winksandnods: (Newspaper reading)
Anthony Blunt ([personal profile] winksandnods) wrote2011-12-04 02:44 pm

3rd Code - audio

How in God's name do you all stand this?

[Too many long nights spent able to do nothing more than read the Journals, which provide no insight to the Malnosso. Too many cups of coffee and glasses of Scotch and soda. Too many questions he can't find answers to.

Anthony Blunt, to say the least, is on edge.

He's taken to drawing lately, more than he has in years. Though, unlike what he's told his fellows, he never really abandoned his art. His scenes are bleak, though-- Snowy buildings that loom and cast long shadows. Scabbed skin with numbers just visible under the wound. Complacent wraiths. All of the sketches are safely hidden in a journal kept under a floorboard in his bedroom.

He can think of no way in. The talk of "missions" he's heard have not seemed to endear individuals to the Malnosso, so volunteering for one would be only suicide, not helpful. Their captors have been silent themselves, there has been, so far as he has seen, no direct line to speak to them. Except, perhaps, just before Halloween, but he had not been in a proper state to ask questions then.]

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
Thank God there are some.
shadedsunlight: (There's one thing I have to say)

[Voice]

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-06 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
Many, I'd say. Look at all the places people run, all the training offered. people find ways to get by.

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Far too few. Too many are willing to sit by and let others provide for them.
shadedsunlight: (You aren't so bad)

[Voice]

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-06 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
I don't say I agree, but these things can't be avoided. People do as they will.

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
The trouble with providing a population with all they need.
shadedsunlight: (Live through this)

[Voice]

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-06 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't necessarily say everything they need, but certainly most everything a population could want.

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 07:47 am (UTC)(link)
Food, water, shelter, clothing, and companionship, dislike our fellows as we sometimes might.

What else is needed?
shadedsunlight: (I don't need political process)

[Voice]

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-06 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
Our freedom. The peace of mind knowing we won't be kidnapped in the night or experimented on against our wills. Not having to fear loved ones suddenly being sent home without any warning, even if their return may be a good thing.

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
One can survive without those things. They are not necessary to the continuation of life. They are things to be wanted, but they are not needs.
shadedsunlight: (Tried to talk to god with no avail)

[Voice]

[personal profile] shadedsunlight 2011-12-06 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
True, as we have all proven here, but stability can go a long way.

We are lab rats. Comfortable lab rats, but still lab rats.

[Voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps that is their method of payment. They provide, and so they consider themselves free to use us as they will.
herotypical: [ snarky ; angry ] (✝ the velocity of time)

[ voice ]

[personal profile] herotypical 2011-12-06 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
Provide? Try bribe. I'm well aware that there's a price. Doesn't mean I'm not going to eat the apples while I'm here. But eating the apples doesn't also mean that I'm not...well.

[ a verbal shrug; hers is not to speak aloud of such matters on the monitorable journals. ]

[identity profile] pugilistinpink.livejournal.com 2011-12-06 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, wait a sec, that ain't true... Even if we ain't out a' the barrier, people still do a lot around here. What about Pao-lin's art project... or that big Christmas party a few days back? Nobody's forgettin' that we's stuck in this place right now. We's jus' tryin' t'make good. W'doin' things that mean somethin' to us. I can stop trainin' anytime while I'm here 'cause I know I ain't gonna 'member nothin' when I go back, but I ain't gonna do that. It's important t'me. It's important t'me jus' like runnin' shops probably is important to the people who do it.

Why don'chya, iunno, draw everybody in Luceti? Guy told me y'good at art. If y'don' like that, you can teach people things, y'know? Or try somethin' diff'rent. Hell, I can show ya a lil' bit 'bout boxin', if y'wanted.
menial: (~ what.)

[personal profile] menial 2011-12-06 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's the spirit.

['Or lack of spirit.']
inabook: (oh you)

[voice]

[personal profile] inabook 2011-12-06 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[...] I suppose that depends on what you call being idle.

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Wonderful ways of passing the time, no doubt.

But what do they do? What does it accomplish?

[voice]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
I would delight in being proven wrong and shown productivity. I can think of a few sources, and this does not apply to them.

[ voice ]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps that is the fault of the community, not the Malnosso.

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
How charming.

[identity profile] pugilistinpink.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Mac cocks his head puzzledly, as if it's a trick question.] They make y'feel better 'bout y'self... don' they? [He pauses, waiting for Anthony to agree - and hoping he would.] These lil' things, like paintin' stuff an' runnin' stores... they do got a lot a meanin'. Doin' them means... it means y'livin'. Y'know what I mean? [He struggles hard to find the worlds.] Y'livin', you ain't jus'... movin' an' breathin' but not thinkin' an' feelin' nothin'. It means you ain't wastin' away. Y'doin' something.

[He sucks in his lower lip, deep in thought.]

Yeah, so maybe m'training ain't gonna get me outta this place... But jus' 'cause it won' don' mean it ain't worth it. Is that whatchya gettin' at? That nothin' we do matters none if it means we's still stuck?
[His gaze lowers.] Trainin' here every day... it makes m'feel alive. It makes m'feel like... like I'm somebody. [After a long moment, he looks up.] ...Don' y'got somethin' like that?

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
Where does your food come from? Who built the house you live in? What do you do to contribute? To make up for what you take and use?

[identity profile] pugilistinpink.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
[He blinks, a little overwhelmed by the sudden string of questions that seem irrelevant to him.] The Malnosso gives us all that stuff... iunno what y'want me t'say. [He still felt a little weird, walking out of stores after picking out something he needed or felt he very much liked.]

[identity profile] winksandnods.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
Precisely.

They give it to us.

We do not produce, save for a few. We are subject to their whims because they have the supplies we take for granted. At any moment, they could choose to revoke them.

We are at their mercy at least partially because we have placed ourselves there. Yet all most citizens of this place seemed concerned with is their own personal enjoyment. Passing the time. Not surviving on their own, not furthering the community's self-reliance.

[Complacent wraiths, content to bemoan their situation without looking about them.]

[identity profile] pugilistinpink.livejournal.com 2011-12-07 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Mac takes it all in as best he can, not wanting to believe that he may be one of the people his friend is accusing of being lazy, selfish, mooching pleasure-seekers, from the sound of it. He isn't sure if he should feel angry or saddened.]

Look... I ain't sure what's eatin' ya or where this is comin' from, but... whatever y'goin' through... I can hear ya out if y'need somebody t'listen.
menial: (~ what.)

[personal profile] menial 2011-12-07 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
['I suppose I'll assume from your tone that it's so charming that your charm buffer overflowed and reset to zero.']

What else is there to do except laugh, anyway?

['Wasn't there something by Camus about that?']

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