text | UN: waver.v || & action || forward-dated to Feb. 07

[professor_charisma]

I suppose I should give an introduction as well, since I've just arrived, though I'll admit right out I'm not much for talking about myself. I'm a new Warden, my name is Waver Velvet. I'm from London, which I hope is a recognizable name to people out there. I know that we're all meeting here from different corners of the universe.

Ice breakers do seem a bit awkward in a situation like this, don't they. It feels out of place to say something like "I can't wait to get to work" or "I'm glad to be here". So I'll just say that I'm here to help in whatever way I can. Back home, I'm a professor, and I'd rather handle this position as a teacher rather than an actual warden. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and doing whatever I'm able to.

WARDEN FILTER
I'd rather meet my new coworkers face to face than over this, so I'll be in the lounge going over my materials at Warden Command if anyone cares to chat. But over this is fine as well. I'm not picky.

[Action tags welcome for any Warden who cares to meet. Waver will be sitting at one of the open-air tables looking over his communicator with a cup of coffee. He has a lot of reading to do, so better get that caffeine flowing. Right now, he's going over any inmate information he can access, and is taking some notes. He's planning to hit up the library later to check out books from and about their homelands, to get a better idea of where these people are coming from.]

Comments

[saklas]

I've never been given any indication of what that means or when it happens, or even what I'd need to do to accomplish it.

[All smiles. We have fun here. Life is a nightmare.]

[professor_charisma]

Really.

[He believes him, sort of.]

Alright. Most of it is about self-improvement, honestly. Self awareness. Selflessness. All those great "self" things. So play along for a moment. If you wanted to work on one thing about yourself, what would it be?

[After a beat, he adds:] Mentally or emotionally. Nothing physical.

[saklas]

[Volk tilts his head. His smile flickers off - he tries to revive it, but it doesn't last.]

I think there are great people. 'Great Men Of History,' that kind. I think it's not something you're born with, it's something you get to with smarts, luck, and being in the right place at the right time. Of course, starting off rich and famous, privileged, all of that, helps, but -

There are points in your life where you know... where you already know it's never going to be you. It'll never happen.

[He's not looking at Waver. He's not even looking at anything here, now, on the Peregrine - he's seeing something somewhere else, some time else. Maybe some one else. Volk's smile comes back watery and sad, like he's homesick for it - and then he's back, in the room, looking Waver in the eyes like it never happened.]

So, I don't know. Does it matter? Whatever I'd guess isn't necessarily what the panel of judges would want, anyway.

[professor_charisma]

[When he refocuses, Volk might be confused as to why Waver looks like he'd been sucker punched in the gut. A lot just happened there, and it felt like Volk travelled off to somehow pluck thoughts out of the back of Waver's own psyche.

He's not sure how to respond at first. It takes a moment or two for him to find what he wants to say.]

I... Yes. Volk, it matters a lot. Maybe not to them, but to me it does.

[saklas]

[Fuck. Someone getting it - actually getting what he means the first time he says it, without him having to get more and more frustrated and try to re-tread it and re-tread it and make the abstract of his ideas fit themselves into words - is such a tremendous relief that Volk gets briefly overwhelmed. He feeds his forefinger and thumb up under the frames of his glasses to rub at his eyes.]

Um.

[GET IT TOGETHER! god]

I try to make things. That's what I want to have last. I'm not fun to be around, but I don't super, like ... care?

[Sorry to: everyone who talks to him when he just wakes up and comes out verbally swinging.]

[professor_charisma]

Volk... [Waver himself refocuses, his tone gentle, but stern.]

I don't want you to consider what you think the so-called judges want. I'm your warden. I'm the one that's here, not them. Once it's time to appeal your case, I hope you can trust me enough to do it.

[He was hoping this was starting in the right direction. Really hoping this isn't some sort of front on Volk's part. He wanted them to be in this together, and it seemed like that might have been more true that Waver wanted.

A slight smile sneaks back onto Waver.]

What is it you like to make?

[saklas]

Movies, actually. Well,-

[Ehhh,]

- mostly I'm known for TV, which is a movie the way ketchup is a tomato soup, but I've done both. I actually think the long format of 44s over the course of a season lets you tell more complicated stories than you have time for in a hundred and twenty minutes, but sometimes complicated isn't complex, and needing to cut and simplify for a compacted run time really makes you focus on which parts of the writing can pull double or triple duty, which, like, especially in things like foreshadowing really gives the impression of a lot of depth of field, plot-wise? And obviously everyone prefers the budget and talent a movie affords you, like, I'm not making non-studio-backed anything because I actually want someone to see the damn things, that's the whole point, like, have fun laboring in solitude like a wartime poet when only your mom watches the project you finished, but there's a lot to be said also for not having the kind of casting pressure on you that a movie's investors require to bring back in their budget, bankable names usually aren't talented, with a couple of specialty exceptions, so you end up bending the role around some narcissist that makes ten times your salary rather than getting someone who wants to actually serve the script first and will listen to you. The perk of movies is honestly the lack of time crunch, you're only shooting one set of boards instead of twelve simultaneously, and you only need to split your attention that much, and it's less of an insane cocaine suicide treadmill when you get into deadlines, because you're not going to get a five-episode pile-up if your designers don't have their assignments by ten o clock or something, usually people tell me to stop talking before I get this far?

...

[There's been a lot of vehement gesturing and even full-body walking around during this explanation and Volk realizes he's gotten like, twenty feet away. He's forgotten what the question was.]

Uh, I like to make movies and TV.

[professor_charisma]

[As the tirade goes on, Waver attempts to cover up an amused smile with a hand. He absolutely appreciates a person who's so passionate about their work, no matter what the subject.]

Well, I did ask, didn't I. It's fine, Volk. I wish it was an industry I literally knew anything about, but I'm honestly in the dark. I suppose I'll have some reading to do.

[He taps a finger on the counter a moment, thinking.]

Do you write? Or do you work with other people's scripts?

[saklas]

I write, but it's always a team thing. I can't be in enough places at once to do everything myself, but I try to do a rewrite pass on everything, and there are people I enjoy working with that I mesh with well.

[Almost like a human would call them "friends," but Volk would not go that far.

He takes a deep breath.]

Actually. The thing I wanted to ask was about that.

[professor_charisma]

Making movies might not be feasible here, but writing absolutely can be an alternative. You'll have time to workshop things out, and go home with an arsenal of things to work on.

[A creative outlet would probably do Volk a world of good.]

Oh? What's that.

[saklas]

My casting is... I use it for work, I'm Legends Court. It's broken.

[Volk brings his already-chewed thumbnail up to his mouth and rips off another little sliver without really paying attention to the fact that he's doing it.]

I wasn't going to complain, because it had been acting up, but now I can't do it at all. I haven't seen anyone here cast except for wardens who already finished the program once.

[Loki, specifically.

More than that: Volk's warlock contract isn't working. The Prince of Legends dying could eliminate one half of Volk's magic, but it shouldn't have been able to touch the other.]

Can you just ...tell me what they did to me?

[professor_charisma]

[Waver might not have much power, but he'd be devastated if it was taken away as well. It wasn't much, but it was his. A small power that made up a large part of him.]

Volk... I'm sorry, but they do that to all of the inmates. They restrain power in the name of safety. It's not just you. Agree or not, that's not something I think I'm going to be help with overnight. That'll be something I'll have to appeal for once it's time, and maybe we can get it back. Some of it, anyway.

[saklas]

How, though. How are they doing this?

[He knows brain damage can do it, but there's no way they fucked with his brain without him noticing surgical after-effects. Fantasy books have anti-magic materials and force fields, but, again - fantasy.]

It is reversible, right? Like, you're positive?

[professor_charisma]

I don't know. I can try to find out, but I doubt they'll give me all the details. My guess is that it is is reversible, contingent upon graduation. But I'll find out for sure.

[He considers something for a moment.]

If you'll allow, I could run a test to see if they're blocking it using magical means. That doesn't mean I'll know how to reverse it. I sincerely doubt I'd be able to anyway. [Or should.].

[saklas]

You can? Yes.

[Please.]

Full permission.

[professor_charisma]

[Waver is ready to deal with that right away; those are pretty easy spells to do.

That is, when you have access to the right equipment and energy. Were there even accessible leylines out here? He looks disappointed for a moment. This would be a lot easier if he didn't have to rely so heavily on those crutches.]

... Sorry. Yes, I'll absolutely do it if I can. I need to see what I have to work with in order to work here. I haven't had a chance since I just arrived.

[saklas]

Yeah.

[Volk doesn't look abashed at asking - that would require him seeing something wrong with being constantly, harshly demanding of every single person around him - around him - but he shoves his hands in his pockets and at least looks frustrated and lost at the world in general, not at Waver.]

What did you think this place was going to be like?

[Not sarcastic. Volk has no idea how he was sold on it.]

[professor_charisma]

A little more accommodating to a practicing mage, honestly.

[Ah. Volk is speaking more broadly. Waver sighs lightly, running a finger absently along the edge of his communicator.]

...I'm wasn't sure. I'm still not. I wasn't expecting a walk in the park by any means. What I was hoping for, I suppose, was a chance to make a difference.

[A real difference. Somewhere where it would be noticed and appreciated. A chance to break out of a rut.]

My skills and knowledge are... narrow. But they seemed confident I was fit for the job.

[He, however, doesn't. Probably not a good look on a warden, and he realizes that. He looks up at Volk, trying to rebuild his resolve.]

As I said earlier, I'm a teacher. Professor. So, that's what I'll do. If sitting down with a class of inmates teaching them whatever it is they need, I'll do it.

[saklas]

[Volk snorts, and looks away.]

Nobody makes a difference, trust me. Nothing either of us will ever do will put a single dent in the perpetual self-fucking death spiral of intelligent life. We all should have stayed as predatory amoebas. Collectively.

[professor_charisma]

[Boy, does he ever feel that some days. If it wasn't for one certain influence in his life, Waver can't help but think of how he might be on the other side if this position, standing alongside Volk. Waver was nowhere near confident enough to think that he could have such level of influence on another person, but he always tried his best.

His voice was soft now, stern but hopeful.]

We don't have to worry about the rest of intelligent life and what they're up to right now. Let's just concern ourselves with what's going on in this ship, and what we can do to make it better.

[saklas]

You might regret encouraging me to do that.

[Volk grins and cracks his knuckles, then looks down like he remembers that this usually means punching.]

Uh, I like to argue on the internet.

[professor_charisma]

[He can't help but chuckle at that.]

Yes, well. No wonder you have faith in intelligent life. You're not finding any on there.

[saklas]

It's the best place to go to argue! People are so wrong. And dumb.

[You know how hard it is to argue with someone that's right and smart?]

[professor_charisma]

Yes, but you don't have anonymity here. The people you're arguing with are just the people in the next room over.

[We're going to have to get you some healthier hobbies, Volk.]

[saklas]

What, like they're going to come after me? Let em. I'm actually trapped, and the only thing I can do about it is to convince people that they're looking at this wrong.

[He presses his mouth into a thin line.]

I can't even go through the system in a regular way because I don't fucking understand what I'm supposed to be doing.