"Well, apparently Lark is 'fighting', just quietly. Or so he told me. After I badgered it out of him." He raises an eyebrow at Arthur. "Is he as evasive with you? Not that it matters, but I'm curious."
He scoffs lightly. "Oh, entirely. I spent half our first conversation with him as your warden convinced he wasn't listening to a single fucking word I said because he gave me no indication he was actually hearing me until I confronted his blitheness directly."
"I may have given him a bit of a bap on the nose with a newspaper for his trouble. I'm getting more than a little tired of his game of placation. Did you know he hadn't said a word to me about Trevor being demoted? Not a peep."
He trusts Arthur to understand why this is egregious.
"You mentioned earlier, yes," he says, dry but entirely sympathetic. "Has he not fucking rectified that yet, or did you finally drag his head out of his ass?"
"Somewhat. He's taking far too much responsibility for a grown man than he ought to. I wasn't aware that wardens were 'raising' us, after all." A shake of his head. "But none of that is actually why I wanted to come. Mostly it's about this."
And he pulls out Walter's 'corrections' to put down on the desk.
He skims it even as Vincent talks, but then he gets to the first red note, and he has to rub his face from sheer exasperation.
"Someone making a deliberate attempt to paint me in a worse light, regardless," he grumbles, dropping it on his desk in a fit of pique. "Alright, so. Aside from the unsubtle potshots at me - what do you think?"
"I think," he says with a deep breath in, "that with a couple of crumbs of gold is a great deal of stupidity. And I'm weighing the value of the crumbs versus the stupidity."
He turns his hand.
"It was in the speakeasy, which points to an inmate. But the amount of bad faith involved here is... I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze, as they say."
"Right, but if we disregard it out of hand for being in bad faith, then he's going to claim the entire bill is a hypocritical waste of space," he comments flatly.
He doesn't seem to have noticed his own pronoun usage, instead picking it up again to look over. "Alexei said something similar when we went over it, that people are tearing apart what's not there rather than trying to listen to what we're actually saying. This rebuttal-" because he barely wants to grace it with the title "-is truly exemplifying that."
He nods, because his own flippancy had been more of a joke to ease tensions on the thing than a genuine assessment.
"I think... it may be time to rip off the bandaid. Or the paper bag over my head, as the case may be."
He taps the paper.
"Only an inmate, and the author, can properly counter this. And at this point, Iago and his matted furball won't be able to sway much since opinions are starting to settle."
He just nods, then. "Alright. You know I've got your back, however you go about it. And a spare room here if someone does come after you in yours or Hanna's cabins over it. John wouldn't let anything happen to anyone I'm letting stay here."
"You've got every right to be. People are being fucking idiots about your hard work." He gives a huff. "Might as well make the most of the luxury while you have it."
"I was less annoyed about the inmates. Of course we're all skeptical.
"It's the wardens who seem to think that their own personal code is more important. Or mistrust the very idea of" and he looks at a set of invisible/imaginary notes "'official' arbitration." A glance over at Arthur. "There's already a note in the speakeasy from one of the wardens offering personal help in case they're afraid of the whole thing." A snort.
"As should be expected," he says with a small huff. Then he shakes his head. "Most of your wardenly brethren dare not speak in public for fear of 'influencing' things. And cooperating? Heaven forbid."
"Most wardens fear losing the ability to have inmates take them seriously as wardens," he returns bitterly, rising from his seat. "Or getting dogpiled by other wardens for making a bad decision, regardless of how helpful it might be towards their own inmate."
He doesn't. Never has, never will. And he's not afraid of making a public scene about it, either. Yelling at another warden was a different cry from trying to make a mass appeal, after all.
"I'll talk to Steve." Maybe now, if he gets the opportunity.
"Lark has offered to join you in the scrum, as he put it, but I took it as another opportunity for him to give me what I 'want' and turned him down, at least for the time being."
He spreads his arms.
"I saw your former warden speak up. She should know not to try reason and logic, really. How long has she been here?"
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Re: After Walter's post goes up
"Well, apparently Lark is 'fighting', just quietly. Or so he told me. After I badgered it out of him." He raises an eyebrow at Arthur. "Is he as evasive with you? Not that it matters, but I'm curious."
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
A breath in.
"I may have given him a bit of a bap on the nose with a newspaper for his trouble. I'm getting more than a little tired of his game of placation. Did you know he hadn't said a word to me about Trevor being demoted? Not a peep."
He trusts Arthur to understand why this is egregious.
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"Somewhat. He's taking far too much responsibility for a grown man than he ought to. I wasn't aware that wardens were 'raising' us, after all." A shake of his head. "But none of that is actually why I wanted to come. Mostly it's about this."
And he pulls out Walter's 'corrections' to put down on the desk.
Re: After Walter's post goes up
And when he goes to reach for it - he feels the echo of something across his mind, like a heartbeat, a deep brassy note that makes him... hesitate.
Just for a moment. Before he catches himself and picks it up properly. "...alright? Who the fuck wrote this?"
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"Someone making a deliberate attempt to paint me in a worse light, regardless," he grumbles, dropping it on his desk in a fit of pique. "Alright, so. Aside from the unsubtle potshots at me - what do you think?"
Re: After Walter's post goes up
He turns his hand.
"It was in the speakeasy, which points to an inmate. But the amount of bad faith involved here is... I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze, as they say."
Re: After Walter's post goes up
He doesn't seem to have noticed his own pronoun usage, instead picking it up again to look over. "Alexei said something similar when we went over it, that people are tearing apart what's not there rather than trying to listen to what we're actually saying. This rebuttal-" because he barely wants to grace it with the title "-is truly exemplifying that."
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"I think... it may be time to rip off the bandaid. Or the paper bag over my head, as the case may be."
He taps the paper.
"Only an inmate, and the author, can properly counter this. And at this point, Iago and his matted furball won't be able to sway much since opinions are starting to settle."
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"You're sure?" is all he asks, just the once.
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"It's the wardens who seem to think that their own personal code is more important. Or mistrust the very idea of" and he looks at a set of invisible/imaginary notes "'official' arbitration." A glance over at Arthur. "There's already a note in the speakeasy from one of the wardens offering personal help in case they're afraid of the whole thing." A snort.
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
"Someone you've dealt with?"
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
He doesn't. Never has, never will. And he's not afraid of making a public scene about it, either. Yelling at another warden was a different cry from trying to make a mass appeal, after all.
"I'll talk to Steve." Maybe now, if he gets the opportunity.
Re: After Walter's post goes up
He spreads his arms.
"I saw your former warden speak up. She should know not to try reason and logic, really. How long has she been here?"
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up
Re: After Walter's post goes up