TWO. ask questions

[quiteagooddonor]

[The video switches on and Tommy's chilling out. If you look closely, you can catch sight of a clothes dryer in the background.]

Hello! Tommy D again. ..I was wondering if it might be possible to get a torch for me to have? I'm not certain how it works here. I have tokens and I have pounds, but I haven't seen any mentions of either thus far.

I'm also.. Well, I'm a bit worried about not being sorted. I don't mind waiting. It's just, I hadn't realized this was the sort of thing where you wait for your letter to arrive and it might arrive much earlier or much later. Is that how it is?

[Tommy looks awkwardly off screen after a pause, then back, but his voice is much quieter.]

I believe I may have flooded the wash room. Could someone help me please?

Comments

[quiteagooddonor]

Who could I borrow from or trade with for one? And what's wrong with asking the Admiral?

Well it.. it lasts until the batteries die, I suppose. It makes a sort of artificial light. I'm not sure what more to say about it.. It's a beam.

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I've never... seen one. As for the Admiral, it just feels like you're getting something for nothing. Doesn't seem right.

Hm. How long do batteries usually last?

[quiteagooddonor]

What would I be giving, if not tokens?

Well, you don't leave it on constantly, so it really depends on how often you use it. If you don't use it much, then they can last for years. So I'm told.

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

Something you own but don't need?

...Oh, you can turn them off?

[quiteagooddonor]

I meant why should it bother you to get something for nothing?

Yes. Most of them, anyway.

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

Well, it's underpayment. They usually come with an... implication.

Ah, so not quite like a daylighter.

[quiteagooddonor]

"Underpayment?" What sort of implication?

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

An implication that you wanted something unspoken in return.

[Private]

Giving, say, a girl a gift that was worth something significant, would imply you wanted other things.

Or the other way around, sometimes.

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

I know about the associations with giving a girl a gift, but why should that be the same as asking the Admiral for something?

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

You never know what he might expect in return.

It's probably nothing more than habit - I prefer to do a fair trade where I can.

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

But he's a Carer, right? A Guardian? They're meant to provide us with whatever we need without expectation of return outside of completing our agreed upon duties and fulfilling existing expectations.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

...He doesn't follow the same rules as anything at your home, Tommy. If anything, he's a little more like Munsell. And I'd never ask Munsell for a favour.

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

..I don't know who that is.

Why should he be like someone from your home but not like someone from mine?

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's really like either of them. He's just closer to... that kind of figure.

If he's really a carer, Tommy, is he a very good one?

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

He's not like a Carer. He's like a Guardian. And yeah, he seems like the rest of them so far.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

What's the difference between the two?

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

A Carer is someone who's assigned to you to make it easier for you to give your Donations and to help you with the doctors and that. A Guardian is someone from Hailsham or the like who gives you what you need as your grow older. They help prepare you.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

Prepare you for... what?

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

Adulthood and Donation.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

Right.

Do your... Guardians know you're here?

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

The Guardians only stay with us until we graduate from Hailsham, to the Cottages. I found them later, but.. they weren't my Guardians then.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see.

Does anyone from home know you're here? Or... well, do you have to tell anyone you're going anywhere?

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

Well, it's.. not exactly, no. I would have told Kath, but I didn't get the chance. She'll understand, I'm certain. She always.. Kath's great about that thing. But she's the only one I would have told. The doctors would wonder, if I was gone for awhile. They might worry I Completed while out for a walk or something.

Re: [Private]

[needshumility.livejournal.com]

But you don't have to get permission?

So... what's to stop you walking off and finding the, um, Originals? I don't mean offence by that, it's just what I'd do in your position.

[Private]

[quiteagooddonor]

I check in every night, if that's what you mean. I was told that time travels differently here and that I'd be able to return to the same time. Is that not right?

Nothing, so long as I check in in the evenings, but they're not exactly easy to find. There's no way of knowing where they came from or what sort of shape they're in or even if they're alive. We used to debate how old they'd be as well.. if they donated as children so we'd grow up nearly the same time as them, or if they were already adults. It's difficult to imagine what you might look like in thirty years' time..