toabsolution | IC Inbox

He has definitely not told Steve about that. But there's maybe enough there, even in the lack of context, for Steve to guess at something. He's been here a long time, after all. He's heard about all kinds of deals.

"I've seen him save entire worlds full of people," he says softly, of the Admiral. "And then I've seen him turn around and leave people he once promised a chance to by the wayside."

But even so, "I hope whatever you need, you get. But you keep in mind that you're not the one who's gotta get through it."

He's not quite selfless enough for that last part to sink in properly, but he does raise his head at the second.

"What do you mean? Leave 'em by the wayside?"

Steve hums, mouth twisting into a frown. "People disappear off the ship as readily as they come aboard. No warning, not because they want to - hell, I disappeared right in the middle of a conversation, once. If an inmate disappears that way, they're dead to the Admiral. You ask for a deal to save them, or even just bring them back for another chance, he won't even agree to it. He can save whole planets of people, but one person that he decides isn't worth it, he won't do it."

Jake frowns. That sort of casual cruelty doesn't really sit right with him, though it wars with the part of him that really doesn't care much for people he isn't invested in.

"You sure it's out of spite? He ain't a god."

Steve has to shake his head. "I don't know what it is. Trying to get a straight answer out of him is like trying to get sense out of a drunkard. I just know what I've seen, and I don't like it. If he wanted me to sympathize, he could do to tell me the truth."

But until such time as Steve gets real answers, he's not inclined to feel sorry for the guy.

"All I'm saying is, I had a hard time working for the guy. So I made my choice. I can't make it sit right or wrong with anyone else." He's learned that, to be sure. "But if you can stick around, against whatever sends people away or knocks them loose, then you don't have to worry about getting your deal."

Maybe just about whether it's a deal you need or not, but that's another argument he's stopped trying to have.

Jake laughs at that. "Want you to sympathize. That kinda man don't care about you or any of us. He's probably got somethin' else goin' on. Checkin' off a list."

He doesn't quite have his footing here yet and he's not quite sure when that might happen, or even if it will, but he is starting to figure out a few things here and there about the place. Not all of them are nice things, either.

"You don't seem like much of the inmate type," Jake says. In fact, he's pretty sure that he's probably robbed a guy like Steve before.

Steve makes a noise that's clear agreement; whatever the Admiral wants, he's clearly not all that fussed about his passengers and how they feel about him. As long as none of them rebel, at least. "He's on the run from someone up the chain from him, I know that much. We're just along for the ride."

Of course, the next point makes him huff out a soft laugh. "No? I can cave a guy's face in with one really good punch."

He's pretty sure that's not what Jake's talking about.

He leans across the table slightly. "Yeah? Well, I stole this hat after I shot the guy wearin' it," he tells him. "Coulda been the guy I dragged off the horse, too. Can't really remember."

He rolls his eyes. "Point is, this Admiral doesn't seem to know the difference between the two."

"Sounds like you had a busy day," Steve murmurs, with just a bit of a wry grin.

But, "No. He doesn't, always." He thinks of Bucky, and his fingers curl into a fist on the table, before he realizes it and flexes them again. "But there's a line. If you cross it... it makes things pretty clear."

Which, he realizes, is vague. "Don't kill any inmates. No matter what. Only way it won't get you demoted is if you're not in your right mind, in which case, the advice probably becomes pretty moot."

Jake sees that fist and notes it silently, unwilling to comment on it.

"Killin' inmates seems like bad business," he points out. "What would be the point?" Other than it's wrong, but maybe it isn't? Jake isn't certain.

"Killing's bad business," Steve murmurs. "People still do it here. Even though the victims get back up again after. Not that they have an easy time of it. Even wardens have to death toll."

But that's not the point. "People are still people. They still get angry and violent and people still end up dead."

Killing is not always bad business, but Jake mostly knows when to keep his opinions to himself. "That's how people are. Especially when you got all kinds of different people here."

"I guess it is. The thing is... when someone kills someone else? It's the person who dies that pays the price."

He chuckles darkly. "Yeah, that's how killin' usually works, Steve," he says. "But I know what you mean. It's that...uh...Death Toll, yeah?"

He raises his head. "Unless you mean that the person who did the killin' doesn't get punished?"

Steve lets out a quiet laugh. "I meant mostly the death toll, yeah. But a little bit of the other thing, too. Sometimes no one knows. Sometimes their warden just... doesn't do anything about it."

Jake has a tenuous grasp with morality, but he does draw the line at that. This place is too small, too intimate, for something like that.

"Yeah. And what would you do?"

"Take responsibility for my inmate's actions, same as I'd have taken responsibility for anyone under my command."

He doesn't have to guess, in this case. His inmate had done some pretty terrible things, when he'd been unwittingly sent home by the Admiral. So, he'd come back and dealt with it, because it was his responsibility to deal with it.

"No one learns anything when their actions just go ignored."

"Yeah?" he mutters. "And what would you do to your inmate for it?"

He's mostly curious because Steve seems...so damn righteous.

Steve sighs.

"It was complicated, the time I had to deal with it. The Admiral sent me away, and while I was gone, my inmate used abilities she had to influence two wardens into attempting murder on an inmate for her. And then a different inmate killed her over it, all before I got back."

God, that had been a mess.

"But when I got back, her file was still in my cabin. I was still responsible for her, and that hadn't changed while I was gone. She'd proven that she'd act out while I was gone, so - I didn't get gone until she'd proven she wouldn't do it again. I stayed in her room and we worked out a way to put that ability to better use than influencing people to do things when she was angry. And when I found out who'd killed her..."

That had been an even bigger mess.

"It didn't go unpunished, either."

Jake, to his credit, listens intently. He pulls out his tobacco and papers, rolling a cigarette for himself and sealing it while Steve speaks.

He waits to light it a moment, leaning forward as he tries to get the story straight.

Still, the punishment was...oddly fitting, it seemed.

"Did it work, though? What you did?" He finally flicks the match. "Did she change?"

"She graduated, yeah," Steve confirms. "But - I don't think it was so much her changing as... changing the way she thought about things. Changing her outlook on the world. Not who she was. I never wanted to change who she was. That would've been a disservice."

He considers how much to tell, because the details aren't necessarily important, and it's not worth bogging down the message: "Her people had been oppressed for a long time. Overcoming that wasn't about revenge, because anger begets anger. Violence begets violence. And it's not about forgiveness, either, because some things you just don't forgive. It's about wiping out the diseased thinking, and letting better ideas grow in its place. When she left, I went with her. I wasn't gonna win her war for her, but it was a war worth fighting."

Jake nods.

"I'll keep that in mind," he mutters softly. He's been around a long time, that's obvious. He's been everything. Warden. Inmate. Both. Jake knows he would be stupid not to listen to him.

Steve just shrugs one shoulder. "Everybody's different. I just want to make sure inmates get seen as people. Not just problems." He hates the system as it stands, but it's not going anywhere. Better to at least try to do something small, he hopes, so that nobody falls through the cracks.

"Anyway - I haven't been a warden for a long time. I don't know how good my advice really is, anymore, so. Grain of salt and all that," he adds, trying to crack a wry half-smile.

He's quiet for a very long moment, enjoying his cigarette as he thinks.

"I take it how I take it," he assures him. "Gettin' advice from more than the likes of you."

He returns that half-smile with a quick look, a warmth around the eyes that has the hint of a smile. "Thanks for the coffee, Steve."

That gets a slightly broader grin. "Good," Steve says, pushing his chair back a bit so he can stand.

And, "Sure thing, pal. Keep the thermos. Comes in handy."

Re: spam

toabsolution - 2021-02-01 03:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: spam

punched_hitler - 2021-02-01 03:40 (UTC) - Expand