burnmythoughts | 2

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2 | Video

[Private to the Admiral]

[Jean's gaze is carefully even, her voice steady and strong. She's clearly been practising.]

Admiral? I'd like to ask a few questions.

First, I'd like to know more about the system here. Are you accountable to anyone else? Is there any process in place to prevent or correct possible errors?

Second, is there any way for inmates to appeal their term here?

Third - I realise I'm not Daro'Xen's Warden, but she has no one else to speak for her. I'd like to know why she's been taken as an Inmate.

[Warden Filter]

I'd like to know everyone's position on Inmates having their abilities suppressed.

[Public]

[A bit later on, here is a distinctly irritated Jean, holding a gingerbread Barge.]

I bet the Admiral thinks he's cute, doesn't he.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I can deal with him favouring people who aren't going to pull mass murder.

I'd prefer him not doing it at all and just using those extraordinary powers of his to keep his ship secure, but apparently he can't manage that.

It honestly depends on the person to me.

I knew a human that had to be kept in a containment chamber because so much as giving him a small handheld game gave him the means to build an escape device and threaten a population as soon as he was out. If he were here? Until I knew he would figure out that was useless? I'd recommend the same thing.

[Fuck he doesn't want to consider the idea of that guy ever being here. Also private because that connects to a larger story he does not want to share with people.]

[Jean considers him, for a moment, before nodding.] I...can understand that compromise. [She's still not sure how she feels about it, exactly, but she's seen it in action before.]

Not that I'm defending the douchewad or anything? But it's pretty much the only thing he CAN do without taking away every single choice ever, which is pretty much the point. As far as there is a point.

Look, I get what you're saying? But baseline humans do the mass murder thing, too, and some of 'em have advantages over civilian humans that would be considered as unfair as extra powers. Pretty soon you're down to "Why aren't mass murderers just in solitary confinement all the time?" instead of what you started with. And sometimes people who weren't assholes before, who would be under very specific circumstances, get those very specific circumstances and then we're all dead anyway.

Again, counterproductive.

Edited 2012-08-09 18:53 (UTC)

That...makes sense.

[Jean's quiet, for a moment, and then...] Is it usually so frustrating? [The Admiral. The other Wardens. Talking in circles.]

My position is that it's fairer to allow everyone to have their abilities in full, but there is a point at which that becomes disproportionately unfair to everyone else on board, if the Inmate in question is here partly for acts of unmotivated or unpredictable violence committed using their abilities.

Because of that, personally I don't restrict my Inmates' abilities unless they've made it obvious that the immediate threat posed to the ship or the crew is so great that it outweighs the damage done to the Inmate by their being restricted. And what I definitely won't do is hold an Inmate's abilities over their head as reward or punishment. I would consider that unreasonable to the point of cruelty.

[Also Omega can take a long walk off a short cliff but her less-civil threadjack should have made that obvious.]

Isn't that an argument against taking away peoples' abilities just because they're here?

[Charles chuckles a little because YES, OH GOD THIS PLACE IDE.]

It can be. Most wardens mean well, but unfortunately they also have a tendency to be fairly self centered.

No, that's an argument that it doesn't matter who you are or what abilities you have or don't have, anyone in the right situation can be a murdering asshat, so trying to decide that right out of the box is stupid. The brochure says that the people who come here as inmates have already done something like that, and if you're gonna be a judgmental jerk who expects people to make the right choices or whatever, the most effective way is to be a blanket judgmental jerk.

Besides, get a warden, don't be a jerk, and you get it all back anyway.

[For the first time in this post, Jean smiles.]

That...sounds really reasonable. [YOU'RE GIVING HER FAITH, TOSH.]

[Her smile falters.] Somehow, though - I don't think every Warden is like that.

[Yeah, this gets an admiring grin, too.]

I think it'd be pretty easy to recognise the ones who've consistently used their powers to harm innocent people and those who haven't.

[And then - well, then her expression hardens and her voice drips venom.]

Oh, so they get to earn a part of themselves back for good behaviour.

I guess it's hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes, but... [Jean shakes her head.] That should be part of the job description, right? I mean, we should at least try.

No, a lot of them aren't, and frankly I'm more diplomatic now than I was when I first arrived. A lot of people see their Inmates' abilities as a tool rather than...a sense, or a limb. Something external to themselves.

Edited 2012-08-09 19:25 (UTC)

All of my inmates didn't have any additional abilities, but they were highly skilled with weapons and chemicals. In order for them to graduate, they would all need to be able to be trusted with those weapons and basic freedoms without them being a harm to innocents.

So essentially, people do have to get their above-human capacities back if they had them in order to make progress. It's just not always a great idea from the get-go.

No, by your argument they get to earn a part of themselves back for being themselves.

I didn't say it was fair, and it wasn't my idea, so you can stop giving me the snake eyes.

Well, I'm all for taking the Admiral's powers away, but you're trying to derail the argument by introducing him into this.

I'd adapt. Humans are supposed to be good at that.

I'm not saying humans are incapable of comprehending anything. Don't put words in my mouth.

When you arrive as an inmate, you know nothing. Admiral Xen is still contemplating the reality of this place, as Dr Crane and others did before her. It's confusing arriving here.

There are issues and simply because you have had previous experience with aliens and technology and you came here willingly does not mean that your experience is shared by everyone.

And it's not about small-mindedness and weakness so much as they are being outmatched and anyone who isn't wary of people who can outmatch them is a fool.

I'm not talking about people so paralysed with fear they can't cope but people who find it difficult to do so because they are not capable of super-human feats and have no experience of anything that does.

I would say that's part of the point of being here in the first place.

My policy is, unless an inmate has proven themselves to be a danger to others they can't earn your trust if you don't give them a chance. That doesn't mean you have to give them all their powers, but that's how I look at it when I'm assigned an inmate with powers.

It seems you're the one putting words in her mouth, I'm afraid. You made a generalization about humans, not inmates, and I'm truly sorry for anyone who's made uncomfortable by what we can do, but it's a reality of living here they have to accept at some point, just as much as floods and ports are.

I understand we have ultimately no say in how the Admiral makes his decisions, but stripping every inmate of what's rightfully theirs just because it might make some people uncomfortable is absurd. People who have had no previous experience with superhuman abilities have to learn to adapt, they can't expect the Barge to cater to their insecurities. I'm not saying that every inmate should arrive on board with their full abilities, but there are people who are here not because of what they can do and what they've done with it.

Just because it wasn't your idea doesn't mean your argument isn't flawed. What, exactly, is the benefit of taking away something like that from an inmate who didn't abuse their gifts when they were alive? Because from what I've seen, those who have control and don't use their abilities to harm others just feel further victimized by the wardens and the Admiral when they first arrive without their abilities, which makes them less receptive to changing the behavior they were brought here to correct. It seems a bit counterproductive.

I guess it's as much a learning process for the Wardens as it is for the Inmates.

I'm...glad you understand.

[Oh ho, Charles, Dean sees what you did there. And suddenly feels like maybe he's going to have a headache by the end of this conversation, because this is not his forte. Sam why are you not here.]

What's the point of anything around here? Because it's amusing for the asshole pulling all the strings. It's not helpful. It's not fair. It's not even necessarily right, it just is what it is.

And we're allowed to be upset about it.

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