[ voice ]

[hostage]

[He's so bored, he can't take it anymore. Asking for trouble, maybe, but there's all kinds of excitement he's missing with the new arrivals, and he's not used to missing out on it. He keeps the video feed off, unlike usual, because both his cell and he himself are a mess. His voice is only slightly hoarse, recovering from a first week in custody that was spent screaming.]

So what's the deal with all you new guys? Usually I do this in person but I'm, uh, a little tied up right now. Anyway, lemme hear it. Where you from? Whatcha usually get up to? How you feeling about being in this skanky shithole up on the moon?

Hope the rest of you guys didn't leave 'em starving.

Comments

[hostage]

I been clean since September. Haven't touched anything. I wasn't high when I did it or anything like that. I think it's just... You know, meth? How it makes some people crazy like forever? I think it's that. I think they just think I'm psycho and there's no fixing it. They think I can't tell right or wrong. Whenever I'm mad about something, they just think it's the crazy acting up. Anything happens to me, they think I'm lying about it or I'm seeing things. People talk on the network like I gotta be put down, 'specially all this stuff about how I'm taking people's souls and whatever. They're just scared. But Ros won't let 'em kill me. I don't think she believes in executions.

[selfequipped]

Yeah, definitely no executions.

[It's said absently as she tries to process that. She's going to have to look into this.]

Sounds like an uphill battle. You can't stop proving yourself, but they aren't really giving you the chance. Maybe you did do it because of that, it doesn't matter now. This isn't the way to keep that from happening again.

[She really, really thinks that.]

Can I do anything for you?

[hostage]

Not really. I mean - I'm not trying to be rude. It's nice, you talking to me. But it's Ros who's gonna decide what happens to me, and she ain't real open to suggestions. 'til it happens, I'm just... here.

[selfequipped]

And she's the judge, jury, and thankfully not the executioner.

Doesn't sound like fun.

[hostage]

It blows.

[selfequipped]

[Kate thinks about what else to say, but mostly it comes down to "she needs to talk to this woman," and she plans to, but she gets the feeling that opening with "free Jesse" isn't going to work out.

So she needs to strategize.

Until then ...]

Why don't we talk about something better?

[hostage]

Well, we talked enough 'bout me. What's your story?

[selfequipped]

Well, were we in another life, you'd probably hate me, actually. Just a hunch.

[hostage]

How come?

[selfequipped]

Rich girl from the Upper East Side. Sure, I do charity, but cut out the superhero stuff, and I probably lose half of what makes me tolerable. [This is said easily. She's got enough white girl guilt to last her a lifetime, but she can speak lightly about it. It's not even a point of insecurity. It is what it is.]

[hostage]

[He sounds so amused:]

You think I'd hate you just 'cause you're rich?

[selfequipped]

Hey, if not, then that means that any of my occasional slip ups won't be as bad.

[hostage]

You got some funny standards.

i have no idea why i did text html in that last comment

[selfequipped]

Or a whole lot of well-trained guilt. There's a certain level of self-awareness to it.

I do that soooo often

[hostage]

What's there to feel guilty about?

[selfequipped]

Money spent on things that are unnecessary rather than trying solve national poverty and everything in-between.

[hostage]

Fuck that, yo. It's your money. Do whatever you want with it.

[selfequipped]

Some people would call that hedonistic.

[hostage]

Who cares what other people think? Life's too damn short. I mean, I ain't telling you to go ahead and be a scumbag, but you can't save the whole world by yourself, and anybody who expects that from you ain't being fair. And I don't think they're saving the world, neither, so they can shut the fuck up.

[selfequipped]

Yeah, but what if most of it is all from myself? I'm not exactly someone who grew up surrounded by people who inspired these feelings in me.

[hostage]

That's some extra-special bullshit. You don't go 'round thinking that 'bout people, do you? Like, blaming 'em for not fixing everything there ever was wrong with the world. It don't sound like you do, so why would you expect yourself to do it?

[selfequipped]

I'm an overachiever.

[hostage]

Don't do that to yourself. You'll go crazy.

[selfequipped]

I dress up in a costume and fight crime.

[hostage]

Hey, that ain't crazy. That's just awesome.