"I don't know. The Barge's standards for graduation are obscure and arbitrary -- for every person who graduates because they stop murdering, there's another inmate who graduated because he agreed to murder less! But I'd like to see them reach an understanding. Jasper's been badly hurt, and I think Rose is trying not to think about it. I've noticed she avoids topics that are painful or uncomfortable, and just tries to move on. That can be a valuable ability in a crisis, but on the Barge, it's only going to hold her back."
Whatever the Authority brought her here for, it isn't going to happen if she stays easy breezy beautiful. Getting to graduation is about the drama, and it always means digging into your private history to hold it up for public judgment.
"Do you think so? I was able to graduate without a lengthy post-mortem of
my previous history," Elijah murmurs. "Although as you say, it varies for
everyone."
"Really?" Ford asks, legitimately interested in the new data. "Interesting. So the floods where scenes from our past appeared on the network -- they weren't particularly invasive?"
"No, not at all," Elijah says, nonplussed. "The one I did see was a
public television appearance. Hundreds of millions of people had already
watched it."
"You're very lucky, then," says Ford, envious despite himself. "Some very personal parts of my history were shown to people, individuals who later tried to use what they knew to manipulate me. I wonder what's responsible for the difference?"
A member of the Authority, perhaps, not feeling that revealing Elijah's past is necessary? Or not feeling like its reveal has dramatic potential? Maybe whoever's sponsoring him has some respect for his privacy. There's no way to know from here.
"That's probably it," says Ford, snapping his fingers. "Everything on the Barge tends to follow the principle of dramatic action. If there was nothing about your past that would affect you if it became known, then of course it didn't get broadcast."
"Of course," Elijah says, like that makes instinctive sense and needs no
further unpacking. "Conversely, we should expect a number of
such...disclosures from both Rose and Jasper."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Elijah - not exactly a social butterfly himself - twitches a brief smile.
"Do you believe it'll be necessary for them to reconcile, in the long term?"
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Whatever the Authority brought her here for, it isn't going to happen if she stays easy breezy beautiful. Getting to graduation is about the drama, and it always means digging into your private history to hold it up for public judgment.
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"Do you think so? I was able to graduate without a lengthy post-mortem of my previous history," Elijah murmurs. "Although as you say, it varies for everyone."
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"No, not at all," Elijah says, nonplussed. "The one I did see was a public television appearance. Hundreds of millions of people had already watched it."
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A member of the Authority, perhaps, not feeling that revealing Elijah's past is necessary? Or not feeling like its reveal has dramatic potential? Maybe whoever's sponsoring him has some respect for his privacy. There's no way to know from here.
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"It could be that I was a public figure," Elijah suggests. "And not particularly sensitive to blackmail or manipulation. I have very few secrets."
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"Of course," Elijah says, like that makes instinctive sense and needs no further unpacking. "Conversely, we should expect a number of such...disclosures from both Rose and Jasper."