mirrortouch | 01 | 🕐

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01 | 🕐 | audio

[ It's not something that really ever becomes routine, it doesn't matter how often he wakes up someplace strange and uncharted. The voice on the line sounds about as scattered as he feels. ]

My name is Will Graham, it's- [ He's pulling back his sleeve to look for a watch that's not there. ] I don't have the time. I don't- I don't have the time.

[ Hang on, don't get too lost. ]

It's not clear to me exactly where I am, but- [ a dry laugh ] you probably already knew that. This isn't even my phone. But you probably knew that too.

[ He's missing details. He's missing plenty. His voice trails off for a short while before he can get his bearings enough to speak again, and even then it's almost unconsciously. ] I don't know. I don't know.

[ It's as if the fact that he has no idea sparks him back into the present. His voice grows more composed, if somewhat cracked. ] So if you're hearing this, if anyone is hearing this - [ is anyone hearing this? ] - any singular indication will be key.

[ Another beat. ]

I feel as though I've strayed a long, long way from home.

[ The air goes dead, and then so does the line. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Those imprisoned together must band together? While I appreciate the, ah, sincerely optimistic attitude -

You know, I'd call 'lawyer' if I noticed anything else here that was orthodox.

We do actually 'ave one ...no, two lawyers on board that I know of. Possibly three, depending 'ow you count 'em.

But no, it's really not that kind of prison, lovey. Mind you, in a lot of ways it's better.

Is your room all right?

Two-Face didn't pass the bar.

I did.

[ Harvey can help Iris count. ]

He's Abigail's Will.

[ And that explains Harvey's quick response. He's curled up in his room with his dogs, quiet and seething. Another broken father-figure from the world that failed ~~his little girl~~ Abigail completely. ]

[ He is less than pleased. But he posts publically, refusing to hide from Abigail's view... Or Hannibal's. ]

He doesn't belong to me.

[But you can sort of tell, if you know what to look for, that she's all right with it.]

Of course he doesn't. Not quite what we meant.

[ The odd note in his voice says that he knows what she means, as surely as he knows she catches the subtext here as well. ]

We'd like to meet him, in time.

[ Tacitly seeking her okay, knowing this is part of her extended murder family? Maybe. ]

Mm.

[Which means a thousand things. One of them is yes.]

[She'd say play nice, but that would really insult everyone in this situation.]

Both of you?

Yes.

[ There's a brief moment; they are conversing behind eyes she can't see. ]

We can leave the dogs, if they'll scare him.

[ They are not like other barge dogs. Remus and Romulus are extensions of Harvey's will -- Two-Face's rage, at the wrong moment. Maybe he doesn't like dogs. ]

No. I don't think so. I don't think that's necessary.

[It might even help. But--]

Ask him. [He's not like Hannibal. Or he is, but the opposite way.]

[ There's a grumble, rough and harsh. That's Two-Face. ]

We weren't going to jump him in the showers, Abigail.

[ Smoother; Harvey adds: ]

Just talk to him. Say hello. See who he is.

[ How he needs to be handled. Does he need to understand the rules? That he's less than nothing like all the sick fucks that seem to ooze out of her world? But no, no -- she likes this one (she loves Hannibal) and it is different... ]

[ Maybe if Hannibal is one side of her, Will is the other. ]

[ Maybe Will can be ... a friend? ]

[ Ally. ]

[ Not so low as to be a piece of shit we scrape off our shoe! ]

[ Yes. Exactly. ]

What he is.

[She laughs, delighted, at both of them - because she wouldn't put it past Two-Face, if he was angry enough, and because there should be rules, but because she loves them both and they understand. They do. What she meant.]

Exactly.

[No need for cruelty, no need for coarseness. Probably. Yet.]

Maybe start by introducing yourselves.

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halftheman - 2014-06-06 22:34 (UTC) - Expand

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versusnurture - 2014-06-07 00:41 (UTC) - Expand

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halftheman - 2014-06-07 01:33 (UTC) - Expand

I 'ad a feeling that's 'ow it worked. But I'm the last girl to discount any of you.

We're just clarifying.

He understands the law as well as I do.

[ Two-Face laughs, gurgling and harsh. ]

I just remind him how many times it failed us.

Don't expect me to take sides between you, loves.

[They're both right and she loves them both.]

Never, Iris.

[ He chuckles roughly, but hten closes his connection. He's just... watching for now. Mostly. ]

[She switches the feed to private, and then back to public again, by way of a precaution against saying anything embarrassing.]

I wished for Victor back. That's why tigers. Didn't realise till after.

we'll be in the CES after lunch if you want to embarrass your two with a superior display of frisbee athletics.

Figured. I'll see. Depends on what's going on.

see you if I see you, then <3 <3

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halftheman - 2014-06-08 18:38 (UTC) - Expand

I did say it was unorthodox.

[ Was that a joke? ]

My room, my room. I would say that the outside of it is undoubtedly my favorite part.

Observant. Ooh, I like that in a man.

[That's delivered with too cheerful a grin not to be a joke.]

No, I mean - when my Victor got 'ere the barge give 'im the cell 'e'd been kept chained up in. She does 'er best but she's not a person the way you or me are. She takes whatever's on the top of your memories, and that's not always the right thing. A lot of our passengers come 'ere from bad places.

So you let me know if you'd like it changed, Will love. I'm Iris, by the way. Iris Wildthyme. Welcome aboard.

We're assuming the barge is sentient, then.

[ Being dead is one thing. Ships being inside his mind is another entirely. Everyone's determined to push at his limits, meaningfully or not.

He speaks up again in a sarcastically chipper voice, carefully pronunciating his words to be sure she hears him. It's a skewed, sullen kind of arrogance. ]

Iris, my cell - is fresh out of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Now - that's a very impressive amount of detail in a very familiar room to me, and that's how you would explain it to me?

I know she is, lovey. You're new, so I expect you're assuming I'm pulling your pudding.

[She's plainly unbothered by this. No one ever believes it at first.]

Still. Would you like me to ask for it changed?

And soon I'll come to see the truth.

[ It's sarcasm, but he just doesn't know it yet. ]

It's hard for me to conceive of a prison that might so entirely cater to the whims of its 'inmates' [ the word is still dubious in his mouth, but not paranoid like it'd like to be ] as to complete an entire room revision.

I make it an 'abit not to argue the nature of truth with new arrivals, lovey. The nature of the Barge'll make itself apparent without my 'elp.

You don't need to conceive of it. But I'm 'appy to wait till you're more settled, if you like. Now. D'you need anything else? Lunch, drinks, medical attention, a guided tour? Chromie does a very useful pamphlet, though 'ardly any bugger reads it.

Meaning it might welcome me into its warm embrace as it has so many others here.

[ There's a tone that's still evident in his voice, as if to say: Not bloody likely. He's marched to the beat of his own drummer before, he's been the entire parade behind that drummer before. And so he doesn't mean to be angry, but that's all he can feel smoldering within him, as though an old rage was newly awakened. ]

I can't imagine it's a very long tour. They do call it prison for a reason. [ Why he's still able to walk out and about, that still eludes him. ] I'm almost curious, how one could capture all the nuances therein within a single pamphlet.

Oh, you can't, lovey. But it does lay out the basics of what we're all doing 'ere and what to expect.

Look. You were brought 'ere without consent and it's all extremely strange; quite a lot of it's probably impossible by the standards of your native time and place. I get that. I do. I'm not trying to come off as dismissive. It's just that this 'appens to everyone that didn't volunteer. With a few exceptions, they're all disbelieving, suspicious, angry, what 'ave you. They're also all very clever people, Will love, people of great ...spirit and ability. I'm not sure this boat's interested in any other kind. So you needn't talk to me like I'm too daft to understand. I do. As much as a volunteer 'ere can, any road. I 'ave been in prisons, and mental institutions, as it 'appens; just not this one. Not against me will.

My point is I'm not trying to sell it to you. Well, not exactly. I'm trying to make it as painless as it can be, and to give you all the facts. That's all.