trenchcoatedly | 013 + WE ARE ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HAND

I wonder if the Admiral has ever chosen a warden or inmate incorrectly. Has there ever been a warden who was unkind and vicious? I'm well-aware that someone can be a good person while being unfriendly at some points, or narrow-minded, but I wonder. Likewise, has their ever been an inmate that was righteous and good?

And that inmates return as wardens... I wonder if all inmates upon graduation become this good. Is is capable for an inmate to graduate but not be permitted to warden after? Surely, there can be steps between a redeemed inmate and someone capable of being a warden.

As a side note, I'd like to politely request that all nonhumans, notably vampires, be treated in accordance with their actions and not their species.

Dracula, I haven't seen you in the greenhouse lately. Are you all right?

Buffy, how are you feeling?

[LOCKED to LUA]

I'd like to discuss something with you.

[LOCKED to MCCOY]

If we could speak regarding my inmate.

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Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

buywithme

The first inmate who was assigned to me was a better person than I have ever been in my life. I believe that she was here because the Admiral recognized that the life she had been left to was unjust, and that she deserved a chance at something better. However... I did not know how to help her, Comrade. To my mind, she was a hero, and there was nothing at all that I could have wanted to change.

There also have been bad wardens, Brother, in fact, there was a time when wardens on the whole were held entirely unaccountable for their actions, and controlled the inmates through whatever means necessary. The Majority of them were still good people, but they were good people who... saw injustice, and looked away. Mistakes were made, and things changed, but the wardens have never become... singular in their approaches, Comrade.

It's less that they are good and the inmates are bad, and more that we all exist on the same spectrum. The difference is, that inmates require guidance and help, a second chance, and wardens accept responsibility. As long as a warden can fulfill their responsibility to their inmate and do no harm, then how good or bad they are is less important.

And finally, Comrade, in theory when you graduate you are ready to take your second chance. Whether that is on the Barge, serving as a warden, or finishing something back where you came from, or on another world entirely. Graduation means that your inmate should be ready to make that choice, and to make the right choice.

I think there are many inmates who would have been extremely bad wardens, had they remained on the barge, however, none of them chose to stay after they graduated.

From:

nolongerhollow

There have indeed been Wardens who were unkind and vicious, and there still is at least one aboard. I cannot speak to righteous inmates. Any righteousness I possess was hard-won and is recent.

[private]
I apologize for my absence. The last month has been extremely difficult.

From:

trenchcoatedly

Thank you. These is an extremely detailed and thorough answer, more than I expected.

From:

trenchcoatedly

Would discussion help your difficulties?

From:

paradoxlol

I once had a warden congratulate my inmate for murdering someone. We're definitely not all good people. [Like this warden right here who breaks into people's minds for a living.]

From:

trenchcoatedly

Fascinating.

Thank you.

Are we acquainted?

From:

paradoxlol

No. I'm Arthur. [Pause, then he decides to elaborate a little.] I was a warden here for about a year before the Admiral decided to send me on an unexpected vacation.

From:

nolongerhollow

To some extent. Yes. I merely...

Someone altered my memories, Castiel. They made me forget my Bride Aleera. And now that I have no emotional association with what I have read about her on the communications net...I am glad that this person did so. She was a large reason for my depressions, my desperation and self-loathing.

But not all. Now, it seems, every time I turn around something happens that is calculated to drive me into a rage. Rayne, the evil Warden I mentioned, decided to hold a public discussion on whether vampires are diseased corpses or not--strenuously advocating the former, of course. Then the Comedian murdered my best friend--whose convalescence almost everyone ignored because he is unpopular. Then that brain-dead vampire Willow comes in and undoes all my efforts to show the Barge that vampires can be people, by acting like a bad stereotype. It just continues.

I haven't had full emotional capacity since I was twelve. I have no idea how to deal with it. I have been swallowing everything, and I fear I am going to explode.

From:

buywithme

I've been here for a long time, and having been an inmate myself... it's something I've seen from both perspectives, and had a lot of time to think about.

From:

trenchcoatedly

If you have more thoughts about the matter, you're free to share them at your leisure. It was simply a matter I found myself considering in light of recent events. The Admiral is a massively powerful being, yet that doesn't necessary suggest that the Admiral understands the correct way to choose inmates and wardens, if at all there one. Even I would find that protesting might lead to my end.

From:

trenchcoatedly

The actions of others can't be controlled. Such is the gift and curse of possessing free will. It is only your actions that you can control - to respond in a way you would feel dignified in doing. There will always be those who seek to control and subjugate you, and if rage is the only response you can manage, then rage is all you'll ever have. But all you can really do is seek to better yourself, and prove to those who despise you that the stereotypes are wrong - at least for you - and that you are a dignified, restrained and controlled individual, as I know you are.

I am millenia old, and have only recently discovered my own emotions. They can be difficult to deal with. Anger is the easiest. But it does nothing, solves nothing, just creates more issues. You can't simply swallow these issues down. An outlet is advised.

From:

trenchcoatedly

Hello, Arthur. My name is Castiel. Welcome back.

From:

creatingalegacy

I'm sorry, is this aimed at anyone specific?

[Paranoia wooo]

From:

19centconstable

I think anyone is capable of being a warden if they are willing to attempted to help others in making good decisions.

At the same time, even a righteous man can make a poor choice.

From:

surfaceshine

[Cas, Dean is forever destined to be your Unpopular Opinion Man, isn't he. The elder Winchester is, as he usually is on network communications, distracted when he activates his feed to respond. He's also in his room, for what feels like the first time all week.]

You're assuming the Admiral is some kind of stand-in for your God. Like there's a plan here or some kind of requirements.

Wardens and inmates can't be chosen incorrectly - he chooses them because he wants them, plain and simple. There's no good here, there's no evil, there's just people cast in roles. It doesn't matter what we think.

From:

trenchcoatedly

I don't, and will not, and will never under any circumstances consider any other creature my Father.

It simply seems to be that one must have certain qualities to be a warden, and others to be an inmate. I wonder if the Admiral sometimes picks those who do not qualify to fit into roles that may not be adequate.