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[onlyeverdoubted]

I'm just going to assume this is Hux, what do you need?

Comments

[sears]

How do you know, if you've never tried?

[onlyeverdoubted]

Observation. A lot of these things depend on a relationship and an assessment by the warden, and we've never actually met. And dangerous powers won't always be returned even if you have a permanent assignment.

[He's just going to go ahead and assume anything with fire in the name is... at least noteworthy.]

[sears]

Firebending isn't as destructive as you're probably thinking.

[Or rather, it doesn't have to be destructive. She's leaving that part out.]

[onlyeverdoubted]

Maybe. A little destructive still goes a long way in a closed system.

[sears]

I promise not to destroy the Barge.

[onlyeverdoubted]

And what do you want to firebend for?

[sears]

If the Admiral cut off your hands and then asked why you'd want them back, what would you say?

[onlyeverdoubted]

If I say to the admiral that I want to give a stranger the ability to set fire to unspecified things for an unspecified purpose, what's he going to say?

[sears]

You can tell him everything I've told you.

You didn't answer my question. What would you say, if the Admiral asked you that? I really want to know.

[onlyeverdoubted]

[This really is a moral quandary for him. He doesn't think treatment of inmates in general is fair, given everything. He also doesn't care to be responsible for things being on fire.]

I don't think I can help you. I don't even know you.

[sears]

So, you're not going to answer my question. Your realize I have a point, but you don't want to admit it.

[onlyeverdoubted]

No, you absolutely have several points. I just try not to bother inmates with my feelings on the subject. It seems kind of insulting to tell you I absolutely agree this is an unjust clusterfuck and I hate every second of it when I'm the one who agreed to be here. If I did know you and something about your powers, I might have more success, but that's just me giving you homework on the admiral's behalf.

[sears]

I asked you a question directly, and you refused to answer multiple times. If you're such a champion of inmates, do me the favor of believing that I know myself and what I want, and what I want now is an answer. If you can't do that, then you're either being patronizing and assuming that you know what will be a bother to me better than I do, or you really just don't want to admit that you made yourself look like a fool by asking why I'd want an essential part of myself returned to me.

Admit that it was stupid to ask me why I'd want to be able to firebend, and admit that you'd be angry if the Admiral chopped off your hands and everybody tried to make you justify yourself when you said you wanted them back. Then I'll consider telling you more about firebending.

[onlyeverdoubted]

[A pause while Bodhi reads over the past messages. He's not sure after a semi-cursory review that that's a fair characterization. The hands thing definitely felt like a rhetorical flourish, but it's not like he has any pride to get in the way now that he actually understands what she wants.]

It was stupid to ask you why you'd want to be able to firebend, and I admit that I'd be angry if the Admiral chopped off my hands and everybody tried to make you justify myself when I said I wanted them back.

[The missed you makes it painfully obvious he just copied and edited her mini-manifesto, but he really does mean well.]

[sears]

[That definitely does not go unnoticed, and unfortunately, she's not inclined to assume the best of him - he must be mocking her, she thinks.]

Very funny.

I hope you realize how unhelpful you've been.

[onlyeverdoubted]

[He can't see why it would be.]

That really is all I can think of that might let me actually be any use to you. And I don't know anything about having powers. Though the hands thing is a pretty good analogy.

[sears]

And yet you won't take it seriously.

[onlyeverdoubted]

[Once again he has a snotty remark to keep to himself, but if insulting him makes her feel better she's perfectly welcome to keep it up.]

I'm trying, but so far you've just told me the thing about the hands and I thought that was the end of your point.

[sears]

You just recited what I wrote by rote, copying it nearly word for word, not even bothering to change all of the pronouns. I'll bet you didn't even bother to properly read any of it.

[onlyeverdoubted]

I wanted to make sure I got it all.

[sears]

[Ugh!!!!]

Turn on the voice function.

[She wants to hear for herself whether his tone sounds mocking or genuine.]

[onlyeverdoubted]

[Bodhi doesn't really sound mocking even when he is--he prefers blandly plausible deniability then. But while he isn't particularly bothered by officious rudeness--really, she can't say anything to him he hasn't thought himself--he's flustered by having lost the thread and failed to find it so many times. He thought his point was perfectly clear. Which he always thought of as one of the advantages of text.

So when the voice does click on, he comes across as, well, profoundly and regrettably himself.]

Right, I, um, I can s-say the bit again, sh-should I start with the part where I'm stupid, or, um, or...

[sears]

[... Oh. Well, that's not the teasing, lilting response she'd been expecting.]

No, that's not necessary.

Firebending is just what it sounds like. I can create fire, and I can keep it under my control. It's not going to rage out of control and ruin anything on the Barge.

[onlyeverdoubted]

[Unless she wants it to, he has to assume, but setting things on fire isn't very hard. He's sure most inmates who wanted to cause trouble that way could start a fire for purposes of property damage.

He's more worried about people getting in the way.]

L-like I said, I don't--there are people from my universe with... powers, there's one onboard, actually, but I'm not one, so I'm sure I don't really get it. B-but fire... I mean, that very specifically is a pretty dangerous thing to toss around. I'm not accusing you, I'm saying that's basically putting a weapon in your hands and the admiral is, um, is less than likely to appreciate the idea on that level. What do you usually actually use it for?

[sears]

Day-to-day use - lighting candles, and other stuff like that. But most importantly, I need it to stay on top of my training. I can train and exercise without it, but it's not ideal, and my skills with fire will atrophy if I don't stay on top of it.