Ezio was a warden before. He's a good man. [ He knows what this is about—why didn't I get a promotion?—but tries just the same: ] Was there someone you were hoping to see?
Yeah. I want to see me with a nametag that says "Rhys Strongfork: Warden" on it.
[ He's bristling. It isn't fair! At least 2 of the 3 people he knows are now transfers, he's the only one who's been left holding the inmate title. That sucks, he doesn't deserve this.
After a minute he answers the question properly, still terse. ]
Not really. It's like you said, I wasn't there long. And anyone who had something to offer me there probably wouldn't be able to anymore.
[ What was Carol without the strength she offered in numbers? What was Tess without Carol, and Rhys being a reliable information source that would grant him privileges? The situation of being held hostage on a space cruiser in butt-fuck space was bad no matter how you looked at it, but Rhys had done what he did best while there: carved out a nice little nook for himself to comfortably exist and thrive in so long as he kept playing his cards right. Now he was back at square one. ]
It's a huge pain in the ass. But I think you could be good at it.
[ He's not surprised at the answer—he's surprised at how badly he'd wanted to hear something different, and not just for Rhys' sake. It's been a year. The people he cared about—most of them probably dead—sometimes seem like a bedtime story.
A grim fucking bedtime story. ] I check the loading bay every once in a while [ every day ] if you ever feel like coming.
Did you learn anything there? Not what it was trying to teach you, I mean in general.
I mean yeah, of course I'd be good. But I don't really have time to stick around and find out.
[ Still unsure on what exactly wardens get out of doing their job, but it can't take priority over what's at stake back home.
As for coming to the loading docks...most people he knows aren't ones he'd want to see. Which is a sad thought in and of itself, so let's move on. ]
It taught me that someone out there has created technology that not only can transport you from anywhere in the universe but dilate time while it's at it, which is nuts all on its own. I don't know if even Eridian tech can manage something like that.
[ It'd be an amazing boon for him if he can figure out just how the hell they're doing it. But other than that... ]
And that no one really knew how the whole system worked, which sucked.
[ He couldn't play the game, couldn't win if no one even knew the rules. ]
[ At least it's the tech he wants to emulate—not the model of maintaining control through opacity. Volk's post had been irritating, but it hadn't been wrong. ] No one knew how it worked or admitted when it didn't.
That doesn't mean I think you being here is a mistake, but tell me if there's some kind of breakdown.
What do you think of the other inmates? [ He remembers Rhys' reaction to Sephiroth's taunts—that long-haired windbag. How he'd considered stepping in, couldn't bring himself to do it. He remembers another Rhys challenging wardens on the network, setting up an inmate advocacy office. ]
I am here by mistake. I am so not on the same level as everyone else here, okay? I didn't kill for sport or burn down settlements or even smuggle kids. I'm nice to kids!
So my thoughts on other inmates? We're not the same.
It was a few things. [ A pause, as he considers what he knows about Rhys. The unfortunate likelihood that Rhys—this Rhys—will regard some of what he's done as inspiring. ] My brother in law, who is now my ex-brother in law, was always an asshole. Rich, handsome, charming—actually charming, when he turned it on. I was none of those things. He kept me around for the novelty, I think. And because he could tell I was desperate. Just from the way I dressed. He was easily bored, liked pushing buttons.
I don't know. You could throw adjectives at it forever.
He did something horrible. Made me watch. It's a long story, but I ruined him for it. Left him alone out in the desert. When he made it back I took everything from him. Married his sister. Took over his dad's company.
[ He's only joking as far as it'll mask the cut William just inflicted. He doesn't treat everyone like shit! Not even most people...he knows he can talk down to others but that's just business baby, either you have something worth his time to suck up to you or you don't. He's personable either way, what else do you want from him? ]
Uh. Wow, okay. And I thought I was petty.
[ He is. He'd probably do something similar to Jack, if given that kind of chance. If he hadn't crushed the last vestige of Jack's sentient existence underneath the heel of his boot. ]
I wouldn't take back anything except answering the message that apparently got me killed. I had a handle on things, and wouldn't have my company without a few broken eggs.
[ He also wouldn't have ended up stranded on a DEATH PLANET if he'd just waited a week and allowed Vasquez to screw up that deal on his own, or never plugged in that drive, or never relied on Fiona and Sasha for even a fraction of a second to come through for him, or never said yes to Jack. Things he can't let himself think about because he will actually completely lose it.
He may have not gotten a vault, and anyone he gave a shit about is probably dead, but he had that ATLAS deed in his hands and was determined to make that shitty consolation prize work for him out of spite. ]
He leaves it. Rhys is a fucking asshole; Rhys is an easy target. Rhys is scared. There's a part of William itching to puncture that ego, and if he said anything more he doesn't trust it'd be in the man's best interests. ]
I didn't marry her to get back at him. We were engaged already. [ Does Rhys care? Will he remember any of this? Regardless, it feels important to say. ]
[ He'd probably fit in at Hyperion, it sounds like he would have liked it too. ]
It was a hail from an old work associate [ ENEMY ] They screwed me over on a deal, and I thought they'd come crawling back to make it up to me. I don't know if it was them or someone they hired who ended up attacking me but either way: severely uncool.
[ And to continue the question for an answer game: ]
I don't know. [ Which is what every graduated inmate says. I don't know, it was personal. He wishes he had some moment to point to—some test passed, a perfect, definitive summing-up.
That's not how people work. ] I knew I was a bad person—that's why I dressed that way. The hat belonged to a dead man. I thought I could keep it contained, if I...where I'm from I'm a world-renowned philanthropist. There are all kinds of fucking foundations with my name on them.
You can say it's just money and you'd be right, but when I was a kid a little money would've changed everything.
I've accomplished very good things, but I put as little of myself into them as I could. I didn't want them tainted. I think I hoped wardens would show me how to do it honestly. You know the business world, good people get ground down or they walk away. Nobody sticks their neck out and lives to tell the tale.
There was a breach where someone derailed his whole life for me. He stopped flying planes to spend every day in a dingy apartment, taking care of his crazy brother. But it was an inmate. Larry Trainor.
I never saw a warden choose an inmate over the person they were fucking. Never saw them give up anything they wanted. Heaven forfend they commit to a principle or stand by a decision. It was mostly talk, with them. Platitudes. I hated them not just for being fakes, but for being so bad at it.
I think what happened was I stopped caring about how much they'd hurt me and just wanted to spare anyone else.
It didn't fix anything with Logan. That's still a mess. I still hate him. But I don't like seeing people broken anymore.
He wasn't expecting such an intensive answer, just the usual "I don't know, it's different for everyone" spiel, entirely unhelpful. "Don't be shitty." Okay, great.
It takes a few minutes for Rhys to reply as he parses this, there's parts that read in a way where he feels like he's missing information, an inmate was his brother? And took care of him when they were at port? But he's getting the gist of it, the conclusion, he thinks, is obvious.
Haha, oh my god. You graduated out of spite.
And stuck around out of it too. He can do that! He's great at that!
Fiona.
I didn't have a lot of choice working with her. She tried to con me out of our initial [ stolen ] deal, and when that didn't work out we ended up stumbling on something bigger that needed both of us. Which would have been fine! We both would have won, I was letting bygones be bygones for the other stuff. But the thanks I got for holding up my end of the deal was to get stranded on a space station that was going down.
[ He gets bitter even talking about the basic strokes of it all. She wasn't the only one who screwed him over, or even the worst, but she'd been the last. ]
My turn: What do wardens get out of all of this? Besides showing up the other guys?
[ That echoes some of his own fears so precisely it gives him pause. ] That's how it started, yeah. A fuck you to wardens who said they couldn't help me. But I never set out to graduate. I set out to change.
I'm not here to show anyone up. I stopped caring what they thought a long time ago. Well it feels like that.
Tangibly or intangibly? [ He can guess—this is the guy who thought the casino would be improved by handing out shitty plastic prizes—but hope springs eternal. ]
[ Hey what else would be good to have on the Weenie Hut Jr on steroids express? There was no economy there, and even though everyone seemed armed and dangerous to the teeth the majority of it seemed soooomewhat underhanded. Kiddie prizes for kiddie people. ]
Both? Give me an example of what they bribe you with to stay.
[ Capital? Clout? The people running this gambit clearly had a lot of power. ]
You don't actually believe that right? That we're dead?
[ Cause Rhys still isn't sold. He's taken a lot of what's happened with this kidnapping in stride, but the whole revived from death thing, "you can't go back or you'll be dead forever" is too far fetched even for him. ]
Er. That wasn't my question. Why did you want to change?
Because once you stop changing you might as well be dead. Which I guess answers your other question.
But I meant on the space station. Did you think you'd survive?
[ As for the last question, he takes his time thinking it over. He doesn't want to lie, but it'd be easy for someone like Rhys—someone who'd put dollar signs in his fucking username—to see his windfall as a business opportunity. A chance to undermine a competitor. ] Intangibly, I want to know if a place like this can work the way it's supposed to. [ After a moment he adds: ] I want to believe it can.
I wouldn't have gotten where I am today without being myself.
[ His self who is apparently dead and now here. ]
Okay well, I guess if I changed something it would be to not be so gracious, because then I wouldn't be here. I'd be back home, finalizing a sponsorship deal.
[ Rhys doesn't really get Williams point here. It sounds stupid, sticking around to see if the system is what? Fair? It wasn't, from what Rhys had seen. Child murderers walked free while men like him, who's biggest crime had been being a capitalist, were stuck drifting through the deepest parts of space. It was a waste of time. ]
Things were dicey for a second or two, but yeah I thought I'd survive.
[ Needed to, couldn't let Jack win. ]
A windfall? What's that some kind of... air pressure system?
[ His patience runs out. So much of this annoys him—not knowing what a fucking windfall is is the icing on the cake. Had he not known about deals either? He types out half of a decidedly ungracious reply, deletes it.
Comes back later. Okay. Reset. ] Who are you? When you're not posturing and talking yourself up? What'd you do during that second or two?
[ Rhys does not, in fact, know about the windfalls much less the deals. No one tells him anything around here and he's sick of it.
His reply is terse, like William is scratching the paint job on his new car with blunt fingernails, but in his other hand he has a set of keys ready to do some real damage. ]
That's cause you only met me a month and a half ago, this is me. In those couple seconds I thought "I hope I don't die!" and then I didn't.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
Rhy$.$trongfork
Date: 2022-01-16 03:59 am (UTC)that username...😑
Date: 2022-01-16 08:04 am (UTC)But when has William ever had that kind of luck? ] Glad you got out. Were you there for the port?
ITS A GOOD USERNAME god everyone is a critic!
Date: 2022-01-16 07:35 pm (UTC)Hey quick question did everyone who came here from the other ship get made into a warden except me?
sorry rhys it $uck$
Date: 2022-01-17 01:24 pm (UTC)Ezio was a warden before. He's a good man. [ He knows what this is about—why didn't I get a promotion?—but tries just the same: ] Was there someone you were hoping to see?
no :(
Date: 2022-01-18 04:02 am (UTC)[ He's bristling. It isn't fair! At least 2 of the 3 people he knows are now transfers, he's the only one who's been left holding the inmate title. That sucks, he doesn't deserve this.
After a minute he answers the question properly, still terse. ]
Not really. It's like you said, I wasn't there long. And anyone who had something to offer me there probably wouldn't be able to anymore.
[ What was Carol without the strength she offered in numbers? What was Tess without Carol, and Rhys being a reliable information source that would grant him privileges? The situation of being held hostage on a space cruiser in butt-fuck space was bad no matter how you looked at it, but Rhys had done what he did best while there: carved out a nice little nook for himself to comfortably exist and thrive in so long as he kept playing his cards right. Now he was back at square one. ]
no subject
Date: 2022-01-18 02:13 pm (UTC)[ He's not surprised at the answer—he's surprised at how badly he'd wanted to hear something different, and not just for Rhys' sake. It's been a year. The people he cared about—most of them probably dead—sometimes seem like a bedtime story.
A grim fucking bedtime story. ] I check the loading bay every once in a while [ every day ] if you ever feel like coming.
Did you learn anything there? Not what it was trying to teach you, I mean in general.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-19 04:08 am (UTC)You think I'd be good??I mean yeah, of course I'd be good. But I don't really have time to stick around and find out.
[ Still unsure on what exactly wardens get out of doing their job, but it can't take priority over what's at stake back home.
As for coming to the loading docks...most people he knows aren't ones he'd want to see. Which is a sad thought in and of itself, so let's move on. ]
It taught me that someone out there has created technology that not only can transport you from anywhere in the universe but dilate time while it's at it, which is nuts all on its own. I don't know if even Eridian tech can manage something like that.
[ It'd be an amazing boon for him if he can figure out just how the hell they're doing it. But other than that... ]
And that no one really knew how the whole system worked, which sucked.
[ He couldn't play the game, couldn't win if no one even knew the rules. ]
no subject
Date: 2022-01-19 04:33 pm (UTC)That doesn't mean I think you being here is a mistake, but tell me if there's some kind of breakdown.
What do you think of the other inmates? [ He remembers Rhys' reaction to Sephiroth's taunts—that long-haired windbag. How he'd considered stepping in, couldn't bring himself to do it. He remembers another Rhys challenging wardens on the network, setting up an inmate advocacy office. ]
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 04:40 am (UTC)So my thoughts on other inmates? We're not the same.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 04:52 am (UTC)If you could take back one thing you've done, what would it be?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-21 05:11 am (UTC)[ He doesn't know much about William, so he can't say the same for him but he doubts it. ]
I'll answer if you tell me what made you an inmate in the last place.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-24 02:41 am (UTC)It was a few things. [ A pause, as he considers what he knows about Rhys. The unfortunate likelihood that Rhys—this Rhys—will regard some of what he's done as inspiring. ] My brother in law, who is now my ex-brother in law, was always an asshole. Rich, handsome, charming—actually charming, when he turned it on. I was none of those things. He kept me around for the novelty, I think. And because he could tell I was desperate. Just from the way I dressed. He was easily bored, liked pushing buttons.
I don't know. You could throw adjectives at it forever.
He did something horrible. Made me watch. It's a long story, but I ruined him for it. Left him alone out in the desert. When he made it back I took everything from him. Married his sister. Took over his dad's company.
Made him watch, I guess.
He's still alive, but only technically.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-24 03:47 am (UTC)[ He's only joking as far as it'll mask the cut William just inflicted. He doesn't treat everyone like shit! Not even most people...he knows he can talk down to others but that's just business baby, either you have something worth his time to suck up to you or you don't. He's personable either way, what else do you want from him? ]
Uh. Wow, okay. And I thought I was petty.
[ He is. He'd probably do something similar to Jack, if given that kind of chance. If he hadn't crushed the last vestige of Jack's sentient existence underneath the heel of his boot. ]
I wouldn't take back anything except answering the message that apparently got me killed. I had a handle on things, and wouldn't have my company without a few broken eggs.
[ He also wouldn't have ended up stranded on a DEATH PLANET if he'd just waited a week and allowed Vasquez to screw up that deal on his own, or never plugged in that drive, or never relied on Fiona and Sasha for even a fraction of a second to come through for him, or never said yes to Jack. Things he can't let himself think about because he will actually completely lose it.
He may have not gotten a vault, and anyone he gave a shit about is probably dead, but he had that ATLAS deed in his hands and was determined to make that shitty consolation prize work for him out of spite. ]
no subject
Date: 2022-01-24 04:56 pm (UTC)He leaves it. Rhys is a fucking asshole; Rhys is an easy target. Rhys is scared. There's a part of William itching to puncture that ego, and if he said anything more he doesn't trust it'd be in the man's best interests. ]
I didn't marry her to get back at him. We were engaged already. [ Does Rhys care? Will he remember any of this? Regardless, it feels important to say. ]
What was the message?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-24 11:41 pm (UTC)[ He'd probably fit in at Hyperion, it sounds like he would have liked it too. ]
It was a hail from an old work associate [ ENEMY ] They screwed me over on a deal, and I thought they'd come crawling back to make it up to me. I don't know if it was them or someone they hired who ended up attacking me but either way: severely uncool.
[ And to continue the question for an answer game: ]
How did you graduate?
1/2 ðŸ˜ðŸ’¼
Date: 2022-01-25 04:13 pm (UTC)I don't know. [ Which is what every graduated inmate says. I don't know, it was personal. He wishes he had some moment to point to—some test passed, a perfect, definitive summing-up.
That's not how people work. ] I knew I was a bad person—that's why I dressed that way. The hat belonged to a dead man. I thought I could keep it contained, if I...where I'm from I'm a world-renowned philanthropist. There are all kinds of fucking foundations with my name on them.
You can say it's just money and you'd be right, but when I was a kid a little money would've changed everything.
I've accomplished very good things, but I put as little of myself into them as I could. I didn't want them tainted. I think I hoped wardens would show me how to do it honestly. You know the business world, good people get ground down or they walk away. Nobody sticks their neck out and lives to tell the tale.
There was a breach where someone derailed his whole life for me. He stopped flying planes to spend every day in a dingy apartment, taking care of his crazy brother. But it was an inmate. Larry Trainor.
I never saw a warden choose an inmate over the person they were fucking. Never saw them give up anything they wanted. Heaven forfend they commit to a principle or stand by a decision. It was mostly talk, with them. Platitudes. I hated them not just for being fakes, but for being so bad at it.
I think what happened was I stopped caring about how much they'd hurt me and just wanted to spare anyone else.
It didn't fix anything with Logan. That's still a mess. I still hate him. But I don't like seeing people broken anymore.
2/2
Date: 2022-01-25 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 06:41 pm (UTC)It takes a few minutes for Rhys to reply as he parses this, there's parts that read in a way where he feels like he's missing information, an inmate was his brother? And took care of him when they were at port? But he's getting the gist of it, the conclusion, he thinks, is obvious.
Haha, oh my god. You graduated out of spite.
And stuck around out of it too. He can do that! He's great at that!
Fiona.
I didn't have a lot of choice working with her. She tried to con me out of our initial [ stolen ] deal, and when that didn't work out we ended up stumbling on something bigger that needed both of us. Which would have been fine! We both would have won, I was letting bygones be bygones for the other stuff. But the thanks I got for holding up my end of the deal was to get stranded on a space station that was going down.
[ He gets bitter even talking about the basic strokes of it all. She wasn't the only one who screwed him over, or even the worst, but she'd been the last. ]
My turn: What do wardens get out of all of this? Besides showing up the other guys?
1/2
Date: 2022-01-29 01:35 am (UTC)I'm not here to show anyone up. I stopped caring what they thought a long time ago. Well it feels like that.
Tangibly or intangibly? [ He can guess—this is the guy who thought the casino would be improved by handing out shitty plastic prizes—but hope springs eternal. ]
2/2
Date: 2022-01-29 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-29 02:07 am (UTC)Both? Give me an example of what they bribe you with to stay.
[ Capital? Clout? The people running this gambit clearly had a lot of power. ]
You don't actually believe that right? That we're dead?
[ Cause Rhys still isn't sold. He's taken a lot of what's happened with this kidnapping in stride, but the whole revived from death thing, "you can't go back or you'll be dead forever" is too far fetched even for him. ]
Er. That wasn't my question. Why did you want to change?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-31 01:36 pm (UTC)But I meant on the space station. Did you think you'd survive?
[ As for the last question, he takes his time thinking it over. He doesn't want to lie, but it'd be easy for someone like Rhys—someone who'd put dollar signs in his fucking username—to see his windfall as a business opportunity. A chance to undermine a competitor. ] Intangibly, I want to know if a place like this can work the way it's supposed to. [ After a moment he adds: ] I want to believe it can.
My windfall's connected to that. Choice.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-01 12:48 am (UTC)[ His self who is apparently dead and now here. ]
Okay well, I guess if I changed something it would be to not be so gracious, because then I wouldn't be here. I'd be back home, finalizing a sponsorship deal.
[ Rhys doesn't really get Williams point here. It sounds stupid, sticking around to see if the system is what? Fair? It wasn't, from what Rhys had seen. Child murderers walked free while men like him, who's biggest crime had been being a capitalist, were stuck drifting through the deepest parts of space. It was a waste of time. ]
Things were dicey for a second or two, but yeah I thought I'd survive.
[ Needed to, couldn't let Jack win. ]
A windfall? What's that some kind of... air pressure system?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-07 08:55 pm (UTC)Comes back later. Okay. Reset. ] Who are you? When you're not posturing and talking yourself up? What'd you do during that second or two?
I feel like I don't know you at all.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-07 10:56 pm (UTC)His reply is terse, like William is scratching the paint job on his new car with blunt fingernails, but in his other hand he has a set of keys ready to do some real damage. ]
That's cause you only met me a month and a half ago, this is me. In those couple seconds I thought "I hope I don't die!" and then I didn't.
[ Back the fuck away from his car. ]
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: