cactusy | IC contact for lastvoyages

Sounds like a solid plan to me; the more the merrier. Is that, uh-- is the language okay? Nothing that's going to get people riled up? I got another guy I'm asking, but I'll take more than one perspective, too.

I think anytime Malcolm's involved people will get riled up. But I don't think you've written anything they can use against him to make it worse.

People get riled up about me, too; I suck at diplomacy.

Given the situation I think you were as diplomatic as you need to be.

What's Malcolm doing that needs curbing?

Big picture? He says he doesn't want to be objective about Graham because it's not his job to do that, it's his job to just be a boyfriend, which-- okay, I don't agree, but whatever. I could deal with that just fine if he'd recuse himself from any warden-inmate related stuff, but he won't; the dude wants to be completely unobjective and completely involved in everything Will. It's a nasty combination, especially since his official position is that Will is perfect and can do no wrong and nothing is ever his fault. He's also impressionable and traumatized, and Graham is manipulative and traumatized, and the two of them are disturbingly codependent, so there's... that.

This specific incident, Graham killed somebody; I know you know how that went down. It wasn't unprovoked, but it was overkill by a mile. Graham knows this. He's concerned about it, or at least he says he is. He doesn't want it to happen again, he wants to develop other strategies for people being dangerous and threatening around him. But trying to have even just the start of a productive conversation about it involved Bright in the room, jumping in to repeatedly insist that Graham did nothing wrong and encouraging him not to think critically about his reactions and his options. This is after he got the full story, and after Graham repeatedly made it clear that he was disturbed by what happened and wanted to prevent it from happening again. Bright knows that Graham beat someone to death, and his first impulse was anger and resentment towards his warden for not patting him on the back and saying "You did good".

[Jesus just groans and rubs a hand over his face. Malcolm, you idiot.]

You have the right to separate them. If the only way to get Will to think critically is to get him away from his enabler, then that's what you need to do, Shaw.

And in the meantime I and whoever else you can enlist who care about Malcolm will try to talk some sense into him.

You know that's not going to be easy, right? I don't know how well you know him, but if you're thinking this is gonna be a one-and-done--

Oh, [a wry, resigned chuckle] No this is going to be an ongoing thing, I know.

But you're Will's warden. You are the one objective enough to see what's best for him. Don't let the 'power of true codependent love' push you around.

Trust me, I know this is bullshit; I don't need a peptalk, I'm good.

[A pause.]

Uh, I mean-- thanks, I appreciate it. I don't need validation so much as I need back-up, though.

I think Graham is already thinking critically about this, at least to some extent. He might not be as repentant as he says-- and I know unconditional trust is the popular tactic here, but considering his history, I think he's served better by someone who's both in his corner and knows how manipulative he can be. Anyway, whether or not he's as repentant as he says, he does argue against Bright idealizing him.

Not so much a pep talk as a reminder you can pump the brakes. Flex your muscles.

And I think you're right. Although him arguing against that might be down more to self-esteem issues than fully absorbing what he did...hard to say.

My muscles have been flexing since last night; you should've seen the look Bright gave me when he realized I wasn't going to cave and get out of his hair. Kinda surprised he and his werewolf buddies haven't shown up in dog form to drag me away yet.

And Graham didn't imply that this happened because he's an irredeemable monster who can't do better, so for now, I'm gonna call that a partial win on the self-esteem front. His arguments were good ones. Nothing too self-deprecating.

I think it'd be tantamount to mutiny wouldn't it? Probably a demoteable offense.

Like I have any idea; I don't get the standards of this place. There's a lot that I'd think would be a demoteable offense, but isn't.

I've looked back over past demotions. Seems to be anything where you kill an inmate or go against the ship itself.

It's sort of the Wild West out here.

Looked back over past demotions? Like looking through the network? You've got more patience than me, dude; I can't believe this place doesn't have Google.

I don't sleep a lot so yeah I've gone back over a lot of the network. I wanted to know what to expect from floods and breaches and I just got sucked into the rest.

Like watching crappy Spanish soap operas on late night TV?

Oh I miss those. And infomercials? Nothing like watching someone sell you a juicer while you're coming down.

You judge our relationships, I judge your taste in TV.

[She jokes! Mostly.]

Honestly, I'm sure there are people he's gonna be able to muster who will think I'm in the wrong. But I don't think I am, and everybody keeps telling me that how wardens choose to do their jobs is an individual choice, so I got that argument going for me. It's just a pain in the ass that he has to try to turn this into a battle instead of working with me.

That's fair. After twelve years with no TV my taste is probably even worse. Almost as bad as the relationships around here.

...And I don't think you're wrong. Malcolm's biased, and he knows he is, and that's reason he needs to recuse himself. This is for Will.

Do you think he'll ever actually understand that?

I think he's in a panic because this is the first time he's had to face the fact that Will is an inmate for a reason. I don't think he's ever had a serious relationship before, so that compounds things.

So...maybe. If he can get some distance from it. Some time to calm down and think.

And enough people talking to him about why what he's doing is harmful to Will.

But he's not facing that. He's in complete denial.

And I think only some distance will get him to clear his head.

What's your plan for Will so far?

Edited 2023-10-10 23:18 (UTC)

You think it's better if they aren't allowed any alone time at all for a while?

IC contact for lastvoyages

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;

Re: private;

private;