mirrortouch | 01 | 🕐

[ 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

[ Sorry, man, it's the spray bottle or bust. ]

I didn't say it'd be my bombardment.

[ No, you know what - ] Though I'd say when you've had your supposedly dead carcass dumped unceremoniously onto what is ostensibly (apparently) an intergalactic starship prison - and I do put a significant emphasis on 'ship', now that quite literally sailing through space is (also, apparently) possible -

[ he can breathe anytime he wants ]

Bravery isn't really what I need. [ A beat, and then: ] Lucidity, lucidity would be great.

Well this place tends to teeter back and forth between lucid and surreal depending on the day of the week, so...

[It's a weak joke, but what else can you really do about space prison?]

So, too much to ask for?

[ It's meant to be a joke in reciprocation, but the result sounds strangely resigned. ]

What sort of sage advice would you give, then? To a - recently plucked, still-budding inmate. Newly deceased, if anybody else is to go by. [ But that still sounds detached from him somehow, further away. ]

Try not to step on anybody's toes and be nice to the wardens.

[Fairly basic and obvious advice, but it's not always obvious to everyone that arrives and especially not to inmates.]

That much sort of goes without saying.

[ Not that the advice doesn't go without gratitude, just maybe some resignation. ]

Define 'stepping on toes'. Jumping the gun comes with different significance. Depending by who or where it's coming from, at least.

Obviously you can't please everybody, but try to avoid offending people. Not everyone here is strictly baseline human and it's not always welcome even in their own worlds.

Beyond that? Don't pick fights with people and don't try to start a revolt or something.

Lest I be smothered in my sleep with my own pillow. [ There's dangerous people here, after all (he knows, as he too has the potential to be a very dangerous person), but moreover: ] If I were to define the security of the barge as a whole, from what I can gather, in a word it would be - "lax".

I'm not looking for some kind of revolution here. I can't imagine overthrowing the balance of the ship would work, or else it would have in the past and we'd all be out of here by now.

So for the sake of history not repeating itself, I would take that to mean your advice is simply "behave" and "exist".

More or less. Not everyone acclimates to the Barge very well and they kinda throw that out the window.

[Which isn't like it's not understandable. People being taken from near-death or an actual death and finding themselves on a Barge meant to rehabilitate and control them is a traumatic experience to say the least. But it's definitely not doing themselves any favors when they start rocking the boat in a pretty bad way.]

It's purely cultural shock, what it boils down to.

[ Or at least that's what affecting him the most here, the most that he's come to be able to handle and comprehend. Some of these people may have come from very different, much - stranger worlds than he has, but he's from a relatively normal Earth. He's - ]

Acclimation isn't my problem [ yes it is ] insomuch as - [ Oh, what else is there to say. ] I'm just a guy. I'm just a guy from Wolf Trap, Virginia and I didn't ask for any of this.

[ Certainly didn't ask for being dead. ]

But I suppose that's a common trend as well as the potential rebellion.

[Daneca laughs a little before nodding.]

Yeah. It's actually pretty common even with the wardens, to be honest. That's usually the whole reason they're on the ship anyway.

Because they're dead and there's nothing better to do?

[ Bluntly. ]

Is that why you're here?

[She shakes her head.]

No. I mean, there's something I need to fix. [No, need isn't the right word. She corrects herself promptly,] Something that I want to fix. It's long, complicated, and honestly not that interesting.

[Daneca also doesn't fully disclose these things to people.]

But the point is that wardens want to change something. Inmates, from the Admiral's point of view, need to change something. In both cases, they're usually pretty impossible things at the outset.

We're all about making the impossible improbable, I guess.

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