lieutenantantichrist | [8] Video/Action for Goldenrod, backdated to around the 9th

[Jail is fucking boring.]

[They'd stuck Blake in a cell for a while until they figured out something about community service. It was a lot faster than back in the real world, but even crazy bullshit island has red tape. Blake's not sure whether that's nostalgic or not.]

[Cells are the same everywhere, too. He's never been on this side before. The novelty wears off fast.]

[He wishes he had a ball to bounce against the wall or something. They didn't even leave him any of his animals for company. Maybe that's a good thing. He doesn't know how he's going to explain this to Steve.]

[There's nothing but a book, and there's only so much anybody can take of The Dratini Code.]

[Blake leans back on the hard bunk and tosses his phone in one hand. When he got in here the one thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to talk to anybody, but nothing weakens that conviction like a couple hours alone with the hot, uneasy feeling in the back of his head.]

[He flips the phone open before he can think about it too much and says the first thing that comes to mind.]

[The face that comes up on the screen will look a lot less combative and more withdrawn than usual.]

Hey.

You think they have the Shawshank Redemption around here?

Maybe with one of those stupid puns in the title, and he digs his way out with one of those mole things. A little tiny one for finding rocks.

Seems like everything around here is like back home but turned the local kind of stupid. Do they even make any real original movies?

[In the crappy florescent lights shared by jails everywhere, the lines on his face look deep and weathered.]

I'm tired of nothing but the same old thing.

((OOC: Open for calls and visitors! Blake's in jail for punching Parker, but you don't have to broach the topic if you don't want to. He's not real proud of himself, so he'll pussyfoot around it unless asked directly. If you definitely don't want it to come up, just put in an OOC note.))

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.........The motherfucking son of a bitch did what?

[The fury in Ash's voice could be surprising, for a man that has apparently no particular link to children. He does nothing to restrain it.]

[Blake sounds like somebody for whom that particular seething fury is an old, old friend.]

That's exactly what I said.

[A lot of times, once he got over the initial shock, except a lot louder and with a lot more things getting smashed.]

Forget the privilege of killing him. Everyone in the vicinity should have gotten a shot at him.

[Hell, he'd volunteer the Dark Hound for bigger shots at this point.]

Damn right. But we never got the chance.

[with a touch of bitter satisfaction] He got shoved into a trash compactor. It's better than what he deserved.

That's one way of making sure he's dead and gone. Was it as revenge, or was he trying to avoid arrest?

He was trying to shove a cop in first.

[Blake got it all after the fact, like everybody else, hearing Jayden go over it again and again.]

I wouldn't've believed it if there weren't a body to back it up.

Not much of one, though.

As long as there was enough of it, to dispel any doubt on its identity... Well, at that point it was more than a little deserved.

Yeah.

[Blake's eyes turn distant.]

No doubt who he was.

["No. No, it couldn't've been him. You're a fucking liar."]

[He tries to shove the memory away.]

It's over and done with.

[That's what he keeps telling himself at night.]

The streets are safer, parents can now sleep soundly, justice has done its work? Good to hear.

[Blake's lip curls.] Hah. You'd think. No, everybody's more scared than ever. Fuckin' media doing its job.

[Now people grab their kids when they see somebody in uniform. Too little, too late.]

...Out of eagerness for a story that sells, or because they were strongly encouraged to do it?

[Propaganda and media manipulation are the Federation's old friends. Ash has no doubt it's the same elsewhere.]

Because nobody can ever do the decent thing and shut up about this shit. The uglier it is, the more details people want to ogle over, even when everybody who had to live through it wants to be left alone.

[Say one thing for Ethan Mars; he never tried to capitalize on the hero deal. Always looked more embarrassed about it than anything, not that that ever made the parasites quit.]

They'll probably move on when the next big story happens, but I guess that doesn't help much in the long term, does it.

[And it doesn't stop anniversary specials, either.]

Yeah, they'll get lost as soon as some fresh meat comes along. With any luck some politician'll get caught banging whores again soon.

[Ash sounds like he knows what he's talking about.] The media hasn't changed, huh, robots or no robots.

Not any more than politicians have, from what you're saying. That kind of consistency in their behavior almost feels reassuring.

[And more than almost depressing.]

[nods sagely] Here's the space boss, same as the earth boss.

Maybe the whole thing will've blown over by the time I get back.

I guess that would depend on whether or not time really stops while we're here. If it doesn't, you'll be stuck dealing with it all over again.

In that case I'll be popping back into existence out of nowhere, so I'll have a lot more questions to answer.

[He refuses to consider that he might not be going back.]

I'd say that would rip the very fabric of time and space apart, but this world looks relatively fine.

[Blake's expression becomes suddenly very serious. He glances to the side, and keeps his voice low enough to make sure nobody else can hear him actually consider this.]

Hey.

The future doesn't have time travel, does it?

[Ah, one of the big science-fiction dreams. He's still a little surprised no one's asked that before.]

It doesn't, don't worry. Even if I used the most advanced technology available I couldn't travel back a single minute.

[~~Because the Treasure Star side manga does not count.~~]

[Relief shows clearly on Blake's face.]

Good. there's only so much crazy shit you can take, you know?

You'd think most people would reach that limit with the sentient toxic sludge, really.

[That sounds much weirder to him than any potential time travel.]

You mean around here? Hell, I'm almost used to that. I've been poking the garbage bags in the alleyways to find the ones that don't twitch.

But time travel, that'd be a step too far.

It could have some nasty consequences. What if someone went back in time and murdered some of the war's most important figures as babies? Anything could happen in that kind of world.

[video]

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