INTRO LOG #2

[abraxasmods]

Intro Log #2

It has been two months now since the initial group of summonings first took place. Castle Thorne, or at least the part above ground, is buzzing with a vibrant air of hope following the 'success' at the Singularity. Eager smiles and excited chattering are to be found in nearly every corner of the castle and surrounding town. The honored guests may find grateful looks turned their way more often than not. A new and brighter day seems to be dawning on the kingdom.

In the dungeons it's a different story entirely. The mood is somber and uneasy. The prisoner taken for trial has yet to return, and no word has come regarding her or her fate. There has been no mention of any further trials as of yet and guards seem to have little patience for unruly behavior or even conversation. Some seem to not even look at or acknowledge the prisoners at all.

[ Feel free to continue threads from the TDM here or start your own! As cell and room assignments will be short-lived due to this month's event, you're free to assume whichever cellmates and roommates you like instead of officially signing up as long as there are ICly no more than four people in a cell or room at once. ]

Comments

[nadine_he_loves]

Believe me, I'm not trying to. I told the mages they made a mistake, but they didn't listen to me.

[Nadine had protested. She still thinks they screwed up with her, and probably Lloyd too. They might be perfectly nice people, but that doesn't make them good.

But at this point, she's done arguing or questioning. It's not like it does any good. Maybe she ought to be pleased that she can still pass for a good person, but she isn't. It just makes her feel vaguely ill.]

What am I supposed to do? I didn't ask to be here, I don't want to be here, but it's not really up to me. I might not be in a prison cell but I'm still a prisoner.

[The only difference between the welcomed guests and the people in the dungeon is comfort, really. Golden cages and all of that.]

[baltimores]

[ There's that lump in his throat that won't go away, the churning in his gut. Amos inhales, nostrils flaring; it doesn't help. Didn't know why he thought it might. Nothing will at this stage.

He shoots Nadine a look instead. ]

Lady, you're not a fuckin' prisoner.

[ There's an edge to his voice; he likes her, or at least he thinks he does, but there's a limit. Wanting to keep kids safe is all well and good, but he's also been locked up, had every aspect of his life restricted for months now, and he only has a bit of frayed rope left to cling to. Doesn't know what he's going to do when it runs out, just knows that it will; wouldn't, if he was the one on the other side of those bars. ]

You know what you get to do? Come and go as you please. Eat shitty pastries whenever you want and bring the leftovers down here like that's supposed to make things better. [ He unclenches his fist then, finally, lets the remains fall to the ground. It's nothing to him. ] You need something to do? Go kill the fuckers who brought us here and figure it out after that.

[ It's what he would do except, you know, he's locked up, every aspect of his new life controlled, and he needs that part to end. Now. He's decidedly not a good person, and the longer he's down here, the less interested he is in finding someone to ever help him be one. ]

[nadine_he_loves]

No, I don't. I can't come and go just because I can go up and down one set of stairs. I can't leave. I can't walk out the gates, I can't go beyond the boundaries Thorne set. Guards will stop me and bring me back if I try, do worse if I resist. I ask the wrong question or stand up for myself, and I'm screwed.

[Nadine's voice is firm but not harsh. Her tone is designed to draw attention and focus, not reprimand. She gets it. She does. Amos has every right to be angry, but she isn't the person to be angry at.]

I may be a different kind of prisoner, but I don't have freedom. And I'm not interested in engaging in trauma Olympics, getting mad at each other and comparing who's worse off isn't going to help anything or anyone. That is what I'm concerned with, getting us all out from under the yolk of Thorne. That's what I do all day, Amos, I listen and I learn.

[She's good at that. When it's time to move, she'll make her move. But not before. This is something she understands, something she has experience with.]

[baltimores]

[ Amos just stares at her, eyes dead but not leaving her own. His body is still, almost unnaturally so; taking in her words, letting them hang between them.

Eventually, he comes to his conclusion: either she doesn't get him, or he doesn't get anything about how the world works for other people. It's probably both; it's always both. On the Roci, he'd had people who didn't necessarily get him, but could understand how he reacted to things. Not necessarily accept it, but could reverse engineer his decision-making the way he did theirs. Now that he no longer has Holden or Naomi or Alex or even Clarissa, that's gone. He's back to square one. He will never leave square one. And it brings into question what the point of ever trying again is if this is the result he's going to end up with.

He needs to hurt someone. To be hurt. Whatever. Both. Violence is the only thing that makes sense, the only language he's ever been fluent in, and this isn't it. He is not a listener and he is not a learner; he is a tool to be used to put down those who need it and that is the best case scenario for him.

The worst case is a street on Baltimore at age 5, at age 15, at a hypothetical age 25 if he even would've made it that long had he never left. Maybe leaving Earth was a bad thing for him to do, after all. He's going to be put down at some point; maybe it would have been better for everyone else if it had happened in his hometown.

He shuts his eyes, a prolonged blink. Opens them again, dead as ever. ]

Ain't like there's any listening and learning you can do down here.

[ Maybe you should go, Nadine. ]